Category: Technology

The natural world is filled with variety. Ecological systems can look very different in different parts of the Earth. Every species has genetic variation that means individuals can look and behave very differently. Diseases can affect people differently, with some suffering more serious complications than others. I believe this pervasive variation, which I call poikilosis, […]

As someone who helped set up one of the first iPhones back in late 2007 on live TV, I found the launch of the first iteration of Apple’s smartphone an exciting time. At the launch in June of that year, a grinning Steve Jobs proudly held up that early device to the obvious delight of […]

On September 10, 2024, Tel Aviv will host the “Hack the Hate” conference, a first-of-its-kind event designed to harness Israeli technological innovation to fight the rise of online antisemitism. Organized by the 8200 Alumni Association and Generative AI for Good, the event will bring together startups, entrepreneurs, investors, government officials, diplomats, and civil society organizations […]

When the International Astronomical Union announced in 2006 that Pluto was being demoted from its status as the Sun’s ninth planet, many astronomers and non-experts alike were shocked. Pluto remains an important object for study, though. Today it is considered one of many dwarf planets beyond Neptune, in a doughnut-shaped region of mostly icy debris […]

When the hot summer weather kicks in you may find yourself feeling concerned about furry pets and other animals we live close by to. But fur and hair are ancient adaptations that allowed human ancestors to develop more active lifestyles and varied diets. All mammals have some kind of fur. It’s part of what sets […]

How much do we really know about what else is out there in the universe? Let’s take an outlandish example. If there were aliens flying around our galaxy with the sort of warp drive technology we often see in sci-fi shows, what would the signal from their ships look like? Perhaps, surprisingly, our research shows […]

Slugs. They eat your lettuces, chew your cabbages, defoliate your dahlias and assassinate your asters. Even the name “slug” is unpleasant. It comes from the Middle English “slugge”, from a Norwegian word for a heavy, slow-moving or sluggish person. Slugs clearly have a PR problem, so let’s try and put things right. First, they have […]

Deep beneath our feet, at a staggering depth of over 5,100km, lies Earth’s inner core — a solid ball of iron and nickel that plays a crucial role in shaping the conditions we experience on the surface. In fact, without it we’d be unlikely to even exist. But despite its significance, it’s a bit of […]

You never have to look hard to find recent reports of fatal vehicle crashes on UK roads. After devastating events such as a crash in West Yorkshire in July 2024, where four adults and two children were killed, media reports often focus on the need for better law enforcement and driver education. Safety campaigns can […]

More than 700 million years ago, the Earth was plunged into a state that geologists call “snowball Earth”, when our planet was entirely encased in ice. This happened when the polar ice caps expanded so far that they joined up around the equator. Several lines of evidence show that the snowball Earth happened, but we […]