A Catalyst article about a group of young scientists testing scientific claims in advertising. The group thought many claims sounded implausible. They decided to hunt for the scientific evidence behind them and challenge the manufacturers to explain how the products work. The article outlines the investigations...

The human population of Earth has reached seven billion. This Catalyst article explores the impact that human activity may have on the planet. The article looks at the rate of population growth and how human impact is also related on the amount of resources used by an individual. It considers if the effects of...

Published by the Wellcome Trust, this issue explores the biological basis of sex differences and the relationship between sex and gender.

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A Catalyst article describing how engineers have designed an aircraft which will produce much less noise as it approaches and leaves the airport. The Silent Aircraft Initiative is a collaboration between scientists and engineers at two universities, Cambridge (UK) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA...

A Catalyst article about the early microscopists, including Leeuwenhoek, Hooke and Swammerdam. Their work looked at the miniature world beyond human sight and through publications raised awareness of phenomena such as how insects functioned and how disease spread. The article also examines the use of simple and...

A Catalyst article looking at what matter is made of. Snooker balls, plum puddings and solar systems have all featured in descriptive models of atoms. The article explores how people’s ideas about atomic structure have changed over the years by using specific examples of scientific study.

This article is...

A Catalyst article about the organisms which live in soil. Many, such as worms and mycorrhizal fungi, are vital for keeping soil healthy and productive. An adventurous biologist could once bank on finding new species by simply travelling to some part of the world little known to science. Darwin’s famous voyage...

This Catalyst article investigates the development of better, more energy-efficient solar cells. Every minute enough sunlight strikes the Earth to power our civilisation for a year, yet less than 1% of global energy generation is provided by solar energy. Solar cells convert sunshine directly to electricity, but to...

Reliance on unsafe drinking water is a significant problem in many areas of the world. This Catalyst article looks at the method of solar disinfection to provide safe drinking water.

UVA from the sun causes a breakdown in cellular functions, and combined with the increased temperature of the water from a...

This Catalyst article is about the surface of the Sun. The article looks at a sunspot as seen by the Japanese Hinode solar observatory. Sunspots enable research about the nature and activity of the Sun. They are regions of strong magnetic activity and the article reports on the history of research into sunspots....

Electronic musical instruments are getting better and better at mimicking and behaving just like their acoustic counterparts, but they can also create a wealth of sounds that would be difficult or impossible to achieve with acoustic instruments. In this Catalyst article, Jez Wells, a music technologist, explains...

Published by the UK Space Agency, the magazine is bursting with the latest space sector news and packed with educational material.

In this Catalyst article, students at La Sainte Union Catholic School in North London investigate the link between lichen species and air pollution around their school.

Lichens are indicators of changes in air quality; tolerant species replace those which are sensitive to a given pollutant. This effect is...

A Catalyst article looking at which type of radiation is absorbed and emitted through spectroscopy. This is the study of the wavelengths of light which allows us to identify the substances present in the source. This investigation provides a lot of useful information about a compound. It is used in a very wide...