Science
Very Interesting
Artificial sweeteners found in sugar-free foods can kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria
The discovery could help in the war against superbugs
1 min |
March/April 2023
Very Interesting
Everything You Need to Know About Intrusive Thoughts
Occasionally, you're minding your own business when a weird - and sometimes disturbing or upsetting - thought pops into your head. Why does your brain do this, and does it mean that you're a bad person?
10+ min |
September/October 2022
Very Interesting
A lab to live by
CERN continues to be a hotspot for scientific discovery
4 min |
September/October 2022
Very Interesting
HOW TO BUILD THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
At the Polarization Lab in North Carolina, multidisciplinary researchers – including social scientists, statisticians and computer scientists – are breaking apart the social media status quo to rebuild it, one peer-reviewed brick at a time
5 min |
September/October 2022
Very Interesting
W BOSON: IS IT ABOUT TO BREAK PHYSICS?
The mass of the W boson, a subatomic particle, appears to be wrong. What could this mean for the Standard Model of particle physics?
3 min |
September/October 2022
Very Interesting
HOW OUR BRAINS DECLINE AS WE AGE
The charts could one day be used as a clinical tool to help track patients’ brain development and diagnose neurodevelopmental disorders
3 min |
September/October 2022
Very Interesting
LAB GROWN MEAT
Everything you need to know about a future where you can have your steak and eat it…
9 min |
September/October 2022
Very Interesting
An Immune System for the Planet
Can we build a global pathogen defence system – a planetary equivalent of the immune system – to protect us when the next pandemic arrives?
10+ min |
July/August 2022
Very Interesting
STIMULATION AND SIGNALLING
Using magnets to influence the brain could lead to revolutionary new depression treatment. The method, tested in rats, targets star-shaped brain cells called astrocytes. Neuroscientists Dr Yichao Yu and Prof Mark Lythgoe at University College London tell us more…
5 min |
July/August 2022
Very Interesting
THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: WHY IS IT BEING RETIRED AND WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO IT?
The last decade of the ageing space station’s life will feature private occupants, movies and an eventual watery grave
3 min |
July/August 2022
Very Interesting
THE PERILS OF FOLKLORE
Seemingly innocuous folk cures and old wives’ tales can have a darker side
2 min |
July/August 2022
Very Interesting
THE EXPLAINER: TORNADOES
All about tornadoes
3 min |
July/August 2022
Very Interesting
YOU, ME AND OUR MICROBES
Why you are more like your partner than you might think
2 min |
July/August 2022
Very Interesting
ARE WE ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE?
The search for alien life is ramping up. But what if, instead of searching for signs of biology, we looked for something more familiar: an extraterrestrial civilisation?
10+ min |
July/August 2022
Very Interesting
THE FIBONACCI SEQUENCE
A mathematical phenomenon seen in everything from fruit to music
4 min |
July/August 2022
Very Interesting
A MOST VIOLENT YEAR
The volcanoes of 2021 blew our minds at a time when much of the world was reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic
4 min |
July/August 2022
Very Interesting
NEW DADS: DO THEY GET POSTNATAL DEPRESSION?
Nearly one in four new fathers suffers from anxiety and depression in the first year following their children’s birth. Should we be doing more to help them?
3 min |
July/August 2022
Very Interesting
YOUR PRODUCTIVE BRAIN
Increasing your productivity is easy. It’s just a matter of making a few simple changes to your routine, or behaviour, or thinking, and your productivity will soar. At least, that’s what countless online articles claim. The actual science tells a different story. Even a modest amount of research reveals that some of the most commonly touted claims about how to boost productivity fall apart in the face of the evidence. So, here are some of the most common myths around boosting productivity, along with a number of approaches that have a more robust scientific basis.
10+ min |
July/August 2022
Very Interesting
DOES YOUR DOG REALLY LOVE YOU?
Sure, they wag their tails to greet us and are happy to snuggle up and watch TV in the evening, but are our beloved pooches actually experiencing the same love for us as we feel for them?
8 min |
July/August 2022
Very Interesting
As the crow dies
Corvids, such as crows, rooks and ravens, are some of the smartest animals out there. They can learn to make new sounds, they can cooperate and even use tools. But as Dr Kaeli Swift explains, they also have some intriguing rituals when it comes to their dead... and could even be capable of feeling empathy
10 min |
May/June 2022
Very Interesting
An end to ageing?
Eternal youth is the stuff of religion and mythology, but what if we could just have a bit more of it? What if there was a pill that could slow down the ravages of time, so that you could feel younger for longer. It sounds like snake oil, but there's a growing body of research that's betting on making it a reality
9 min |
May/June 2022
Very Interesting
A Winning Formula
Beneath the rainforests of South America lives a fungi that consumes 50,000 leaves a day without ever coming to the surface. It relies on ants to bring it food in exchange for nutrients. Evolutionary biologist Dr Pepijn Kooij speaks to Amy Barrett about this special relationship...
9 min |
May/June 2022
Very Interesting
NOT MY FIRST METAVERSE
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg might be getting excited about the metaverse, but the idea is nothing new
2 min |
May/June 2022
Very Interesting
SEEING THE BLUES
Blue light from devices can have positive and negative effects on us
4 min |
May/June 2022
Very Interesting
WHAT IS SYNAESTHESIA?
Connecting senses in fascinating ways means some people see the world completely differently
3 min |
May/June 2022
Very Interesting
NASA'S SOLAR PROBE 'TOUCHES' THE SUN
The Parker Solar Probe is part of the way through its seven-year mission to investigate the inner workings of our nearest star
3 min |
May/June 2022
Very Interesting
THE ΒΙΟ BOTS
Bio-inspired robots that can fly like birds and creep like cockroaches are helping researchers to understand more about how animals move and behave
6 min |
May/June 2022
Very Interesting
THE VOLCANO THAT SHOOK THE EARTH
The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano was a once-in-a-century geological event - and now the clock is ticking to study its effects...
5 min |
May/June 2022
Very Interesting
ME YOU, AND INTIMACY TOO
When was the last time you were intimate with someone, emotionally, intellectually, or physically? Psychologist Dr Michelle Drouin says we are in an intimacy famine, and speaks to Amy Barrett about whether social media and smartphones are stripping us of one of our basic human needs
10 min |
May/June 2022
Very Interesting
Combatting Virus Variants Before They Emerge
The technology could be used to create universal vaccines for COVID, malaria and more, its creators say
2 min |