The fitness industry is said to be worth £4.4 billion in the UK alone. But, despite medical research telling us that exercise will help us live longer, the majority of people do not engage with health and fitness. Could it be that exercise is still considered a punishment – as it was in Victorian prisons? Or do we just need to increase the fun and social aspect to exercise to get more of us working up a sweat?
Life may be a guide to the evolution of the cosmos – here’s how
Does humanity exist to serve some ultimate, transcendent purpose? Conventional scientific wisdom says no. As physicist Lawrence Krauss puts it in his latest book, our evolution on this planet is just a “cosmic accident”. If you believe otherwise, many would accuse you of suffering from some kind of religious delusion.
Neutron stars could be our GPS for deep space travel
NASA’s Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer, or NICER, is an X-ray telescope launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in early June 2017. Installed on the International Space Station, by mid-July it will commence its scientific work – to study the exotic astrophysical objects known as neutron stars and examine whether they could be used as deep-space navigation beacons for future generations of spacecraft.
How far does light travel in a year?
The Universe is an extremely big place. As astronomers looked farther into space over the centuries, and deeper into the past, they came to understand just how small and insignificant our planet and our species seem by comparison. At the same time, ongoing investigations into electromagnetism and distant stars led scientists to deduce what the the speed of light is – and that it is the fastest speed obtainable.
Want a better camera? Just copy bees and their extra light-sensing eyes
How does Mercury compare to Earth?
Mercury was appropriately named after the Roman messenger of the Gods. This is owed to the fact that its apparent motion in the night sky was faster than that of any of the other planets. As astronomers learned more about this “messenger planet”, they came to understand that its motion was due to its close orbit to the Sun, which causes it to complete a single orbit every 88 days.
What is the smallest planet in the solar system?
The Solar Planets are a nice mixed bag of what is possible when it comes to planetary formation. Within the inner Solar System, you have the terrestrial planets – bodies that are composed primarily of silicate minerals and metals. And in the outer Solar System, you have the gas giants and bodies that are composed primarily of ice that lie just beyond in the Trans-Neptunian region.
Strict rules around contamination hamper exploration for life beyond Earth
NASA’s orbiter Cassini will make a series of decreasing orbits that will end in a fiery death dive into Saturn’s atmosphere in September. This deliberate termination of a still serviceable spacecraft is to comply with “planetary protection” protocols, designed to minimise the risk of depositing stowaway Earth microbes into an environment where they might be able to reproduce.
A map that fills a 500-million year gap in Earth’s history
Earth is estimated to be around 4.5 billion years old, with life first appearing around 3 billion years ago.To unravel this incredible history, scientists use a range of different techniques to determine when and where continents moved, how life evolved, how climate changed over time, when our oceans rose and fell, and how land was shaped. Tectonic plates – the huge, constantly moving slabs of rock that make up the outermost layer of the Earth, the crust – are central to all these studies.
Is it OK to run in heat of 30℃ or more?
When – and why – did people first start using money?
Hate vegetables? You might have super-taster genes!
Do you hate vegetables? You’re not alone. About 20% of the population are “super-tasters”. Super-tasters have more taste buds than other people and are super sensitive to the bitter compounds found in some food and drinks, even at low concentrations. If you have inherited super-taster genes then cruciferous vegetables (flower vegetables in the cabbage family) like bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, radish, swede, turnip, and watercress will taste disgusting.
Research Check: can even moderate drinking cause brain damage?
Health Check: what’s the right way to blow your nose?
How to backup life on Earth ahead of any doomsday event
Choosing healthy food: your surroundings can help or hinder your dining choices
We know too much sugar is bad for us, but do different sugars have different health effects
Our recent article published in the Medical Journal of Australia found that Australian and European soft drinks contained higher concentrations of glucose, and less fructose, than soft drinks in the United States. The total glucose concentration of Australian soft drinks was on average 22% higher than in US formulations.
Maybe the Aliens Aren't Hiding, They're Sleeping, Waiting for the Universe to get Better
When you consider that age of the Universe – 13.8 billion years by our most recent counts – and that which is “observable” to us measures about 27.6 billion light years in diameter, you begin to wonder why we haven’t found signs of extra-terrestrial intelligence (ETI) beyond our Solar System. To paraphrase Enrico Fermi, the 20th century physicists who advanced the famous Fermi Paradox – “where the heck are all the aliens?”
How the red fox adapted to life in our towns and cities
Flexible foxes can be found in almost any sort of terrain. Indeed, one species, the red fox or Vulpes vulpes, is the most widely distributed land carnivore of all, ranging from the Arctic to North Africa. And where its rivals stick to the countryside, these foxes have made themselves at home in modern towns and cities. Why is this?