Microwaves, Play-Doh and Teflon – how accidental discoveries fuel innovation
Feb 15, 2016 13:19 pm UTC| Technology Science
Accidents will happen and as far as innovation is concerned, thats a good thing. While much of any business persons attention is focused on bringing new ideas to market or making systematic and strategically targeted...
What would happen if Earth fell into a black hole?
Feb 15, 2016 13:14 pm UTC| Science
Black holes have long been a source of much excitement and intrigue. And interest regarding black holes will surely grow now that gravitational waves have been discovered. Many of the questions I am asked regard how...
Stem cells could help treat multiple sclerosis – but it's still early days
Feb 15, 2016 10:22 am UTC| Health Science
Multiple sclerosis affects millions of people worldwide. Its a neurological disease characterised by inflammatory lesions in the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) that cause damage to the myelin sheath ...
Gravitational waves add a new note to our musical universe
Feb 15, 2016 03:50 am UTC| Science
Last weeks announcement on the existence of gravitational waves confirms something philosophers and musicians have known for a long time: the universe is musical. The key pursuit of metaphysics is to understand the...
What's the point of theoretical physics?
Feb 13, 2016 14:49 pm UTC| Insights & Views Science
You dont have to be a scientist to get excited about breakthroughs in theoretical physics. Discoveries such as gravitational waves and the Higgs boson can inspire wonder at the complex beauty of the universe no matter how...
Our obsession with scientists on bank notes is wearing thin
Feb 13, 2016 09:38 am UTC| Science
The civil engineer, the science communicator or the physicist? That was the question Royal Bank of Scotland asked the public as part of its plans for a new 10 note in 2017. Science communicator Mary Somerville was declared...
Gravitational waves: will the global south provide the next pulse of gravity research?
Feb 12, 2016 09:55 am UTC| Science
A little over a century ago, on 25 November 1915, Albert Einstein published a paper entitled Die Feldgleichungen der Gravitation. Its contents would change the world forever. Like any good scientific theory, Einsteins...