This week’s biggest stories
It’s nearly the weekend, so this is timely indeed. Ladies. If your dance moves have failed to progress from “big fish, little fish, cardboard box” or you stick to gently stepping from side to side I have good news. Psychologists have figured out the best moves for women who would like to be admired on the dance floor. There are highly instructive videos included in our piece, so get watching – you could be a dancing queen by Saturday night. Another reason to dance for joy is the news that a successful trial in primates has brought us closer to a new form of male contraceptive. It’s a gel designed to be a reversible and less invasive form of vasectomy. And speaking of high hopes, the Japanese space agency attempted some space fishing, intending to clear junk from Earth’s orbit. Sadly, the 700-metre ‘tether’ they were trying to use failed. A slightly more down-to-Earth story to finish then, with the news that a lumpy, hairy, toe-like fossil could reveal the evolution of molluscs. It’s weird-looking, but oddly compelling ...
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Friday Fascinator
We tend to think of parasites as harmful, itchy, nasty, creepy crawlies. But these strange, beautiful creatures have many uses – and they need our help. Zoologist Mackenzie Kwak explains why wildlife charities should be campaigning to save parasites alongside more traditionally photogenic species.
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Straight from the lab – top picks from our experts on the blog network
Giant winged Transylvanian predators could have eaten dinosaurs | Lost Worlds Revisited
It is among the ranks of the ‘arch-predators’ that we place the most monstrous azhdarchids. These creatures are Giger-esque. You wouldn’t bat an eyelid seeing them striding across the landscape of a far-flung planet in a science-fiction film, or scratched on a canvas, spewed from the fantastical mind of a troubled artist. As is so often the case in palaeontology, the reality is even greater than fiction. Azhdarchids were real animals that lived during the Cretaceous (108-66 million years ago). Recent examination of their fossils suggests some of them grew to become nightmarish giant land predators, roaming the prehistoric islands of Transylvania.
Forensic DNA profiling might be about to take a big leap forward. Are we ready? | Occam’s corner
‘The DNA test results are in. We’re looking for a white male suspect, 34–37 years old, born in the summer in a temperate climate. He’s used cocaine in the past. His mother smoked, but he doesn’t. He drinks heavily, like his Dad. We’re seeing high stress levels, and looking at the air pollution markers, let’s start looking downtown, probably near a major intersection.’
Science fiction? Yes, for now. But advances in epigenetics – the study of reversible chemical modifications to chromosomes that play a role in determining which genes are activated in which cells – might soon start making their way out of research labs and into criminal forensics facilities.
All eyes are on Sir Mark Walport, the new supremo of UK science | Political science
Walport is no stranger to the corridors of power, but how he walks along them will now be scrutinised by the entire research community. His first goal must be to reassure that community that he will listen as closely to their views, as to those of his political masters. Unafraid of criticism as he is, he must remember that academic criticism is often based on evidence and experience. As he becomes the sole accounting officer for UK research, I hope he recognises that the community will collectively wish to hold him to account.
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Monday Mind Games
Empathy is crucial to being a good person, right? Think again. Some argue that, far from motivating pro-social behaviours, empathy can push us towards inaction at best and racism and violence at worst. This week’s Mind Game examines the arguments against empathy.
Visit the Head quarters blog, home of Mind Games
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Science Weekly podcast
Does strange quantum behaviour emerge from run-of-the-mill classical physics? If so, what does this tell us about the fundamental nature of reality? To explore this and more, in this week’s Science Weekly podcast Ian Sample speaks to Nobel prize winner Gerard t’Hooft, Kings College London’s Dr Eleanor Knox and Aix Marseille Université’s Professor Carlo Rovelli.
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Eye on science – this week’s top video
Even if you won’t get a chance to see the London Science Museum’s exhibition, it’s well worth taking a look at the backstage video – Ian Sample has also written a great piece on how robots have held a mirror to human society for 500 years.
