While MOOCs are free, their value lies in providing information about how students. Credit: learnFlickr/Ilonka Talina, CC BY-SA

By Gregor Kennedy, University of Melbourne

Humans transport microbes around their environment. Image: Argonne National Laboratory

By Emma Saville, The Conversation and Penny Orbell, The Conversation

Microbial communities vary greatly between different households but are similar among members of the same household – including pets – according to research published in Science today.

Image: If only neuroscience was that easy. Credit: quixotecr, CC BY-NC-ND

By Matt Wall, Imperial College London

During World War II, residents on the islands in the southern Pacific Ocean saw heavy activity by US planes, bringing in goods and supplies for the soldiers. In many cases, this was the islanders' first exposure to 20th century goods and technology.

Artistic rendering of Philae on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Credit: ESA/ATG, CC BY

By Ian Wright, The Open University

The pressure's on JJ Abrams and the new Star Wars films.Credit: wiredphotostream, CC BY-NC

By Sorcha Ní Fhlainn, Manchester Metropolitan University

It is a word we hear from time to time, but few of us know what it means.

Utilitarianism is the method most people use to decide whether an action is right or wrong. We decide the moral merits of what we do on whether the consequences of that action are good or bad. But utilitarianism has recently been in the firing line of the press and radio and by some moral philosophers.