We’ve acknowledged the importance of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), a traditionally male-dominated discipline; let’s now consider diversity as an all-encompassing concept within these fields, including, but not limited to, intersecting social identities of gender, religion, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, physical ability, and socioeconomic status. Without these diverse social identities, we lose […]

Light is a crucial aspect of life on Earth. Whilst solar light is fundamentally responsible for providing the energy for all biological life through photosynthesis, the advent of information technologies that use light has facilitated the third industrial revolution, enabling the sharing of information and knowledge on a global scale. Maintaining awareness of the remarkable […]

On 25th April each year, World Malaria Day is a reminder of malaria and its devastating effects on the human population. This year, the World Health Organization is calling for a celebration of those countries that have managed to successfully eradicate the disease, or that are close to doing so. These nations inspire those a […]

Modern humans (Homo sapiens) evolved 200,000 years ago, which represents just 1% of Earth’s history. During our short time on this planet, humans have had a detrimental impact on the Earth’s health, especially within the last 100 years—this is the Anthropocene. Whilst not an official geological epoch, the Anthropocene is defined by human activity, which […]

On April 12th 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel to outer space. Sixty years later the final frontier seems closer than it ever has, in fact there are seven people in space right now. It seems a small number, given the progress that we have made as a species since Gagarin […]

MDPI has now been publishing the work of academics for twenty-five years, and its open access operations are helping to evolve the nature of research. There are many things, however, that may surprise you about the publisher. 1. MDPI wasn’t always a publisher Twenty-five years ago, in 1996, MDPI began as a not-for-profit organisation, creating […]