Early unblinding of the of long-acting cabotegravir (CAB LA) is a milestone for prevention of HIV among women in sub Saharan Africa. University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) – 10 November 2020 Researchers from the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) announced today that data from the clinical trial of the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) regimen of long-acting […]
New fossil tracks belonging to human ancestors found in South Africa
Charles Helm, Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University – 23 October 2020 Around a hundred thousand years ago, South Africa’s Cape south coast was a busy place. Giraffes, crocodiles, hatchling sea turtles and large bird species populated the landscape. Early humans were there, too. We know all of this because of […]
How much do our genes restrict free will?
Social media algorithms, artificial intelligence, and our own genetics are among the factors influencing us beyond our awareness. This raises an ancient question: do we have control over our own lives? Hannah Critchlow, Science Outreach Fellow at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge – 14 October 2020 Many of us believe we are masters of own […]
Life on Venus? Traces of phosphine may be a sign of biological activity
Laura McKemmish, Lecturer, UNSW; Brendan Paul Burns, Senior Lecturer, UNSW, and Lucyna Kedziora-Chudczer, Program Manager / Adjunct Research Fellow, Swinburne University of Technology The discovery that the atmosphere of Venus absorbs a precise frequency of microwave radiation has just turned planetary science on its head. An international team of scientists used radio telescopes in […]
What fossils and DNA tell us about the evolution of modern intelligence
When did we become fully human? Nick Longrich, Sen. Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology and Paleontology, University of Bath 12 September 2020 When did something like us first appear on the planet? It turns out there’s remarkably little agreement on this question. Fossils and DNA suggest people looking like us, anatomically modern Homo sapiens, evolved […]
Meteorites from Mars contain clues about the red planet’s geology
Arya Udry, Assistant Professor of Igneous Petrology, Planetary Science, University of Nevada, Las Vegas – 16 June 2020 Despite the pandemic, NASA is on track to launch its Mars rover, Perseverance, this July from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Its central mission will be to search for evidence of previous life on Mars. An exciting component of […]
Utilising AI for medical science
Before the coronavirus pandemic, bioengineer Jim Collins and his team combined the power of AI with synthetic biology in an effort to combat a different looming crisis: antibiotic-resistant superbugs. Collins explains how they pivoted their efforts to begin developing a series of tools and antiviral compounds to help fight COVID-19 – and shares their […]
SpaceX launch: here’s the rocket science
Gareth Dorrian, Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Space Science, University of Birmingham and Ian Whittaker, Lecturer in Physics, Nottingham Trent University Two NASA astronauts, Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, have finally made history by travelling to the International Space Station in a privately funded spacecraft, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule. The launch […]
COVID-19 and gene editing: the ethical and legal considerations
CRISPR is a mechanism that arose in bacteria millions of years ago to fight off disease Sheetal Soni, Researcher, Lecturer, Attorney, University of KwaZulu-Natal Researchers are racing against time to find ways to treat and prevent COVID-19. There is currently no treatment for the disease, and the World Health Organisation has created Solidarity, a global […]
Fossil find suggests Homo erectus emerged 200,000 years earlier than thought
April 2020 The human evolutionary path is complicated. It’s almost impossible to say exactly when we modern humans became “us”. This quandary is best articulated by the famous naturalist Charles Darwin in his book The Descent of Man: In a series of forms graduating insensibly from some apelike creature to man as he now exists, […]