Emily Smith

Spinning magnetic droplets cause a dye to swirlThomas P. Russell By Leah CraneNot all magnets have to be solids – a new kind of liquid magnet may eventually help control wireless soft robots. Liquid magnets of a sort already exist. These ferrofluids are a mixture of a non-magnetic liquid and solid magnetic nanoparticles, but they only…

Making “greener” fuels by adding bioethanol to petrol will wreck the environment, not save it. We need to focus on making electric cars work, says Michael Le Page Comment | Comment 18 July 2019 Jason Bye / Alamy Stock PhotoBy Michael Le Page The UK should burn more alcohol to go greener, a group of…

No planet B | With impressive biodiversity and ecosystems, London should set a trend for metropolises everywhere as it becomes the first National Park City in the world Environment | Comment 17 July 2019 Nicolas McComber/GettyBy Graham Lawton I’VE lived in cities all my life and have always felt that the urban environment is my natural habitat.…

Preventable harm sometimes occurs during surgeryGetty/Shannon Fagan By Chelsea WhyteAbout half of all harm that comes to patients as a result of medical care is preventable, according to a review of 70 studies involving more than 330,000 patients in hospitals, specialty clinics and primary care facilities around the world. Maria Panagioti at the University of…

Hair cells in the inner ear are damaged by some antibioticsProf.P. Motta/Dept of anatomy/University “La Sapienza”, Rome/SPL By Ruby Prosser ScullySome life-saving antibiotics can cause hearing loss, and we may now know why. A study in mice suggests it is all down to the effects of inflammation, which is the body’s response to infection. This…

A robotic hand models the artificial skinBenjamin C.K. Tee/National University Of Singapore By Ruby Prosser ScullyAn artificial skin that senses temperature and pressure can send signals 1000 times faster than the human nervous system. The skin could one day cover prosthetic limbs to help people use them better or be used on robots to help…

There may be a way to save the West Antarctic ice sheetMario Tama/Getty By Adam VaughanPumping colossal amounts of ocean water onto the West Antarctic ice sheet could stop it collapsing and causing drastic sea level rise that would threaten cities including Tokyo and New York. But the German and US researchers who have explored…

People attribute success to skill even when it’s down to luckHenrik Sorensen/getty By Clare WilsonDo wealthier people owe their financial success to skill or luck? Your views on this question may be set by your own financial status, at least according to a study of people playing a card game. In a simplified two-player version…

Asian tiger mosquitoes can spread dengue and chikungunyaKevin Frayer/Getty By Michael Le PageThe number of biting female Asian tiger mosquitoes, which spread diseases such as dengue and chikungunya, has been reduced by more than 80 per cent at two small sites in Guangzhou, China, by a new “sterile male” method developed by Zhiyong Xi of…

Carbon offsetting seems like an easy solution to climate guilt, but not all offsetting schemes are created equal Environment 17 July 2019 Flights are a major source of greenhouse gas emissionsJochen Knobloch/Plainpicture By Adam VaughanGRETA THUNBERG’S recent speech to the UK parliament was memorable not just for her oratorical firepower, but for how she got…