Over 100,000 volunteers and a $5m brain scanner were needed to do it, but finally the idea that intelligence is a single, measurable human trait has been laid to rest. Adam Hampshire describes the results of a global project and how you can get involved.
The Science Museum’s critically-acclaimed exhibition about Alan Turing, the mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and philosopher, has been awarded a prestigious prize by the British Society for the History of Science writes Roger Highfield
This article was written by Ellie West-Thomas, An Electronic Music Volunteer. As Christmas draws closer, how many of you have found yourselves in a shopping centre listening to the dulcet sounds of an instrumental version of ‘The Girl from Ipanema’? Whether we notice it or not, music is always around us. Music by Muzak is a company who scientifically produced to create background music for shopping centres, offices and even lifts. It has been scientifically proven that music effects you and […]
A number of leading scientific figures, including Professor Stephen Hawking and Sir Paul Nurse (both Science Museum Fellows), have called on the Prime Minister to posthumously pardon British mathematician and codebreaker, Alan Turing, in a letter to the Daily Telegraph published this morning.
We love receiving letters from our visitors. In fact, most of the letters we receive are from primary schools that have just visited the Museum. We recently received letters about the Flash! Bang! Wallop! Launchpad show…
Everyone, at some point in their lives, will ‘accidently’ ingest something that, well, they really shouldn’t have. At best, the event might provide an amusing story to tell your friends, at worst the consequences can be serious enough to make the news. Of course, the deliberate ingestion of foreign bodies into the human body can be symptomatic of serious mental health issues. A compulsive urge that can result in real physical harm. Hidden within our medical collections are examples of […]
On 7 December 1972, Apollo 17 blasted into orbit. It would be the final mission of the Apollo space programme.
This tree-like structure that symbolises the growth of engineering has been chosen as the trophy for a new global prize. The Queen Elizabeth Prize is considered to be the Nobel prize for engineering and yesterday the winner of the trophy competition was announced by Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum Group.
Every time we invent a new communications device, somebody has to decide what the first every message will be. So, 20 years ago today, when 22-year-old British engineer, Neil Papworth, was trying out Vodafone’s new SMS system out for the first time, what did he send? Well, as it was nearing Christmas, there was really only one choice: MERRY CHRISTMAS
Something a bit different from Stories from the Stores today – we’re hosting the History Carnival, and bringing you a roundup of last month’s blogs on history (and a few other links we just found interesting). Don’t worry – in true STFS style, we’re still illustrating it with objects and images from the Science Museum’s collections! Slaughter, Shakespeare and squibs November’s remembered for gunpowder treason and plot, for which Guy Fawkes suffered a traitor’s execution: hung, drawn and quartered. As Kathleen McIlvenna points […]
Boffins, crazy ideas and blue sky research might not sound like the building blocks of an industrial policy. However, one of the most seasoned figures in modern politics argued this week that science is not just a cultural activity but plays a central role in driving the nation’s economy. Lord Heseltine, the former deputy Prime Minister, delivered this message to a 300-strong audience attending the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CASE) Annual Lecture.
The musician and entrepreneur will.i.am gave a classic demonstration of the ‘show, don’t tell’ technique yesterday as part of his quest to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.