CATEGORIES

NASA To Explore Metal Asteroid For The First Time

Consider us psyched. NASA will be sending a probe to a distant metal asteroid for the first time ever. The mission was selected from five finalists as part of NASA’s Discovery Program.

City Slickers

With the help of Singapore’s residents, smooth-coated otters have returned to the heart of the city. Katie Stacey went to find out how they were enticed back.

01 Experiment With Our Food

Want to cook up a delicious meal? It’s not just about the food. We chat to psychologist Prof Charles Spence about the strange science of gastrophysics.

Miniaturised Wacky Races

Forget Formula 1 – cars the size of molecules came to France to race on a track made of gold. Rob Banino sizes up the competition

Robin Ince on… Comedy and Mental Health

“Some Believe That if You’re Joking About Something, You Haven’t Come to Terms With It ”

Nasa's Mining Bot Gets Rolling

We definitely dig this. NASA has started testing the Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR).

Canberra, Australia's Charming Capital City

What was once known as a sheep town has now transformed into a scenic hinterland, filled with superb monuments and galleries for both educational and leisure purposes

The Cholesterol Drug Controversy

THE DEBATE ABOUT STATINS SHOWS THAT SCIENCE CAN’T ALWAYS SUPPLY EASY ANSWERS

My Life Scientific

This month, volcanologist Prof Twnsin Mather talks to Helen Pilcher about getting up close and personal with one of most destructive forces

Meet The Plant Messiah

Carlos Magdalena is on a mission to save the plants. From his base at Kew Gardens, he travels the world to rescue tropical species from extinction. The botanical horticulturalist talks to James Lloyd

What Causes Turbulence?

“PLANES CAN COPE WITH TURBULENCE, SO ALTHOUGH MY TEA MIGHT GET SPILT, THERE’S LITTLE DANGER”

The Pigeons' War On Hitler

Gordon Corera describes an ingenious British operation to subvert Nazi rule in Europe – using carrier birds.

Could Geoengineering Cause A Climate War?

If country leaders manipulate the weather to do their bidding, could they create political tensions, or even all-out war?

Down On The Body Farm

Corpses can tell you a lot – if you know how to read them. And just like language, decomposition is dependent on location. Which is why some researchers think it’s time to start studying the dialect of decay in the UK.

Untouched Subglacial Lakes Could Harbour Clues To Evolution Of Alien Life

Vast bodies of water more than 500 metres below the Arctic ice may host life forms that have evolved independently for 120,000 years.

Trapped

The secret ways social media is built to be addictive (and what you can do to fight back)

Top​​​​​​​ Of The Crocodile Pops​​​​​​​

Not only do India’s fish-eating gharials look strange, they make unusually attentive mums and dads. These reptiles are among the best in the world.

Can We Fix The Gender Pay Gap?

In the UK, women are paid around 10 per cent less than men, on average. One solution might be total pay transparency. Can it fix the problem and are we ready to talk about how much we earn?

Can We End Animal Testing?

We find out whether innovative techniques using stem cells, computer modelling and 3D-printing could reduce the number of animals used in medical research.

Brains And Brawn

Spotted hyenas are bucking the trend for large carnivores being in decline. Niki Rust explores why.

The Road To Recovery

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and Bikini Atoll are still devoid of humans. But without the threat of our presence, could wildlife thrive in a radioactive environment?

Express Yourself

When primates pull faces they tell you a lot more than words alone could, say Anup Shah, Fiona Rogers and Dr Ben Garrod.

Has The World Been Blinded By Nefertiti's Beauty?

Nefertiti’s beguiling bust has today made her one of the most widely recognised figures of the ancient world. But, asks Joyce Tyldesley, do this Egyptian queen’s accomplishments 3,000 years ago really merit her modern-day acclaim?

Where Are All the Clones?

It’s 20 years since scientists in Edinburgh cloned Dolly the sheep. Commentators at the time promised us a world overrun by cloned animals and humans. So where are they?

The Righteous Royal Rebel

Man Of The People Or Power-Hungry Opportunist? The Duke Of Monmouth’S Bid For The Crown Perished On The Somerset Levels In 1685 – And, With It, His Reputation. But, Says Anna Keay, It’S Time To Revise Our Ideas About The Illegitimate Son Of Charles II

Quantum Weirdness

"The keenness of nutters to reach for the 'Q-word' has made life tough for researches."

Prof Raj Lada

Helen Pilcher quizzes the founder of the Christmas Tree Research Centre to find out his secret formula for avoiding a carpet covered in pine needles…

She's Having A Bubble!

Kedah, Malaysia

Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Impact Was Worse Than We Thought

Some 66 million years ago, an asteroid struck the Yucatan peninsula in Central America, forming the Chicxulub crater and wiping out the dinosaurs in what is known as the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event. But two new pieces of research suggest that this impact was even more cataclysmic than was previously believed. 

Newly Identified Orangutan Is World's Most Endangered Great Ape Species

A population of orangutans that lives in a remote part of northern Sumatra, and that was only discovered in 1997, has now been identified as a separate species. With only around 800 individuals known to exist, it’s now also the most threatened of all great ape species.