Who owns the Mound? The answer is not so clear. The Mound rises up like a tiny mountain on the grass. Tiny compared to mountains, that is: on the scale of those who live in it, the Mound can...

Scientifically, you’re better-looking than your parents. And, your kids will be better-looking than you.

We have become a salt-obsessed society, but maybe we can blame our ancestors for that?a

What a hot cup of coffee tells us about the history of life on Earth

The mythology, technology, and commercialism of our slumbers.

We may not have the same jobs as you, but our life is busy too.

A wander through the science and symbolism of majestic oaks, as we search for a way home to forests.

Eating more meat made us human. Now our survival demands we eat less of it.

These tiny, colourful bees make great pollinators — and they love the taste of human sweat.

How a World of Warcraft bug could provide insights into the world’s latest epidemic.

The 17th-century mistake that put the ‘fizz’ into fizzy

Master or slave?

Why solitary bee awareness should be the new ‘it’ item on everyone’s holiday wishlist.

A history of the universe in verse

Is it really all just mumbo-jumbo woo-woo talk?

Our incomplete education could end the world. Can the humanities save us from ourselves?

How do we prevent robots from turning on their human masters?

Hot springs, colourful microbes: surviving in a world that’s unique, beautiful, and hostile

How come our Universe was fine-tuned to enable the miracle of Life? Consider Omega. Commonly known as the density parameter, it tells us how important gravity is in the expanding universe. ...

The world, and your phone, is dependent on chemicals. What happens when they run out? When  you hear the word “elements”, you probably think of the Periodic Table.  A large uneven grid, list...

Is fire really evil? Maybe it’s just a natural part of the environment. This post can also be viewed on Medium [https://medium.com/snipette/fire-for-plants-1b5c930dfbc2?source=friends_link&s...

Superposition, tunnelling, entanglement, and other bits and pieces of quantum mechanics In Part 2 [https://medium.com/snipette/waving-particles-30bdc85daa7e?source=friends_link&sk=d6ee124ae6...

Why duality is like an elephant: an overview of the double-slit experiment and its implications Last time [https://medium.com/snipette/the-uncertainty-principle-2561e2ee3be2?source=friends_l...

Is a particle a wave? Is a mango a line? Some things can never be known for certain. Quantum  Physics has always been that one mysterious theory that has been really  difficult to understand...

Theories are great at describing the world—but we need to take them less literally Do you want the good news or the bad news first? I agree, always start with the bad news. As  a former sc...

Join my journey from the mid-galactic black-hole to the keratin in your hair, and discover the beauty of physics The  evening before my departure to Geneva, Switzerland, I was looking up in ...

Why does the Earth spin one way and not the other? There’s a logical reason. The Sun sits, a big bright blob in the centre of the Solar System. Small and smaller balls spin round in concentr...

Or, how to make a telescope as large as the world This is it. The first image that has ever been taken of any black hole. And maybe it doesn’t look spectacular at first, but consider this: ...

White spots are good: are you throwing away a perfectly good cheese? The  funny thing about being a food scientist, is that before meeting me,  most people have never even heard of my field....

Ancient Athenians elected people by lottery. Are eight-dimensional quasi-creatures doing the same to us?

Are we basically two people at once? We like to think that each one of us is only one kind of person, a whole comprised of various facets and feelings. And as an extension of that, we like t...

How fast does time move? The answer depends on what you’re thinking. Time is fixed. A second is a second, there’s no question about it. Or so people thought. Then came Albert Einstein, with...

How fast does time go, exactly? The answer can depend on who you are. The screen flickers high and low, in bits and pieces. Some regions go dim for a while, only to brighten up again. The pi...

What is a plant made of? The answer may surprise you. Plants grow. Everyone knows that. But what do they grow from? Animals take material from the food they eat: part of it comes out the ot...

Thin Air [https://medium.com/snipette/thin-air-1827216638bd] The book that sparked ‘Thin Air’ This piece was inspired by Gabrielle Walker’s book An Ocean of Air. A substantial amount of the ...

It’s not just about turning text to thoughts: how you read, and what you read it on, can literally change your brain. This piece began in my quest to try and find an answer to the age-old de...

Humans dream of contacting aliens — but will we understand what they’re saying? “Are we alone in the Universe?” That’s a question humans have been pondering all the time, including in this ...

I help water to freeze and ice to fall, and can make clouds rain at my command. Birds have large wings and streamlined bodies to help them stay aloft. But if you’re small enough, you don’t n...

Nobody’s found signs of alien life yet. So why do they keep on looking? Extra-terrestrial life. What images just popped into your mind? Little green men? ET, the gnarly but ultimately friend...

They talk about Life on other planets, but have we even seen the limits of life here on Earth? Planet Mars is ice cold and desert dry. Except in the frozen ice-caps, there’s not a drop of wa...

Will the leguminous Prince find her? And what root will he take? This story can also be read on Medium [https://medium.com/snipette/sleeping-beauty-underground-d87ba46df792?source=friends_li...

How does a river fight disease? By making your illness catch a cold. The river Ganga has always been known for its healing powers and the purity of its water. Even when stored for a long tim...

Some organisms never quite worked out how to live with it. This is the story of where they went. Off the coast of Japan, for four months a year, the deep blue sea is transformed into a stunn...

First there were six. Then there were nine. And then there were eight. Now, are there 110? The English word “planet’ has been in use for centuries. It was being used in the time of Old Engli...

Light, sight, and why things may not be the same colours they look Did you know that the sky looks blue? You probably did, specially if you’ve seen it. But just because it looks blue doesn’t...

The little creatures that rule the world Drifting through the warm ocean waters, the Portuguese Man-o’-War is no ordinary jellyfish. It is not a jellyfish at all. In fact, it may not even be...

They may seem still. But actually, they’re always on the move. Ants move around while travelling. But when trees travel, they also stay put exactly where they are. Trees don’t travel like w...

4G is coming to the Moon. Can it be used for spacecraft on Mars? “Download large files in a matter of minutes. Enjoy group video chat with your friends and family. Stream movies and more, wh...

There’s General Relativity and Special Relativity. And then, there’s the relativity we encounter every day. I’ve noticed that, when Einstein’s Theory of Relativity is discussed, it’s often d...

Carbon is not alive. But without carbon, there would be no life at all. This story can also be read on Medium [https://medium.com/snipette/the-story-of-my-carbon-9c8f6c2ca336?source=friends_...

If Mars was magnetic, could Life have lived? Among the swirling clouds of cosmic dust, small lumps were slowly forming. Tiny particles happened to get together, and their combined gravity se...

Childhood memories of a Carbon atom Actually, come to think of it, “life” may not be the most fitting term. To be considered alive, I’d have to meet several criteria —being able to breathe, ...

Why does the moon stay up in the sky? Because it’s always falling. If you go out at night on the 31st of January, remember to look up at the moon. Wednesday’s full-moon is going to be a spe...

When you’re inside water, sleeping is not so easy. At first glance, it looks like just a ball of baked mud. The scorching sun has been shining down on the land for months, turning the very b...

Fireflies blink their lights. In the ocean, it’s more dramatic. Deep down in the ocean, there is no red. The ocean is so deep and so filled with water, that even light has to fight to make ...

It might not seem something as constant as length would have a history, but it does. In fact, it goes back to the times of ancient civilizations. To begin with, you can’t really specify the...

The wildlife of Australia includes a lot of endemic species — that is, species that are found only in Australia, and nowhere else in the world. 83% of the Australian mammals are endemic, as ...

If you were a vulture flying for the first time across certain parts of the desert, you would notice the waves. Not cool wet ones, but yellow, lumbering ones spread out across the land. The ...