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Frontier research

Ground stones were a 'major evolutionary success' as they allowed people to unlock the energy in plants by making flour. Image credit - José-Manuel Benito Álvarez/Wikimedia commons, licenced under CC BY-SA 2.5
frontier research
27 March 2020

How Stone Age humans unlocked the glucose in plants

Early cave paintings of hunting scenes may give the impression our Stone Age ancestors lived mainly on chunks of meat, but plants – and the ability to unlock the glucose inside – were just as key to their survival. 

'Transport layer security' means your internet activities are secure on three fronts - authentication, encryption and integrity. Image credit - Pxhere, licenced under CCO
ict | frontier research
24 March 2020

The story behind that little padlock in your browser

Whenever you see a little padlock in the address bar of your internet browser, as well as when you use apps, email and messaging, you’re relying on something called ‘transport layer security’ or TLS. It’s a protocol that keeps us safe online.

Online tools such as NextStrain are helping to track the spread of coronavirus in real time. Image credit - nextstrain.org
coronavirus outbreak | health | frontier research
23 March 2020

Covid-19: How unprecedented data sharing has led to faster-than-ever outbreak research

Advances in gene sequencing have allowed scientists to trace and monitor the COVID-19 pandemic faster than any previous outbreak. However, gaps in our knowledge of how coronaviruses work has made it difficult to understand what makes the new coronavirus special.

When it comes to improving amputees’ quality of life, one of the biggest challenges is making prostheses that feel like a natural part of the user. Image credit - Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Wikimedia Commons
health | frontier research | ict | industry
19 March 2020

The prostheses that could alleviate amputees’ phantom limb pain

New prosthetic technologies that stimulate the nerves could pave the way for prostheses that feel like a natural part of the body and reduce the phantom limb pain commonly endured by amputees.

Researchers are collecting longer term data to investigate how social skills develop - or weaken - over a lifetime. Image credit - Fauxels/Pxhere
science in society | frontier research
03 March 2020

Social skills begin to decline in late 30s and early 40s, study finds

Training programmes to improve people’s social and cognitive skills should target people in their late 30s and early 40s as these abilities start to decline earlier than previously thought, according to researchers who are looking at how social abilities change over time.

Superluminous supernovae, though rare, tend to be found in star-forming regions of our universe. Image credit - ESO/L. Calçad/ Wikimedia, licenced under CC BY 3.0
space | frontier research
26 February 2020

How astronomers are piecing together the mysterious origins of superluminous supernovae

When a massive star reaches the end of its life, it can explode as a supernova. But there’s a unique type of supernova that’s much brighter that we’re just starting to understand – and which may prove useful in measuring the universe.

Dr. Roth studies the evolution of male pregnancy in syngnathids. Image credit - Sabrina Koehler
interview | environment | frontier research
24 February 2020

Q&A: The curious case of male pregnancy in seahorses and pipefishes

Male seahorses not only become pregnant and give birth, but do so in ways that take different forms, which make them unique research subjects to understand the evolution of pregnancy, according to Dr Olivia Roth from the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) in Germany.

Caterpillar saliva causes maize to release a fragrant chemical that prepares other parts of the plant for attack. Image credit - Pxhere, licensed under CC0
environment | frontier research
20 February 2020

Plants can detect insect attacks by 'sniffing' each other's aromas

Fragrant aromas from plants can actually be a response to attacks by insects, and can alert neighbours to an attack or summon the insects’ predators. Now, scientists are deciphering these secret codes to develop better, greener chemicals to defend crops against herbivorous insects.

Monsoons occur throughout the tropics and sub-tropics but scientists are still uncertain about how climate change will affect them. Image credit - Jean-Marie Hullot/Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 3.0
environment | frontier research
11 February 2020

A 40-million-year-old layer of dust can help predict how monsoons will change

A fine layer of dust thought to have been left by the first winter monsoon ever to cross northeastern Tibet has been uncovered by scientists, revealing the moment when the great weather phenomenon that waters much of Asia’s summers and dries its winters may have begun.

The Solar Orbiter will let us see the sun in unprecedented detail, potentially including the first-ever view of the sun's poles. Image credit - ESA/ATG medialab
space | frontier research
07 February 2020

Five things we’re going to learn from Europe’s Solar Orbiter mission

At 23.03 (local time) on Sunday 9 February, Europe’s newest mission to study the sun is set to lift off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, US. Called Solar Orbiter, this European Space Agency (ESA) mission will travel to within the orbit of planet Mercury to study the sun like never before, returning stunning new images of its surface.

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