- 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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- Ana Rossi
Ion channels are miniature pores in the membranes of cells. They're the gatekeepers controlling which ions can move into and out of cells, meaning that they control almost every aspect of life itself. This also means they're important drug targets. But to develop effective and selective agents to hit just the right channel means that scientists need to understand the precise structure and workings of each of them. A daunting task, but now new technology has provided a way to do just that...
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- Anne Hinton
The world has heard much about the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 and the vast loss of life associated with this, but what were the tectonic events that lead to it?
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- Helen Rogers
The European Parliament voted recently to include CO2 emissions from the aviation industry in its carbon trading scheme from 2011, but did they get it wrong by also including the impact of contrail formation and emissions of nitrogen oxides? What would happen, for instance, if Parliament adopted the same methodology for shipping? Helen Rogers explains why it's not all "plane" sailing…
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- Catherine Zentile
Snowflakes form when water vapour condenses directly into ice crystals, and for many years writers have used their delicate beauty as a metaphor for fragility and uniqueness. But now scientists are studying these same qualities to understand one of the most important molecules on Earth – water.
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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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- Bjoern Brembs
Flies are creatures of habit - at least that's what the latest research on the fruit fly Drosophila has found. In this article Bjoern Brembs explains how a marine snail started him on the road to uncover the brain basis of learning...
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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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- Chris Smith
What causes cold sores and genital herpes, how do herpes viruses cause disease, why do herpes infections persist for life and how can cold sores and genital herpes be treated, and how does this all relate to Romeo and Juliet?
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- Nick Heath
By now we’re familiar with apocalyptic visions of a scorched and flooded world ravished by global warming. But this gloomy prognosis is now set to take a nosedive beneath the ocean waves.
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