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Reconstruction image of a Simbakubwa kutokaafrika, a gigantic mammalian carnivore that lived 22 million years ago in Africa. Photograph: Mauricio Anton/Ohio University/AFP

Fossil of carnivore with teeth the size of bananas discovered

Remains of what was once one of Africa’s largest predators found in museum drawer

‘We put the tag on a miniature harness, like a little backpack’

Swift populations are free falling; in the last 15 years, they’ve gone down by 46 per cent. ‘My notebook goes back 40 years,’ says bird expert Eric Dempsey. ‘Their decline has been very dramatic.’

Ella McSweeney

Data from swifts who fly 10,000km from Africa to these shores tells a remarkable story

The mirror test of self-awareness

Animals that pass the mirror test have large brains relative to body size and have higher levels of empathy and social awareness. You might wonder about ants passing the test, but the brains of some ant species constitutes 15 per cent of body mass

William Reville

Only a handful of species have been shown to possess the ability of visual self-recognition

Is death still the end? Scientists spark life in brains of dead pigs

Re-vitalised brains of dead pigs said to be ‘cellularly active’. Photograph: Damien Meyer/AFP/Getty

Yale scientists say experiment opens new frontier in brain research

Twelve researchers each receive €1m State funding for new projects

Projects from the life and physical sciences, humanities and social sciences were awarded funding. Photograph: Getty Images

Kevin O'Sullivan

Topics range from breast cancer treatment to 3D-printed batteries and cultural mapping

Animals that pass the mirror test have large brains relative to body size and have higher levels of empathy and social awareness. You might wonder about ants passing the test, but the brains of some ant species constitutes 15 per cent of body mass

The mirror test of self-awareness

William Reville

Only a handful of species have been shown to possess the ability of visual self-recognition

Yitang Zhang: While working for University of New Hampshire as a lecturer, Zhang submitted an article to the Annals of Mathematics in 2013 which established the first finite bound on the least gap between consecutive primes that is attained infinitely often

Closing the gap between prime numbers

Peter Lynch

The Twin Prime Conjecture remains unproven. The quest to close the gap is ongoing

Phillips’s simulation of a developing unstable wave in the atmosphere. While at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton he made the first computer simulation of the global climate

A pioneer of climate modelling – and maths

Peter Lynch

The work of Norman A Phillips had a galvanising effect on the meteorological community

The adult intestine hosts about 1.2kg of bacteria and many of these microbes are essential for good health. Graphic: Getty Images

Hyping the microbiome may have unpleasant side effects

William Reville

Data is piling up but a theory with which to interpret it remains to be developed

Joseph Fourier’s idea that the Earth’s atmosphere acts like an insulator is the first formulation of what we now call the greenhouse effect. File photograph: Lukas Schulze/Getty Images

How Joseph Fourier discovered the greenhouse effect

Peter Lynch

That’s Maths: French physicist’s study of heat conduction led him to analyse why Earth was so warm

The new research is the work of a company called Accelerated Evolution Biotechnologies Ltd, based in Ness Ziona, Israel. Photograph: VVG/Science Photo Library

Israeli cancer treatment could be something special

William Reville

Company’s efforts to address issues around cell mutations met with scepticism

Hokusai’s woodcut The Great Wave off Kanagawa. The wave is estimated at more than 10m in height. In January 2014, a wave off Killard Point in Co Clare was measured at almost 30m.

Hokusai’s great wave and roguish behaviour

Peter Lynch

That’s Maths: Consensus on the origins and behaviour of rogue waves is only beginning to emerge

Declining birth rates are no longer confined to the western world. Photograph: Erik De Castro/Reuters

Earth’s population may start to fall from 2040. Does it matter?

William Reville

William Reville: As populations age and are not replenished, societies could be strained

We are fortunate to be meat-eaters because meat drove the evolution of our large brains and complex bodies. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien/The Irish Times

Humans are not ready to take red meat totally off the menu

William Reville

Our diets may be bad for our health, but a vegetarian world would create new problems

Sequencing is important in sports: penalty shoot-outs in football, service order in tennis tie-breaks and choice of colour in chess matches. Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty Images

A mathematical formula for sharing fair and square

Peter Lynch

That’s Maths: Even the naming of the Thue-Morse sequence is about fair play

Cloud computing: we could be walking in the footsteps of some of the world’s greatest thinkers. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien/The Irish Times

Ramble on: exercising your mind in the great outdoors

Peter Lynch

That’s Maths: nature provides a myriad mathematical puzzles to ponder as you walk

Our sedentary lifestyle, 5000 or less steps per day, is correlated with a spectrum of diseases; cardiovascular, diabetes and more. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien

Apes can be lazy and never get fat. We can’t. How come?

William Reville

Understanding the difference explains why modern lifestyles damage our health

Pills or placebo? Science may not be the only way to understand illness and healing and that the placebo effect is a biological response to the act of caring – the rituals involved trigger specific neurobiological pathways that modulate body sensations, symptoms and emotions

Patient care and enzyme release appear crucial to placebo effect

William Reville

Research points to biochemical basis for perplexing but powerful medical treatment

This artist’s impression compares the seven planets orbiting the ultra-cool red dwarf star Trappist-1 to the Earth at the same scale. They are shown to the same scale but not in the correct relative positions. Image: M Kornmesser/ESO

Lessons from potentially habitable planets could have deep resonance

Peter Lynch

That’s Maths: Significance of Kepler’s theory on orbital periods shown in Trappist-1A

Sir Roger Scruton believes heresy is central to understanding the erosion of free speech

New doctrine threatens freedom of speech in universities

William Reville

Bowing to fear of causing offence undermines fundamental principle of free enquiry

“Trees are approximately conical in shape . . . Cones are developable surfaces: they can be flattened out into a plane without being stretched or shrunk.” Photograph: Fabian Bimmer/AP

Consider a spherical Christmas tree

Peter Lynch

Scientific models can oversimplify complex real-world phenomena

Lava erupts near Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano. Experiments show that hot spring pools can sequester simple biological chemical building blocks into membrane-enclosed compartments. Photograph: Armann Hoskuldsson/Reuters

Did life begin on Earth in volcanic pools?

William Reville

Confirmation of hypothesis could guide exploration for life on other planets

One source of randomness is atmospheric noise, the “static” generated by lightning discharges. Photograph: Julian Stratenschulte/EPA

Random numbers plucked from the atmosphere

Peter Lynch

Randomness defies precise definition despite attempts to define it over the years

Charles Darwin’s cousin, Francis Galton, proposed eugenics as a science in the late 1800s

New eugenics proposals must be interrogated very carefully

William Reville

William Reville: Social pressure on parents to go along with genetic enhancement of offspring would be great

Many critics now blame this self-esteem movement for producing a generation of emotionally fragile young adults. Photograph: iStock

Self-esteem is great – so long as it is rooted in reality

William Reville

William Reville: The misguided US self-esteem fad lingers on this side of the Atlantic

An illustration of Prof James Moriarty in Conan Doyle’s work bears a striking resemblance to a photograph of Prof George Boole (left) and may well have been based on it.

Could Sherlock Holmes’s true nemesis have been a mathematician?

Peter Lynch

That’s Maths: New book suggests Arthur Conan Doyle based Moriarty on George Boole

Kepler’s idea was not warmly supported by his contemporaries, but harmonic relations are known today to be crucial. Photograph: Getty

Harmony was at the core of Johannes Kepler’s cosmic model

Peter Lynch

That’s Maths: For Kepler, music played a key role in the emergence of the new astronomy

Surprisingly for a scientist, Richard Dawkins supports his charge on the long-term psychological damage of a religious upbringing with little more than anecdotes. Photograph: Alan Betson

Is religion good for children?

William Reville

Harvard study indicates religious upbringing helps adolescents navigate life’s challenges

Life began on Earth early, about 3.4 billion years ago. Photograph: Getty Images

We know Earth is special. So are we alone in the galaxy?

William Reville

The Milky Way is extremely unlikely to contain another technological civilisation

Vital subject: weusemaths.ie shows the links between the curriculum, courses and careers. Photograph: iStock/Getty

Who needs maths? Oh, only animators, builders, nurses, plumbers...

Peter Lynch

That’s Maths: You’d be surprised how many people use mathematics at work

The dominant male in a gorilla group services a harem, hogging all the sex with all females in the group and denying the subservient males any “look-in”. Photograph: Alan Betson

Are humans naturally monogamous or polygamous?

William Reville

Balance of evidence indicates we are biologically inclined towards monogamy

The 200th anniversary of the birth of William Rowan Hamilton, in 2005: then minister for state Noel Treacey with TDs Joe Costello and the late Tony Gregory and members of the Cabra Community Centre Project on their way to Broombridge for the unveiling of a plaque.

The many modern uses of quaternions

Peter Lynch

That’s Maths: A surprising application is to electric toothbrushes but they have many vital functions

There has been a recent explosion of “predatory” science journals that aggressively solicit research papers from scientists who pay to have the papers published.

The dodgy science of wiping your backside

William Reville

William Reville: Predatory journals can contaminate scientific literature

Tom Lehrer: a comical, musical, mathematical genius

Peter Lynch

That’s Maths: Famous for his ballads, Lehrer was also one of the great satirists of his time

The discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953 paved the way for the development of sophisticated gene-editing techniques. Photograph: Getty Images

Biological elitism: the result of tinkering with human genomes?

William Reville

Despite ethical unease, germ-line modification will surely find mainstream acceptance

Columnists

Maureen Dowd

Maureen Dowd -

Maureen Dowd: How the ego maniac in the Oval was ‘exonerated’

David McWilliams

David McWilliams -

David McWilliams: Expansion of the middle class is Ireland’s biggest feat

Cliff Taylor

Cliff Taylor -

What next as Ireland’s tax deal for investors runs out of road?

Fiach Kelly

Fiach Kelly -

Varadkar must not let Fianna Fáil define him

Citizen Science The Irish Times and citizen science researchers have teamed up. See the results here

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Features & Opinion

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The European Parliament is considering doing away with daylight savings time in 2021

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