Snowflakes are known to be beautiful, fascinating and incredibly detailed. But what are snowflakes? Why are they all unique? How do they form? This page is a brief introduction to the science behind these wonderfully festive things. What is a snowflake? When someone talks about snowflakes, they often mean snow crystals, which is the more…
Honey may help your allergies but…
There has been fake science news all over the internet– including the fact that local honey may be a breakthrough cure for hay fever and other allergies. But is this scientifically accurate? To put this to the test, scientists gave participants an open-label trial– this means that they knew what they knew whether they were…
Rosalind Franklin – DNA’s Unsung Hero
DNA has been a very popular subject of study for scientists during the 20th century. Many people assume that the people who got recognition and a Nobel peace prize for discovering deoxyribonucleic acid, James Watson and Francis Crick along with Maurice Wilkins, are the only people who deserve the credit. But there is a name…
Opportunity has finally run out of, well, opportunities
This month, NASA had to say farewell to the Opportunity rover, which had been exploring Mars for the past 15 years.Opportunity landed on Mars on 25 January 2004. It was supposed to last just 90 Martian days (sols), or 87 Earth days, but ended up surviving 5,111 sols, until 10 June 2018.Its final months are…
Our bees are buzzing away! Why?
We’ve all encountered a bee once in our life, either by their irritating ‘buzz’ or by their sting, where venom is pumped into your veins as a final defence. You may know most about honeybees or bumblebees, there are actually approximately 20,000 species of bees worldwide and they all have one primary feature: to pollinate….
Sixty Second Science 