SCIENCE

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Upfront 2

Fixing DNA in a flash

Páric Keane explains how the first few trillionths of a second is important in protecting DNA from sunlight 10

Big discovery from little flies

Immunology owes a lot to fundamental research 13

Weird and wonderful animals

Sive Finlay introduces us to the Lowland Streaked Tenrec 15

The gene hunter

Seán Duke talked to Aoife McLysagh about her passion for science 16

Dr How ’ s science wows

Exploring friction 18

Fractal Ireland

Stefan Hutzler explains how to measure the length of Ireland ’ s coast 19

Mapping ancient basins

Recording how some landscape in France took shape 21

Marine diversity

There is a lot more life at sea than on land 26

Young scientists

Taking a look at diesel laundering , wood-chip fuel and gas for the lab 29

The origin of feces

All about the subject no one wants to think about 31