News
Here's something slimey. Real leeches are used by surgeons because arteries are easier to re-connect than the more fragile veins, making it easier for blood to get into the tissue than to get out. This means a reattached finger often swells up with blood, which coagulates,...
Scientists at Johns Hopkins in the US have found that how well a male Starling sings is a strong indication of the health of his immune system and hence his suitability as a mate. Dr. Duffy and Dr. Ball looked at the singing abilities of 16 adult male European Starlings in...
Britain's plans to generate 10% of electricity from renewable sources could be under threat from an unlikely source…the Ministry of Defence. They have blocked plans for five of the proposed eighteen new offshore windfarms. Apparently wind turbines show up as a twinkli...
The archaeologists studying Oetzi, the stone age man found frozen in ice in the Alps, have made an interesting discovery, a flint arrowhead lodged in his shoulder. Many experts have speculated how the man came to be where he was found, but this recent discovery suggests th...
Many people think that coffee is bad for your teeth, but recent research has shown that the reverse may be true. Coffee made from roasted coffee beans contains substances with antibacterial effects against Streptococcus mutans, a bacterial strain which inhabits the mouth a...
Humans aren't the only ones with a vaccination programme, apparently. James Traniello and his team at Boston University in the US have found that termites vaccinate their nest-mates, protecting them against diseases that, unchecked, would wipe out their colony. Other socia...
We've all had ice cream that was crunchy. The reason is that with repeated thawing and re-freezing as happens when you take the tub out of the deep-freeze, the ice crystals grow too large and the smooth silky texture is lost. But scientist Douglas Goff from Guelph Universi...
