The Conversation

Should academics be disciplined by their universities for things said over Twitter? Credit: Opensource.com/ Flickr, CC BY-SABy Janna Thompson, La Trobe UniversityAcademic freedom has been put in the spotlight with two universities recently coming down hard on academics for comments on social media.

Pulsars were discovered by a woman, Jocelyn Bell. Credit: WikimediaBy Hazel Hall, Edinburgh Napier University What was the greatest astronomical discovery of the 20th century? Some would say pulsars – highly magnetized, rotating neutron stars emitting beams of electromagnetic radiation. The scientific world was informed of these in a paper published by Nature in 1968.

It's Ada Lovelace day. Image credit: unknownBy Jan Bogg, University of LiverpoolThroughout the year there are special days that see newsagents fill with celebratory cards. Perhaps punched cards would be more appropriate for Ada Lovelace Day, which marks both the mathematical prowess of the woman dubbed the “first computer programmer” and the cultural barriers she faced – those women in science and technical fields still face today.

No, it's nothing to do with a reptilian existential crisis – just a name game. Credit: melanie cook/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SABy Dustin WelbourneYou have likely been to a zoo at some point and visited their reptile house. A building where the climate control dial is stuck on the “wet sauna” setting, and filled with maniacal children competing to be the first to press their ice cream covered face and hands on every available piece of clean glass.

Bacteria under attack by a flock of bacteriophages. Credit: Graham Beards/Wikimedia CommonsBy Luc Henry, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne

We are only beginning to see what augmented reality can do. Credit: Flickr/Karlis Dambra, CC BYBy Nick Kelly, University of Southern Queensland

Credit: Wing-Chi Poon, CC BY-SABy Sana Suri, University of OxfordThe 2014 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine was awarded to three neuroscientists for their pioneering work on the brain’s “inner GPS system”. Over the course of four decades, they revealed that a small part in the brain called the hippocampus stores a map of animals' surroundings and helps them navigate.

Very little has been published on VivaGel in peer-reviewed literature. Credit: Morgan/Flickr, CC BYBy Bridget Haire

Credit: Ed Bierman, CC BYBy Clive Trueman, University of SouthamptonFish are acutely aware of sea temperature; it’s one of the key reasons particular species of fish live where they do. As the oceans warm however, many tropical species are moving towards cooler climes. So might the traditional cod and chips one day be replaced by Nemo and chips?

Stick 'em up. Credit: Me2, CC BY-NC-SABy Toby Miller, Cardiff University

Artistic impression of the Milky Way galaxy. The blue halo of material surrounding the galaxy indicates the expected distribution of the mysterious dark matter. ESO/L. Calçada, CC BYBy Geraint Lewis, University of Sydney

The pale blue dot. Credit: NASABy Monica Grady, The Open UniversityWorld Space Week is one of a series of events co-ordinated by the UN to celebrate the global nature of space exploration. It was established in 1999.