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Why is the Sky Blue?
Aug15

Why is the Sky Blue?

Viewed from space the sun is supposedly a ‘peach pinkish’ colour, while the sunlight that hits the Earth is white. So why is the sky seen as being blue? In a Nutshell :  The sky is blue because air scatters blue light but lets other colours pass straight through. In scientific terms, colour corresponds to a particular wavelength of light and so white is a mixture of all wavelengths of the different colours. The...

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Bio Sonar Bacteria and Tackling Antibiotic-Resistant Bugs
Aug11

Bio Sonar Bacteria and Tackling Antibiotic-Resistant Bugs

Bats are well known for employing sonar to find their way as they fly in the depths of darkened caves. What you may not know is that this highly evolved location finding mechanism, also called Echolocation or sometimes ‘bio sonar’, is actually used by several kinds of animals

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How Do Ants Tell Friend from Foe?
Aug08

How Do Ants Tell Friend from Foe?

Ants can form colonies that range in size from a few dozen predatory individuals living in small natural cavities to highly organised colonies that may occupy large territories and consist of millions of individuals. They clearly work together in a highly organised way – but how do they communicate – how would they tell freind from foe?

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The Normans – A Timeline
Aug04

The Normans – A Timeline

Guernsey and the Channel Islands were very much at the heart of the old Duchy of Normandy and then in 1066 we were propelled into the wider world when our Duke, William the Bastard defeated the English King Harold at Hastings. In this artilcle we outline some of the defining moments in the history of the Norman dynasty.

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Was King John really that bad?
Aug01

Was King John really that bad?

If there’s one English Monarch who’s consistently had a ‘bad wrap’ it’s King John I. He’s the ultimate in abuse of absolute power, an archetypal villan – portrayed as the cruel King oppressing his people with taxes and arbitrary justice. But is this true ? Was his rule really as bad as folklore seems to say ?

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Why do we Lie – The Science behind Lying
Jul28

Why do we Lie – The Science behind Lying

White lies, exaggerations, boldface lies, half-truths, lies by omission, bluffs – there are a multitude of ways to intentionally deceive someone and the human race seem sto be inventing new ones daily. But can we scientifically detect when a person is lying ?

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Extra Senses – Beyond the ‘traditional five’
Jul25

Extra Senses – Beyond the ‘traditional five’

There’s one popular misteaching that seems to pervade : it’s our understanding of ‘the senses’ – and that is that there are only 5 of them. However if you really think about this subject a bit, its pretty obvious and quickly apparent that we have many more ways to sense the world

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Why Does the Wind Blow?
Jul21

Why Does the Wind Blow?

Another thing that we take for granted because, “that just the way it works”, but how and why does the wind blow ?

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The Warrior Monks Who Brought Banking to London
Jul18

The Warrior Monks Who Brought Banking to London

Today, London is the financial capital of the world and for good or ill the hub of global banking and finance. How banking started in the capital is every bit as intriguing and mysterious as the ways that modern international finance seems to work today. Basically we owe it all to a religious order of heavily armed warrior monks who set up London’s first bank some 900 years ago.

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The Guernsey Sleeve
Jul14

The Guernsey Sleeve

The Guernsey fisherman’s jumper is a well known garment with a long history. Less well know is another Guernsey garment the ‘Guernsey Sleeve’.

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The Origins of the Loch Ness Monster
Jul11

The Origins of the Loch Ness Monster

Loch Ness, the largest by volume, of all the many lochs in Scotland, is possibly the most famous body of water in the world. The reason, of course, is what is claimed to lie in its deepest, darkest depths – The Loch Ness Monster!

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Why Can’t We Fly?
Jul07

Why Can’t We Fly?

Birds, bats and insects fly, so why can’t we?

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How the US States Got Their Names
Jul04

How the US States Got Their Names

How did the 50 US States get their names … ?

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Swearing – The Science Behind Why We Do it
Jun30

Swearing – The Science Behind Why We Do it

Why the #*&! do we swear? We all let one slip occasionally-or maybe you express your expletives loud and proud. But does swearing serve any biological purpose, or is it simply a cultural taboo?

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Take Control of Your Dreams for Real : Lucid Dreaming
Jun27

Take Control of Your Dreams for Real : Lucid Dreaming

No this isn’t one of those infomercials or self-help articles saying “you too can achieve your dreams & life goals if you follow our 10 step programme … blah blah blah”. This is about lucid dreaming – the ability to conciously control your dreams whilst you sleep.

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