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The Azolla Event: when is a fern not a fern?

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Betelgeuse, Gamow, and a Big Red Horse

There has been a lot of talk recently of Betelgeuse possibly going supernova this century or not...

Climate Change, the Walrus and the Carpenter

I have recently watched two videos on climate change by Sabine Hossenfelder. The first one...

A Very Large Hadron Collider?

Frontpage image: Illustration of spherical explosion (kilonova) of two neutron stars (AT2017gfo/GW170817)...

Robert H Olley

Until recently, I worked in the Polymer Physics Group of the Physics Department at the University of Reading.

I would describe myself as a Polymer Morphologist. I am not an astronaut,

Obama, Ancestry, and DNA

May 02 2016 | comment(s)

On the 23^rd of April, Barack Obama, President of the United States of America (fanfare!) issued a warning to us British that at the coming referendum we should vote to remain in the EU. Reactions have been many and varied: some of these can be found in this article from Reuters.

One most ill-advised reactions, though, came when

Tully Monster Unmasked

Mar 16 2016 | comment(s)

Today in Science Codex I read this article

Is The Tungsten Bulb On Its Way Back?

Jan 14 2016 | comment(s)

In the last few days, there has been a spate of reports that the incandescent bulb is on its way back. This relates to work by a group of authors at MIT plus one at Purdue University in Indiana, featured in a news report from MIT:

A nanophotonic comeback for incandescent bulbs?

Many of us might look forward to this, having found compact fluorescent lamps troublesome, and LED lights a bit weird.

It relates to this very recent publication,:

Ancient Greek attitudes today

Dec 12 2015 | comment(s)

The Ancient Greeks (Archimedes being an honourable exception) have a reputation for having been only interested in pure studies, and despising practical applications (which may well have helped the Romans take over.)

Jubilee Plastic Bag

Dec 09 2015 | comment(s)

A day or two ago, local ITV featured a news item about a man who had kept the same plastic bulk issue shopping carrier bag for 34 years, using it from time to time.

The bag celebrated 50 years since the first Tesco store was opened in 1929, and he had acquired this one in 1981, the year of the first London Marathon.

Ancient Nitrogen Metabolsim

Oct 30 2015 | comment(s)

We are often told how bad it is to keep sitting at the computer, but one good outcome at least is how some much interesting science news comes one’s way. One item dated 19 October 2015 from Radboud University (Nijmegen, the Netherlands) states: