Articles

Showing 10 results from a total of 306

Understand

March 9, 2007 | Issue 4

Plant hallucinogens as magical medicines

Did witches once soar through the night sky on broomsticks? Or were they hallucinating after eating or touching certain plants? Angelika Börsch-Haubold explains how modern pharmacology helps us to understand the action of many toxic plants – some of which are still used in medicine.

Ages: 16-19;
Topics: Biology, Chemistry
     

Understand

March 9, 2007 | Issue 4

Silken, stretchy and stronger than steel!

Could spider silk be the answer to medical and military challenges? Giovanna Cicognani from the Institut Laue-Langevin and Montserrat Capellas from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, France, investigate Christian Riekel and Tilo Seydel’s research into this remarkable material.

Ages: 16-19;
Topics: Physics, Biology, Chemistry
           

Teach

March 9, 2007 | Issue 4

Scientists@work

Teaching science in the classroom is all very well, but wouldn’t it be wonderful to let your students learn for themselves what it’s really like to work in a research laboratory? Sooike Stoops from the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Belgium, describes a project that does just…

Ages: 14-16, 16-19;
Topics: Biology, General science
 

Understand

March 9, 2007 | Issue 4

Ethics in research

Is it acceptable to use human embryonic stem cells in research? What about live animals? Professor Nadia Rosenthal, head of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Monterotondo, Italy, talks to Russ Hodge about the ethics of her research.

Ages: 14-16, 16-19;
Topics: Biology
     

Understand

March 9, 2007 | Issue 4

How do muscles produce work? Using optical tweezers to study molecular machines

Alexandre Lewalle from King’s College, London, UK, pushes back the frontiers of our knowledge of motors – at the molecular level.

Ages: 16-19;
Topics: Physics, Biology
   

Teach

March 9, 2007 | Issue 4

Two hydrolytic enzymes and an epistemological–historical approach

Why are enzymes so special? How do they differ from inorganic catalysts? Isabella Marini from the University of Pisa, Italy, describes a classroom protocol to enable students to answer these questions for themselves.

Ages: 14-16;
Topics: Biology, Chemistry
       

Understand

March 9, 2007 | Issue 4

Is traditional engineering the right system with which to manipulate our world?

We are relative newcomers on Earth and still have a lot to learn. Julian Vincent from the University of Bath, UK, investigates some of the lessons we can learn from the living world.

Ages: 14-16, 16-19;
Topics: Physics, Biology
 

Understand

December 20, 2006 | Issue 3

The yeast proteome: retooling the factory floor

Russ Hodge from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, reports on the first complete survey of 'molecular machines' in yeast.

Ages: 16-19;
Topics: Biology
         

Understand

December 20, 2006 | Issue 3

Sleep and learning

When we sleep, are we just passively recovering from a hard day, or is there something more going on? Angelika Börsch-Haubold considers the implications of some intriguing research – was her grandmother right all along? Test the scientists’ conclusions for yourself!

Ages: 16-19;
Topics: Biology
         

Understand

December 20, 2006 | Issue 3

Alec Jeffreys interview: a pioneer on the frontier of human diversity

Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, the inventor of DNA fingerprinting, remembers his childhood passion for science, explains what we have learned from direct DNA analysis, and describes his work with Chernobyl survivors. Interviewed by Russ Hodge and Anna-Lynn Wegener from the European Molecular Biology…

Ages: 16-19;
Topics: Biology, General science, Chemistry, Science and society