Tag Archives: Science

String theory: scientists are trying new ways to verify the idea that could unite all of physics

Professor Marika Taylor is Pro Vice Chancellor and Head of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Marika commenced her career as an undergraduate student studying Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, inspired to follow this pathway having read “A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking. After completing her undergraduate studies, Marika undertook a PhD with Hawking; her thesis “Problems in M-Theory” focused on black holes, string theory and holography.
Following a research fellowship at St John’s College, Cambridge, Marika moved to the Netherlands, working first at Utrecht University in the group of Nobel Laureate Gerard ‘t Hooft and then at the University of Amsterdam. In 2012 she moved to the University of Southampton as part of a strategic investment to establish a new research centre (STAG) bringing together gravity, high energy physics and astronomy. She later took on a variety of leadership roles at Southampton including Head of the School of Mathematical Sciences. She became a fellow of the Alan Turing Institute in 2019.
Her research interests range from mathematical and theoretical physics through to geometric AI and its applications; mathematical modelling for defence, security and finance, and the sociology of science. Marika has held many academic leadership roles nationally and internationally, including REF2021 panel member; advisory board of the Academy for Mathematical Sciences; advisory roles to government departments and agencies; chairing of research council committees and divisions in the UK and Europe, and leadership of the CERN GenHET initiative.

Major theories of consciousness may have been focusing on the wrong part of the brain

Peter Coppola is a Visiting Researcher, Cambridge Neuroscience, University of Cambridge.
“Most of my work focuses on network dynamics, graph theory and consciousness. I am very interested in neurological and neuropsychological cases and what these can tell us regarding consciousness. I intend to investigate how the neuroscience of consciousness can be integrated in clinical psychological practice and ethics.”

As above, so below: ‘Organic Worlds’ celebrates human-nature symbiogenesis

Curated by Dr. Charissa Terranova at the SP/N Gallery at The University of Texas at Dallas, ‘Organic Worlds: Symbiogenesis in Art’ tackles its subject matter(s) of organisms and organicism, and, arguably, of the Great Chain of Being and Lynn Margulis’ theory of symbiogenesis. ‘Organic Worlds’ seats mankind as conscious players in the biological Great Chain of Being — below God and above rock — and invites the layman viewer to introspect upon and engage with the commemorations of life in this exhibition.

Humanism After the Algorithm

This essay examines how artificial intelligence challenges core humanist commitments to reason, moral responsibility, and human judgment. Rather than treating AI as a technical innovation or future speculation, the essay approaches it as a philosophical problem: the emergence of systems whose conclusions increasingly guide human decisions while appearing objective, neutral, and resistant to scrutiny. It argues that the primary risk posed by AI is not replacement of human intelligence, but deference to automated authority. Drawing on themes from epistemology and ethics, the essay explores how algorithmic systems affect moral judgment, empathy, personal agency, and the human search for meaning. While artificial systems may extend human analytical capacity, the essay contends that interpretation, accountability, and ethical responsibility remain irreducibly human. Written for a philosophically engaged, non-specialist audience, the piece defends a humanist framework that emphasizes skepticism, transparency, and responsibility in an increasingly algorithmically mediated world.

Puzzling slow radio pulses are coming from space. A new study could finally explain them

Csanád Horváth
“I am a radio astronomy PhD student at Curtin University in Western Australia. I study the recently discovered long-period radio transients; minute-to-hour period radio pulses which weren’t thought to exist before 2022.”

Natasha Hurley-Walker
“I am an Associate Professor at the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research. I received my PhD in Radio Astronomy from the University of Cambridge in 2010 and have led several large-area radio sky surveys with the Murchison Widefield Array, exploring a wide range of science topics including supernova remnants, galaxy clusters, radio galaxy life cycles, and transient astronomy. You can find out more about my outreach activities, awards, and media via my website.”

Droplets of Cosmic Light

Geraldine Cox’s work is about finding resonant ways to express hidden aspects of nature and the journey of discovery. This research has taken her to the heart of the atom, the beginnings of the Universe and the essence of light. In 2020, she won the prestigious American Institute of Physics Gemant Award for ‘Physics Through Art’.

Revealing the Unseen

Susan Eyre is a multidisciplinary artist working across sculpture, video, installation and print processes, creating work to encourage a sense of wonder in the everyday and an awareness of an entangled universe. She explores cosmological and geological phenomena with a particular fascination for cosmic rays and magnetic fields. Employing simple technology to assist in revealing the unseen and extending the boundaries of human sensory perception, her work brings the viewer into tangible contact with invisible natural forces, embracing the unfathomable by appealing to human scale and presence.

A Geometric Universe

Primarily working with wood, Ben Rowe creates intriguing objects that draw the viewer into fascinating new worlds. Using geometrical shapes and mathematical laws applied in science and nature, he plays with notions of scale. Pulling down macro-objects such as asteroids and planets and blowing up micro-organisms, molecules and atoms, showing us their often overlooked, complex structures and frameworks, reflecting them back to us

Visions of Light

Chris Wood is a UK based artist with a career spanning over 25 years. Known for her signature light-responsive artworks and transformative installations, Wood has garnered global acclaim, culminating in the establishment of the Chris Wood Light Studio , est. 2015.
Wood’s creative practice utilises optical materials to harness light and suggest ephemeral glimpsed moments in the natural world. Her meticulous pattern work and mathematical arrangements order the accidental and transform light into spectacular displays of vibrant colour.

Cosmological Perspectives

Ione Parkin RWA is an abstract painter, co-lead artist on the Creativity and Curiosity project and an Honorary Visiting Fellow of the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester. She is the curator of the exhibition ‘Cosmos: the art of observing Space’ currently showing at the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol (24th January-19th April 2026).