Science Follow

This year marks the centenary of Alan Turing’s birth

The scientific world has been shaken by developments in the OPERA (Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tracking Apparatus) collaboration. Researchers from over 48 different institutions across the world have recorded neutrinos travelling 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light in a vacuum between a source and a detector.

Richard York and Brett Clark

A strange case is the disorder called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Brain science—neuroscience—is big business, big science and big research. Neuroscientists are offering to explain, mend and manipulate the mind. Many see no problems with this.

Natural events such as volcanic eruptions can test faultlines in society­ – as well as those in the Earth’s crust from which they arise.

Sometimes the speed with which science moves can be startling, even to scientists. The 1990s film Gattaca is set in a future in which everyone aspires to conceive via IVF so they can select those embryos with the best genetic profile for their offspring.

What’s wrong with the way the media talks about science?

Shocking evidence has emerged that CIA medical personnel were centrally involved in torture at US detention sites such as Guantanamo.

Stem cells are in the news again with two stories hitting the headlines recently. The first was a report that sperm could be produced artificially from embryonic stem cells. Then last week came the revelation that ordinary skin cells can be reprogrammed to grow into a brand new individual.

The origin of the human species is still a subject of fierce political debate. The question of whether modern day humans evolved together or are in fact separate races has social as well as historical significance.

The headlines have been apocalyptic – a new outbreak of swine flu is in danger of engulfing the world.