Category Archives: News

Live Video Last Space Shuttle Launch

It’s the last launch of the space shuttle fleet. Watch NASA’s live video stream here… Live Video for Mobile from Ustream

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What Happened To The UK Drought?

A few weeks ago we were being warned of drought conditions and that farmers were sufferering (wheat yields could be down 14%). The ever-vigilant Environment Agency (an Executive Non-departmental Public Body!) issued an official drought notice for East Anglia with other areas … Continue reading

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Air Pollution Makes Asthma Worse

A scientific study by a team of French scientists, reported in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, part of the British Medical Journal group of scientific journals, has looked at the effect of air pollution (measured as ozone (O3), nitrous … Continue reading

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New World Speed Record – Markus Stöckl

According to Red Bull, the Austrian cyclist Markus Stockl set a new speed record for a “serial production mountain bike on gravel” when he descended the Cerro Negro active volcano in Nicaragua at 164.95 kph (102 mph), which eclipsed the speed set … Continue reading

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Will Dyeing Grey Hair Become History?

Scientists are closing in on what causes grey hair, raising hopes that “going grey” and having to dye your hair as you age may become a thing of the past. Always a sure sign of aging, in both men and … Continue reading

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Did Prehistoric People Live On Boreray?

A recent discovery by an archeological expedition to Boreray, St Kilda, Scotland, found that the remote island once had a population of farmers which may date back to the Iron Age. Boreray is part of the St Kilda archipelago, 40 … Continue reading

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Blood Red Moon Wed 15th June 2011

If you’re looking up at the Moon on Wednesday, 15th June 2011, be prepared for a shock. For about 100 minutes, there will be a lunar eclipse and the Moon will go blood red. Moon watchers in the UK will … Continue reading

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Sun Explodes Into Action

After one of the longest and deepest solar minimums in years… As of March 31st 2009, there were no sunspots on 78 of the year’s 90 days (87%). It adds up to one inescapable conclusion: “We’re experiencing a very deep … Continue reading

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Fijit Tops Christmas Toy List 2011

Yes, it’s only June, but we’ve seen a sneak peek of the Christmas Toys that are tipped to be hot favourites for 2011 and we wanted to see if there were any scientific toys in there among the usual cheap … Continue reading

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Daily Mail Science Gaffe

So, boffins at CERN have managed to capture antimatter and store it for 5,000 times longer than before… but is that period of time 16 minutes or 16 seconds? Please study the picture above, taken from the front page of … Continue reading

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Werewolf Gene – Cure For Baldness?

The discovery of a chromosomal mutation which, when incorrectly expressed, gives rise to hair growth all over the body (hypertrichosis, or congenital hypertrichosis syndrome [CGH]), has resulted in speculation that changing how the gene works in the scalps of men with male-pattern-baldness … Continue reading

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Colliding Galaxies – Should Be Fun!

Apparently, in 5 BILLION years from now, our galaxy (the Milky Way) will collide with another galaxy (the Mars Bar Andromeda) which will result in all kinds of fun events such as new star formation. If that’s not enough to … Continue reading

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Aussie Solves Universe’s Missing Mass Riddle

A young Australian undergraduate has been named lead author of a breakthrough scientific paper (“An estimate of the electron density in filaments of galaxies at z~0.1“ abstract, full paper), due to the work she performed in uncovering the missing mass of the … Continue reading

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Eww. A Jumping Cockroach!

Last week I wrote about the top ten new species of 2011, and was pretty impressed by the disgusting 2-inch leech found up a girl’s nose in Peru. What I didn’t pay as much attention to was the discovery of … Continue reading

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Where Did The Moon Come From?

It’s generally accepted that the Moon was originally part of the Earth until, one day, huge amounts of earthly matter were ripped away from the planet by the impact of an enormous celestial object, probably the size of Mars. Slowly, … Continue reading

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