Modern genetics will improve health and usher in “designer” children
Nov 7th 2019SOMETIME NEXT year, if all goes to plan, a gay male couple in California will have a child. The child in question…
A tale of mistake and retraction shows that science works—eventually
Oct 31st 2019IN NOVEMBER 2015 a team of psychologists led by Jean Decety of the University of Chicago published an unexpected…
The answer to livestock that burp methane may be seaweed
Oct 31st 2019HAMILTON, NEW ZEALANDANCIENT GREEK writings describe livestock eating seaweed, as do Icelandic sagas. And, as the…
Solar-powered trains could make rail transport greener
Nov 21st 2019COMMUTERS MAY not have paid them much attention, but a small array of solar panels next to the railway line at Aldershot,…
Nematode parasites kill a lot of sheep
Nov 21st 2019CROWD ANIMALS together and one likely outcome is parasitic infestation. This has been a problem since the beginning…
Sensors, data and the self-policing rugby match
Nov 14th 2019RUGBY UNION, it is often said, is a game for thugs that is played by gentlemen. “Played by lawyers” might be…
Giant 3D printers for making boats, bridges, buildings and rockets
Nov 14th 2019BOAT BUILDING is a long-winded and tedious business, even when what is going down the slipway is a small craft made…
A new theory argues same-sex sexual behaviour is an evolutionary norm
Nov 28th 2019WHEN IT COMES to sexual behaviour, the animal kingdom is a broad church. Its members indulge in a wide variety of…
Fossil-fuel-producing countries say one thing and do another
Nov 23rd 2019AT A SUMMIT in Paris in 2015, 188 countries pledged to curb their greenhouse-gas emissions. Collectively, these pledges,…