Tag Archives: Science

DNA from soil could soon reveal who lived in ice age caves

Gerlinde Bigga is a Scientific Coordinator of the Leibniz Science Campus “Geogenomic Archaeology Campus Tübingen”, University of Tübingen
“I am an archaeologist specialized in Early Prehistory (Palaeolithic), Near Eastern Archaeology, and Archaeobotany. Currently, I work as the Scientific Coordinator and Science Communicator at a large research campus in Tübingen, where we conduct cutting-edge research developing new methods to detect ancient DNA in (cave) sediments.”

Visualizing the Invisible: Resonance, Water and Light as Photographic Event

‘Visualizing the Invisible: Resonance, Water and Light as Photographic Event’ traces a four decade investigation into photography as physical event rather than descriptive mechanism. Spanning the caustic works of the Vanitas, Glass and Ophelia series through to the recent Cymatic Water + Light body of work, this essay proposes that invisible forces — resonance, pressure, frequency, surface tension — do not require invention. They require conditions through which they become legible. Working exclusively in analogue process, Alexander James Hamilton constructs systems in which frequency, liquid and light are brought into controlled relation. The resulting photographs are not representations of these forces but their material consequence. Authorship, in this context, is not diminished through physical process. It is intensified by it.

Knowledge Works

‘Knowledge Works’ uses analog as well as digital processes: painted surfaces, historic books’ title pages, scattered and appropriated imagery, scanned and layered and interwoven via digital tooling to create small to very large prints on paper. The pages are found in science, philosophy, and science-vs-religion books from the 17th to early 20th centuries, probing that epoch’s history of revolutionary change in human thought and knowledge.

When your eyelids become a cinema screen: what strobing light reveals about the brain

David Schwartzman is a Research Fellow (Informatics), School of Engineering and Informatics, University of Sussex.
“I study how stroboscopic light stimulation (SLS), flickering light viewed through closed eyes, can alter conscious experience in powerful yet controlled ways. My work examines the visual patterns and altered states SLS can produce, why people respond differently, and how we can study these experiences safely.
A big part of my research is about subjective experience: what people actually feel, see, and report during these states, and how that relates to what is happening in the brain. I’m interested in SLS both as a tool for understanding consciousness and perception, and for its possible practical uses in mental health.
I currently lead an MRC-funded research programme exploring whether SLS could have therapeutic potential for depression. More broadly, my work asks a simple question: if we can safely and reliably shift perception, can that help us better understand the mind — and potentially support wellbeing too?”

We Go Way Back at The Francis Crick Institute

We Go Way Back, an exhibition exploring how ancient DNA is revealing new insights into human evolution, migration, culture and disease, will open at the Francis Crick Institute on 16 July 2026.

Ancient DNA is the genetic material from our ancestors long gone. These fragments of DNA are extracted from bones and teeth, before being processed in an ultra-clean laboratory and sequenced to reveal the underlying genetic code.

World’s biggest astronomy camera seeks to answer pressing questions about the universe

Joshua Weston is a PhD Candidate, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen’s University Belfast.
“My research sits at the intersection of time-domain astrophysics, machine learning, and the societal implications of large-scale scientific automation. In particular, I am interested in how algorithmic systems can be designed, monitored and interpreted to translate high-volume survey data into reliable, high-fidelity transient discoveries, while retaining meaningful human oversight.
My current research focuses on:
Machine Learning for Transient Discovery and Host Association: I develop and deploy ML pipelines for real–bogus classification and extragalactic transient–host matching in major sky surveys. For the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), I retrained convolutional neural networks that reduced false positives in the data and significantly lowered human validation demands. I have also built software tools for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time Deep Drilling Fields, integrating archival data and applying interpretable ML to improve host galaxy identification for faint, high-redshift transients. Ongoing work focuses on early alert filtering via brokers such as Lasair and constructing robust transient samples.
AI, Citizen Science, and Responsible Survey Automation: As part of the Leverhulme Interdisciplinary Network on Algorithmic Solutions (LINAS), I examine how AI systems reshape discovery, expertise and public engagement in astronomy. I am developing a citizen-science framework to label early Rubin alerts and systematically compare expert and public classifications, quantifying their impact on model performance, bias and interpretability. This work situates large-survey automation within broader questions of transparent and sustainable human–AI collaboration in scientific research.”

Biological DNA Art: Beauty Is in the Eye That Is Beheld

Claude E. Gagna, Ph.D., is a Professor of Biological Sciences at the New York Institute of Technology. His research focuses on the structure and function of DNA and RNA, including noncanonical (unusual) nucleic acid conformations in biological tissues. In parallel, he develops interdisciplinary bioart. ‘Biological DNA Art: Beauty is in the Eye that is Beheld (Bulbus Oculi)’, is a series of mixed-media works developed as an ongoing experimental and archival practice, focused on stabilizing and integrating non-human eye globes and purified DNA from multiple species within acrylic composite matrices on canvas supports. The work is conceived not only as visual art, but as a form of biopreservation and experimental archive, in which biological materials are maintained with consideration for long-term molecular integrity and the potential for future retrieval. It also engages in an evolutionary framework, bringing together biological materials from multiple species to reflect shared structural origins and divergence across life. The work emerges from laboratory-derived, peer-reviewed methodologies adapted for artistic production, raising questions about the boundary between preserved scientific specimens and visual artifacts.

Could dark matter be made of black holes from a different universe?

Enrique Gaztanaga is Professor of Astrophysics at Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth.
“I also have a civil servant (on leave) appointment as Research Professor in the Institute of Space Studies (ICE) working for the Spanish National Research Council (www.csic.es) and the IEEC in Barcelona. My background is in Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology. My expertise is in the area of theoretical models of Cosmology and the building and analysis of the largest Cosmic maps. I am currently director of the PAU Survey (pausurvey.org) and the Science Coordinator of ESA ARRAKIHS (arrakihs-mission.eu) space mission. I have lead and co-lead hundreds of publication in referee journals.”

Beauty Found (Where it Wasn’t Meant to Be)

Stephen Nowlin is Los Angeles-based artist, curator, and writer whose practice is inspired by science, the histories of science and art, and theories of knowledge. His work employs the use of digital tools, photography, and scanning technology, resulting in small and large-scale limited edition archival pigment prints. Artist in Residence, Mount Wilson Observatory, California.

Gayle Chong Kwan: The Great Instauration

During April 2026, Gayle Chong Kwan interrogated the history of the scientific canon with a major installation in the Grand Gallery of the National Museum of Scotland for Edinburgh Science Festival. Through a large-scale site-specific sculptural installation, the work reflects on the cultural legacy of science, exploring and rethinking scientific histories through Chong Kwan’s detailed research into scientific artefacts and archives across eight major collections and speaking with communities.