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40,085 articles from Guardian Unlimited Science

Home Office research so feeble someone ought to be locked up

We'd all like to help the police do their job well. They, in turn, would like to have a massive database with DNA profiles from everyone who has been arrested, but not convicted of a crime.We worry that this is intrusive, but some of us are willing to make concessions on our principles and the invasion into our privacy in the name of preventing crimes. To do this, we'd like to know the evidence on...


FRIDAY 17. JULY 2009


Humans glow in the dark

Ultra-sensitive cameras reveal that our bodies emit tiny amounts of light that are too weak for the human eye to detectAmazing pictures of "glittering" human bodies have been released by Japanese scientists who have captured the first ever images of human "bioluminescence".Although it has been known for many years that all living creatures produce a small amount of light as a result of chemical...

Copernicus nominated for the select club of elemental scientists

The discoverers of element 112, the newest addition to the periodic table, want it named after the 15th century astronomer who had the audacity to suggest the Earth orbits the sunThe periodic table gained a new element last month. It's currently known as ununbium or simply element 112, but now the scientists who discovered it have proposed a name: copernicium. Sigurd Hofmann and his team at the...

Science needs more Apollos

The Apollo project didn't just put men into space – it put vision and inspiration back into science. We need more of the sameHow did we allow "vision" and "inspiration" to become dirty words when discussing science? Why are these regarded as fluffy concepts that have no place in the modern world of scientific research? The science journal Nature has carried out an online, international,...

In praise of ... British archaeology

"It takes very special qualities to devote one's life to problems with no attainable solutions and to poking around in dead people's garbage," the prehistorian Paul Bahn once joked, but there are plenty of people who want to do it. The last two decades have seen an explosion in British archaeology, prompted partly by planning laws that have made quick rescue digs a routine feature on building...


THURSDAY 16. JULY 2009


Houston, we have a problem: moon walk footage erased

Nasa probably taped over its only high-resolution film from the first moon landing with satellite dataIt was mankind's crowning achievement, with millions around the world glued to their television sets as astronaut Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the surface of the moon 40 years ago.But in the scientific equivalent of recording an old episode of EastEnders over the prized video of your...

Space shuttle Endeavour thunders into orbit on sixth attempt

After more than a month's delay Endeavour began its flight to the international space station on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the liftoff of man's first moon landingAfter more than a month's delay, space shuttle Endeavour and seven astronauts have thundered into orbit in a flight to the international space station, hauling up a veranda for Japan's enormous lab and looking to set a crowd...

An awfully friendly Martian adventure

Take six men and place them inside a hermetically sealed chamber for 105 days. Welcome to the scientific simulation that tested what astronauts would experience on a trip to MarsTake six men. Place them inside a hermetically sealed chamber that has no windows and is not much bigger than a garage. Tell them that they can only communicate with the outside world with a 20-minute time delay. Now stir...

We have liftoff

A Saturn V rocket launches Apollo 11 on the first leg of its journey to the moon on this day 40 years ago. Apollo expert Christopher Riley provides the commentary...


WEDNESDAY 15. JULY 2009


Neil Armstrong to skip Apollo 11 event

First man to walk on the moon will not take part in Nasa event celebrating the 40th anniversary of the lunar landingThe world's most famous moonwalker - no, not that one - is to skip a major Nasa event next week commemorating the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. The notoriously shy Neil Armstrong, the first of only a dozen men ever to set foot on the earth's nearest neighbour, is counting on...


TUESDAY 14. JULY 2009