The old saying that where there’s muck, there’s brass has never proved more true than in genetics. Once, and not so long ago, received wisdom was that most of the human genome—perhaps as much as 99% of it—was “junk”. If this junk had a role, it was just to space out the remaining 1%, the…
The death rate of many of the biggest and oldest trees around the world is increasing rapidly, scientists report in a new study published in the journal Science. They warned that research to understand and stem the loss of the trees is urgently needed. The research team found that big, old trees are dying at…
With the temperature at a balmy midsummer -17c, drilling has started in Antarctica in an attempt to find evidence of life under a sheet of ice two miles thick. The scientists and engineers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) hope to find signs of life in the pitch black, intensely cold, nutrient poor, and pristine…
In 2015, Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will spend a year onboard the International Space Station. In the second part of his series on living in space, BBC space correspondent Richard Hollingham finds out what’s in store for them.
Over the past couple of days, two asteroids ‘2012 XE54’ and ‘4179 Toutatis’ passed close to Earth. 4179 Toutatis, a lumpy shaped asteroid which is roughly 3 miles long, is classified as a potentially hazardous object (PHO) by astronomers and has passed closed to Earth several times before, in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008….
The United States and Britain are two countries “divided by a common language”, George Bernard Shaw allegedly quipped. This statement, amusingly paradoxical on the face of it, might be more accurate than it seems. On “War of words: The language paradox explained”, evolutionary biologist Mark Pagel argues that languages proliferate to differentiate competing groups. If…
A common and ancient plant dye could replace cobalt and help deliver greener lithium-ion batteries, according to an American study. Purpurin, an extract of the common Madder plant, turns out to have the right characteristics to use as a cathode, according to research led by The City College of New York (along with Rice University…
Atheists and other religious skeptics suffer persecution or discrimination in many parts of the world and in at least seven countries can be executed if their beliefs become known, according to a new report. The study, from the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), showed that “unbelievers” in Islamic countries face the most severe —…
The capacity to notice the distress of others, and to be moved by it, can be a critical component of what is called prosocial behavior, actions that benefit others: individuals, groups or society as a whole. Psychologists, neurobiologists and even economists are increasingly interested in the overarching question of how and why we become our…
A decade ago, a British philosopher put forth the notion that the universe we live in might in fact be a computer simulation run by our descendants. While that seems far-fetched, perhaps even incomprehensible, a team of physicists at the University of Washington has come up with a potential test to see if the idea…