One of the unique qualities of human beings it seems to me is the degree to which our whole lives can be influenced, affected and shaped by fellow humans that we never meet. We can even have relationships of a [...]
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Doctor Who gets political
I have been a fan of Doctor Who since the first episode, throughout that time I do not recall a more obvious political allegory than the recent 'Zygon Invasion/Zygon Inversion' two-parter. The story (fans can skip two paragraphs) begins with the [...]
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Water on Mars
The most compelling evidence yet that liquid water exists on the surface of Mars was obtained by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in pictures released on September 28th. Mars missions over the last 20 years or so have established that vast oceans [...]
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Review: Leviathan
Leviathan Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev Russia 2014 Reviewed by Colin Piper Dmitriy lives in a dilapidated old house with his wife Lilya and son Roma. His family have lived there for 3 generations but the mayor wants the land and the [...]
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The Rosetta space probe
“Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?” Robert Browning (1812 – 1889)The European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta probe went into orbit around the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P) in May 2014, later releasing the washing machine sized [...]
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Review: Genes, cells and brains – The Promethean promise of the new biology by Hilary and Steven Rose
I am a scientist by trade and as such am frankly proud to be part of an enterprise in which the evidence is king. Not for us dogma, blind prejudice or even personal greed and ego. If the evidence says [...]
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Film review: The Patience Stone
Atiq Rahimi’s adaptation of his novel of the same name burns with a slow fuse. If you are looking for CGI and car chases then look elsewhere, but this film had me gripped throughout. The central performance of Golshifteh Farahani is [...]
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Nuclear power
Colin Piper calls for a rational approach on this controversial subject At the time of writing “smog” caused by car fumes in Paris has led to severe restrictions on car travel. Problems such as these have led to the increased use [...]
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