Prose and Passion

today, for the first time in my life, I used Google to locate an item in my own room. And it worked. Explanation: I was looking for an artic...

Britain has had the biggest earthquake since 1984 and I slept right through it, didn't feel a thing. At 5.2 it's not much to peopl...

Nearly 14 years ago, I wrote a news story about the successful incorporation of genes for a blue pigment into roses, assuming that the new v...

I'm checking the page proofs and preparing the index for my forthcoming collection of science stories, The birds, the bees and the platy...

Much of what was said this week about Cuba in the wake of Fidel's resignation was of course unpalatable for someone who believes in a so...

A very nice paper appears in today's issue of Nature, using supramolecular chemistry to create a small-molecule rubber. As it relies on ...

If you're dreaming of walking up vertical walls effortlessly like a gecko, your special day may have come closer. Researchers have devel...

The only sustainable biofuel is used chip fat, concludes George Monbiot in his latest Guardian column . While I agree with him on most thing...

Last year, German science celebrated the "excellence initiative" and two Nobel prizes, but by now the hangover has set in, and deb...

I'm not sure whether the European Union needs a "president", but if it does, who would be the worst candidate one could imagin...

The hardest time for the Shakira-addict is of course the 1.5 years from the end of a tour to the release of new material. This time round th...

As I mentioned earlier, Earthwatch has a new project in this year's expedition guide, which looks at biodiversity in the vineyard and at...