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Science

Essays and videos exploring physics, evolution, cosmology and other frontiers in science
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Biotechnology

The two women behind a world-changing scientific discovery

14 minutes

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video

Biotechnology

What it’s like to wear a prosthetic that ‘feels’

6 minutes

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video

Technology and the self

Adaptive technologies have helped Stephen Hawking, and many more, find their voice

5 minutes

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Biotechnology

The uncanny art inspired by evolution and generated by ‘crossbreeding’ images

5 minutes

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essay

Language and linguistics

The space between our heads

Brain-to-brain interfaces promise to bypass language. But do we really want access to one another’s unmediated thoughts?

Mark Dingemanse

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Music

Can biofeedback help to unlock the mysteries of music’s therapeutic effects?

6 minutes

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Biotechnology

How harnessing the power of dogs could help scientists sniff out cancer early

7 minutes

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idea

Genetics

Like the emperor’s new clothes, DNA kits are a tailored illusion

George Estreich

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Biotechnology

Spidergoats to the rescue! How to make silk from milk with genetic engineering

6 minutes

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Biology

If we made life in a lab, would we understand it differently?

Rebecca Wilbanks

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essay

Earth science and climate

Life goes deeper

The Earth is not a solid mass of rock: its hot, dark, fractured subsurface is home to weird and wonderful life forms

Gaetan Borgonie & Maggie Lau

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essay

Technology and the self

Natural, shmatural

Mother Nature might be lovely, but moral she is not. She doesn’t love us or want what’s best for us

Molly Hodgdon

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idea

Future of technology

Humans have long wished to fly like birds: maybe we shall

Nicholas Carr

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Sports and games

The solution to doping is to extend the blame beyond athletes

Silvia Camporesi & James Knuckles

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idea

Genetics

We made a minimal cell and began a synthetic-life revolution

Dan Gibson

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essay

Biotechnology

Bio-techne

Half-human soldiers, robot servants and eagle drones – the Greeks got there first. Could an AI learn from their stories?

Adrienne Mayor

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essay

The environment

Sunshine in a bottle

Mimic the dance between carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, and you can tap into clean solar energy and ease climate change

Peter Forbes

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Biotechnology

Biohackers should produce a microbial uberfood for the world

Dawn Field

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Art

Spray the DNA away – an artist’s stand against encroaching genetic surveillance

4 minutes

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Ecology and environmental sciences

How beautiful bioluminescent bacteria can expose invisible water pollution

3 minutes

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Evolution

How chameleons change colours not to blend in, but for nearly opposite reasons

4 minutes

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Bioethics

The mini robots that may show how to ‘programme’ cells for improved performance

4 minutes

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Bioethics

Why finding creative ways to end our reliance on meat may be a moral imperative

3 minutes

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video

Ecology and environmental sciences

Will life-forms that can go a century without water save crops from droughts?

3 minutes