- Christopher Stanton
Do microscopic fossils hold the key to understanding climate change? Scientists studying tiny marine shellfish called ostracodes have found that they harbour in their shells is a geologic snapshot of the water conditions in which they grew, including chemical pointers to past climates...
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- Catherine Zentile
Scientists have brought the world one step closer to the creation of the first artificial organism with the recent announcement of the creation of an artificial genome for the bacterium mycoplasma genitalium. The breakthrough is a major landmark in history, the switch "from reading the genetic code to writing it" but this new synthetic biology could be dangerous: is the world ready for this new technology and will it ever be?
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- Stuart Clark
When the clipper ship Southern Cross sailed into a living hell off Chile during the night of 2 September 1859, little did the sailors know that they were witnessing the aftermath of a gigantic solar explosion that had engulfed the Earth. Today, astronomers are still unpicking the consequences of this tremendous event.
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- Chris Smith
The feasibility of a female oestrus amongst humans had been dismissed by the masses. But now a study of tipping amongst lap-dancers has confirmed that oestrus appears to be alive and kicking...
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- Alex Thompson
What's the evidence that the world's becoming a warmer place, or are claims of climate change quite literally just hot air? Atmospheric scientist Alex Thompson puts the greenhouse effect under the spotlight...
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- Becky Poole
Just as winter follows summer, the chances are you'll catch a cold this winter - but what is the sticky stuff that pours from your nose and clogs up your sinuses? Becky Poole unwraps the handkerchief to find out...
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- Catherine Zentile
Scientists recently spotted a planet being born. It's just formed and is still enshrouded within the disk of dust that formed it. So like a baby in the birth canal, the newborn, placenta and amniotic fluid of planetary formation are all still there for scientists to see. In terms of age, this was a teenage pregnancy, but what it can tell us about the planetary birth process makes this particular cosmic conception very exciting...
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- Andrew Caines
So what exactly is linguistics? Is it all about tape recorders, tongue twisters and dropped "aitches"? Or is it all adventure, exploration and the search for undiscovered languages among rainforest tribes? Well, it's both, and in this article Andrew Caines tells us more...
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- Anne Hinton
International Polar Years commenced in 1882-3, as the inspiration of Austrian explorer and naval officer Lieutenant Karl Weyprecht. They act as a means of bringing together scientists from around the world in a concentrated effort to further studies of the Arctic and Antarctic regions. The third such 'year' runs from 2007-9, but what are its aims this time?
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- Becky Poole
Dementia-prone mice have shown researchers than an old mouse can learn new tricks, given the right environment...
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