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Why would you want to make a bee wear a backpack?
Nature & Environment

Why would you want to make a bee wear a backpack?

...source lasts. We’re aiming to reduce the transmitter weight by harvesting the energy the bee generates while flying. This will allow us to do away with the battery, which is normally the heaviest component. The final bee backpack will weigh less than 50 milligrams (about two grains of rice) and will be the size of a match head. To further reduce the need for a...
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Article 5 mins
The Language of Brexit
Languages

The Language of Brexit

...of support by right-wing parties. Inventive use has created a host of comic forms. Bregret has appeared (for regret of Brexit), along with dog’s Brexit and full English Brexit as comments on the process. English speakers have coined the French phrase je ne Bregret rien! Brexit is now both an established word and a source of linguistic invention. It’s here to stay....
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Article 10 mins
How is Khat adding to the food crisis in Yemen?
Health, Sports & Psychology

How is Khat adding to the food crisis in Yemen?

...source of income.” Though expressing dissatisfaction with the decreasing sales during the past three months, after a freezing of the salaries of state employees, Saree' argued that khat traders have taken many measures to raise the percentage of their sales and compensate for the decreasing sales. One of these measures, as explained by Saree’, was that khat dealers...
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Article 5 mins
Another spoonful? Understanding the Place of Sugar - Part Two
Society, Politics & Law

Another spoonful? Understanding the Place of Sugar - Part Two

...source of sweetness. It finds other uses, too. Honey and sugar are mixed with salt by the Greeks and Romans, mainly for medicinal purposes. Yet, it is in India that sugarcane juice is first used to produce granulated sugar crystals, around about 350 CE. By the 1200s, sugar (known as "sweet salt") begins to supplant honey in Christian Europe, partly as Crusaders bring it...
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Article 5 mins
Electron beam welding
Science, Maths & Technology

Electron beam welding

...source of electrons. The filament is held at a negative potential, and the electrons are accelerated through a large potential to the anode. The electron beam converges to a focus as it passes through the anode, then diverges between two focusing coils that focus it onto the workpiece. The size of the beam spot is controlled by means of focusing coils, and additional...
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Article 10 mins
The Problem with Pink
History & The Arts

The Problem with Pink

...sources indicate that in the more distant past it was not yet clearly distinguished from other warm hues, such as red and even yellow. Paintings dating from the fifteenth century onwards, however, typically depict Venus (also known as Aphrodite), the classical goddess of love, beauty and desire, with pinkish toned draperies, suggesting that the colour was in practice...
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Article 10 mins
Is your wash day polluting the oceans?
Nature & Environment

Is your wash day polluting the oceans?

...source of microplastic is the breakdown of synthetic fabrics, which forms tiny plastic fibres. Reports now indicate that these are the most common form of microplastic recovered from sediment and water samples. And the vast majority of these are produced during domestic clothes washing. In the washing machine, abrasion of clothes removes tiny fibres which are too small to...
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Article 5 mins
Big data and bioinformatics: Powerful tools for decoding DNA
Science, Maths & Technology

Big data and bioinformatics: Powerful tools for decoding DNA

...sources. It can be used to find new links between genes and disease that may be responsible for diseases such as cancer. Armed with this information we can work towards the development of personalised screening tools such as blood tests, or specific treatment regimens that would increase the chances of an individual responding to a given cancer therapy. Bioinformatics is...
View article Big data and bioinformatics: Powerful tools for decoding DNA
Article 10 mins