TOP 100 SCIENCE SITES
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| Brilliant ideas The secrets behind some of the UK’s newest inventions bbc.co.uk |
Study: To save tigers, protect key breeding areas By ROBIN McDOWELL 2010-09-15T06:01:52ZJAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Conservationists must protect tiger populations in a few concentrated breeding grounds in Asia instead of trying to safeguard vast, surrounding landscapes, if they want to save the big cats from extinction, scientists said.... hosted.ap.org |
Giant penguins with no tux? Fossil feathers say so By LAURAN NEERGAARD 2010-09-30T21:12:25ZWASHINGTON (AP) -- Some ancient penguins may have been twice as big as today's Emperor penguin but they lacked the dashing tuxedo. Researchers unearthed remains of a nearly 5-foot-tall penguin that roamed what is now Peru about 36 million years ago, and they also discovered fossilized feathers that show back then, the flightless bird was a more motley mix of reddish-brown and gray.... hosted.ap.org |
Observatory: Looking to a Worm for Answers on Human Fertility As C. elegans ages, scientists found, unfertilized eggs degrade because of an increase in a certain protein also present in humans. feeds.nytimes.com |
X-ray visions – from diagnosing disease to detecting forgeries | Alok Jha Alok Jha introduces a short film about the momentous discovery of X-rays and the huge range of applications that have followedA while back, the Science Museum in London held a public vote to celebrate its centenary. It wanted to know which object in its vast collections people thought had done most to shape the future.From a list that included the Model T Ford, the V2 rocket engine and penicillin, voters plumped for the X-ray machine.From the moment the iconic image of Anna Bertha Röntgen's hand was taken by her husband, Wilhelm Röntgen, in 1895, it was clear that X-rays would be useful in medicine, allowing doctors to see into bodies without having to cut people open.In the century since their discovery, X-rays (Röntgen's working name for what he had found) have been a mainstay of medical diagnostics and research, used in everything from crystallography, to quality control in manufacturing, to detecting forgeries in art.X-rays are not entirely benign, of course – the high-energy beams can damage living tissue. Having said that, this very property is used every day in radiotherapy, to treat cancers.In 1901, Röntgen was awarded the first ever Nobel prize in physics and, possibly realising the enormous potential benefit of his discoveries to mankind, never took out any patents related to his work.In today's video from Newton TV, Katie Maggs, associate curator of medicine at the Science Museum, and Liz Parvin of the Open University discuss the discovery and subsequent history of X-rays.PhysicsResearch and developmentguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |