The Mars InSight lander. NASA/JPL-Caltech, CC BY-SA We may have walked on the Moon and sent probes across the solar system, but we know very little about what’s going on…
Technology
‘Cyborg soil’ reveals the secret microbial metropolis beneath our feet
8H/Shutterstock Dig a teaspoon into your nearest clump of soil, and what you’ll emerge with will contain more microorganisms than there are people on Earth. We know this from lab…
Spyware: why the booming surveillance tech industry is vulnerable to corruption and abuse
Zoomik/Shutterstock The world’s most sophisticated commercially available spyware may be being abused, according to an investigation by 17 media organisations in ten countries. Intelligence leaks and forensic phone analysis suggests…
Long COVID: with one in three patients back in hospital after three months, where are the treatments?
The pace of acute therapy and vaccine development for COVID have been dizzying. But even as we hope a route to bringing the pandemic under control is within sight, we’re…
Can consciousness be explained by quantum physics? My research takes us a step closer to finding out
Some scientists believe consciousness is generated by quantum processes, but the theory is yet to be empirically tested. vitstudio/Shutterstock One of the most important open questions in science is how…
COVID data is complex and changeable – expecting the public to heed it as restrictions ease is optimistic
fran_kie/Shutterstock Throughout the pandemic, public health decisions have been based on the government’s interpretation of data. With COVID restrictions lifting in England on Monday July 19, that onus will now…
Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin: can they be more than ‘space’ joyrides for millionaires?
Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson and his team successfully flew to the “edge of space” on the Unity 22 mission aboard a Virgin Galactic plane on July 12. The event was…
Facebook often removes evidence of atrocities in countries like Syria and Myanmar – but we can preserve it
R. Bociaga/Shutterstock Nearly half of the world’s population owns a smartphone. For those living in conflict zones or suffering human rights violations, these devices are crucial. They help ordinary people…
Lab–grown and plant–based meat: the science, psychology and future of meat alternatives – podcast
Would you eat cultured meat? HQuality via Shutterstock How do you mimic meat? We take a look at the science behind plant-based and cultured meat in this episode of The…
Why fans cover their faces when football players take penalties – a psychologist explains
Penalty shootouts in football are one of the most unpredictable and dramatic events in sport, producing moments of utter ecstasy and deep despair in players and managers. As we saw…