The first UoM students in space?
Tim Gregory and Tessa Naran share more in common than just their UoM background. They also both want to be astronauts and are currently appearing on our screens every Sunday at 9pm. The reason? They’re participants in the new BBC 2 show Astronauts: Do you have what it takes?. Beating off tough competition from 3,000 […]
Guest post: Bluedot – the ultimate festival of science
For one weekend in July, the observatory at Jodrell Bank, known for its huge radio telescope, transforms into Bluedot Festival. The site is filled with thousands of campers who come for the fantastic mix of science, art and music, all set against the amazing backdrop of the Lovell Telescope. The festival blends the frontiers of […]
Turing’s lost letters found in storeroom tidy up
We all have it – that cupboard, cabinet or even room where we ‘tidy stuff away’ simply so we can forget about it. Who doesn’t have a box left unpacked after every home move that they just shove unopened under the bed? At The University of Manchester, we have our fair share of chocker storage […]
Welcome to UoM!
Congratulations! You’ve survived the stress and fervour of A-level results day. The nerves, the worry, the knots in the stomach – they’ve all been worth it to secure your place in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at The University of Manchester. And now the fun really begins. Welcome to a city of creativity, a […]
Unravelling the mystery of left-handedness
This Left Handers Awareness Day, we decided to set ourselves what we thought was a straightforward task – finding out what causes one in ten of us to favour our left hand for everything from writing to throwing. Turns out, the task wasn’t so easy after all. There is no one proven reason as to […]
Expert comment – Have we forgotten what nuclear weapons really are?
As the Cold War fades into history, fewer and fewer people remember what life was like lived under the ever-present threat of nuclear warfare. Indeed, even during the Cold War years, the reality of nuclear weapons was downplayed. Atmospheric testing was banned in 1963, driving tests underground – out of sight and out of mind […]
In a New York minute: breakthrough could get us to NYC in 2 hours
A new breakthrough means that we could soon be jetting off from London and touching down in the Big Apple just two hours later. While Concorde may have taken its last flight some years ago, the research and development in hypersonic travel has never stopped. And now new research from The University of Manchester in […]
Nuclear power: playing the long game
When it comes to the nuclear power industry, you’ll always be playing the long game. So, when you’re considering its future, you need to think long-term. And one topic occupying the minds of people in the nuclear power industry right now is the future of its power source. Uranium, a silver-grey coloured heavy metal that […]
“Must go faster!” Could you outrun a T-rex?
Congratulations! Your time machine works! You’ve travelled back more than 66 million years and arrived in the Cretaceous period. But, oh no! You’ve barely had chance to admire your surroundings before a thumping shakes the ground beneath you. Suddenly you notice a shadow lurking in the forest. A large shadow. And then a Tyrannosaurus Rex […]
Could memes help to predict a zombie apocalypse?
Imagine waking up one morning to a silent world; there is no rumble of traffic, no aeroplanes in the sky; the general buzz of life has just stopped. You get out of bed and walk outside only to find a horde of crazed and decaying individuals walking towards you baying for brains. The end of […]