This week’s biggest stories
If the news over the past couple of weeks or so has made you long to be far, far away (Brexit and its potential impact on scientists, I’m looking at you), then this week’s intergalactic images will have given you something to cheer about. We’ve had the first pictures of Jupiter from the JunoCam, a new view of the Orion nebula, plus the discovery of a faraway dwarf planet out beyond Neptune. Meanwhile, palaeontologists have unearthed a new species of carnivorous dinosaur, Gualicho shinyae and new study has offered a new theory on the dinosaur mass extinction. Spoiler alert: it involves an asteroid plus flaming crude oil. And finally, even if you don’t think you’re particularly vulnerable to melanoma, grab a hat and sunscreen - scientists have made some interesting discoveries about the genes for red hair that affect more people than previously thought ...
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Straight from the lab - top picks from our experts on the blog network
Why two tiny wings preserved in amber have palaeontologists in a flap | Lost Worlds Revisited
For the first time, the new specimens from Myanmar preserve both the delicate anatomy of the feathers in their original three dimensions, and are attached to wing bones, thus allowing us to identify the animals.
Needle vs needle: a vaccine for drug addiction? | Brain Flapping
One of the particularly intriguing things I found was that they’re apparently working on a vaccine for drug addiction (specifically, opiate addiction). Now there’s something to make a neuroscientist sit up and pay attention. A new weapon in the war on drugs? How can you even do that? How do you vaccinate against a type of behaviour?
There is turmoil ahead, but UK scientists can weather the post-Brexit storm | Occam’s corner
In the US, the rules are particularly strict – and yet its labs are buzzing with people from all four corners, keen to do great work in a place with an international reputation.
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Science Weekly podcast
In this week’s podcast Nicola Davis get a feel for the ways in which the latest advances in haptics and sensory technology are bringing us all closer together.
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Eye on science - this week’s top pictures
From the hidden colours of the moon to Bonnie Doon, and Tarantula Nebula to Saturn, this week’s top gallery features spectacular images of the universe are the finalists in the 2016 CWAS David Malin awards. The annual competition, which celebrates the best astronomy images taken by Australian photographers, is part of AstroFest 2016. The winners will be announced on 16 July.
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