As the London Mathematical Society celebrates its 150th anniversary, we look back at some of the key moments and players that helped shape and influence mathematics, including Mary Cartwright, the first female mathematician who founded the chaos theory, and twice president GH Hardy who aptly named his cricket team ‘Hardy’s Mathematicals’ Continue reading...

Historians for Britain hope to shape the debate over Europe. We should question their narrative and our own assumptions about Britain’s place in history and the history of scienceReaders of the Guardian Science pages may not have noticed the group called Historians for Britain, or a recent piece in History Today by David Abulafia asserting their belief “that Britain’s unique history sets it apart from the rest of Europe”. Since it is a pressure group, connected to Business for Britain, that aims to use history to steer the debate over the EU referendum, it will probably become increasingly vocal. It requires critical scrutiny from everyone with an interest in Britain’s relationship with the rest of the world, and in evidence-based political discussion.Abilafia’s article is a classic example of an old-fashioned “Whiggish” narrative. It claims a uniquely moderate and progressive advance toward the development of British institutions, traced continuously from Magna Carta and isolated from the rages and radicalism of the Continent. There has been a strongly negative response from historians on Twitter, sometimes suggesting their opposition as #HistoriansforEurope or, given the scathing reception of Abulafia’s ‘island nation’ narrative, simply #HistoriansforHistory. A reply is being drafted for the pages of History Today and a piece by Neil Gregor has already appeared in The Huffington Post. Continue reading...

Danish climate contrarian Bjorn Lomborg was rejected by the University of Western Australia. Was this really Australia’s own “Scopes Monkey Trial”? Continue reading...

US study of more than 16,000 people suggests damage is done by depressive symptoms accumulating over timeLong-term depression in people over 50 could more than double their risk of suffering a stroke, with the risk remaining significantly higher even after the depression allays, research suggests.The US study of more than 16,000 people, which documented 1,192 strokes, found that onset of recent depression was not associated with higher stroke risk, suggesting the damage is done by depressive symptoms accumulating over time. Continue reading...

Of course the EU’s frustratingly bureaucratic, but it pays for much of the UK’s science research and innovation Continue reading...

Thomas Browne was a seventeenth century doctor who championed rational thinking, challenged established thought, and investigated the natural world. Yet he first became famous for writing about his religious faith. Continue reading...

Controversy over a new evaluation of glyphosate, the world’s most widely used herbicide, lifts the lid on aspects of chemical safety regulation that often remain hidden from public view. Continue reading...

‘Rationalising’ grant programs and preventative health research to cover first Medical Research Future Fund grants and new subsidised treatments Continue reading...

CERN’s huge particle accelerator is working its way toward full operation and a new phase of exploration. But it is not only the accelerator that has been upgraded – the particle detectors have some new tricks tooOver the last few weeks the LHC - the gigantic particle accelerator at CERN, Geneva - has begun accelerating beams of protons up to record-breaking energies. It has also begun colliding them together again, although so far it has not done both at the same time. The only collisions so far are at lower energies. It is when the high energy beams collide that the physics really starts. Even so, there are some interesting data to look at already.The experiment I work on, ATLAS, has installed a new detector called the Insertable B Layer (IBL). This is right in the heart of ATLAS, as near as possible to the point where the protons smash into each other head-on. Continue reading...

Sir Sam Edwards, who died last week, was a founding father of this still rather unfamiliar sub-discipline of physics Continue reading...

Philip Zimbardo is worried that excessive gaming or porn watching is crippling masculinity. But the evidence just doesn’t back up these sorts of claims

IPCC climate modelling proves right as scientists find a glitch in satellite led to inaccurate records in 1990s suggesting rate of sea level rise was slowing Continue reading...

Woolf Works by the Royal Ballet takes its inspiration from Virginia Woolf and her fascination with the huge changes in scientific thought during her lifetimeVirginia Woolf lived and worked at a time of monumental change in our understanding of the universe. The initial decades of the 20th century saw the biggest revolution in our thinking since Isaac Newton in the seventeenth century and this generated a great deal of popular interest in the subject, too.Related: Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? Not the Royal Ballet Continue reading...

Psychologist Philip Zimbardo believes society and technology are failing boys, but his views reek of old-school sexism Continue reading...

Bjørn Lomborg’s assessment of climate change isn’t just a ‘contrarian’ take. It’s at odds with peer-reviewed science and isn’t entitled to a platform at taxpayer expense Continue reading...