Focus on

What's happening

Research

‘Clogged-up’ immune cells help explain smoking risk for TB

Smoking increases an individual’s risk of developing tuberculosis (TB) – and makes the infection worse – because it causes vital immune cells to become clogged up, slowing their movement and impeding their ability to fight infection, according to new research published in the journal Cell.

Read More
Research

Embryo development: Some cells are more equal than others even at four-cell stage

Genetic ‘signatures’ of early-stage embryos confirm that our development begins to take shape as early as the second day after conception, when we are a mere four cells in size, according to new research led by the University of Cambridge and EMBL-EBI. Although they seem to be identical, the cells of the two day-old embryo are already beginning to display subtle differences.

Read More
Video and audio

Does your brain burn more calories when thinking?

This week on the Naked Scientists: you asked the questions, we have the answers. Our expert panel take on queries like; why don't whales get the bends, does chloroform work like it does in the movies, and would a spinning spaceship simulate gravity?

Listen now