From droughts and forest fires to floods and big freezes, extreme weather events are on the rise. But to what extent are these linked to climate change? Just months before the world’s first wind monitoring satellite enters orbit, scientists have finalised a climate model with exceptional resolution, and the new tools will help identify how … Read more
A theory developed with the late Professor Stephen Hawking stating that the universe is more simple and uniform than current models suggest was so shocking that it had to be sat on for a while before it was released to the world, according to co-author Professor Thomas Hertog from KU Leuven in Belgium. He and … Read more
The world’s largest radio telescope, known as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and situated over two continents, will be able to detect the first stars and galaxies emerging from the ‘murk’ at the beginning of the universe and much more besides, according to Professor Phil Diamond, Director General of SKA. He spoke to Horizon at … Read more
Studying environments that are similar to Mars, and their microbial ecosystems, could help prepare biologists to identify traces of life in outer space. In some of the most remote areas of our planet, scientists are examining how life can persist in the form of tiny microbes that inhabit a niche that would be fatal to … Read more
Few would be surprised to learn that the sun is very, very hot. At its surface, the temperature is several thousand degrees Celsius. But you might think that, like a fire, the temperature drops as you move away from the surface. In fact, way out in the sun’s corona (the outermost part of its atmosphere) … Read more
by Zoé de York From rubber dandelions and toxic crustaceans to anti-vaxxers and the world’s hottest geothermal well, Horizon covered a wide variety of stories in 2017. Here are our 10 favourite science facts that we learned along the way. 1. One sugar-cube-sized chunk of a neutron star would weigh a billion tonnes, or as much … Read more