How Ancient Chewing Gum Could Revolutionise Archeology

We finally have a way to connect archeological findings with genetic studies, using ancient chewing gum. In a new study published in Communications Biology, researchers from Stockholm University have found a way to extract DNA from saliva preserved in ancient chewing gum. This innovative technique could provide a source of DNA in excavation sites with no human remains, or when these are too damaged to … Continue reading How Ancient Chewing Gum Could Revolutionise Archeology

helenacornuJune 28, 2019June 28, 2019

Review

Being a Woman in Science: Changed Times?

As part of the Edinburgh Science Festival, the Royal Society of Edinburgh hosted a panel, “Being a Woman in Science: Changed Times?” The panel brought together three very different women, from three very different backgrounds. Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell is an astrophysicist who grew up in Ireland in the 1950s and made a name for herself by discovering the first four pulsars. Professor Dame … Continue reading Being a Woman in Science: Changed Times?

helenacornuJune 28, 2019

Focus

The New Forensics: Solving Old Crimes with New Tools

“Forensic tests are the catalysts which can propel a cold case investigation forward.” Continue reading The New Forensics: Solving Old Crimes with New Tools

helenacornuJune 27, 2019June 28, 2019

News

New Weapons in the Fight Against the Ivory Trade

Ivory trading has been illegal since 1989, but 40,000 elephants die each year because of this multibillion dollar industry. Could science end the ivory trade? With a recently published paper, Samuel Wasser and his team bring us one step closer. Ivory smuggling works in a pyramid-shaped hierarchy. At the base are poachers, who hunt elephants and sell the tusks to a series of middlemen. As … Continue reading New Weapons in the Fight Against the Ivory Trade

helenacornuJune 27, 2019June 28, 2019

Focus

Going North: An Interview with Torsten Günther

Two of the things that come to mind when most people think of Scandinavia are the cold and the dark. When I told my friends and family that my application for a yearlong exchange to Sweden had been accepted, I was greeted with a mixture of uncertainty and worry. “If you survive the Swedish winter” became a running joke. Determined and eager to experience life … Continue reading Going North: An Interview with Torsten Günther

helenacornuJune 25, 2019June 27, 2019