Course uses cat research to teach science
Jonathan Losos, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis What prompted the idea for the course? I’m an evolutionary biologist who has spent my career studying the evolution of small lizards…
A wood that could revolutionize carbon storage
In many gardens, the tree known as the tulip tree, belonging to the genus Liriodendron, stands out for its beautiful flowers and foliage. However, researchers have recently discovered an intriguing secret about the…
Mucus-based bioink for printing and growing lung tissue
It’s so sad to think that lung diseases are responsible for millions of deaths worldwide every year. Despite the amazing advances in medicine that we’ve seen, treatment options remain limited and animal models…
Chimpanzees are capable of speech?
For decades, the scientific community has held firm to the belief that humans are the sole primates capable of speech. This long-standing assumption has recently been challenged by a groundbreaking study published in…
A recipe for zero-emissions fuel
Jennifer Chu | MIT News A sustainable source for clean energy may lie in old soda cans and seawater. MIT engineers have found that when the aluminum in soda cans is exposed in its pure…
Dark Oxygen Production at Abyssal Seafloor
Recently, scientists announced a revolutionary discovery: metallic minerals present on the ocean floor can produce oxygen in conditions of complete darkness, known as “dark oxygen”, challenging the widely accepted notion that the Earth’s…
Lessons from evolutionary theory on alien appearance
Samuel Levin, University of Oxford Aliens could be everywhere. There are at least 100 billion planets in our galaxy alone, and at least 20% of them could be habitable. Even if a tiny…
What are the scientific explanations for alien abduction?
Ken Drinkwater, Manchester Metropolitan University and Neil Dagnall, Manchester Metropolitan University Accounts of mysterious flashing lights in the sky, spacecrafts and encounters with “real” aliens reflect high levels of public interest in UFOs…
Consciousness may have evolved to benefit society
Peter W Halligan, Cardiff University and David A Oakley, UCL Why did the experience of consciousness evolve from our underlying brain physiology? Despite being a vibrant area of neuroscience, current research on consciousness…
Fusion energy: solution or problem?
Sophie Cogan, University of York Harnessing energy from nuclear fusion – the combining of nuclei, which lie within atoms – could be instrumental in the shift towards a decarbonised global energy system. As…