
The long hunt for new objects in our expanding solar system
Feb 04, 2016 02:06 am UTC| Science
Recognise these planet names: Vulcan, Neptune, Pluto, Nemesis, Tyche and Planet X? They all have one thing in common: their existence was predicted to account for unexplained phenomena in our solar system. While the...

Explainer: what are the 'nacreous clouds' lighting up the winter skies?
Feb 03, 2016 14:19 pm UTC| Science
People in the polar regions of the world, such as Scandinavia and Canada, sometimes get to watch majestic, rainbow-coloured clouds drift across an otherwise grey winter sky. Over the past few days, observers from across...

From chrome plating to nanotubes: the 'modern' chemistry first used in ancient times
Feb 02, 2016 14:00 pm UTC| Science
The ancient Babylonians were the first to use sophisticated geometry a staggering 1,400 years before it was previously thought to have been developed. Sadly, these mathematical innovations were forgotten as the Babylonian...
Confessions of a chemist: I make molecules that shouldn't exist
Feb 02, 2016 12:19 pm UTC| Science
At drinks parties and dinners, if someone asks what I do for a living, I always say: Synthetic chemist … I make new molecules … especially those that shouldnt exist. People typically respond that they were...
We can't trust common sense but we can trust science
Feb 02, 2016 05:54 am UTC| Science
When a group of Australians was asked why they believed climate change was not happening, about one in three (36.5%) said it was common sense, according to a report published last year by the CSIRO. This was the most...

The experiments trying to crack physics' 'biggest' question: what is dark energy?
Feb 01, 2016 13:37 pm UTC| Science
We live in interesting times. For thousands of years, we have thought we knew what the universe and everything in it was made of: normal matter, the kind that make up the elements of the periodic table. However, the...
Flat wrong: the misunderstood history of flat Earth theories
Jan 29, 2016 06:44 am UTC| Science
For most people, being described as a flat Earther is an insult. The idea of the Earth being flat is considered not only wrong, but a model of wrongness, the gold standard of being incorrect about something. This being...