Statistics can kill: how Ebola treatment is being slowed by the drug trials process
By Jacco Thijssen, University of York
The Ebola crisis brings into sharp contrast the importance of appropriate regulation for trials of new drugs. The “gold...
Interdisciplinary research must sit at the heart of universities
By Tom McLeish, Durham University and Veronica Strang, Durham University
Bringing together great academic minds and diverse perspectives from different disciplines can transform university research....
Germany’s green power surge has come at a massive cost
By Gert Brunekreeft, Jacobs University Bremen
Germany is well on its way towards having a predominantly green electricity supply. The transition from nuclear and fossil-fuel...
Plants can actually take care of their offspring – here’s how
By Bianca A. Santini, University of Sheffield
Plants may not travel around as animals do, but they have evolved many strategies that allow them to...
Could crowd-sourced policing turn us into vigilantes – or bedroom super sleuths?
By David S. Wall, Durham University
An increasingly popular weekend pastime among fans of Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Inspector Morse and others, are murder mystery...
Panic over Ebola echoes the 19th-century fear of cholera
By Sally Sheard, University of Liverpool
On October 19 an inspector sent north from London to Sunderland reported a long-awaited arrival: the first British case...
Why an $80 barrel of oil is bad
By Alex Russell, Robert Gordon University
The dramatic and unexpected 20% fall in oil prices since mid-June has caused alarm in Scotland, the UK and...
Climate change: it’s only human to exaggerate, but science itself does not
By Rob MacKenzie, University of Birmingham
To exaggerate is human, and scientists are human. Exaggeration and the complementary art of simplification are the basic rhetorical...
