Jellyfish stirring things up.

Jellyfish may spend their lives passively drifting through the open oceans at the mercy of currents and tides, but they could also be stirring things up as they go. Together, all the swimming things in the oceans – including minute plankton - could contribute as much mixing as the winds and tides. ...

Put a shrimp in your tank

You’ve heard of putting a tiger in your tank, but now how about putting a shrimp in your tank? Doesn’t sound quite so impressive does it? But, that’s exactly what scientists in China have been doing in an attempt to make biodiesel production more efficient. XinshengZheng and colleagues from HuaZhon...

Raindrop sizes explained

In the nineteenth centuary scientists studying the weather looked at raindrop sizes, and discovered something quite interesting. There was quite a variation, most were less than 1mm across but a few were up to 5mm across, but for the same rate of rainfall the distribution was always the same. This ...

Food dye at the spinal frontier

Scientists have discovered that a dye used to colour food can also help to heal spinal injuries. Writing in this week's PNAS, a team at the University of Rochester led by Maiken Nedergaard describe how a dose of Brilliant Blue G, an analogue of the food dye FD&C blue dye No. 1, can help rats wit...

State of the art facility opens at the Babraham Institute

The Naked Scientists attended the opening of the new multi-million unit at the Babraham Insititute and bumped into Minister for Science, Lord Drayson.