Comment And Analysis - Laboratory News

Science and the popular press have never been the best of friends – yet babbler-extraordinaire Russ Swan thinks all that is changing. But are red-tops really becoming our best advocates? ...

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Science and politics – a match made in heaven?

April 3, 2012

A ship with giant towers pumping out white clouds to reflect the suns energy and hence act to alleviate warming across the Arctic – sounds like a child’s solution to...

Screening for CF

March 26, 2012

Eureka moments are scarce in the business of combating disease. Finding a ‘cure’ is all too rare an event and more often than not the big successes come in the...

Celebrities versus science

March 16, 2012

Celebrity endorsement is worth big bucks – it’s hard to watch TV without seeing a celebrity advertising the latest make up, sports equipment or holiday destination. But what happens when...

Rules for TV scientists

March 15, 2012

Glamorous, sexy and brilliant – the TV scientist of today is an all-round hero, but as our babbler-in-chief Russ Swan has discovered, there are still a few rules even they...

A very strange tail indeed

March 9, 2012

Fermat’s last theorem and the Poincaré conjecture – just two of the great mathematical problems that have tested and teased humanity’s love affair with numbers for generations. And it is...

All change

March 1, 2012

If there is one thing that is consistent in this world, it is change. We may be fooled into a sense of constancy by the apparently stationary nature of Earth’s...

Silicone scam

February 20, 2012

Industrial-grade silicon caused a global public-health scare – whose fault is it?The recent public-health care scandal will no doubt have caught your eye – 300,000 women in 65 countries are...

How many Fry are you?

February 15, 2012

Ever wondered how many Fry’s you are? Or how big your house is in RAHs? Perhaps you think your appearance is up to milliHelen levels? This month Russ Swan takes...

The colour of our galaxy

February 1, 2012

We know a lot about our celestial neighbourhood. The galaxy in which our solar system resides has been the focus of many outstanding minds for many generations.We know, for example,...