Heparin prevents blood clotting and is used in many surgeries Luca Medical / Alamy A widely used anti-clotting drug called heparin is currently obtained from the intestines of a trillion pigs a year, which means there is a risk of accidental or deliberate contamination, as well as infections. Now, a way to make it synthetically […]
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Intermittent fasting linked to a higher risk of heart disease death
Eating within an 8-hour window, commonly known as the 16:8 diet, is a popular form of fasting CRISTINA PEDRAZZINI/Science Photo Library/Getty Images Restricting your eating window to just 8 hours a day, a popular type of intermittent fasting, has been linked to a higher risk of dying from heart disease. But some scientists argue that […]
Venki Ramakrishnan: Nobel-winning biologist on the most promising ways to stop ageing
ANTI-AGEING is big business. From books encouraging diets such as intermittent fasting to cosmetic creams to combat wrinkles, a multibillion-dollar industry has been built on promises to make us live longer and look younger. But how close are we really to extending our lifespan in a way that gives us extra years of healthy life? […]
Mammoth carcass was scavenged by ancient humans and sabre-toothed cats
A southern mammoth skeleton found in Spain bears cut marks from stone tools and bite marks from carnivore teeth, suggesting that both hominins and felids feasted on its meat Source link
It’s time to accept that we are in the Anthropocene once and for all
QUICK – how many planets are there in the solar system? If you were born in the 20th century, the answer on the tip of your tongue might be nine. Of course, the official answer is eight, ever since an International Astronomical Union vote in 2006 that ejected Pluto from the line-up. One issue was […]
Titan’s sand dunes may be made of smashed up small moons
A radar image of the Shangri-La sand sea on Titan, taken from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/Université Paris-Diderot The dunes on Saturn’s moon Titan may be made up of the remains of smaller moons that once smashed together and ground each other into sand. Titan has sand dunes covering about 17 per cent of its surface, […]
Annie Bot review: A sharp take on a sex robot that becomes human
Annie Bot is hard-coded to please her owner/partner Niaz Maleknia Annie BotSierra Greer (The Borough Press (UK), available now; Mariner Books (US), on sale 19 March) ANNIE BOT is the story of a robot who lives with her human owner, Doug, in a New York apartment. I opened the novel with low hopes, because the […]
How to spot the Spring Triangle as the equinox approaches
Alan Dyer/Stocktrek Images/Alamy THE 20th of March marks the vernal, or spring, equinox in the northern hemisphere, and the autumn equinox in the southern hemisphere. On this day, most places in the world will get around 12 hours of daylight. The days are getting shorter in the southern hemisphere, while many of us in the […]
Mathematicians plan computer proof of Fermat’s last theorem
Pierre de Fermat’s scribblings set mathematicians on a centuries-long quest GRANGER Historical Picture Archive/Alamy Mathematicians hope to develop a computerised proof of Fermat’s last theorem, an infamous statement about numbers that has beguiled them for centuries, in an ambitious, multi-year project that aims to demonstrate the potential of computer-assisted mathematical proofs. Pierre de Fermat’s theorem, […]
Saving the world’s largest flowers in the Philippines
Rafflesia panchoana on Mount Kemalugong in the Philippines Chris Thorogood RAFFLESIA is a parasitic plant that spends most of its life cycle within its host, a tropical vine, emerging only to bloom. Its flowers are the largest in the world, spanning up to a metre. Despite this, little is known about its life cycle, and […]