Given its importance, it is not surprising that through evolution we have developed a system to detect the presence of salt, a system that is incorporated into the sense of taste

In ancient Greece, Empedocles stated that everything was made up of only four elements: water, fire, earth and air. It was undoubtedly the first attempt to describe the content of our universe. Over a hundred years later, Aristotle added a fifth element: ether or quintessence, which formed the stars, while the other four were the constituents of terrestrial substances.

© V. Peris i J. L. Lamadrid Picture of the Andromeda galaxy. Picture taken by the astrophotographer from the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Valencia, Vicent Peris and his

In Sarlat, the Perigord city with a splendid medieval centre, there is a sheltered market inside a desacrilised church. The reform was supervised by the architect Jean Nouvel, born in Fumèl, a nearby town. A quote from Jean Baudrillard can be read over the immense nave door: «Architecture is a mixture of nostalgia and extreme anticipation».

There are times when a story is so striking that the written article emerges unasked. In my case that particular news-story has been a catastrophist pronouncement by Stephen Hawking, stating

«The Nansen expedition claimed the most northern position man was ever known to have reached and made outstanding scientific contributions on oceanography, climate, hydrography, ice formation and the study of

A Valencian proverb says «Who plants cabbages in July will be able to eat them at anytime». This is the topic of this article, the cabbage family, very important in the Valencian fields and tables.

Lately, I met David Livingstone, Professor of Geography and Intellectual History at Queen’s University Belfast, during a symposium held at the University of Bergen where he discussed, among other things,

Nature’s complexity goes beyond human imagination. The discovery and exploitation of biodiversity has undoubtedly helped us to reach a certain level of understanding of the natural world. Even though all

Marie Curie was the first woman who ever taught in the classrooms of the Sorbonne University in Paris and the first woman to obtain the Nobel Prize.

One of the privileges of working on this section of the journal Mètode is the chance to recount the surprising things we encounter and enjoy in the plant world. And

Biodiversity implies integral and sustainable development for it promotes competitiveness, growth and job creation and increases financial resources. The loss of biodiversity threatens our natural environment and thus, the quality

Having a vegetable plot or an allotment returns to us an almost forgotten right: the right to grow our own food and to serve up our family’s own home-grown produce.

Science springs from a method that measures and contrasts. Without measurements, thinking is something vague. But life-cycle assessors have no thermometers. The lay their hands on the sick creature’s forehead and knit their brows

There is a new flavour in the kitchen: the umami, named by the Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda when he discobered a new teste different from the four basics already known: sour, sweet, salty and bitter.

Above all, Hedy Lamarr was interested in sinking German submarines. She was an actress who, deep down, wanted to be an inventor. And she was.

Carotenoids belong to a group of pigments that are responsible for the yellow and orange hues in many flowers, fruits and vegetables, as well as for the red hue in tomatoes.

You probably remember Steven Spielberg's 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind in which, in a memorable final scene, humans communicate with aliens with music, specially with that well known "D E C C G" melody that would be later hummed by everyone.