Author: EUSci
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Turning invisible: lessons from cephalopod cells
Ellie Bennett looks at the way in which cephalopod cells might hold the key to turning our dreams of invisibility into a reality, albeit at the cellular level. There are few other classes of animal that conjure up such feverish images of deep-sea monsters or otherworldly aliens than that of the cephalopods. Translating from Greek…
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COVID-19, a disease of the blood vessels?
COVID-19 baffled doctors and scientists around the world with its strange symptoms and disproportionate mortality rates. Months after the onset of the pandemic, researchers may finally be closer to understanding how the disease manifests itself in patients. An important clue lies in the circulatory system. Early on, most COVID-19 patients showed signs and symptoms of…
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Growing evidence for climate change that sparked dawn of dinosaurs
During the Carnian Stage in the late Triassic Period, around 237 to 227 million years ago, three major events occurred: the Wrangellia eruptions, the Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE), and the emergence and diversification of dinosaurs. The Wrangellia eruptions, which formed the Wrangellia basalt floods in the eastern Panthalassic Ocean, were major tectonic events that caused…
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What can we learn from ye olde medicine?
Ellie Bennett explores how answers to the global problem of antimicrobial resistance, a decidedly modern phenomenon, may lie in the lotions and potions of our ancient predecessors. The Romans gargled urine for mouthwash, the Ancient Egyptians used dung as remedy for, well, everything and Hippocrates diagnosed his patients’ by nibbling on an amuse bouche of…
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NASA rover ‘Perseverance’ sets off in search of life on Mars
Launched on 30 July, NASA’s Mars 2020 mission is sending the Mars rover ‘Perseverance’ to search for traces of ancient life and study samples of rock and soil in a crater that once held a lake nine times the size of Loch Ness. It was launched at 07:50 local time from Cape Canaveral Air Force…
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Blood iron emerges as a potential key to anti-ageing
Growing old may be an inevitable part of our lives, but can we overcome the wrinkles and debilitating age-related diseases? What is the secret behind why some people spring into old age with energy and good health? According to science, some key answers could lie in your DNA. New research published in Nature Communications has…
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Scientific culture – do we need to slow down?
Seán Dunphy explores how the structures of academic funding and publishing have shaped modern scientific culture. Scotsman Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin is one of the most impactful in science, but Fleming’s intention was never to study antibiotics; rather, it came as an accident while studying Influenza. Like Fleming, neither Jared Leadbetter nor Joseph Mougous…
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Myth-busting the Golden Ratio
[latexpage] The Golden Ratio is widely praised for its aesthetic beauty: has its significance been blown out of proportion? Number enthusiasts are likely familiar with the idea of the golden ratio, and the artistically minded may have heard of its applications in design. The golden ratio is a simple relation between two quantities commonly occurring…
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ESA & NASA Solar Orbiter captures first pictures of ‘campfires’ on the Sun
The first images taken by the spacecraft Solar Orbiter have been released, revealing many miniature solar flares near the surface of the Sun, which have been called ‘campfires’. An international collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA, Solar Orbiter was launched on 10 February 2020 and in mid-June completed its first close pass…
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How do mountains grow?
Climate controlled erosion is often considered the driving force in managing mountain height; however, a recent study concluded that tectonics may have a greater impact than erosion. Armin Dielforder, Ralf Hetzel, and Onno Oncken, the authors of the study, explained that the maximum potential height of a mountain is limited by what can be upheld…