The IgNobel prize honours the most baffling questions that science has to offer, giving centre stage to papers which make you laugh at first, but then lead you to a deeper level of thought. Given the recent release of the 2017 prize-winners, it seems only right to give some (dis)honourable mentions to the questions that […]
Research
Flaming ‘hot Jupiter’!
The eponymous ‘they’ strike again. You may know ‘them’ from such a sentence as “Well, you know what they say”, but this time ‘they’ are a team of international researchers lead by Exeter’s own Dr. Tom Evans. Their most recent research, conducted using NASA’s Hubble space telescope has discovered the most significant evidence to date […]
Do you know caffeine?
Caffeine is an inevitable staple in any student’s diet. Early mornings are more doable after that cup of joe. Late night study sessions are enabled by your caffeine obsession, and hangovers are (slightly) more bearable after that warm cuppa. We are being bred into fully fledged adults with unquestionable coffee obsessions. But what do we […]
Better down where it’s wetter?
Disney’s shockingly cheerful song ‘Under the Sea’ paints a rosy picture about what goes on in the depths of dark waters, but world-class research supported by the University of Exeter tells a different story. In the first week of July this year, a rich variety of marine biologists and ecologists, ambassadors of fishing industries, and […]
Tel-ape-athy?
We read other peoples mind’s every day, guessing their thoughts, emotions and intentions each time we talk to them. This understanding of other people and the ability to attribute mental states is called the “theory of mind”. The theory explains how you attribute thoughts, desires, and intentions to others to predict or explain their actions, […]
Coital Dysphoria (The Sex Blues)
In the ever so liberal, western world that we live in, sex seems to always be a hot topic of discussion, especially at University. As a nurse at the health centre once told me, sex is “readily available and ‘on tap’ for whenever you want it.” Not too sure where she’s getting that from, there’s clearly […]
The Human Body On A Chip
A hot topic within biomedical engineering at the moment is that of creating a human ‘body-on-a-chip’. Firstly, an organ-on-a-chip has the ability to recreate the 3D tissue specific structure, within the physiochemical microenvironment as in natural tissue. These features exceed what can be recreated using traditional cell cultures. To create a human body-on-a-chip, multiple organs-on-chips […]
2017 Science – A Sneak Peek
Evading Extinction Unless you were a Trump-loving, music despising animal hater, 2016 had something to upset pretty much everyone. And as news broke that current mass extinction will be the greatest since the extinction of the dinosaurs, it was up to 2017 to make us feel a little better about the state of environmental affairs. […]
The Biological Brilliance of Bees
A major discovery has been made in regards to wildlife and the natural world. The university has discovered that when foraging for pollen, bees use multiple sensory cues. Instead of using one sense as previously thought, it is believed that bees use a variety of senses and even memories of past experiences when deciding where […]
Medical students launch new research journal
Students from the University of Exeter Medical School have launched a new health research journal alongside peers from Bristol, Cardiff and Plymouth. The ‘INSPIRE Student Health Sciences Research Journal’ features original research by students undertaken in world class facilities. The journal is produced by a team of student editors from the four universities and is […]