You know how when you throw a rock into a pool, that makes ripples in the water? And how Einstein once upon a time predicted that the very mass of stars and planets should warp spacetime? Although we have had a justified inkling that Einstein was right for quite some time, we had never before detected such a phenomenon. Until THIS happened…
Continue reading The Discovery of Gravitational Waves – Merging Black Holes and Advanced LIGO
Most of us are familiar with the idea that our bodies need calcium. And calcium is indeed the key element in our bones. Calcium is the most abundant metal in the human body – and those of animals too. The fifth most abundant element on Earth and our World’s chosen architectural building block. Yes, calcium is a metal. Do we really appreciate its true value?
Continue reading Yes, Calcium is a Metal!
Just like buses, it seems. But even rarer and a damn sight more exciting to be honest. Ooohoo!!! Out with your old Science books!! HeL-LOOooo elements 113… 115, 117 and 118!!
Continue reading You Wait Ages for a Chemical Element, and Then… BINGO!!
Already this article is beginning to sound like one of those sempiternal quizzes you so often get on social media… but it actually shows how science reality connects. Are you having a scientific identity crisis?
Continue reading Lateral Thinking in Science – Who Are You?
Goofball, candy, ice, crack, snow, weasel dust, Belushi, Charlie… High in the Andes of South America, Erythroxylum coca grows as a shrub. For 2,500 years at least, its leaves have been known and used for their stimulant properties. Over 5 million people use cocaine and its derivatives in the United States alone.
Continue reading We Do Science on Crack… with Cocaine and the Blood-Brain Barrier
The days of Professor Challenger are here. This week, scientists have set out to drill deeper into the Earth’s mantle than has ever been done before. This time, let us hope the World will not scream!
Better than the A-Team, it’s COP21! Never have so many World leaders been in the same place on the same day. This time, they have just ten years to make a difference! Could the problems be solved? Will the World finally be saved?
Continue reading COP21 – The Return Les “Entreprenieurs” in Paris
This blog is so cool. It’s spontaneous! It’s electric!! But not as cool as it has been at these cutting-edge laboratories on the outskirts of Europe. Scientists there are dealing with an entirely new type of solid matter – ‘spontelectrics’.
Continue reading What’s the Matter… with Spontelectrics?
Following World War I and World War II, at least three major powers disposed of massive quantities of captured, damaged and obsolete chemical warfare material by dumping them into oceans, seas and lakes around the globe. Mustard gas, phosgene, lewisite… Submerged chemical ammunitions pose very serious ongoing environmental problems.
Continue reading What Lies Beneath – The Toxic Legacy of Post-War Ammunitions Sea Dumping
23rd October 2015. The ‘strongest ever’ hurricane recorded in the Western hemisphere is about to make a “potentially catastrophic” landfall on the western coast of Mexico. This is hurricane Patricia. At that time, the super storm is a Category 5. Weather scientists predict 20 inches of rain and 200 miles per hour winds…
Continue reading On the Trail of Hurricane Patricia