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Showing 10 results from a total of 338

Understand issue4witchmedicine
| Issue 4

Plant hallucinogens as magical medicines

Did witches once soar through the night sky on broomsticks? Or were they hallucinating after eating or touching certain plants? Angelika Börsch-Haubold explains how modern pharmacology helps us to understand the action of many toxic plants – some of which are still used in medicine.

Ages: 16-19;
Topics: Biology, Chemistry
     

Understand issue4spider silk
| Issue 4

Silken, stretchy and stronger than steel!

Could spider silk be the answer to medical and military challenges? Giovanna Cicognani from the Institut Laue-Langevin and Montserrat Capellas from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, France, investigate Christian Riekel and Tilo Seydel’s research into this remarkable material.

Ages: 16-19;
Topics: Physics, Biology, Chemistry
           

Understand issu4rosenthal
| Issue 4

Ethics in research

Is it acceptable to use human embryonic stem cells in research? What about live animals? Professor Nadia Rosenthal, head of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Monterotondo, Italy, talks to Russ Hodge about the ethics of her research.

Ages: 14-16, 16-19;
Topics: Biology
     

Understand issue3sleep
| Issue 3

Sleep and learning

When we sleep, are we just passively recovering from a hard day, or is there something more going on? Angelika Börsch-Haubold considers the implications of some intriguing research – was her grandmother right all along? Test the scientists’ conclusions for yourself!

Ages: 16-19;
Topics: Biology
         

Understand issue3missing
| Issue 3

1000 years of missing science

Yasmin Khan from the Science Museum in London, UK, reveals how deeply our modern civilisation has been enriched by previous Muslim civilisations – and argues for a more balanced approach to the history of science.

Ages: 14-16, 16-19;
Topics: Science and society
         

Understand issue3jeffreys
| Issue 3

Alec Jeffreys interview: a pioneer on the frontier of human diversity

Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, the inventor of DNA fingerprinting, remembers his childhood passion for science, explains what we have learned from direct DNA analysis, and describes his work with Chernobyl survivors. Interviewed by Russ Hodge and Anna-Lynn Wegener from the European Molecular Biology…

Ages: 16-19;
Topics: Biology, General science, Chemistry, Science and society