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Quiz
Fingerprints of a supernova, robotic dogs and Britain's very own Atlantis... test your knowledge of this week's big science stories.
Image credit: NASA/ESA/JHU/R.Sankrit & W.Blair
Poll
Would you watch TV that extends the image onto your walls, or would you find it too intrusive? Have your say in our poll...
Would you watch surround video? Would you watch surround video?
Would you watch TV that extends the image onto your walls, or would you find it too intrusive? Have your say in our poll...
Q&A
Sighing is a spontaneous deep inhalation and exhalation. It serves to boost blood oxygen levels and fully reinflate the lung tissue. Sighing is not contagious in the same way as yawning, which...
Whether a reservoir ever fills up completely or not usually depends upon its function. Some reservoirs just hold water for hydroelectric power stations and their level is controlled according to...
If you put diesel in a petrol engine, it’d cause knocking, which would eventually cause serious damage. As for diesel engines, they use the fuel itself as a lubricant. Using petrol would...
The idea of an environmentally-friendly war might strike some as a bit odd. There's no doubt that the use of chemical weapons like the herbicide Agent Orange during the Vietnam War caused decades...
Freckles are formed when groups of melanocyte cells beneath the skin are triggered by sunlight to increase melanin production. A regulating protein on the cells (called MCR1) is responsible for...
The first list of fundamental elements was published by Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier in 1789. He listed 33 ‘elements’ that “are the substances we have not discovered means for...
These are volcanoes with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 8 that throw out more than 1000km3 of material. By comparison, the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens released 2.8km3. The...
That depends on what you mean by ‘life’, but it’s reasonable to say that the absolute minimum requirement is the existence of molecules made from relatively heavy elements like...
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A selection of some of the most desirable Northern Light holidays
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The Astronomers Retailer Guide 2013
There’s no better place to buy than from a specialist retailer
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Focus TV
Top 5 Gadgets at The Gadget Show Live 2013
Focus picks the five best bits of tech at the UK's largest technology show
Forum
Main forum page looks...wrong
Thinker
Jun 19th, '13, 09:29
Q & A- Pareidolia: why we see faces in hills, the Mo...
Thinker
Jun 19th, '13, 09:22
General Discussion, the Grey Area - car crash.
M Paul Lloyd
Jun 19th, '13, 06:05
Q & A - The Quest to Build a Brain in the Lab
M Paul Lloyd
Jun 17th, '13, 05:51
General Discussion, the Grey Area - so, which the fastest of all the sci fi ships...
M Paul Lloyd
Jun 16th, '13, 07:02
Science Fact Versus Science Fiction - What’s on (15 – 21 June 2013)
Shadowwolf
Jun 15th, '13, 15:16
News & Links - Campaigners call for ban on 'killer robots'
M Paul Lloyd
Jun 14th, '13, 20:06
General Discussion, the Grey Area - Visions of the Future of Flying
M Paul Lloyd
Jun 14th, '13, 06:20
News & Links - US Supreme Court Says Human DNA Cannot be Pat...
M Paul Lloyd
Jun 14th, '13, 06:14
News & Links - Black Hole Caught Napping After Meal
M Paul Lloyd
Jun 12th, '13, 22:54
Astronomy Discussion
Podcast
Focus magazine Q and A podcast - June 2013
"What colour is a mirror?" and "Could a brain transplant give you someone else's memories?" BBC Click Radio presenter Gareth Mitchell answers life's big questions.