Blog Profile / Tom Feilden
| URL : | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/correspondents/tomfeilden/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Academics / General Science | |
| Posts on Regator: | 62 | |
| Posts / Week: | 0.6 | |
| Archived Since: | July 7, 2011 | |
Blog Post Archive
Building a biological model of mental illness
A team of scientists based at Cardiff University who found that a handful of genes are implicated in a wide range of debilitating neurological conditions have won £5m for further research. "So the animal has actually gone to the wrong panel. Show More Summary
Is Nasa looking in the wrong place for life?
The world's leading space agency, Nasa, has an ambitious new Grand Plan: to "identify, capture and relocate" an asteroid. Outlining the Agency's $17.7 billion budget proposal for 2014, Nasa administrator Charles Bolden said the mission...Show More Summary
'Cinderella cancer' comes in from the cold
It's a sobering thought for all us carriers of the Y chromosome, but prostate cancer kills almost as many men every year as breast cancer does women. According to Cancer Research UK some 41, 000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer...Show More Summary
Characterising exoplanets
` We've come a long way since 1995 when Michael Mayor and Didier Queloz claimed the first official detection of an exoplanet orbiting a distant star - the somewhat prosaically named 51 Pegasi b, orbiting a sun-like star some 51 light-years...Show More Summary
Keeping up with the Jinzhousauruses
Where do you go if you want to know everything there is to know about dinosaurs? Well obviously you could ask any passing nine-year-old boy, but if you can't find one of those you're going to need The Complete Dinosaur, 2nd Edition.Show More Summary
Which bright spark knocked over the inkwell?
A new image from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) provides a remarkable insight into star formation. It looks like a smear of clumsily spilt black ink, or perhaps (for the more romantically minded), a rip in the star-studded cloak...Show More Summary
Does lead poisoning make you violent?
It may sound fanciful, but a growing body of evidence seems to suggest there may be a link between violent crime and - no, not policing strategy, or sentencing reform, or even trends in drug abuse, but - exposure to lead. Yes that'sShow More Summary
The shape of medicine to come?
We've heard a lot about a new era of personalised medicine - some of it pretty wild speculation about miracle cures - that would follow in the wake of the Human Genome Project. According to President Bill Clinton it would "revolutionise...Show More Summary
Switching on a light in the brain
A new technique known as optogenetics is lighting up the field of neuroscience. The idea involves genetically engineering neurons to respond to light, and then using powerful lasers to stimulate and control their expression. The technique...Show More Summary
Nipping MRSA in the bud
How gene sequencing has helped to map and block an outbreak of MRSA Scientists and politicians promised much when the human genome was first sequenced back in 2000. In a live transatlantic press conference President Bill Clinton proclaimed that it would "revolutionize the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of most if not all human diseases". Show More Summary
Gas guzzler
The Milky Way's black hole sizes up its next meal. Guy Fawkes' night may still be fresh in the memory, but astronomers are already jostling for ringside seats at an even more spectacular fireworks display. Over the next few months the...Show More Summary
Gas guzzler
Guy Fawkes' night may still be fresh in the memory, but astronomers are already jostling for ringside seats at an even more spectacular fireworks display. Over the next few months the super-massive black hole at the centre of our galaxy...Show More Summary
'Not-so-identical' twins may hold the key to disease
How understanding epigenetic switching could cast light on subtle differences that may give rise to illness. "Growing up we were like two peas in a pod." "Even our best friends found it quite hard to tell us apart". Dan and Scott Shillum...Show More Summary
Badgers back in the firing line
A new cull of badgers could start in two pilot areas within days. "As far as badger culling is concerned it has nothing to offer in terms of controlling TB in cattle, and could indeed make the situation worse". That was the emphatic,...Show More Summary
Of birdbaths and birdbrains
Crows - as any child familiar with Aesop's Fables can tell you - are very smart birds. But are they smarter than children? According to Aesop "A crow, half-dead with thirst, came upon a pitcher of water..." to cut a long story short,...Show More Summary
Seeing in the dark
How do you see what was happening in the early Universe, before the first stars ignited, lighting up the inky blackness? It's a question that has posed serious problems for astronomers who, in the absence of observational data, haveShow More Summary
A sombre warning from outer space
If anyone ever needed a reminder of the awesome destructive potential of space weather, look no further than HD 189733b. Slightly larger than Jupiter, HD 189733b is a huge gas giant orbiting very close to its parent star (HD 189733A),...Show More Summary
Time for a re-think on GM crops?
What would it take to break the impasse on GM crops? That's a problem that has been exercising minds at the Agricultural Biotechnology Council, which is urging the government to adopt a strategic plan for agriculture that includes aShow More Summary
The transit of science
"This is Philosophical Transactions from 1716, and Halley's paper - which is in Latin - is number five in the volume". Taking care not to damage the brittle, yellowing pages the Royal Society's chief archivist and librarian Keith Moore turns to one of the seminal scientific papers in both the Society's - and science's - history. Show More Summary
A new age of unreason or a geek dawn?
Is the enlightenment over? Earlier this year the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Nina Fedoroff, used the platform of her annual address to the country's leading academy of science to warn that the...Show More Summary