COVER STORIES
- FEATURES Martin Rees interview: Elon Musk could spawn the first post-humans
- FEATURES Creatures living in our cities are evolving in some surprising ways
- FEATURES Middle-age spread isn’t down to metabolism, but we know how to beat it
Category Archives: Science
Cover Preview: Nature Magazine – March 10
History & Science: Ancient Texts Deciphered With AI
The origins of ancient inscriptions are often shrouded in mystery. Writing carved into stone millennia ago can be hard to read and is often missing entire sections of the text. Now a neural network, trained on thousands of existing inscriptions, could help historians figure out when and where a piece of writing comes from – as well as fill in missing words and characters.
Read the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158…
Science: 2021 Top ‘Flash Fiction’ Short Stories
Microbes: A Microscopic View Of The Human Body
Among the unknown worlds in the universe, we can count our very own bodies. Like planet earth, each of us is made up of fascinating landscapes that are home to all kinds of wildlife.
The film takes the viewer on a unique microscopic safari, where we encounter some of the myriad creatures that live, thrive, compete, feed, are born and die on or inside our bodies. In fact, microscopic creatures play a more powerful role than we know: These life forms impact our health, our life expectancy, our physique and even our behavior.
The film renders these hidden worlds visible with the help of special effects: Combining cinematic electron microscopy with a super macro film technique. The documentary explains cutting-edge scientific findings, by turns surprising, enlightening and amazing. It raises questions about who we are, and how we exist in the unexplored, complex ecosystems that help constitute us.
We are born 100% human, but will die 90% microbial. Between these two points in our lives lies the unexplored terrain of ‘Life on Us’.
Science: Nuclear War Threat, Climate Change, Coronavirus Origins
As the war in Ukraine intensifies, Vladimir Putin raised Russia’s nuclear readiness level. The team discusses what this means about the likelihood of nuclear war. They also explore the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the country.
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is out, and it focuses on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. We hear from Swenja Surminski, head of adaptation research at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
New studies into the start of the coronavirus pandemic are confirming what we’ve long suspected – that the virus originated at the Huanan food market in Wuhan. The team discusses the latest findings.
Moles – the animals that make holes in your lawn – are non-binary. Just one of a number of amazing facts to come out of the new book ‘BITCH: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution & the Female Animal’. Hear from the author Lucy Cooke, who is challenging the sexist basis of much of the thinking about female animals.
Stonehenge may have been built as a giant calendar. Though the claim itself isn’t new, the team explores a new theory from the archaeologist Tim Darvill which explains how it would’ve worked.
Cover Preview: Science Magazine – March 4
Cover Preview: Nature Magazine – March 3
This Week
- Editorial | 28 February 2022Wanted: better systems for turning evidence into actionThe pandemic created a colossal demand for scientific evidence to inform decision-making. Now researchers are mapping out what went wrong and what needs to change.
- Editorial | 01 March 2022Nature is trialling transparent peer review — the early results are encouragingLast year, nearly half of Nature authors agreed to publish anonymous referee reports. We hope that more will consider doing so this year.
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