Category: General

One stormy Monday in March, 1827, the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven passed away after a protracted illness.

Bedridden since the previous Christmas, he was attacked by jaundice, his limbs and abdomen swollen, each breath a struggle.

As…

Life’s building blocks may not have been crafted in the lightning flashes of a tempest, a new study suggests, so much as in the ceaseless glow of rolling ocean mists.

Researchers from Stanford University have demonstrated a phenomenon they…

The addictiveness of nicotine pouches and other oral products may depend on their flavourings, according to a new rat study published in the peer-reviewed journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.

Nicotine pouches – small sachets placed between the…

The quantum universe

Quantum physics is confusing. Fortunately, scientists have been exploring it for years and we are, finally, beginning to make some sense of it all. Here’s our guide to quantum mechanics made easy: a whistlestop tour in…

Holly is the Staff Writer for BBC Science Focus and looks after the popular Q&A section. She holds an MSc (distinction) in Geoscience (Space and Climate Physics) from UCL, and specialises in astronomy and earth sciences. Before joining Our Media,…

Humans speak more than 7,000 languages today. As different as they all seem, researchers argue in a new review that they all stem from a single linguistic family tree that emerged before our species split into distinct populations 135,000…

Could lumpy metallic rocks in the deepest, darkest reaches of the ocean be making oxygen in the absence of sunlight?

Some scientists think so, but others have challenged the claim that so-called “dark oxygen” is being produced in the lightless…

Virtual reality is getting a whole new flavor—literally. Scientists at Ohio State University have developed e-Taste, a new technology that lets users experience taste in digital environments. With it, you could actually bite into a…

For patients with severe corneal injuries, blindness has often been seen as a life sentence. But a new eye stem cell transplant may change that. Scientists at Massachusetts Eye and Ear have successfully used stem cells from a…

The UK needs more houses. Demand is outstripping supply and it’s driving up prices, making affordable housing harder to come by. That’s just one of the reasons behind the government’s intention to build 1.5 million new homes over the next…