Author: EUSci
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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…
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Feeling the heat: why the South Pole is warming up so quickly
The South Pole is one of the coldest and most remote regions on our planet. It is a polar desert of long and sunless winters, quasi-continuous frigid winds, and precious little wildlife or vegetation. But as distant and inaccessible as it may be, it is not so isolated that it is exempt from the changes…
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COVID-19 may trigger diabetes
There is emerging evidence that the relationship between COVID-19 and diabetes is bi-directional. Recent observations suggest that COVID-19 symptoms are not only exacerbated by diabetes but that SARS-CoV-2 (the virus causing COVID-19) also triggers the development of diabetes in non-diabetic COVID-19 patients. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that the risk of…
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Dexamethasone: a steroid superhero?
With the US buying up the world’s stock of Remdesivir, will dexamethasone emerge as the wonder cure to save lives amidst this pandemic? Researchers have made an exciting discovery in the race to find effective therapies against COVID-19. Dexamethasone, a cheap and widely prescribed steroid, has emerged triumphant in the RECOVERY trial conducted at the…
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Stem cells could bypass embryo laws to shine a light on human development
14 Days. This is the maximum number of days researchers are allowed to sustain an embryo. In 1979, when this policy was first proposed by the Ethics Advisory Board of the US Department of Health, Education and Wealthfare, culturing an embryo ex vivo (removed from the body) was an extremely difficult and expensive task, and…
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Rewriting astronomy: have gravitational waves revealed an object to fill the mass gap?
When two massive objects collide in space, ripples in space-time are sent through the universe. These ripples – gravitational waves – can be detected, and give an insight into what they may have been. Last August, the LIGO-Virgo collaboration detected gravitational waves from what was reported as the collision of a black hole and a…
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You are what you eat: is cannibalism a good idea?
During lockdown I, like many, have been watching more TV shows. My most recent watch was Hannibal. For those who don’t know, Hannibal is a horror-thriller TV series which follows Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a forensic scientist and secret cannibal. Recently, writers and directors have been reframing cannibalism for entertainment purposes, treating their subjects not as…
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Has lockdown sparked a change in our energy habits?
We like to think that, as individuals, we are unique and original. In fact, as a group, we are utterly predictable. Monday through Friday, the majority of the UK population wakes up around 7, commutes, works 9 to 5, then jumps into evening traffic, and arrives home to make themselves some dinner and a nice…