Confessions of a chemist: I make molecules that shouldn't exist

Feb 02, 2016 12:19 pm UTC| Science

At drinks parties and dinners, if someone asks what I do for a living, I always say: Synthetic chemist … I make new molecules … especially those that shouldnt exist. People typically respond that they were...

We can't trust common sense but we can trust science

Feb 02, 2016 05:54 am UTC| Science

When a group of Australians was asked why they believed climate change was not happening, about one in three (36.5%) said it was common sense, according to a report published last year by the CSIRO. This was the most...

The experiments trying to crack physics' 'biggest' question: what is dark energy?

Feb 01, 2016 13:37 pm UTC| Science

We live in interesting times. For thousands of years, we have thought we knew what the universe and everything in it was made of: normal matter, the kind that make up the elements of the periodic table. However, the...

Flat wrong: the misunderstood history of flat Earth theories

Jan 29, 2016 06:44 am UTC| Science

For most people, being described as a flat Earther is an insult. The idea of the Earth being flat is considered not only wrong, but a model of wrongness, the gold standard of being incorrect about something. This being...

Why would anyone believe the Earth is flat?

Jan 29, 2016 06:41 am UTC| Science

Belief in a flat Earth seems a bit like the attempt to eradicate polio just when you think its gone, a pocket of resistance appears. But the flat Earthers have always been with us; its just that they usually operate under...

Can citizen science empower disenfranchised communities?

Jan 27, 2016 06:04 am UTC| Science

Early in 2015, a group calling itself the Nappy Science Gang hit the parenting scene in the U.K. It was made up of moms and dads who used cloth nappies or diapers with their kids, and wanted to know the best ways to keep...

Explainer: why are cities warmer than the countryside?

Jan 25, 2016 10:29 am UTC| Science

In cities, the air, surface and soil temperatures are almost always warmer than in rural areas. This effect is known as the Urban Heat Island a term which first came into use in the mid-20th century. Until the 1980s, this...