We have all been victims of the summer heat wave, especially in recent months, with heatstroke and hyperthermia becoming more common by the year. Over the summer of 2022, the UK saw temperatures soar above 35℃ on multiple occasions and many of us turned to indoor air conditioning as a solution to the scorching heat. These temperatures are a useful analogy for the future of our climate when we will likely rely even more heavily on technology to provide us with the ‘ideal’ living conditions. Are humans failing to adapt to the ever-changing climate, or are we just obsessed with the perfect temperature? ...Continue Reading

Have you ever wondered why some things taste more bitter to some than others? This revelation goes all the way back to 1931 when a chemist named Arthur Fox accidentally released synthesized Phenylthiocarbamide. His colleague complained about its bitter taste, but he could not taste its bitterness!

This kickstarted a series of taste testing investigations. The compounds Phenylthiocarbamide and Propylthiouracil cause a bitter taste and although they are not naturally present, they are used to determine bitter sensitivity. ...Continue Reading

Recent studies have shown that queen ants have found a way to extend their life by blocking part of a molecular pathway linked to ageing. Animals such as ants should not live as long as they do because the energy these animals put into reproduction, which is a heavy focus for ants, takes time off the end of their lives. Nonetheless, queen ants produce millions of eggs and live an extraordinarily long time compared with worker ants that don’t reproduce. ...Continue Reading

Most people take sex for granted without much thought, but there are overwhelmingly more reasons against its existence than for. The truth is that, sexual reproduction exists. Like how engineers tell bumble bees can’t fly, biologists tell us sex shouldn’t exist. Time, energy, and resources. Sex demands a massive price with few offsprings to remain in the gene pool. The benefit the gene(s) for sexual reproduction needs to outweigh the cost for it to spread, otherwise there would be no sexual organisms. ...Continue Reading

The year is 1798, news has reached London that a mole-like animal with a duck bill and webbed feet has been discovered. At this point, this creature goes against every known fact of biology. Is it possible that a chimera of a duck, otter, and mole exists? In fact, its scientific name, assigned in 1803, Ornithorhynchus paradoxus, means “paradoxical bird-snout”. ...Continue Reading