This week’s biggest stories
Going into space has its fair share of hazards, but according to the first long-term health study on Apollo astronauts, it seems that a greatly increased risk of cardiovascular disease can be added to the list. Luckily, there’s more upbeat news s to be had this week, in the form of a motor neurone disease breakthrough, which has come about thanks to 2014’s viral ice bucket challenge. Excitingly (or disgustingly, depending on your views on microbes lurking within the crevices of the human body) scientists have also sniffed out a new antibiotic, found in human noses and effective against superbug MRSA. Yum. And finally, a round of applause for the UK’s first double hand transplant, carried out on Chris King, who lost both hands in an industrial accident. Nadey Hakim, a surgeon involved in the world’s first hand transplant back in 1998 puts it best: “It is a small miracle, which truly you are looking at in ecstasy, looking at what nature has allowed us to do thanks to modern surgery.”
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Straight from the lab - top picks from our experts on the blog network
Let’s celebrate 150 years of Beatrix Potter: author, scientist and fungus-lover | Notes & Theories
Until quite recently, Potter’s accomplishments and her experiments in natural science went unrecognised. Upon her death in 1943, Potter left hundreds of her mycological drawings and paintings to the Armitt Museum and Library in Ambleside, where she and her husband had been active members.
Can anti-doping bodies maintain their scientific integrity? The answer is troubling | Political science
Recent weeks have seen a focus on what to do about the eligibility of Russian athletes for the upcoming Rio Olympic Games. Few think that the International Olympic Committee and other organizations have handled this crisis particularly well. But the problems facing governing bodies in sport go much, much deeper.
To collect or not to collect: are fossil-hunting laws hurting science? | Lost Worlds Revisited
Picking up small fossils as a child seems harmless enough, but what when you stub your toe on something rare and spectacular? Would you put it above the fireplace to be admired for eternity, or would you try to sell it for a good price?
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Monday Mind Games
This week saw the launch of our new fortnightly series, Mind Games, which will delve into some classic experiments in psychology, and show you how you to conduct them yourself at home. And what better way to kick off than with one of the most highly cited and replicated effects in the entire discipline: the Stroop effect!
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Science Weekly podcast
In the first instalment of our Big Unknowns mini-series, Nicola Davis delves into the world of cosmology to tackle one of its biggest questions - is our universe infinite?
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Eye on science - this week’s top pictures
Gorgeous galaxies and stunning stars make up this selection of pictures from the shortlisted entries for this year’s Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year award.
