Brainstorm | Opinion, Analysis, Reports, Features

Here's why soil smells so good after it rains

The smell called petrichor is a reminder of the fascinating and extremely valuable bacteria that thrive in the ground beneath your feet

Nature • 23 May

"Estimates suggest that there is only a small population of wild hives in Ireland. Most honeybees are part of a managed colony and have a beekeeper". Photo: Getty Images

A day in the life of a bee hive

Just exactly what happens inside this highly evolved miniature society?

Bees • 20 May

'Despite how important our brains are, many people still know very little about it'. Image: SpeedKingz/Shutterstock

5 things you didn't know about your brain

Although we know a lot about the brain and what it does, we still have much left to learn about the most complex organ in the body

Health • 28 Mar

The reindeer possesses unqiue and invaluable skills for putting in a serious shift on Christmas Eve

5 ways reindeer are perfect for pulling Santa's sleigh

Reindeer can stay warm, see in the dark, stay upright on slippery surfaces and find food in the harshest of environments

animals • 16 Dec 24

How's the going, lads? A humpback whale surfaces for a chat. Photo: Jay Ondreicka/Shutterstock

Are we really about to start talking to whales and dolphins?

We should be wary of ranking species relative to humans, as if all evolution is a path to something like us

Nature • 17 May 24

Shughuli Falls on the Ulanga River, deep inside in Nyerere National Park in southern Tanzania. Photo: Gerry Killeen

Our search for the 'Adam and Eve of mosquitoes' in Tanzania

Researchers need to find mosquitoes whose genetic heritage has been preserved intact in order to continue to combat malaria

Biology • 21 Mar 24

How can isolated human beings keep regular track of time, even when they're disconnected from their surrounding environment? Photo: Getty Images

Biological clocks: how does our body know that time goes by?

Biological rhythms are at the heart of life, regulating the entire body right down to the molecular level

Health • 01 Sep 23

'Whatever your feelings about belly buttons, they're harmless'. Photo: Mateus Campos Felipe/Unsplash

All you ever wanted to know about belly buttons

A biologist answers 7 navel-gazing questions about belly buttons, innies, outies and omphalophobia

Biology • 31 May 23

The eDNA from the footprints even yielded part of the volunteer's sex chromosomes. Photo: Getty Images

You shed DNA everywhere you go. What if it's collected?

Environmental DNA collection raises serious ethical and privacy questions as researchers find human DNA in water, air and sand

Science • 20 May 23

Ajnabia odysseus lived 66 million years ago, making it one of the last dinosaurs on Earth. Image: Raul Martin

How our world might look if the dinosaurs had survived

What could have happened if that planet-changing asteroid had missed Earth and the dinosaurs did not go extinct?

Dinosaurs • 25 Nov 22

"The earlier you start with better sleep, better diet, and exercise, the better. But it's never too late" Photo: Getty Images

How old are you really? The importance of biological age

Your chronological age is the number of candles on your birthday cake, but your biological age is the age your cells and organs have

Brainstorm • 12 Sep 22

"Many owners don't really understand what happens to a dog's body in overheating and heatstroke" Photo: Shutterstock

'It takes just six minutes for a dog to die in a hot car'

All dogs have the potential to suffer from heatstroke, even if the temperatures are not boiling hot

Heatwave • 14 Jul 22

Our feathered friends: artist's reconstruction of the feathered pterosaur Tupandactylus, showing the feather types along the bottom of the headcrest. Image: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences

How a new discovery solves ancient mystery about flying reptiles

Remarkable new research has found that pterosaurs could change and control the colour of their feathers

Nature • 21 Apr 22

"The rewiring of the brain also explain the tendency of teenagers to make irrational, impulsive decisions"

The science of teenagers

Some remarkable biological and psychological changes occur during adolescence which explain how teenagers behave

Health • 11 Nov 21

Several of our senses have been built from the same type of hair cells and function well while we are young, but as we get older, our hearing deteriorates and so does our sense of balance.

How our senses are shaped by our evolutionary history

Evolution works like a tinkerer rather than an engineer, as the French Nobel prize winner Francois Jacob famously said, taking old parts and cobbling them together in new ways to serve new functions.

Biochemistry • 22 Sep 21

"In summer 2019, a bloom was identified south of Cork and scientists were able to detect and track its movement"

How satellites alert us to harmful algal blooms in our oceans

Satellites and algorithms monitor and track the colour of the ocean to determine if harmful algal blooms are forming offshore

Marine • 27 Jul 21

"There is little or no direct evidence that virulence decreases over time"

Will Covid-19 really become less deadly with time?

The emergence of new variants have cast doubt on the belief that Covid-19 will slowly fade away to obscurity

Coronavirus • 03 Feb 21

"Understanding the atmospheric microbiome and its highways in the sky could also help us learn how disease-causing microbes are transported around the planet." Photo: Wally Hartshorn https://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyhartshorn

How bacteria and viruses travel the world on highways in the sky

The skies above our heads are teeming with disease-causing microbes which are being transported around the planet

Biology • 28 Jul 20

"Although easily forgotten, pandemics are frequent interruptions to normal life, but have historically occurred over small geographic area" Photo: Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

How can genetics help solve infection outbreaks?

A better understanding of the biology of microbes like coronaviruses will help us with future outbreaks

Coronavirus • 27 Mar 20

"Nature has been experimenting for millions of years to find solutions against infectious diseases"

Can a new wipe developed in Galway tackle the coronavirus?

Meet the wipe that can effectively remove bacteria, viruses, fungi and biological toxins from surfaces

Research • 12 Mar 20

The fossilised skeleton of a dinosaur at the CAPPA research support centre for paleontology in Sao Joao do Polesine, Brazil. Photo: Carl De Souza/AFP via Getty Images

9 myths about dinosaurs

It turns out that many of our popular notions and beliefs about dinosaurs are not scientifically accurate

Dinosaurs • 10 Mar 20

The axoloti is a master regenerator who can rapidly grow a new fully-functional limb, complete with bones, muscle, nerves and skin

What animals can teach humans about regrowing body parts

The regeneration of limbs, organs and even heads is no big deal for many animals

Nature • 03 Mar 20

A medical nanorobot at work. Photo: Getty Images

The rise of molecular machines

You could fit over 1,000 of these machines across the width of a single hair, but these nanomachines can carry out a huge number of tasks

Biology • 15 Nov 19

Events like ESB Science Blast aim to make science more accessible to kids.

The disconnect between experiments and learning for LC students

The most memorable part of biology for students are experiments, but when they're asked about their understanding of the concept that underpins the experiment, most don't know.

Education • 13 Jun 19

"Based on the figure 8, the bee scout moves at an angle, waggles, reverses direction and waggles some more"

How bees use the waggle dance as Google Maps for pollen

The carefully choreographed movement tells other bees where to go to find pollen within five kilometres of the hive

Bees • 19 May 22