Articles
Microplastics pollution in the Pantanal
By now, we all recognise microplastics as a huge problem in our oceans. This awareness peaked when the threat became direct to humans, through the consumption of contaminated marine produce. Unfortunately, the situation is even bleaker than we realised. Dr Pierre Girard from the Federal University of Mato Grosso has discovered microplastics in the remote Brazilian Pantanal, a huge and […]
DNA untangled: Topoisomerase enzymes remove our genetic knots
Topoisomerases are enzymes that are abundantly present in our cells and can temporarily cut and rejoin our DNA to remove knots and tangles that form during important biological processes. If they fail to do their job, cells may die. Some anti-cancer and anti-bacterial drugs alter this natural process to eliminate unwanted cells. Dr Neil Osheroff, professor of Biochemistry and Medicine […]
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The effect of diversity beliefs on friendship formation
For most of us, friendships are an essential part of our lives, and forming them usually comes naturally; we don’t even think about it. In fact, research shows that complex social constructs are at play and influence the choices we make about who we form friendships with. Diverse friendships, for example where people differ in race or religious background, have […]
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The Bristol School of Multiculturalism
It’s an exciting moment when like-minds come together and produce insights that create a new paradigm in their subject discipline. A leading academic in Australia believes that moment of synergy has come for a group of political theorists and sociologists associated with the University of Bristol in the UK. So significant is their non-liberal approach to multiculturalism, Geoffrey Brahm Levey, […]
Spirit possession: Perspectives on pastoral assessment and care
Most of us are familiar with demonic possession as depicted in popular culture, for example in horror films such as The Exorcist. While these representations are usually exaggerated, they are frequently based on real-life accounts of the phenomenon. Despite widespread academic scepticism, pastoral care and mental health practitioners are becoming increasingly aware of the affliction, and the need for adequate […]
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Patient and Public Involvement: A vital part of healthcare research
Patient and Public Involvement, or PPI, is an essential part of modern healthcare research. Patients are the only ones who truly understand what it is like to live with their condition and can therefore offer a uniquely valuable contribution to research. At the University of Nottingham, Professor Roshan das Nair and his colleagues have established a successful PPI group for […]
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Rise of the biological molecular machine
What is the difference between non-living matter and biological life? In biological systems, individual components have specific functions and tasks to perform, much like artificially made machines, but the key difference lies in the complexity. As new experimental techniques have made it possible to delve further into the microscopic world, more questions have arisen as to how single-molecule species work […]
Hate speech regulation on social media: An intractable contemporary challenge
Catherine O’Regan and Stefan Theil of the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights in the Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford investigate initiatives to regulate hate speech online. They highlight the difficulties of finding a widely agreed definition of hate speech and assess the legislative initiatives in four major jurisdictions to inform those engaged in the policy debate concerning […]
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Using physics to explore virus self-assembly
Through decades of research, biologists have determined that under the right conditions, viruses can assemble themselves from their constituent proteins. So far, however, many of the precise characteristics of this process have eluded researchers. Dr Guillaume Tresset at Université Paris-Saclay aims to fill these gaps in our knowledge through experiments that measure how x-rays are scattered by self-assembling viruses. His […]
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Quantifying layered patterns in nature, medicine, and materials
The morphology of layered anisotropic systems plays a crucial part in the development of new materials as well as in medical, forensic and biomimetic research. The ability to quantitatively describe these morphologies is required for solving scientific and engineering problems. Dr Igor Smolyar, from the National Centers for Environment Information/NOAA, Professor Tim Bromage, from New York University and Professor Dr […]
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