How is it that a chef can control their knife to fillet a fish or peel a grape and can wield a cleaver just as efficiently as a paring knife? Even those of us less proficient in the kitchen learn to skilfully handle an astonishing number of different objects throughout our lives, from shoelaces to […]

Referred to as “China’s Venice of the Stone Age”, the Liangzhu excavation site in eastern China is considered one of the most significant testimonies of early Chinese advanced civilisation. More than 5000 years ago, the city already had an elaborate water management system. Until now, it has been controversial what led to the sudden collapse. […]

An international research team have discovered a specific type of gut bacteria in bees that can improve memory. The study, led by scientists from Jiangnan University, China in collaboration with researchers from Queen Mary University of London and the University of Oulu, Finland, have shown that a species of gut bacteria, known as Lactobacillus apis, is […]

Archaeologists have unearthed the first Roman mosaic of its kind in the UK. Today (Thursday 25th November 2021), a rare Roman mosaic and surrounding villa complex have been protected as a Scheduled Monument by DCMS on the advice of Historic England. The decision follows archaeological work undertaken by a team from University of Leicester Archaeological Services […]

A combination of two targeted cancer drugs showed unprecedented, “clinically meaningful” activity in patients with highly malignant brain tumors that carried a rare genetic mutation, according to a clinical trial report by investigators from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The drug combination, which blocked an overactive cell-growth signaling pathway, shrank tumors by 50% or more in one-third of 45 […]

Certain markers of injury to the brain’s white matter, called white matter hyperintensities, can be seen on brain scans. A new study finds that brain scans taken during the lifetimes of athletes in contact sports, compared to changes in their brains at autopsy, showed that white matter hyperintensities were associated with neuropathological changes. The research […]

Humans all over the world play games, but games are not played equally throughout the world’s cultures. Humans might use games to store and teach cultural-specific information to community members. For example, if you think of the last game that you played, was it a cooperative game, a competitive game, or a game that you […]

An experimental compound reduced complications of type 1 and type 2 diabetes in mice – not by lowering blood sugar – but by countering its consequences: cell death, inflammation, and organ damage. Published online in Science Translational Medicine on November 24, the study reported that a new class of compounds blocked the ability of a protein called […]

With Cop26 over and the circus having moved on, we’re left to consider what difference it will make. There’s the good: pledges to curb methane, end deforestation and rein in coal. The bad: failure to reach agreement on phasing out subsidies for fossil fuels and watering down language on phasing out coal. And the ugly: […]

Scientists have uncovered an unusual attractive interaction between two tetrachloridopalladate (PdCl42–) centres. It’s the first time a π hole bond has been reported for two doubly negative dianions. π hole bonds are known to exist in several systems, including square planar palladium complexes and AuCl4– anions. In planar complexes the π holes are regions with […]