- Douglas Richards
We’re all searching for happiness, but do we really know what this is or where to find it? Douglas E. Richards gives an introduction to the science of happiness and argues that this is a vitally important topic that we, as a society, should be teaching our children...
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- Harry Cliff
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Switzerland is now back in operation. By smashing particles together at close to the speed of light, it promises to deliver dramatic new insights into the fundamental nature of the matter. Here, Harry Cliff explains how the LHC works and what scientists hope to reveal as they unpick the fabric of the Universe we live in...
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- Harriet Dickinson
It is the stuff of nightmares - a society so wound up in the legal system that no-one is allowed to tell you the truth, or that those with money control state censorship. However, this isn’t some John Grisham novel, this is the unfortunate state of the UK libel system today. Here, Harriet Dickinson finds out how it's impacting on the ability of scientists to state the facts...
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- Harriet Dickinson
For anyone fresh out of frogs and tempted to kiss a toad instead, this article has a word of warning. Although certain species of toads do make hallucinogenic chemicals linked to a lively "trip", many produce a lethal cocktail of cardiotoxic compounds that could turn such a trip into a once in a lifetime experience, en-route to the mortuary. So which toads should you watch out for...?
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- Chris Smith
Swine flu, SARS, Bird Flu, HIV, Dengue, Hepatitis C, Ebola - the human race is awash with new infections - but where did they come from and what else may be waiting to pounce? In this article Cambridge University virologist Chris Smith looks at the origins of emerging viral infections...
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- Harriet Dickinson
What will the vaccines of tomorrow look like? Recent advances in crop technology mean that we are able to produce vaccines in plants. But would you eat a vaccine? Harriet Dickinson looks at the pros and cons of this novel method of drug delivery and asks whether this technology will be turning up on the menu any time soon...
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- Philip Strange
In 1943 a chemist working in Basel became the first person to experience the effects of LSD, albeit by accident. But how did he made the drug, where did it originate and how does it work? Philip Strange explains...
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- Philip Strange
Surprising as it sounds, one of the world's top tipples a century ago was laced with cocaine. And although the manufacturers have changed the recipe in recent years, Coca Cola is still a market leader, but why was the cocaine there in the first place, and where does the drug come from?
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- Frank Witte
Physics is full of surprises, but none so great as the discovery that 95% of the mass of the Universe is invisible to us. This is the so-called "Dark Matter" and "Dark Energy", but what are they, and how can we find out...?
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- Beth Ashbridge
Since scientists discovered how DNA behaves like a giant genetic recipe book encoding the entire suite of proteins needed for a cell to function, they've also been looking for a simple way to selectively and simply switch off some of those genes to find out how they work. Now there is such a tool. It's called RNA interference or RNAi and it's recently won the discoverers a Nobel prize. But how does it work and could it also be the medical answer to a host of problem genetic diseases? Beth Ashbridge finds out...
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