Post Overview
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Analysis
8 years ago+21 21 0Kiss Me Under the Parasitic Angiosperm
Mistletoe is held in high regard at this time of year. No Christmas decorations are complete without a garland of cheerful mistletoe hanging on the door. In nature, though, many species of mistletoe, such as Viscum album, are actually parasitic pests ...
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Current Event
8 years ago+2 2 0"The public is not going to be allowed much of a role in defining the public good"
Slightly worrying outcome in a recent report from Sir Paul Nurse that overlooks the involvement of the public in setting science policy.
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Analysis
8 years ago+21 21 0The ancient power of wearing red
Nowadays, where colour is concerned, we wear what we choose. But that has not always been the case. In Tudor England, successive monarchs tried to define social status by dress - Henry VIII passed four separate pieces of sumptuary legislation during ...
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Analysis
8 years ago+22 22 0Stress hormones in breast milk may help prepare us for a turbulent world
Experiments on rats dating back to the 1980s show beneficial effects of stress on offspring. When researchers spiked nursing mothers’ water with corticosterone (the rat equivalent of human cortisol) to mimick mild stress, their pups learned faster, h ...
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Current Event
8 years ago+11 11 0The FDA has fast tracked the approval of a naloxone nasal spray that reverses opioid overdoses
The CDC reports that expanded use of naloxone is one of the most important ways to respond to the heroin epidemic. This nasal spray is designed to be a fast, easy way to help deal with the 286% increase in heroin overdose deaths that has been seen ov ...
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Analysis
8 years ago+11 11 0The difficulty of using the word “cure” when it comes to developing new treatments for diseases like cancer
George Church, from Harvard Medical School, puts it best: “We have a [cancer] revolution, and it’s a positive one. When and where that’s going to translate into cures for diseases is impossible to talk about”.
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Analysis
8 years ago+2 2 0Constructing the Statue of Liberty - in the middle of Paris - took 11 years and lots of Copper
In the early 1870s, inspired by the abolition of slavery and the Union victory in the American Civil War, French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi seized upon an idea. He would build a monumental gift for the United States, a gesture of friendship ...
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Current Event
8 years ago+26 26 0A tour through Svalbard's Global Seed Vault, where our food future is protected from the apocalypse.
Science editor David Shukman goes deep inside an Arctic mountain to see the world's most important seed store.
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Current Event
8 years ago+20 20 0New research will cultivate Britain's food future by developing fruits that flourish in heavy rain
Government backing means scientists in Kent are ensuring we can grow more, buy more and sell more British fruit whatever the weather.
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Current Event
8 years ago+13 13 0Join the Pumpkin Rescue
Don't let your Halloween pumpkin guts join the other 18,000 tons in landfill - make a pie! You'll be a genuine Gourd-ian Angel.
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Analysis
8 years ago+30 30 0The science behind finding the perfect teapot
The pouring speed! The spout design! Here's your science-based guide to finding the perfect teapot.
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Analysis
8 years ago+24 24 0Mis-reported 2001 study that supported the use of depression drugs to treat teens actually shows no clinical benefit & more harmful behaviour
SmithKline Beecham’s Study 329 looked at the effectiveness of two drugs to treat major depression in teenagers, and was originally published in 2001. The outcome of this trial was used to support the use of anti-depressants in adolescents. The resu ...
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Analysis
8 years ago+2 2 0Probiotic Microbes Help Drive 'Infectious Evolution'
Animals that acquire certain types of new probiotic bacteria can repel infectious pathogenic invaders. This speedy type of 'infectious evolution' comes along with a substantial survival advantage.
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Current Event
8 years ago+31 31 0New research from the International Space Station shows that when astronauts lose bone mineral density during spaceflight, it's down to these lil guys
Using fish reared in the ISS, 250 miles above the Earth, scientists from the Tokyo Institute of Technology show that astronauts lose bone mineral density due to the inappropriate activation of cells called osteoclasts, which break down bone tissue.
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Analysis
8 years ago+26 26 0Researchers have discovered a better way to wait in line, and you’re going to hate it
The typical first-come, first-serve system of waiting in line is incredibly inefficient. Danish researchers have now shown that a last-come, first-serve system, which maddeningly serves those who entered the line most recently first, is the most effi ...
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Video/Audio
8 years ago+1 2 1The solar system built to scale - in the Nevada desert
On a dry lakebed in Nevada, a group of friends build the first scale model of the solar system with complete planetary orbits: a true illustration of our place in the universe.
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Analysis
8 years ago+21 21 0Start secondary school - and work - at 10am to improve learning and productivity
Sleep patterns naturally change over the course of a lifetime. Studies indicate that most people between the ages of 10-55 are missing out on 2-3 hours sleep each day because natural sleep patterns are misaligned with the standard 9am start.
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Expression
8 years ago+21 21 0Here's What Disney's Ursula the Sea Witch Would Look Like If She Lived In Different Ocean Environments
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Current Event
8 years ago+16 16 0Beaver Genome Project
Oregon State University is crowdsourcing funding to sequence the genome of their mascot - the beaver! Yeah, beaver science!
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Current Event
8 years ago+2 2 0Birds can be infected with avian flu after sharing resources with sick skunks or rabbits
The potential role of wild animals in spreading avian influenza A virus has received a lot of attention in recent years. Birds are capable of transmitting this virus to mammals, but the contrasting cycle, where a mammal transmits the virus back to bi ...