Category: Technology

A group of scientists, including people from the Royal Society of Chemistry, recently proposed that experiences such as licking an ice lolly should be part of the science curriculum. By licking a lolly and seeing how it melts – the idea goes – children would better learn about melting, and therefore about chemistry and physics. […]

Governments have a duty to protect their citizens. While they won’t go as far as telling us what we can and cannot put in our homes, we do expect them to ensure that the buildings we live in are safe from fire. The final report of the Grenfell Tower inquiry confirms that this was not […]

Do aliens sleep? You may take sleep for granted, but research suggests many planets that could evolve life don’t have a day and night cycle. It’s hard to imagine, but there are organisms living in Earth’s lightless habitats, deep underground or at the bottom of the sea, that give us an idea what alien life […]

New phones are being launched with features enabled by artificial intelligence (AI). The latest of these was Google’s flagship Google Pixel 9 phone. Samsung’s Galaxy S24 phone, released at the beginning of 2024, also features a range of AI-enabled photo editing features. The hidden story behind devices like these is how companies have managed to […]

The idea that aliens may have visited the Earth is becoming increasingly popular. Around a fifth of UK citizens believe Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials, and an estimated 7% believe that they have seen a UFO. The figures are even higher in the US – and rising. The number of people who believe UFO […]

What’s the difference between an asteroid and a comet? A comet is basically a dirty iceball composed of rock and ice. The classic image is of a bright “star” in the night sky with a long curved tail extending into space. This is what happens when they approach the Sun and start emitting gases and […]

The projects are designed to stimulate exciting new interdisciplinary research. Treatment for bile duct cancer, degradation of toxic organic pollutants, historical accounts that inform marine ecosystem management, and techniques to protect children’s digital data are among the breakthrough projects being funded. Additionally, the second round of funding is launching today with a further £32.5 million […]

Some people assume that there’s a type of beauty that everyone can agree on. But did early humans really admire slender bodies the way we do today? After all, fashions come and go – there’s been plenty of fads throughout history that we find hard to understand today. The UK’s deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, […]

Further information The projects Sensing NO2 emissions to evaluate net zero initiatives (SNEEZI) Project lead: University of Edinburgh Funding amount: £498,916 Avoiding the worst impacts of climate change relies on measuring and reducing emissions of atmospheric greenhouse gases, including nitrogen dioxide (NO2). SNEEZI is a novel instrument designed to measure NO2 at high resolution from […]

Your heart starts racing, your mouth goes dry and sweat beads on your forehead. We’ve all been there, caught in a moment of stress. When you encounter a situation that threatens your safety, your brain must make a critical decision – how to react to the danger at hand. This is a phenomenon my colleagues […]