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Spring wiring our body clock

Christine Jameson reviews ticking new research that reveals a genetic mechanism of how seasons affect our biological rhythms. [Full Article]

Attraction: what makes someone ‘fit’?

With spring in the air boosting our hormones and desires, it's time to take a look at some of the scientific theories behind what makes us attracted to potential love partner. [Full Article]

Manchester leads “White Biotechnology” approach to Industry

Robert Soltysiak investigates 'white biotechnology', a new approach that aims to reduce toxic waste output generated from industrial processes. The University of Manchester is at the forefront of expanding on such environmentally friendly approaches. [Full Article]

Hot Topics

In Hot Topics this week, read on diet pills based on chili peppers, mice that make their own pain killers and Britain welcomes the majestic crane back to the isles. [Full Article]

Obesity Prejudice in Healthcare Students

Manchester researchers working in conjunction with Yale and Hawaii Universities, have shown that so-called ‘fatism’, or prejudice against overweight people is rife amongst healthcare students. These new results also show that these prejudices are learnt, and can thus be reversed. [Full Article]

Professor Brian Cox Manchester public talk

Professor Brian Cox gave a public talk at Manchester University on the 22nd of April. Neil Ashton reviews what the popular Professor had to say about the universe, particle physics and the Higgins Boson. [Full Article]

Vitamin D – Not Just for Strong Bones

Michael Harris reports on a newly found role for vitamin D, as new research from the University of Manchester suggests that it can help prevent the effects of aging on memory deterioration. [Full Article]

Teeming with life deep in the sea

Louise Maddison reports on a newly located microbial carpet found off the coast of Peru. The research was conducted by the Cencus of Marine Life project, which has thus far indentified 20 million new microbial species - exceeding previous estimations of marine life diversity. [Full Article]

Exam Stress – getting the balance right

Trouble sleeping, excessive snacking, heart palpitations? Oh yes - it’s revision time! Although all these negative symptoms can be attributed to the release of stress hormones – you’ll be relieved to know that stress can also help you remember. Just last month, scientists finally cracked the cellular mechanism by which stress hormones boost long-term memory. [Full Article]

Hot Topics

Erica Burnell reviews this week's best science stories. Read about the tiniest forces ever measured, intelligent crows and memory-boosting dreams! [Full Article]

How long can the brain concentrate

This week the popular science magazine New Scientist raised a fairly important question just in time for exams; ‘How long can you concentrate?’ We all spend late nights in the library and often find our thoughts drifting to something much more interesting than our work. But how does our brain [Full Article]

Women in science – pitfalls and hopes

Angela Wipperman looks at why science, engineering and technology graduates opt out of scientific careers after graduating. [Full Article]

Ritual offerings, the Ancient Egyptian killer

A new discovery by Manchester egyptologists, which suggests that ancient Egyptian high priests experienced early deaths from eating high-fat food offerings originally destined for the gods. [Full Article]

Hot Topics

Erica Burnell reviews this week's top science news. Read about the newly discovered element to be added to your periodic table, and the first multicellular organism that doesn't require oxygen to live. [Full Article]

Plastic degrading fungus

When someone says ‘fungus’, we quite often think of that greenish-blue fuzz growing on bread or that grey stuff in the cup that no one could really be bothered to clean at the time. The truth, however, is that without fungus and a whole range of other microorganisms to [Full Article]

Placebos– sugar pills or a cure?

We all know that clinical trials test their ‘real’ treatments against sugar pills, also known as placebos. But what happens when both produce the same effect? A report in Scientific American concluded that placebos are becoming increasingly effective in trials, particularly against painkillers. While the conventional drugs worked well in patients, [Full Article]

Hot topics

Darmstadt, Germany Throw out your old periodic table!  A new element, Copernicium, has been officially approved by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, 14 years after its first discovery in Darmstadt, Germany.  Copernicium is the 112th element and, with an atomic mass of 278, is the heaviest element [Full Article]

Something to sing about

A lot of us probably couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. Perhaps more of us should try to, though, as music may have more of an effect on your brain than you think. Research conducted at the Harvard Medical School in Boston has now found that teaching stroke patients [Full Article]

Deleting cancer genes

Scientists are constantly on the lookout for genes that cause cancer, the killer disease of our times that is estimated to affect one in three people. Research conducted at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge has revealed a new twist to the story of how cancer develops. Instead of focusing on which genes are implicated, the question seems to rather be where the genes are located. [Full Article]

‘Plasma state’ unveils mystery of the universe

Physicists at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York state, USA, have come one step closer to answering one of the most important mysteries about the birth of the universe – why it didn’t destroy itself less than a trillionth of a second after it began. [Full Article]

Fat plant genes promise a greener future

Growing trees takes a lifetime, right? Well, not anymore! Botanists at our own Faculty of Life Sciences have discovered a way to speed up plant growth with the aim of future biofuel use! By unravelling the mechanism of how a plant grows outwards, Professor Simon Turner and his budding team of plant scientists have found how to quickly produce wood and thus increase biomass production. [Full Article]

Hot Topics

Erica Burnell reviews some of the top science stories from the past week from across the UK. Among the topics is the controversial finding that boredom may actually shorten your life expectancy! [Full Article]

The Lancet retracts controversial MMR-autism paper

Last week, the high impact scientific journal The Lancet published an official retraction of the article that suggested a link between the MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccine and the neural disorder, autism. When the original research paper was published in 1998, it caused confusion and anger amongst both the [Full Article]

Homeopathy: Nothing in it?

On the 30th of January, over 400 people nationwide including some in Manchester, attempted to ‘overdose’ on homeopathic remedies. The skeptics, belonging to the 1023.org.uk campaign, had two aims; to demonstrate that homeopathic pills are “nothing but sugar”, and to pressure pharmacy chain Boots to stop selling such products. The [Full Article]