We’re often told it is “unscientific” or “meaningless” to ask what happened before the Big Bang. But a new paper by cosmologist Eugene Lim, of King’s College London, UK, and astrophysicists Katy Clough, of Queen Mary University of London, UK, and Josu Aurrekoetxea, at Oxford University, UK, proposes a way forward: using complex computer simulations […]
Authors: Lieke A. Heijmans is an undergraduate student at the Linguistics program of the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Adrià Rofes is associate professor in Neurolinguistics at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Losing the ability to speak doesn’t always mean losing the ability to communicate. For many people living with aphasia (i.e., a language […]
In physics, waves often reveal more than meets the eye. A ripple on a pond looks simple enough, but beneath its surface lies a rich mathematical structure that can connect something as everyday as water to the abstract worlds of optics, acoustics, and even quantum mechanics. A recent work brings this connection vividly to life […]
Author: Samuel Lellouch, Assistant Professor in Digital Twinning, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham A US military space-plane, the X-37B orbital test vehicle, is due to embark on its eighth flight into space on August 21 2025. Much of what the X-37B does in space is secret. But it serves partly as a […]
A team of scientists has discovered a new type of crystal that can “breathe”—releasing and absorbing oxygen repeatedly at relatively low temperatures. This unique ability could transform the way we develop clean energy technologies, including fuel cells, energy-saving windows, and smart thermal devices. The newly developed material is a special kind of metal oxide made […]
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably taken a calculus course before. How was it? Chances are you found it frustrating or, at least, complicated. You may remember one of the most feared parts of calculus courses: the computation of derivatives and integrals. For most students, this is the first time they face a mathematical problem […]
Positron Emission Tomography, or PET, is one of medicine’s most powerful tools for looking inside the human body, revealing not only anatomy but also how tissues are functioning. In a PET scan, a patient receives a tiny dose of a radioactive tracer that emits positrons, the antimatter counterparts of electrons. When a positron encounters an […]
Authors: Adam Brumm, Professor of Archaeology, Griffith University; Basran Burhan, PhD Candidate, Archaeology, Griffith University; Gerrit (Gert) van den Bergh, Researcher in Palaeontology, University of Wollongong; Maxime Aubert, Professor of Archaeological Science, Griffith University, and Renaud Joannes-Boyau, Professor in Geochronology and Geochemistry, Southern Cross University Stone tools dating to at least 1.04 million years ago […]
Astronomers have discovered potentially the most massive black hole ever detected. The cosmic behemoth is close to the theoretical upper limit of what is possible in the universe and is 10,000 times heavier than the black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy. It exists in one of the most massive galaxies […]
Biochemistry • Biotechnology • Catalysis • Chemical engineering • Chemistry
Authors: Fernando López-Gallego, Principal Investigator, Ikerbasque Professor and group leader at the Heterogeneous Biocatalysis Laboratory at CIC biomaGUNE; Ainhoa Oliden-Sánchez, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Heterogeneous Biocatalysis Laboratory at CIC biomaGUNE; Clara García-Gorro, Science Communication Manager at CIC biomaGUNE. Self-sufficient heterogeneous biocatalysts are emerging as powerful tools for greener, more efficient chemical manufacturing. By cleverly combining […]