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Mosaic science
Exploring the science of life
Latest
Lovely grub: are insects the future of food?
Emily Anthes braves locusts, beetles, mealworms and more as she asks whether eating insects is the answer to feeding ever more humans and…
Emily Anthes
21 min read
Latest
Can India’s urban future be a healthy one?
Ill-health is the price rural Indians have to pay for seeking a better life in the city. Twenty-nine villages near Hyderabad are helping to…
Michael Regnier
19 min read
One virus, four lives: the reality of being HIV positive
What does it mean to be HIV positive in the UK today? Patrick Strudwick meets four people living with the virus to find out.
Patrick Strudwick
23 min read
Latest
Secrets of the strong-minded
Can children be made more psychologically ‘resilient’ to traumas like 9/11 – as well as the stress of everyday life? Emma Young meets a…
Emma Young
21 min read
South Africa’s obesity crisis: the shape of things to come?
Lifestyle and economic changes are bringing an obesity crisis to South Africa and other low-income countries. Ian Birrell meets the people…
Ian Birrell
15 min read
Surviving through science: life with cystic fibrosis
Not long ago, children with cystic fibrosis were lucky to reach adulthood. They are now likely to live into their 40s and beyond. Penny…
Penny Sarchet
23 min read
The man who grew eyes
Growing nerve tissue and organs is a sci-fi dream.
Moheb Costandi
19 min read
Latest
DIY diagnosis: how an extreme athlete uncovered her genetic flaw
When Kim Goodsell discovered that she had two extremely rare genetic diseases, she taught herself genetics to help find out why. Ed Yong…
Ed Yong
18 min read
How the zebra got its stripes, with Alan Turing
Where do a zebra’s stripes, a leopard’s spots and our fingers come from? The key was found years ago – by the man who cracked the Enigma…
Kat Arney
20 min read
Smart and smarter drugs
Are we asking the right questions about smart drugs? Marek Kohn looks at what they can do for us — and what they can’t.
Marek Kohn
17 min read
Latest
In conversation with… Harold Varmus
Alok Jha talks to Harold Varmus, Nobel Prize-winning cancer researcher and current Director of the US National Cancer Institute.
Alok Jha
18 min read
Why do we have blood types?
More than a century after their discovery, we still don’t really know what blood types are for. Do they really matter? Carl Zimmer investigates.
Carl Zimmer
16 min read
Mirror Man
Phantom pain, experienced in missing limbs, tortures amputees and puzzles scientists. Srinath Perur talks to a man who treats it with mirrors.
Srinath Perur
21 min read
Can meditation really slow ageing?
Is there real science in the spiritualism of meditation? Jo Marchant meets a Nobel Prize-winner who thinks so.
Jo Marchant
18 min read
Porklife: building a better pig
How have the farm animals of today been shaped by centuries of domestication and selective breeding? Sujata Gupta investigates.
Sujata Gupta
20 min read
Brazil’s billion-dollar gym experiment
Can a grand vision of 4,000 free public gyms overcome inequality and fight Brazil’s health crisis? Catherine de Lange reports.
Catherine de Lange
19 min read
Can you supercharge your brain?
Applying mild electrical currents to your head could take away pain, help memory and improve attention — and the US military is very interested. Emma Young reports.
Emma Young
26 min read
In conversation with… Françoise Barré-Sinoussi
Patrick Strudwick talks to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi about how she identified HIV as the cause of AIDS, her receipt of the Nobel Prize, and the latest efforts to prevent, treat and manage HIV.
Patrick Strudwick
22 min read
Arrested development
A handful of girls seem to defy one of the biggest certainties in life: ageing. Virginia Hughes reports.
Virginia Hughes
26 min read
Blackness ever blackening: my lifetime of depression
How do I explain an existence dominated by the bleakest, darkest moods? And do I even want to? By Jenny Diski.
Jenny Diski
19 min read
The big sleep
The extreme survival tricks of hibernators could help us overcome life-threatening injuries, Frank Swain discovers.
Frank Swain
15 min read
Medicine’s dirty secret
Bryn Nelson gets to the bottom of an emerging — and often shocking — therapy.
Bryn Nelson
28 min read
The mind readers
Thousands remain trapped between life and death. Three scientists are working to free them.
Roger Highfield
34 min read
Hungary’s Cold War battle with polio
Trapped by the Cold War and scarred after a failed revolution, Hungary fought one of its greatest battles against polio. Penny Bailey reports.
Penny Bailey
28 min read
Made for the marathon?
Hayley Birch tackles the marathon with the power of science — but will she beat her target time?
Hayley Birch
24 min read
In conversation with… Jane Goodall
As Jane Goodall turns 80, Henry Nicholls talks to her about her remarkable career studying chimpanzee behaviour, her animal welfare activism, and accusations of plagiarism in her latest book.
Henry Nicholls
17 min read
How malaria defeats our drugs
In the war against malaria, one small corner of the globe has repeatedly turned the tide, rendering our best weapons moot and medicine on the brink of defeat. Ed Yong reports.
Ed Yong
21 min read
Killer dust
Why is asbestos still killing people? Nic Fleming finds out in a twisting tale of industry cover-ups and misinformation that spans decades.
Nic Fleming
19 min read
Blood speaks
What is life like when having your period puts your health at risk and means you are shunned by society? Rose George reports from Nepal and Bangladesh on menstrual taboos.
Rose George
20 min read
The Alzheimer’s enigma
The cause of Alzheimer’s disease has troubled the science world’s best detectives. Michael Regnier asks: can such a mystery really be solved if we gather enough clues?
Michael Regnier
21 min read
The future of sex?
Once derided as being like a plastic bag with the erotic appeal of a jellyfish, the female condom is being reinvented as the next big thing in safe sex. Emily Anthes investigates.
Emily Anthes
20 min read
City cycling: health versus hazard
Are the fitness benefits of riding your bike worth the risk of an accident? Lesley Evans Ogden takes a tour of seven cities on two wheels to find out.
Lesley Evans Ogden
21 min read
In conversation with… Steven Pinker
Oliver Burkeman explores human nature, violence, feminism and religion with one of the world’s most controversial cognitive scientists. Can he dent Steven Pinker’s optimism?
Oliver Burkeman
15 min read
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