Death and Secrecy in Ice Valley
The Isdalen valley is an unforgiving place. It sits in the shadow of the largest of a group of mountains overlooking the Norwegian city of Bergen, its rocks whipped bare of grass by bracing winds. Translated literally, Isdalen means ‘the ice valley’, but locals give it a more sinister name – Death Valley, after a string of suicides in the Middle Ages. This story begins in November 1970. The depths of winter were drawing in; driving rain would soon be giving way to walls of snow and the vegetation in the valley strained to soak up the few hours of daylight that remained in the ever-shortening days.
Health and Disease
It all starts with a plume of smoke on the horizon. Wispy and ethereal, the twisting, blooming columns of white and grey belie the danger and devastation to come. Within moments, the plume begins to darken, an orange glow appears
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Matter and Energy
If you happened to scan a map of Tennessee in the early 1940s, your finger would inevitably pause over the recognisable urban centres of Memphis, Nashville or Knoxville. A seemingly
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A mass spectrometer is a complex mixture of wires, electrodes, metal piping and whirring machinery. Inside, chemical compounds are ionised, accelerated and deflected by powerful electric and magnetic fields, separating
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The control room of reactor number four at the Chernobyl Power Plant was a maze of control panels. Dials lined every observable surface and the room was a cacophony of
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The Living Head: A Gruesome Curiosity
What does it mean to be dead? Advancing medical science continually challenges our definition. Can we be said to be dead when we stop breathing or if our heart stops? In centuries gone by, perhaps, but in recent decades the technology has been developed to rescue people from the grips of death. One thing though has remained a virtual constant – if we lose our heads, if that amazing brain that makes us who we are is destroyed then we are no more. Throughout history decapitation has represented the most emphatic, most absolute confirmation of death. But is there more
The Natural World
It all starts with a plume of smoke on the horizon. Wispy and ethereal, the twisting, blooming columns of white and grey belie the danger and devastation to come. Within
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In Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad, we are introduced to the κητος (pronounced care-tos) a most ghastly and terrifying serpent dwelling in the depths of the Mediterranean Sea. When Queen Cassiopeia
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Disuse osteoporosis is bone loss resulting from reduced mechanical loading of the skeleton; the processes of bone formation and bone resorption,in which cells known as osteoclasts break down bone and release
Read MoreTHE JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME
Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle classified over 500 species of birds, mammals and fish. Finely in tune with the natural world, his analyses deciphered many of the
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For researchers attempting to unravel the story of the Monarch migration, the fact that the circadian clocks in the brain played no part in migration came provided
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With the characterisation of a magnetic compass, the research stemming from Monarch migration has received new life. Revisiting the established discovery that blocking antennae light-detection resulted
Read MoreAtoms, Compounds and Molecules
The story that Deborah from Monroe, Georgia tells of her experience with colorectal cancer is one that will resonate with anyone that
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Norman Borlaug was an American biologist and humanitarian, known as “the father of the green revolution” and “the man who saved a billion lives”.
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In all walks of life, but particularly in science, we are marching inexorably forwards at a rate almost unmatched by any other point in
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