The UK government and Electricite de France SA, better known as EDF energy, are close to announcing a deal that would see the French power-giant build and operate the country’s first new nuclear power stations since 1995. Ed Davey, UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said: “We’re extremely close for a deal with EDF, and if and when we get that deal I’ll announce it to parliament and I think I’ll be able ...

Do you think your partner is a good kisser? Most people will say yes when asked and a study by Oxford University has revealed that kissing is one of the ways of determining if someone will be the one for us - and a way of keeping them that way. There has been much contention over years between anthropologists regarding the reason behind why we kiss, which Oxford University PhD student Rafael Wlodarski says ...

Have you ever heard bird song and wondered which bird it was? Magnus Robb could tell you, but then he’s an expert in that kind of thing - which is why he was so sure he had discovered a new species of owl when he was in Oman. Magnus Robb is an ornithologist and one of the founders of Sound Approach, who are trying to catalogue all the different bird sounds from around the world, in the hope that we can lear ...

After 60 years of research and trials, there is definitive hope for a vaccine for one of the deadliest diseases in the world: Malaria. Malaria is one of the world’s biggest killers - about 800,000 people die from it every year. For over 60 years, scientists have been trying to find a way to fight it; GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) having dedicated the last 30 years to researching malaria and developing a vaccine. Th ...

A study of more than 800 people’s genes has led to the ‘deleted’ genes offering possible insight into autism and how it develops. US scientists from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, have been studying the genetic profiles of 810 people - 431 with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and 379 with no autistic diagnosis. The researchers found that people with an ASD were more likely to have a singl ...

There is always one, isn’t there? A tiger quoll has managed to squash the fear that its species no longer resides in the Grampians, by fulfilling its lifelong dream to be captured on film. That might not actually be the case, but there hasn’t been evidence of tiger quolls living in Grampians National Park in Australia for over 140 years, so one can only imagine. For the past year and a half, a remote camera ...

There are thought to be millions of species in the world yet to be discovered, but scientists in the US may just have struck 60 of them off the list. Last year, 16 scientists trekked through the heart of Suriname’s rainforest as part of their Rapid Assessment Program. Their purpose was to assess the variety of life in Suriname’s remote wilderness and provide information to determine whether or not the area ...

Finding skeletons while working on the new Crossrail project was something construction workers may not have expected, but they had ample warning with the discovery of Bedlam’s 16th century burial ground on the site earlier this year. They were not, however, expecting 20 Roman skulls. The skulls were found 6m underground, along what is thought to be the route of the old river Walbrook - one of London’s “Los ...

Scientists from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, have found evidence that flowering plants have been around a lot longer than anyone thought possible. The Swiss and German team at the University analysed core samples obtained by drilling into the ground and found six different types of fossilised pollen grains, publishing their findings in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science. Before now, scientists ...

Over the past few years, scientists have been studying chimpanzees’ memory skills in the hope that they can shine light on some of the mysteries of the human mind. Back in 2007, after spending six months teaching his chimpanzees to count from one to nine, Professor Tetsuro Matsuzawa from Kyoto University decided to pit their memories against some university students. The incredible findings were published i ...