Thư Viện

Research using twins

To biomedical researchers all over the world, twins offer a precious opportunity to untangle the influence of genes and the environment - of nature and nurture...
Sep 29,2017

Neuroaesthetics

An emerging discipline called neuroaesthetics is seeking to bring scientific objectivity to the study of art, and has already given us a better understanding of many masterpieces. The blurred imagery of Impressionist paintings seems to stimulate the brain's amygdala, for instance...
Sep 29,2017

This marvellous invention

Of all mankinds manifold creations, language must take pride of place. Other inventions -the wheel, agriculture, sliced bread - may have transformed our material existence, but the advent of language is what made us human...
Sep 29,2017

The story of silk

The history of the world’s most luxurious fabric, from ancient China to the present day. Silk is a fine, smooth material produced from the cocoons - soft protective shells - that are made by mulberry silkworms (insect larvae)...
Sep 29,2017

Great Migrations

Animal migration, however it is defined, is far more than just the movement of animals. It can loosely be described as travel that takes place at regular intervals - often in an annual cycle - that may involve many members of a species, and is rewarded only after a long journey...
Sep 29,2017

An introduction to film sound

Though we might think of film as an essentially visual experience, we really cannot afford to underestimate the importance of film sound. A meaningful sound track is often as complicated as the image on the screen, and is ultimately just as much the responsibility of the director...
Sep 29,2017

Reducing the effects of climate change

Mark Rowe reports on the increasingly ambitious geo-engineering projects being explored by scientists. Such is our dependence on fossil fuels, and such is the volume of carbon dioxide already released into the atmosphere, that many experts agree that significant global warming is now inevitable...
Sep 29,2017

Falkirk Wheel

A unique engineering achievement. The Falkirk Wheel in Scotland is the world's first and only rotating boat lift. Opened in 2002, it is central to the ambitious £84,5m Millennium Link project to restore navigability across Scotland by reconnecting the historic waterways of the Forth & Clyde an..
Sep 29,2017

Adventures in mathematical reasoning

Occasionally, in some difficult musical compositions, there are beautiful, but easy parts - parts so simple a beginner could play them. So it is with mathematics as well...
Sep 29,2017

Gifted children and learning

Internationally, ‘giftedness’ is most frequently determined by a score on a general intelligence test, known as an IQ test, which is above a chosen cutoff point, usually at around the top 2-5%. Children’s educational environment contributes to the IQ score and the way intelligence is used...
Sep 29,2017