Category: News
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A future without malaria?
The mosquito could easily be termed the ‘most dangerous animal in the world’ due to its capacity to act as a carrier for infectious diseases such as malaria, zika, chikungunya and dengue which have deadly effects on human life. Diseases such as these are responsible for the death of over a million people worldwide every…
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SpaceX’s first Commercial Spaceflight
On Saturday the 30th of May, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft launched at 3.22p.m. EDT from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral. The mission took US astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station (ISS). This mission, part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, marks the return of human spaceflight capabilities to the…
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Donald Trump ends US relationship with World Health Organisation
In a move which has been perceived by many as characteristically controversial, US President Donald Trump has announced that he is ending the United States’ relationship with the WHO. In an increasingly interconnected world, as global trade and travel continue to grow, it is perhaps inevitable that pandemics have become one of the biggest threats…
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Dogs to train as COVID-19 detectors
The world faces a global pandemic, and man’s best friend is joining the fight against infection. Dogs are being trained to sniff and detect coronavirus infections in humans before the onset of symptoms, to offer a speedy screening method for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. In recent weeks, we have all heard of the importance…
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Oldest galaxy disk yet to be observed: ‘Wolfe Disk’ formed soon after the Big Bang
Astronomers have found a galaxy with a disk that formed just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang – early enough to challenge current ideas about galaxy formation. Massive disk galaxies, like our Milky Way, were expected to have formed around 3 or 4 billion years after the Big Bang. However, Marcel Neeleman at the…
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NASA x SpaceX Launch
After almost a decade, NASA is sending a crewed rocket into space from the US to the ISS (International Space Station). The Falcon-9 rocket has been designed by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. This is the first time NASA has used a private firm for a US crew launch. The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial…
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Biobanks in the ranks
The virus which causes COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) has been particularly cryptic in its strike pattern. There is a wide variation in expression and severity of symptoms from person to person; with some people experiencing nothing more than a dry cough, and others bedbound in intensive care. In working out why this is the case, researchers are…
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Can neutrinos shed some light on the imbalance of the universe?
One of the Universe’s greatest mysteries revolves around antimatter, or rather the lack thereof. Physicists are convinced that when our Universe began, matter and antimatter should have been created and dispersed in equal amounts. However, it is evident that we live in a Universe that is almost entirely dominated by matter. It’s just as well…
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The mixed promise of antibody tests
As many countries in Europe tentatively begin to ease restrictions, experts are debating the confounding question of how to exit lockdown and restart the economy under the enduring threat of coronavirus. Antibody tests have been touted as one possible means to assess who may have acquired immunity to the virus and could therefore return to…
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The Million Pound Brain Prize: Edinburgh University Researcher Celebrated as 2020 Prizewinner
Fundamental and pioneering. This is how the selection committee for the prestigious and internationally-recognised Lundbeck Foundation Brain Prize has described the work of 2020 prize-winners Prof. Sir Adrian Bird and Prof. Huda Zoghbi. Having both made outstanding contributions to the field of neuroscience, they will now share the 10 million DKK (around £1.17 million) prize,…