The Tory conference was a pseudo-sacred affair, with devotees paying homage in front of Thatcher’s old shrouds — and your reporter, initially barred, only need mention he’d once met her to gain access. But would she consider what was on offer a worthy legacy, asks ANDREW MURRAY

A MULTICELLULAR organism is a spectacular thing. Like all other multicellular beings, we have cells that co-ordinate with each other during growth to diversify into different types. The co-ordination of this process in itself is an extraordinary endeavour: the average adult human is made up of about 30 trillion human cells of around 200 types.
There are several systems by which cells respond to and produce information. Sensory organs can produce triggers, the nervous system acts as an electrically based electrical wiring for superfast connectivity, and individual cells themselves can react to physical forces or to chemicals. These signalling chemicals, most of which circulate in our blood, are known as hormones.
Any circulating chemical that triggers change can be classified as a hormone, meaning they are a diverse group of chemicals. Some trigger organ growth, and those organs then go on to produce other hormones.

High pressures squeeze and crush, but low pressures damage too. Losing the atom-level buzz that keeps us held safe in the balance of internal and external pressure releases dangerous storms, disorientation and pain, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

What’s behind the stubborn gender gap in Stem disciplines ask ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT in their column Science and Society

While politicians condemned fascist bombing of Spanish civilians in 1937, they ignored identical RAF tactics across the colonies. Today’s aerial warfare continues this pattern of applying different moral standards based on geography and race, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

The distinction between domestic and military drones is more theoretical than practical, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT