The Conversation

The effectiveness of brain-training games depends on what outcome you're hoping to achieve. ShutterstockBy Jared Cooney Horvath, University of MelbourneOver the last decade, an ever-growing number of brain-training programs claiming to enhance learning, memory and general well-being have been developed and marketed for use in the classroom. Unfortunately, despite many years of laboratory research and classroom scrutiny, the effect of these programs on real-world learning and health remains uncertain.

A truly deep thinker must draw on both science and the humanities. Todd Martin, CC BY-NCBy Gregory Crawford, University of Notre DameThe evolution of science and engineering in the 21st century has transformed the role of these professions in profound ways that affect research, scholarship and the practice of teaching in the university setting.

The Discovery of the Child Erichthonius by Peter Paul Rubens By Helen King, The Open UniversityThe science and morality of creating a life with DNA from three different individuals is hot news. The UK parliament has voted in favor of allowing trials of mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT), otherwise also known as three-person IVF, which would allow women with mitochondrial mutations to have healthy children.

Peter Sarsgaard stars as the psychologist Stanley Milgram in the new film "The Experimenter". BB Film ProductionsBy Kathryn Millard, Macquarie UniversityWhy have the landmark psychology experiments of the post-war era proved so enduring? Designed as dramas about human behavior, experimenters drew on theatrical techniques and tailored their results for cinema – results that, though skewed, have become embedded in the collective subconscious.

There are ways non-scientists can assess if the research underlying big claims about cancer cures stack up. Rafael Anderson Gonzales Mendoza/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SABy Nial Wheate, University of Sydney

Women – and little girls even more so – are desperate to see images and stories that don’t actively oppress them onscreen, says Olivia Murphy. Image: Nadia Mel, CC BY-SABy Olivia Murphy, University of Sydney

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman gets called a lot of things. He calls himself the greatest cornerback in the NFL (and Seattle fans tend to agree). Sportswriters and some other players call him a loudmouth and a showboater. Fans of other teams call him a lot of things that shouldn’t see print (even on the Internet). One thing you’re not likely to hear anyone on ESPN call Sherman, though, is “scientist.”And yet, an elite professional athlete like Richard Sherman is, in fact, extremely adept at doing science. Not the white-lab-coat, equations-on-a-blackboard sort of science, but the far older and universal process of observing, making and testing models of the universe.

Published in 1815, Smith’s Geological Map of England and Wales and Part of Scotland was the first geologic map to cover such a large area in such fine detail. William Smith, British Geological SurveyBy John Howell, Professor, Chair in Geology and Petroleum Geology at University of Aberdeen.

by Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology at University of AdelaideI was going to avoid blogging on this topic, but seeing as the story made the Australian with the headline “Chemicals in lipstick and cleaning products linked to early menopause”, I feel I have to weigh in a bit to avoid undue panic and the inevitable dangers of people hurling their lipsticks out the window at great speed. Also, there are issues of science communication and “the dose makes the poison”

Jean Valentine, a bombe operator at Bletchley in the 1940s. Rui Vieira/PABy Bryony Norburn, University of Buckingham