Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) was a German biologist, philosopher and artist. He discovered and described thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree of all species (a tree which shows how species are related), and coined several biological terms, such as ecology and stem cell. He published his multi-colour illustrations of animals and sea life in…
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Cryonics, which is usually confused with cryogenics, is the preservation of humans and animals using low temperatures. It is used on humans and animals which cannot be kept alive using modern medicine and the aim is that resuscitation would be possible at some future time. Preserving people and animals with cryonics – also called cryopreservation…
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The Planck telescope, or usually referred to simply as Planck, was launched in 2009. It is a space observatory of the European Space Agency (ESA) and its purpose is to observe the cosmic microwave background radiation – the radiation that has been left over from the Big Bang. More specifically, Planck has been designed to…
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The hygiene hypothesis is the idea that allergies, such as hay fever and asthma, are the result of a lack of early childhood exposure to germs and parasites. Looking at this idea from another angle, we can say that allergies are the result of living in a highly sanitised and clean environment (since sanitation involves…
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This article is based on a lecture delivered by Professor Jack Cowan at an event entitled ‘A Discussion on Scientific Research with Psychedelic Drugs’ (the conference was chaired by Professor David Nutt at Imperial College London, 12/06/2013). There are many causes of geometric hallucinations, including: Flickering lights (a phenomenon which the scientist Jan Evangelista Purkinje…
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