Collateral damage from the Covid-19 pandemicDamage to mental health and economy may rival damage caused by virus itselfTue Sept 07 2021 - 15:36
Conspiracy theories stubbornly impervious to scientific methodIt would be unwise to ignore or patronise the phenomenonThu Sept 02 2021 - 06:00
West in danger of repeating Soviet ideological assault on scienceNew ideologies should be carefully discussed, not uncritically insinuated into general cultureThu Aug 19 2021 - 01:00
There is no need for vaccine hesitancy among the youngLet us count our blessing vaccines against so many diseases are availableThu Aug 05 2021 - 01:00
Nuclear waste is not the hellish material of popular imaginationStudies have shown it can be stored safely for millennia in geological repositoriesThu Jul 15 2021 - 01:04
Covid-19 vaccines have weakened the anti-GMO movement‘Genetic modification has much to offer as everyone who offers their arm to the vaccination needle can confirm’Tue Jun 22 2021 - 01:00
You’re only as old as you feel – research says soGerman study finds feeling younger protects middle-aged against damaging stressThu Jun 17 2021 - 01:04
A pandemic problem: Too much cleaning is bad for your healthSterilising surfaces will have damaged microbiome biodiversity, essential for healthThu Jun 03 2021 - 07:00
How useful is the Copernican principle of mediocrity?The assertion that humans are not special creatures is unwarrantedThu May 20 2021 - 01:00
Aggressive de-growth needed to avoid climate nightmareThis would require prioritising generosity and sustainable living, and measuring success in terms of contentment not GDPTue Apr 20 2021 - 16:11
We need nuclear power to manage climate changeProven technology emits little or no greenhouse gasThu Apr 15 2021 - 06:00
Doctors weigh in on importance of BMI in health outcomesSome are moving from ‘weight-centric’ model to prescribing healthier behaviourThu Apr 01 2021 - 06:00
GDP measures economic activity but misses the pointReliance on GDP as a measure of wellbeing has worsened people’s health and happinessThu Mar 18 2021 - 03:00
Reducing world population may be a bad ideaCollapsed birth rates likely a greater threat to humanity than climate changeThu Feb 18 2021 - 06:00
Vaccinations: Jewel in the crown of modern medical scienceHumanity was vulnerable to a plethora of deadly diseases before jabs arrivedThu Feb 18 2021 - 05:00
Constant bad news about Covid is enough to make you sickMuch research demonstrates that consuming too much bad news takes a toll on healthThu Feb 04 2021 - 01:08
What’s the story behind the mystery of Easter Island? It’s not set in stoneDeforestation, slavery and rats were all factors in the Pacific island’s population declineThu Jan 21 2021 - 06:00
Responding to disaster: Are we getting too soft?The Covid-19 pandemic is undoubtedly serious, but it should not debilitate our resilienceThu Jan 07 2021 - 06:00
Can breathing pure oxygen under pressure reverse ageing?Objective is to fill blood with enough oxygen to repair tissue corroded by advancing yearsThu Dec 17 2020 - 01:00
Fostering inventiveness is critical for societyHuman success depends on our ability to co-operate and organise while technology makes life easierThu Dec 03 2020 - 01:00
Science must not marginalise the humanitiesScience is acutely aware of its limits but scientism is dogmaticThu Nov 19 2020 - 06:00
Is it acceptable to use data from Nazi medical experiments?Unethical Nazi experiments yielded scientifically valid results in some casesThu Nov 05 2020 - 06:00
Was the aid worse than the tsunami?Many Nicobarese regret leaving their homes following the 2004 disaster and now suffer from depression and alcoholismThu Oct 15 2020 - 05:00
The farmer and the hunter-gatherer should be friendsOne of the two groups were treated as inferiors when they blended to form a society about 9,000 years ago, evidence showsThu Oct 01 2020 - 01:00
Near death experience: The phenomenon of the mind ‘leaving’ the bodyDoes it show the existence of life after death or can science explain it?Thu Sept 17 2020 - 05:00
How cooler heads could have avoided the ‘Galileo affair’Conventional account ignores gaps in scientist’s evidence to Catholic Church inquisitionThu Sept 03 2020 - 05:30
Great human advances were made throughout the ‘Dark Ages’The major discoveries of the Scientific Revolution were made in universities strongly supported by the churchThu Aug 20 2020 - 01:00
How Pavlov’s doggedness led to a breakthrough in psychologyDiscovery of conditioned reflex played large role in development of behaviourismThu Aug 06 2020 - 06:00
The world on a string – a primerString theory is beautifully explained by Brian Greene in The Elegant UniverseThu Jul 16 2020 - 01:26
Are ‘designer babies’ something we really want?Ability to alter genetics of embyros remains limited but progress will bring big questionsThu Jul 02 2020 - 01:00
Are societies really ageing?In advanced economies today 75-year-olds have the same mortality rates as 65-year-olds in 1950Thu Jun 18 2020 - 05:00
Academic freedom is under pressure in Irish universitiesAcademic freedom thrives on diversity and encouraging contrasting ideasThu Jun 04 2020 - 06:00
Blanket cocooning for over-70s has done more harm than goodTelling healthy older people to lock themselves away has been counterproductiveThu May 21 2020 - 03:00
New evidence emerges on decline of monarch butterfliesDramatic fall in monarch numbers has been widely blamed on Roundup weedkillerThu May 07 2020 - 06:00
Viruses hijack living host cells, and then replicate themselvesWilliam Reville: Antibiotics do not work against coronavirus because they are designed to fight bacteriaThu Apr 16 2020 - 01:00
William Reville: There are no shortcuts to high achievementYou can only become a critical thinker in areas where you have deep knowledgeThu Apr 02 2020 - 00:01
Aerobic exercise – the route to lifelong brain sharpnessContinuous, lifelong exercise is the antidote to gradual decline in cognitive capacityThu Mar 19 2020 - 06:00
Australian bush fires were not caused by climate change aloneReducing the fuel load is one immediate step we can take to tackle wild firesThu Feb 20 2020 - 15:47
Dead white men: What have they ever done for us?William Reville: We have good reason to be proud of our European heritageThu Feb 06 2020 - 01:00
Are we alone in the Milky Way galaxy?One possible reason Earth has not been visited by aliens is that we’re a lonely planet with few other inhabitable neighbours in our galaxyThu Feb 06 2020 - 00:00
Serendipity has played a prominent part in many scientific discoveriesFortunate unplanned discoveries include penicillin, Viagra, x-rays, radioactivity and microwave ovensThu Jan 16 2020 - 01:00
How William Harvey taught the world how the heart worksEnglishman defied popular wisdom with his research of blood circulation systemThu Dec 19 2019 - 01:00
Pushing up the daisies . . . literallyA new, greener, option for disposing of human remains is to turn the corpse into a compost suitable for fertilising garden soilThu Dec 19 2019 - 00:00
The free market is a rigged casinoSo much for notion that redistribution of wealth is soft-hearted generosity pandering to the lazyThu Dec 05 2019 - 00:00
Why ‘jazz hands’ is not the way to combat anxietyYoung people must learn to be resilient rather than avoid stressful situationsThu Nov 21 2019 - 06:00
Ultraprocessed food linked to the worldwide epidemic of obesityThere is a hypothesis that eating ultraprocessed foods can disrupt signals between the gut and the brain, encouraging us to keep eatingThu Nov 07 2019 - 09:55
How to perform well under pressureHaving a positive attitude about yourself can help you to perform better under stressTue Oct 08 2019 - 10:13
Mental fragility and the traditional familyA weakened sense of identity is contributing to a surge in loneliness and depressionThu Oct 03 2019 - 01:00
Story of life: Seven wonders of biological researchFrom cells and DNA to cloning and biochemistry, here are life’s milestonesThu Sept 19 2019 - 06:00
America’s nuclear shield may not be as secure as Trump saysRecent articles highlight deficiencies in system used to protect against nuclear attackThu Sept 05 2019 - 10:42
