‘Myrrh, conifer oil and … breakfast tea’: my sniffer team’s surprise findings on what mummified bodies smell like

Welcome to ‘sensory heritage’, the study of how we engage with objects from the past besides what they look like.

Cecilia Bembibre, Lecturer in Sustainable Heritage, UCL • conversation
Feb. 14, 2025 • ~8 min

How to cope with romantic rejection – a psychologist’s advice

Humans have complex psychological monitoring systems that track whether we are at risk of being pushed out of groups.

Veronica Lamarche, Senior Lecturer of Psychology, University of Essex • conversation
Feb. 13, 2025 • ~8 min

How the pollution of today will become the ‘technofossils’ of the far future

Chickens, concrete, computers and clothes will leave a billion-year mark in the rocks.

Sarah Gabbott, Professor of Palaeontology, University of Leicester • conversation
Feb. 12, 2025 • ~9 min

Technofossils: how the pollution of today will become the fossils of the far future

Chickens, concrete, computers and clothes will leave a billion-year mark in the rocks.

Sarah Gabbott, Professor of Palaeontology, University of Leicester • conversation
Feb. 12, 2025 • ~9 min

Most animals have their own version of tree rings – here’s how we biologists use them to help species thrive

From whale earwax to bird feathers, almost all organisms keep a record of their existence.

Anna Sturrock, Senior Lecturer, School of Life Sciences, University of Essex • conversation
Feb. 11, 2025 • ~8 min

How the brain can miraculously switch off pain

Stress, exercise and even sex can reduce pain.

Dan Baumgardt, Senior Lecturer, School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol • conversation
Feb. 10, 2025 • ~8 min

AI is transforming the search for new materials that can help create the technologies of the future

Discovering new materials could drive forward areas such as green technology and advanced electronics.

Domenico Vicinanza, Associate Professor of Intelligent Systems and Data Science, Anglia Ruskin University • conversation
Feb. 10, 2025 • ~9 min

Britain has a new snake species – should climate change mean it is allowed to stay?

This species could be the poster child for conservation on a warming planet.

Wolfgang Wüster, Professor of Zoology, Bangor University • conversation
Feb. 7, 2025 • ~7 min

Gaza: we analysed a year of satellite images to map the scale of agricultural destruction

Most of Gaza’s olive trees, citrus trees and greenhouses have been destroyed.

Jamon Van Den Hoek, Associate Professor of Geography, Oregon State University • conversation
Feb. 6, 2025 • ~7 min

Reducing air pollution could increase methane emissions from wetlands – here’s what needs to be done

Improved computer models shed light on how reducing sulphur emissions will inadvertently release methane from wetlands.

Lu Shen, Assistant Professor, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Peking University • conversation
Feb. 6, 2025 • ~7 min

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