OK, be honest: how much chocolate did you eat this Easter? While it is common to enjoy masses of the food stuff at this particular time of year (along with Christmas), chocolate can well and truly be enjoyed at any time. Having said that, everyone will scoff their favourite (dark chocolate more than 70% pretty…
Genetics
The Science of Yoga and Meditation
The academic year has started. September is always the busiest month of the year. No one has time for any real relaxation as everyone rushes around trying to fit everything into their schedule. Stress levels rise, and before you know it, you are coming down the mother of all colds. Perhaps it is time to…
The Science of Music
Every year towards the end of July, Sheffield hosts the music festival Tramlines. As the line goes in one of Madonna’s song Music “music makes the people come together”, and they certainly do when Tramlines hits! Everybody is out. Whether it is out at a gig or a club or your own home, music worldwide…
Book Review: How to clone a mammoth
“Extinct animals don’t have rights” Hoskins, Jurassic World 2015 – A statement so richly embedded in politics and science that I let out such a long sigh in the cinema. I suppose it is good timing for this book to be released a couple of months before Jurassic World came out. As I have mentioned…
Kitty Science
Cats are everywhere on the internet providing the perfect procrastination technique and let’s face it, everyone has at least one friend who is crazy for cats. I have quite a few but one in particular wins the cat obsession prize. She would dress up as a cat for Halloween, wear anything cat related (preferably space…
Humans Re-designed
Usually those who write about genome editing or designer babies tend to start off by describing a dystopian world probably referencing Gattaca, where if you were conceived naturally you are a “God-child” labelled an invalid and deemed lower class. The topic of designer babies has been explored before in a Science Brainwaves blog post: Designer…
A Child’s Curiosity
“What is gravity?” asks my then four year old nephew to his family. Quite an inspirational question from a four year old! But then again, at the time they were all watching the highly acclaimed Cosmos; the science documentary hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson. A child’s curiosity clearly knows no bounds when it comes to…
Interbreeding humans: The Sassy Palaeolithic Action
Are you confused about the different types of humans that got it on with each other? If you are, then in this blog entry, I provide a summary factsheet style of the pairs of hominids that interbred with each other, with evidence for and against it, and the current conclusion. All dates are expressed as…
Resurrection! Bringing extinct species back from the dead
My best friend has nightmares about dinosaurs; T. rexes chasing and searching for her as she hides behind furniture. I don’t blame her. Courtesy of Jurassic Park, I’m sure there are plenty of others who have had similar nightmares. During my PhD, I once had a nightmare that Neanderthals were back and trying to take…
Neolithic Revolution in the air!
THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION WAS A KEY MOMENT IN THE PREHISTORY OF HUMANS. It sparked civilisation as we know it- settlements were established, crops were grown and animals were domesticated transforming the economy of subsistence globally. Beginning in the Levant (Near East) around 12,000 years ago, the Neolithic Revolution spread into Europe 8000 years ago and…