The Earth as a Generator – Somerville and Another Kind of Electricity

Mary Somerville, a Scottish polymath in the 1830s, grappled with the challenges of scientific criticism and financial strain while writing her opus, “Connexion of the Physical Sciences.” Her innovative ideas about electromagnetism and Earth’s potential as an energy source inspired future research, culminating in recent experiments that partially confirmed her theories, marking a significant scientific milestone.

A Science for Socialists?: what the history of eugenics can tell us about contemporary political divisions

UCL’s historical ties to eugenics reveal a complex narrative; it was central to eugenic research in Britain, supported by figures like Galton and Pearson. As a pseudoscience rooted in social control, eugenics intertwined with early 20th-century socialism, promoting reproductive policies under the guise of progress. Its legacy complicates current political discourse.

How Iron Man Inspires the Use of Nanotechnology in Medicine

Nanotechnology has advanced significantly, particularly in medicine, enhancing drug delivery and cancer treatments. Nanotherapeutics, including liposomal formulations and polymer-based drugs, show promise despite challenges in solubility, cost, and safety. Research continues on smart nanomedicines and their clinical applications, with a focus on improving patient outcomes and tackling neurodegenerative diseases.

Temperature Tailored Turtles

Temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) influences sex in reptiles like turtles and crocodiles, relying on incubation temperature rather than genetics. As global warming threatens these species, skewed sex ratios and extinction risks increase. Adaptive shifts in nesting behavior are insufficient, requiring urgent conservation actions and climate policies to protect TSD species’ survival.

Has AlphaFold Cracked the Code?

AlphaFold2, developed by Demis Hassabis and others, has transformed protein structure prediction, achieving nearly 90% accuracy in minutes compared to traditional methods like x-ray crystallography. While it predicts over 2 million protein structures and aids in vaccine development, limitations remain in capturing a protein’s full dynamics and ensuring prediction reliability.

Roots to stars: the increasing attention plants are getting in deep space voyage plans

The article discusses mankind’s potential colonization of interstellar planets, emphasizing the unsustainability of traditional food packaging for space missions. It highlights the significance of plants in bioregenerative life support systems, their adaptation to microgravity and gamma radiation, and the benefits of gamma radiation in enhancing plant resilience and productivity, crucial for future space colonization and addressing climate change.