Issue 11

If you’re not up on your geeky gadgets, you might have missed the recent spate of mini-microscopes that have surfaced over the past few years. Thanks to widely available consumer electronics, several nifty mobile phone hacks can now allow you to see the world up close. While recent advances put affordable and impressive magnifying power in your pocket, these smaller, cooler microscopes aren’t just gimmicks; they may be the key to revolutionising global medicine and sparking the public’s interest in science. Read more »

• Panic attack: When you are so overcome by anxiety that you feel physically in danger even though there is no real threat.
• Did you know that NHS statistics show panic attacks affect one in ten people? 

There are various theories about what triggers a panic attack. The ‘learning theory’ suggests that when you encounter a situation previously experienced in a panic attack, you are more likely to experience another panic attack. In the ‘cognitive theory’, panic attacks are initiated by misinterpreting normal bodily actions as anxiety, so your brain overestimates the possibility of danger. Lastly, the ‘psychodynamic theory’ predicts that trauma can induce a self-protection mechanism of the brain, preventing you from remembering the event that initially caused the panic attack. Read more »

Q. The term ‘biochar’ is a relatively recent development, and there is a range of terms when discussing biochar, such as charcoal, agrichar, biocoal… What is biochar, and how does it differ from other forms of chars? Read more »

I love cake. I love eating it and I love baking it. And one of the most fun things about baking cake, as opposed to other kinds of cooking, is that baking is chemistry. In savoury cooking, the skill is in picking the right ingredients that will be tasty together - an art. But in baking cake, you obviously want good flavours, but it’s meaningless if you can’t get the right combination of flour, sugar, egg, fat, and raising agent. You have to set up the right chemical reactions between your ingredients to get a good cake. Read more »

The other week, just before the weather in Edinburgh was really windy and stormy, my two dogs went crazy. Prior to the storm, they were running all around the house and howling. Did they know it was going to be awful weather, and if so, how? – Canine Karen

Dear Karen,

Before a storm, sharks seek deeper water, bees fly back to their nests, and migrating birds don't leave their stop-overs. So what is it about the weather that animals can sense? Read more »