August 8, 2018

Faking flavours

August 8, 2018

We manipulate bacteria to produce all kinds of exquisite flavours and fragrances. Does that make them natural, or synthetic? And why bother, when they already grow on trees?

August 8, 2018

By John Back

Issue 28, Art & Popular Culture

A semicolon in the arts

August 8, 2018

By John Back

Issue 28, Art & Popular Culture

There have long been established guidelines for discussing suicide in the news media. But how can artists navigate this difficult topic without compromising their truth?

August 8, 2018

By Robyn Schenk

Society & Education, Issue 28

Cloning food for thought

August 8, 2018

By Robyn Schenk

Society & Education, Issue 28

Cow-free meat and dairy. Chicken-free eggs. Established technologies are making lab-grown food more commonplace, whether we’re ready for it or not.

August 8, 2018

By Larissa Fedunik

Philosophy & History, Issue 28

Gold, forgery and redox reactions

August 8, 2018

By Larissa Fedunik

Philosophy & History, Issue 28

Since antiquity, alchemists tried (and failed) to create gold out of base metals. Instead, their work laid the foundations for modern chemistry.

August 8, 2018

By Tessa Evans

Issue 28

Replication crisis

August 8, 2018

By Tessa Evans

Issue 28

Creating new knowledge is the central driver of science. But we’re so obsessed with newness that we don’t spend enough time making sure we’re right.

July 23, 2018

By Geetanjali Rangnekar

Issue 27, Life Science

There's nothing radical about food irradiation

July 23, 2018

By Geetanjali Rangnekar

Issue 27, Life Science

There's nothing radical about food irradiation

Although it gets some bad press, the process of irradiating food is well understood and tightly regulated.

July 5, 2018

By Sandhya Uma Shekar

Life Science, Issue 27

Bending light to our will

July 5, 2018

By Sandhya Uma Shekar

Life Science, Issue 27

For centuries, the simple science of concave and convex lenses has helped us correct refractive error, a leading cause of visual impairment.

June 11, 2018

By Taryn Laubenstein

Issue 27, Life Science

Cameras in the sky

June 11, 2018

By Taryn Laubenstein

Issue 27, Life Science

Satellite imagery gives us an invaluable bird’s eye view of how ecosystems have responded to decades of human influence.

June 4, 2018

By Tessa Evans

Issue 27, Society & Education

Helicopter science

June 4, 2018

By Tessa Evans

Issue 27, Society & Education

Genetics can help track the scattering of humans across the globe. But do scientists have the right to study any DNA they want to?

June 4, 2018

By Tessa Evans

Issue 27

Shifting sands

June 4, 2018

By Tessa Evans

Issue 27

Man vs nature is a contest we'll never win when it comes to shaping the world around us. Who'd bet on us when the other team has earthquakes and eruptions?

June 3, 2018

By Grace Lindsay

Issue 27, Life Science

Maps of the brain

June 3, 2018

By Grace Lindsay

Issue 27, Life Science

A century of cortical cartography has helped neurologists understand how the human brain perceives and interprets our complex surroundings.

June 3, 2018

By Magdalena Kersting

Issue 27, Society & Education

Navigating four dimensions

June 3, 2018

By Magdalena Kersting

Issue 27, Society & Education

The geometry of a world map is remarkably similar to the geometry of spacetime. Science educators are exploring maps as models for teaching Einstein’s theory of general relativity.