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Frontier research

frontier research | social sciences
24 April 2019

DNA gives insight into prehistoric bonds between dogs and humans

Domestic dogs come in all shapes and sizes, but the animals we now regard as man’s best friend may have originated from just two populations of wolves, research suggests. The findings, along with studies on other domesticated animals, are providing new insights into how our ancestors' lives and movements transformed these creatures forever.

Researchers are testing the therapeutic vaccine on dogs with the hope that trials could progress to humans. Image Credit - Pixabay/No License
health | frontier research
23 April 2019

Danish dogs to receive virus-inspired cancer vaccine treatment

Fifteen Danish dogs with advanced cancer are to receive a new type of therapeutic vaccine which, it is hoped, will rid them of the disease and pave the way for human testing.

Scientists have linked post-operative changes in gut bacteria to improvements in metabolic diseases. Image Credit - Sue Sapp (CC BY 2.0)
health | frontier research
16 April 2019

Can gut microbes and genes do the job of weight loss surgery?

Mice that have undergone weight loss surgery experience a change in the composition of their gut bacteria and the functioning of their genes, leading scientists to explore the possibility of mimicking these changes to develop a non-surgical treatment for obesity and liver disease in humans. 

Artificial intelligence can be used to create deep fakes - audio, pictures and videos that make people say and do things they never did. Image credit - PxHere
frontier research | industry | social sciences
15 April 2019

Can artificial intelligence help end fake news?

Fake news has already fanned the flames of distrust towards media, politics and established institutions around the world. And while new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) might make things even worse, it can also be used to combat misinformation.

M87’s supermassive black hole, imaged for the first time, is 53 million light years away, but wide enough for astronomers to see it from Earth. Image credit - EHT Collaboration
space | frontier research
10 April 2019

Astronomers reveal first-ever image of a black hole

Scientists have revealed the first ever image of a black hole, a major milestone in astrophysics which not only backs up Einstein’s theory of general relativity but also opens up a new era of black hole observations.

M87’s supermassive black hole, imaged for the first time, is six billion times as massive as our sun. Image credit - EHT Collaboration
space | frontier research
10 April 2019

In a picture: ‘Now we know what a black hole looks like’

The first-ever image of an event horizon – the gravitational boundary of a black hole beyond which light cannot escape – was revealed on 10 April and is the best evidence yet that these phenomena really do exist. It was the result of a global collaboration of hundreds of scientists, using multiple telescopes around the world to pick up the high-frequency radio waves emitted by matter pulled into the event horizon.

When two objects such as black holes or neutron stars merge, they cause the frequency of the gravitational waves to increase, which would sound like a chirp. Image Credit - LSC/Alex Nitz
space | frontier research
05 April 2019

Gravitational waves helping to expose black holes, dark matter and theoretical particles

Gravitational waves – the invisible ripples in the fabric of space predicted by Albert Einstein – are opening up a new era of astronomy that is allowing scientists to see parts of the universe once thought to be invisible, such as black holes, dark matter and theoretical subatomic particles called axions.

Voting in a polling booth and online voting are like apples and pears - it's not a matter of just replacing one with another, says Dr Kremer. Image credit - Santeri Viinamäki, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
frontier research | ict | security
01 April 2019

‘Online voting isn’t ready for high-stakes elections’

Online voting is often considered a way to improve voter turnout and security. But according to Dr Steve Kremer of the French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation, computer scientists have got a long way to go before they make it a viable alternative to pencils and paper.

Smaller, autonomous satellites could help analyse the internal structure of clouds to give a more detailed view of Earth's changing climate. Image credit - Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center
space | frontier research | industry
27 March 2019

Fleets of autonomous satellites to coordinate tasks among themselves

Space missions have long benefited from some autonomous operations being carried out aboard spacecraft, but with a sharp increase expected in the number of satellites being launched in the next few years, researchers are using automation and artificial intelligence to make them smarter and more effective.

The moon's lack of tectonic activity preserves its oldest rocks. Image Credit - ANDY SMITH ASTRONOMY
space | frontier research
25 February 2019

How scientists are piecing together the history of the moon

In the solar system’s early days, a first Earth is thought to have been pulverised by a planet that scientists call Theia. We don’t know what it was made of or where it came from, only that it may have been the size of Mars. The powerful collision destroyed both planets so completely that scientists can only guess what they were like.

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