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What is polonium - and why is it so dangerous?
Science, Maths & Technology

What is polonium - and why is it so dangerous?

...energy) of alpha particles produced by radiation is specific to the isotope that emits them and leaves a kind of signature, with which the original isotope can be identified. A sample of fluid suspected of containing polonium is dried onto a surface and the energy of the emitted particles is measured. The number of particles with a particular energy is directly...
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Article 5 mins
Leaving no stone unturned in the pursuit of female athletic performance
Health, Sports & Psychology

Leaving no stone unturned in the pursuit of female athletic performance

...energy. A lead car shone a laser onto the road to pinpoint the shortest route, ensuring Kipchoge didn’t run a step too far. A cyclist rode alongside him to pass specially formulated sports drink to ensure he didn’t become depleted of energy or dehydrated. And that’s only some of the science that supported this incredible feat. The ‘default male’ in sports...
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Article 15 mins
What is a scientific model?
Science, Maths & Technology

What is a scientific model?

...solar system move, then you would need to put in a mathematical description of gravity, and then you could set your solar system going and watch things moving. And you wouldn’t need to describe all of the autonomic physics that gives you the structure of each individual planet. For your model of the solar system you could have a rather simple description of gravity, and...
View audio What is a scientific model?
Audio 5 mins
Cost-of-living crisis, or just back-to-life blip?
Money & Business

Cost-of-living crisis, or just back-to-life blip?

...energy bills could increase as much as 50% when the price cap is adjusted in April. Regulated rail fares will go up 3.8% in March, and food retailers will soon have to decide how far to pass on the steep wholesale price rises of basics including bread and milk. Residential rents went up 4.6% in the year to last September, reflecting the boom in house prices, whose annual...
View article Cost-of-living crisis, or just back-to-life blip?
Article 5 mins
A year in review 2022
Education & Development

A year in review 2022

...energy prices continue to roar] Martin Lewis warned us that soaring energy bills were a 'national crisis' on the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic (and the soaring didn’t end there!), US politician Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, despite discouragement from allies in the Biden administration, and the Horniman museum in London agreed to return its Benin Bronzes to Nigeria,...
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Article 5 mins
The Open University's Carbon Calculator
Nature & Environment

The Open University's Carbon Calculator

...energy use is the main component, for travel it is car travel and flights, and for everything else the main components are use of services like health and education. Different calculators therefore give different results depending on their assumptions, data sources and what they include. This calculator attempts to be comprehensive by including the effects of income,...
View activity The Open University's Carbon Calculator
Activity 5 mins
Prospecting for water on the Moon
Science, Maths & Technology

Prospecting for water on the Moon

...Solar System. These areas act as vast ‘cold traps’: many chemical substances such as water, other ices and organic compounds delivered to the Moon by asteroid and comet impacts would migrate to the poles and accumulate there in a permanent deep freeze. Our Moon may therefore be witness to billions of years of history of water and other important molecules in the...
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Article 5 mins
What do the latest pictures of Pluto tell us?
Science, Maths & Technology

What do the latest pictures of Pluto tell us?

...solar ultraviolet light stripping hydrogen from molecules of methane, which then link together to form long chains of tar-like substances called tholins. These form tiny particles, and those that settle to the ground help to give it a reddish stain, but why there are so many layers in the atmosphere, we don’t know. Below is a spectacular simulated view (compiled from...
View article What do the latest pictures of Pluto tell us?
Article 5 mins