Study of one-handed people reveals how the brain adapts after losing a body part

Apr 30, 2017 14:16 pm UTC| Science

Understanding how the human brain works is one of the most important goals of science. And one of the first steps to uncovering its secrets lies in working out how the brain is actually organised. Our current view goes...

The internet is enabling scientists to understand how 'collective memory' works

Apr 30, 2017 14:13 pm UTC| Insights & Views Science Technology

The internet has brought change to almost everything in our lives. In particular, the ways we acquire knowledge have significantly changed, partly due to online knowledge repositories such as Wikipedia. In fact, it has...

How to fix India's burning issue: turn unwanted straw into bio-energy pellets

Apr 30, 2017 14:12 pm UTC| Insights & Views Science

Each year, fires rage across northern India, as farmers burn off their unwanted straw. The impact is enormous. From October into November, massive clouds of smoke streak across Punjab and neighbouring states, blown by the...

Space Science Series

How many people actually believe in astrology?

Apr 30, 2017 14:06 pm UTC| Insights & Views Science

Astrology and horoscope columns are a familiar feature of tabloid newspapers, womens magazines and the web. They claim, controversially for some, that there is a meaningful relationship between celestial and terrestrial...

Earth Day Protest Highlights Desperate Situation Of Science And Existing Hope

Apr 24, 2017 07:02 am UTC| Science

A few days ago, the world celebrated Earth Day. It was meant to be a time when humanity recognized the importance of Mother Nature, highlighting its plight in some form of solidarity. However, what ended up happening is...

Degrees of separation: companies shed degree requirements to promote merit over qualifications

Apr 18, 2017 06:04 am UTC| Insights & Views Science

At the end of 2016, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that close to two-thirds of all Australians had completed a degree or apprenticeship. The growth in the number of people attending a university or...

Death metal: how nickel played a role in the world's worst mass extinction

Apr 17, 2017 01:40 am UTC| Science

Around 250 million years ago, life on Earth nearly came to an end, in a mass extinction between the Permian and Triassic periods known as the Great Dying. Some 90% of the species in the oceans and 70% of vertebrate...