Core Sciences
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Measuring gravity: Have we finally cracked it?
Physicists use a fountain of cold atoms to close in on Big G.
More than 300 years after Sir Isaac Newton first grappled with calculating the strength of gravity, measurements cont...
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Scientists identify gene that doubles risk of lung cancer
The gene that when misspelt increases the risk of breast cancer poses added risk for smokers, too...
While scientists may have identified a gene that increases risk of lung cancer, their advice is to stop smoking befor...
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Flying on sunshine – a solar jet fuel
It could revolutionise the way we power aircraft and cars.
The “solar chemical reactor” uses sunlight to split water and carbon dioxide, producing carbon monoxide and hydrogen....
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How to make a superheavy element
The latest addition to the periodic table is the heaviest yet.
The 120-metre long linear accelerator at GSI, which crashes atoms together to form new, heavier elements. – Image cou...
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An alimentary guide to microbes
Scientists have little idea exactly what microbes live in our intestines but believe they play an...
iStock Two facts about the human body often surprise people. One is that our bowels are outside our bodies ...
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Sniffing out cancer
We've know for some time that dogs can detect the scent of diseases including cancer, but new...
Dogs trained over five years show they correctly sniff out bladder cancer in urine samples 93% of the time. – Corbis...
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Make your own spare parts
Can 3D printing solve the organ donor shortage? By Mark Peplow.
The tiny body on the operating table is not breathing. All around him the medical staff at the C.S. Mott Children’s H...
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Neutron beams reveal innermost secrets
3D imaging of everything from rocks to jet engines.
Aircraft engineers and palaeontologists might not seem to have much in common but both sets of scientists are set to ...
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Inside Syria – the search for sarin
When the world weighs up whether to go to war, a lot rides on the accuracy of tests for chemical ...
A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, inspects one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in ...
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Naughty numbers in the news
Statisticians are sensitive souls pained to see data misused by politicians and the media. It’s t...
ISTOCK I love numbers. As a small boy I used to write down car registration plates, and when it came to my ...
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Shakespeare and the stars
Born in the same year as Galileo, he witnessed a cosmic revolution.
Missions to Mars; reading our genomes; Google: welcome to the modern age, where science repeatedly revolutionises our...
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Poo transplants to treat range of diseases
Other people’s faeces is something we instinctively avoid, but the emerging science of the human ...
We face some pretty grim treatment options for the sake of our health. We swallow foul-tasting pills, vaccinate ourse...