Ageing with grace: The longest living animals

There is something oddly captivating about superlatives. What is the biggest? The fastest? The cleverest? This article covers one in particular, the oldest.

As a benchmark, human life expectancy is on average 72 years as of 2016 (WHO).Read the rest

The age of discovery – Are we alone in the universe?

As the discoveries of new planetary bodies are being made at a rapid rate around us, it inspires the question, “Are we alone in the universe?” The search for planets and development of theories on life outside of Earth is now a science in its own right, known as astrobiology.… Read the rest

Can Computers Write Science Books?

The German academic publisher Springer has recently brought out a whole book written by a piece of artificial intelligence software called Beta Writer. The book, Lithium-Ion Batteries: a machine generated summary of current research, can be downloaded free of charge as a PDF.… Read the rest

Review: The Plant Messiah – Carlos Magdalena ****

With its neon green, floral cover and commanding The Plant Messiah title, I knew I had to pay the heartbreakingly expensive £20* just to read this book, whether I enjoyed it or not. So off I went, the poor biology student that I am, knowing that even if it were a tedious read, at least it would look good on the book shelf.… Read the rest