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Chicken blushing / Smectic / Entropy for travel / Sword swallowing / Kids’ saliva

2nd October, 2024

This week’s Feedback column (that I write) in New Scientist magazine has four segments. Here are bits of each of them: Chicken blushing — People — humans — blush. Chickens aren’t entirely inhuman in that they, too, show emotions on their facial skin. Delphine Soulet at the University of Tours, France, and colleagues have explored how skin redness […]

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Future pandemic as big as Covid is inevitable, says Whitty

26th September, 2024

England’s chief medical officer also tells inquiry that UK’s low level of intensive care provision is a political decision

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Covid on the rise as experts say England has ‘capitulated’ to the virus

26th September, 2024

Immunologists push for increase in testing and more widespread vaccine booster rollout as new variant, XEC, emerges

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Can AI Help Save Our Planet?

19th September, 2024

The world’s policy leaders and climate scientists are united: We are in a decisive decade.

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Toxoplasmosis

Can the toxoplasma gondii parasite change our personalities, behaviours and who we're attracted to?

Learn more about toxoplasmosis

Coronavirus

The disease COVID-19, caused coronavirus, was thought to originate from a seafood market in China, and be 10,000 years old... but it may come from elsewhere and be millions of years older.

Learn more about coronavirus

Bats and Ebola

Ebola is one of the most contagious and dangerous diseases, but between outbreaks the disease must be hiding somewhere. Some suspect bats, but is this really true?

Learn more about Bats and Ebola

Animal communication

Animals certainly communicate – some using sounds, and others using body language, pheromones or even electricity. But does any of this actually constitute language?

Learn more about animal communication

Emotions

Emotions are a vital part of society, but there are still plenty of mysteries surrounding them – from what they are for to whether it will be possible, or desirable, to create AI that experiences them.

Learn more about emotions

The captive shark

We still don’t know how to engineer truly suitable shark tanks for the great white, used to travelling hundreds of kilometres daily. Large sharks have large appetites, are fussy, and kill everything.

Learn more about The captive shark

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Our blog posts focus on a specialist topic.
Many are written by scientists about their ongoing research, others by the TWDK team.

Do cheaters prosper?

Tuesday 8th of September 2015

Food for Thought; the Future of Global Food?

Wednesday 19th of August 2015

Media violence and criminal behaviour

Wednesday 19th of June 2013

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Anthropology looks at the history of our species- how we evolved and the development of culture and societies around the world.

Criminology covers why people commit crimes, and the effects of punishment.

Cultural Studies considers the culture that surrounds us every day. By studying this culture, we can better understand how individuals experience the world.

Medical Sociology investigates how culture and society impact on human health.

Social Psychology focuses on how our behaviour is affected by the presence or absence of other people.

Sociobiology aims to explain human behaviour and culture by looking at evolutionary processes in other species.

Socioeconomics is the study of the interface between someone’s economic status and their social interactions.

Sociolinguistics is the science of how languages change and are shaped by society, and how society is shaped by language.

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