Atomic tug of war
A new form of energy-transfer, reported today in 'Nature' may have implications for the study of reactions going on in the atmosphere, and even for those occurring in the body.
Research
Are you looking at me?
In humans, the eyes are said to be the ‘window to the soul’, conveying much about a person’s emotions and intentions. New research demonstrates for the first time that starlings also respond to a human’s gaze.
The Sixth Dalai Lama
Paul Williams talks about his latest book – a translation from Tibetan of the erotic poetry of the Sixth Dalai Lama.
William Bullock and Napoleon’s carriage
Professor Michael Costeloe has written a biography of William Bullock (c1773-1849), who founded an early museum called the Egyptian Hall.
Shakespeare's 'man of the sonnets' revealed
Students researching for a new display of Tudor portraits in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery have uncovered a ghost figure which may be Shakespeare’s only known patron Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, which had been subsequently painted over with a portrait of Elizabeth Vernon, Southampton’s wife.
The Phoenix has landed!
NASA’s Phoenix probe has safely landed on Mars where it will begin its search for water and life. UK scientists involved in the mission, and present at the University of Arizona’s Science Operations Centre for the landing, waited tensely as the probe made its tricky descent to the surface of the red planet’s northern plains.
Gangster birds running protection racket give insight into co-evolution
Like gangsters running a protection racket, drongos in the Kalahari Desert act as lookouts for other birds in order to steal a cut of their food catch. The behaviour, revealed in research led by Andy Radford and Linda Hollén from the University of Bristol, may represent a rare example of two species evolving from a parasitic to a mutualistic relationship.
Screening or treatment for prostate cancer?
The striking decline in prostate cancer mortality in the USA, compared with the UK in 1994-2004, coincided with a much higher uptake of screening in the USA. But what are the causes of this?
Taking the Long View
The Bristol-Mekong Project aims is to provide a focal point for cutting-edge research into the states associated with the Mekong River, which includes parts of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Burma and south-west China.
Stopping smoking in schools
Smoking rates among teenagers can be reduced by training influential students within secondary schools to promote anti-smoking messages in their everyday conversations with their friends and peer group, says new research from the Department of Social Medicine published in The Lancet.