Stories

How nature can mummify a brain
Brains, like everything else, decompose. But nature has a way of halting that decay.
04 May 2015
- Health, Body
What is a ‘natural’ burial?
More and more people are rethinking traditional burial methods. Fathima Simjee asks why.
04 May 2015
- Health, Body
The smell of death
What gives a decaying body its distinctive odour?
04 May 2015
- Health, Body
The tell-tale fly
What can a fly tell us about time of death? Mo Costandi looks at the emerging field of forensic entomology.
04 May 2015
- Health, Body
The next step in saving the planet: E O Wilson and Sean Carroll in conversation
To save our planet’s biodiversity – something that’s essential for our survival as a species – could biologists worldwide be united behind a single common purpose?
28 April 2015
- Planet, Sustainability
Ebola: The road to zero
Life in Ebola-affected West African countries can only return to normal when transmission of the virus ceases and cases drop to zero. Mark Honigsbaum reports on Sierra Leone’s struggles to reach zero.
21 April 2015
- Contagion, Epidemics
The cost of pure water
Ghana has plenty of water. So why do its people buy plastic pouches from street vendors? Shaun Raviv investigates.
14 April 2015
- Planet, Sustainability
The gallons of Ghana (gallery)
Serge Attukwei Clottey takes the leftover symbols of Ghana’s water economy and turns them into art.
13 April 2015
- Planet, Sustainability
Why do we have allergies?
Allergies such as peanut allergy and hay fever make millions of us miserable, but scientists aren’t even sure why they exist. Carl Zimmer talks to a master immunologist with a controversial answer.
07 April 2015
- Health, Body
Genetics: risk or destiny?
Information is Beautiful Studio take a visual approach to exploring the complex relationships between our health, genes, lifestyle and environment.
31 March 2015
- Health, Genetics
Genetics: risk or destiny? – assumptions and resources
Notes accompanying the graphic.
30 March 2015
- Health, Genetics
Centipede pain relief
Glenn King thinks his lab may have discovered a major breakthrough in pain relief. In centipedes.
24 March 2015
- Mind