The Conversation

A simple solution to a persistent problem. Credit: Ashok A. KumarBy Ashok A. Kumar, Harvard UniversityEvery year, 300,000 children are born with sickle-cell disease, primarily in Africa and India. It is a genetic disorder that causes some blood cells to become abnormally shaped. The result is that those who suffer from it have a shorter lifespan.

Scanning electron micrograph of Ebola virus budding from the surface of a Vero cell (African green monkey kidney epithelial cell line. Credit:NIAIDBy Rob BrooksMy social media accounts today are cluttered with stories about “mutating” Ebola viruses. The usually excellent ScienceAlert, for example, rather breathlessly informs us “The Ebola virus is mutating faster in humans than in animal hosts.”

Nano-robots have cancer in their sights. Credit: StephenMitchell/Flickr, CC BY-NC-NDBy Dr. Jason Liu, Monash UniversityIt sounds like a scene from a science fiction novel – an army of tiny weaponized robots traveling around a human body, hunting down malignant tumours and destroying them from within.

Kell Brook and two of the Sheffield Hallam University team. Credit: Sheffield Hallam University.By Alan Ruddock, Sheffield Hallam UniversityAmid all the flashing lights, it was a moment of sheer exhilaration when the winner was finally announced: “By a majority decision, the new IBF welterweight champion on the world – Kell Brook.”

Checking for glaucoma. Image credit: communityeyehealth,  CC BY-NCBy David Crabb, City University LondonScientists have proposed a way to monitor glaucoma using a tiny device implanted in the eye. Readings from the device could be monitored by a smartphone. The technology could help prevent some people from going blind.

Research that found links between abortion and breast cancer also found men who had 'much opportunity to participate in parties' were more likely to have stomach cancer. Credit: burningmax/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SABy Louise Keogh, University of Melbourne

While MOOCs are free, their value lies in providing information about how students. Credit: learnFlickr/Ilonka Talina, CC BY-SABy Gregor Kennedy, University of Melbourne

Humans transport microbes around their environment. Image: Argonne National LaboratoryBy Emma Saville, The Conversation and Penny Orbell, The ConversationMicrobial communities vary greatly between different households but are similar among members of the same household – including pets – according to research published in Science today.

Image: If only neuroscience was that easy. Credit: quixotecr, CC BY-NC-NDBy Matt Wall, Imperial College LondonDuring World War II, residents on the islands in the southern Pacific Ocean saw heavy activity by US planes, bringing in goods and supplies for the soldiers. In many cases, this was the islanders' first exposure to 20th century goods and technology.

Artistic rendering of Philae on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Credit: ESA/ATG, CC BYBy Ian Wright, The Open University

The pressure's on JJ Abrams and the new Star Wars films.Credit: wiredphotostream, CC BY-NCBy Sorcha Ní Fhlainn, Manchester Metropolitan University

Is morality and happiness determined by how you affect the people around you? Credit: ShutterstockBy Peter Bowden, University of SydneyIt is a word we hear from time to time, but few of us know what it means.