Alien lifeforms | Power of prayer | Corned beef | Remembering birthdays | Celebrity old-age homeYour article (Nasa moon rocket creeps to its launchpad in preparation for astronaut flight, 18 January) quotesthe crew commander of ArtemisII, Reid Wiseman: They are so fired up that we are headed back to the moon. They just want to see humans as far away from Earth as possible." I imagine that most of Earth's lifeforms would agree.

The answers to today's puzzlesEarlier today, I set you these three geometrical puzzles. Here they are again with solutions.1. Bonnie Tiler Continue reading...

People picturing positive experiences found to produce more antibodies, hinting at future clinical potentialPositive thoughts may boost the immune system according to research that points to a connection between the mind and our body's natural defences.Scientists have found people who used positive thinking to boost activity in the brain's reward system responded better to vaccination, with their immune systems producing more antibodies than others after having the shot. Continue reading...

Brown Swiss in Austria has been discovered using tools in different ways - something only ever seen in humans and chimpanzeesScientists have been forced to rethink the intelligence of cattle after an Austrian cow named Veronika displayed an impressive - and until now undocumented - knack for tool use.Witgar Wiegele, an organic farmer and baker from a small town in Carinthia near the Italian border, keeps Veronika as a pet and noticed that she occasionally played with sticks and used them to scratch her body. Continue reading...

Study links rapid growth of ocean macroalgae to global heating and nutrient pollutionScientists have warned of a potential regime shift" in the oceans, as the rapid growth of huge mats of seaweed appears to be driven by global heating and excessive enrichment of waters from farming runoff and other pollutants.Over the past two decades, seaweed blooms have expanded by a staggering 13.4% a year in the tropical Atlantic and western Pacific, with the most dramatic increases occurring after 2008, according to researchers at the University of South Florida. Continue reading...

Earth's satellite will be visible in conjunction with the ringed planet as twilight gives way to darknessA slender crescent moon slides past Saturn this week, offering a rewarding conjunction. It will be the perfect way to start your evening, a little quiet contemplation of the night sky as the evening twilight gives way to full darkness.The chart shows the view looking south-west from London at 18:00 GMT, although the pair will have been visible from the moment dusk begins to gather. Continue reading...

A return to nuclear power is at the heart of Japan's energy policy but, in the wake of the 2011 disaster, residents' fears about tsunamis, earthquakes and evacuation plans remainThe activity around the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant is reaching its peak: workers remove earth to expand the width of a main road, while lorries arrive at its heavily guarded entrance. A long perimeter fence is lined with countless coils of razor wire, and in a layby, a police patrol car monitors visitors to the beach - one of the few locations with a clear view of the reactors, framed by a snowy Mount Yoneyama.When all seven of its reactors are working, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa generates 8.2 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power millions of households. Occupying 4.2 sq km of land in Niigata prefecture on the Japan Sea coast, it is the biggest nuclear power plant in the world. Continue reading...

Exclusive: DNA test means patients could be offered most effective treatment first, boosting their chances of beating the diseaseScientists have developed a simple DNA blood test that can predict how well patients with breast cancer will respond to treatment.More than 2 million people globally each year are diagnosed with the disease, which is the world's most prevalent cancer. Although treatments have improved in recent decades, it is not easy to know which ones will work best for which patients. Continue reading...

These microscopic mites, which burrow under your skin and cause ferocious itching, are incredibly hard to get rid of - and cases in the UK have soared. What is causing the outbreak, and is there anything we can do about it?Louise (not her real name) is listing the contents of a bin liner she has packed with fresh essentials in case of emergency. Clothes, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, a teddy ... Although it should be two teddies," she re-evaluates, quickly. I can hear her trying to quell her panic.A diehard survivalist preparing for catastrophe? Actually, a beleaguered 44-year-old mother recovering from scabies - an itchy rash caused by microscopic mites that burrow under human skin. Far-fetched as it sounds, emergency evacuation is exactly what she, her partner and children (six and four) resorted to in November in a desperate bid to beat the bugs. She is now on tenterhooks in case they return. Continue reading...

The food, beauty and pharmaceutical industries poison our self-image. GLP-1 drugs will only make them richer - and strengthen the hold they have over usFifty years ago, I started thinking about the demand for women to look a certain way and the rebellions against the narrow ways in which we were supposed to display (and not display) our bodies. For a while, there was a conversation about the strictures. Some young women refused to conform. Some women risked being in the bodies they had rather than embodying the dominant images of being Madonna or the whore. But troubled eating abounded, even if it wasn't always visible, stoked by the food and diet industries and their bedfellows in the beauty and fashion industries. These industries targeted appearance as crucial to girls' and women's identity and their place in the world.Today, a new kind of troubled eating is stalking the land, entirely induced by the new GLP-1 weight-loss drugs produced by pharmaceutical companies and promoted by their willing agents on social media. It is totally understandable that people want relief from obsessive and invasive thoughts about their bodies and food. The explosion of GLP-1 drugs has provided a kind of psychological peace for many who feel less frightened of their appetites.Susie Orbach is a psychotherapist, psychoanalyst and social critic. She is the author of many books, including Bodies and Fat Is a Feminist Issue Continue reading...

First journey around moon with astronauts in more than 50 years could blast off in FebruaryNasa's giant new moon rocket has moved to the launchpad in preparation for astronauts' first lunar fly-around in more than half a century. The trip could blast off in February.The 98-metre (322ft) rocket began its 1mph (1.6km/h) creep from Kennedy Space Center's vehicle assembly building at daybreak. The trek of 4 miles took until nightfall. Continue reading...

Or will they have you in pieces?Today's puzzles are all geometrical, and all from the mind of the UK's most enduring and eloquent popular maths writer, Ian Stewart.1. Bonnie Tiler Continue reading...

Newly appointed Cambridge professor says feat would accelerate scientific knowledge by an order of magnitudeDark, hungry and inescapable: black holes are often portrayed as the ultimate cosmic villains.But now astronomers are preparing to capture a movie of a supermassive black hole in action for the first time, in observations that could help reveal another side to these elusive - and perhaps misunderstood - space objects. Continue reading...

After traumatic events we look for reminders of humanity's good, and flashes of courage from ordinary people become symbols of hope. But it can be hard to wear the hero's crown

Artemis II mission could launch on 6 February, sending astronauts on a 685,000-mile journeyNasa is preparing to roll out its most powerful rocket yet before a mission to send astronauts around the moon and back again for the first time in more than 50 years.The Artemis II mission is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida as early as 6 February, taking its crew on a 685,000-mile round trip that will end about 10 days later with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Continue reading...

Virunga park ranger says babies are well cared for by mother Mafuko but high infant mortality makes first weeks criticalIt was noon by the time Jacques Katutu first saw the newborn mountain gorillas. Cradled in the arms of their mother, Mafuko, the tiny twins clung to her body for warmth in the forest clearing in Virunga national park, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).Katutu, head of gorilla monitoring in Virunga, has seen dozens of newborns in his 15 years as a ranger. But, he tells the Guardian, even he was touched by the sight of the fragile infant males, who face serious obstacles if they are to become silverbacks one day. Continue reading...

Taking drug in pregnancy does not raise chances of autism, ADHD or intellectual disability, gold standard' review findsTaking paracetamol in pregnancy does not increase the chance that the child will be autistic, or have ADHD or an intellectual disability, a gold standard" review of the evidence has found.The findings debunk Donald Trump's claims last September that the painkiller causes autism, which were condemned by medical, women's health and scientific organisations around the world. Continue reading...

$1.6m project drew outrage over ethical questions about withholding vaccines proven to prevent diseaseThe controversial US-funded study on hepatitis B vaccines among newborns in Guinea-Bissau has been halted, according to Yap Boum, a senior official at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The study has been cancelled," Boum told journalists at a press conference on Thursday morning. Continue reading...

Campaigners claim firm has bought sway over the teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathsCampaigners have accused BP of having an insidious influence over the teaching of science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) in the UK through its relationship with the Science Museum.Documents obtained under freedom of information legislation show how the company funded a research project that led to the creation of the Science Museum Group academy - its teacher and educator training programme - which BP sponsors and which has run more than 500 courses, for more than 5,000 teachers. Continue reading...

Soaking fabrics in a commonly used insect repellent is a simple and effective tool as mosquito bites become more common during daytime, study showsFrom Africa to Latin America to Asia, babies have been carried in cloth wraps on their mothers' backs for centuries. Now, the practice of generations of women could become a lifesaving tool in the fight against malaria.Researchers in Uganda have found that treating wraps with the insect repellent permethrin cut rates of malaria in the infants carried in them by two-thirds. Continue reading...

Even low levels of widely used agricultural chemicals were linked to accelerated ageing, research suggestsThe lifespan of fish appears to be drastically reduced by pesticides, a study has found.Even low levels of common agricultural pesticides can stunt the long-term lifespan of fish, according to research led by Jason Rohr, a biologist at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Continue reading...

Environment minister says attacks on social media affect perceptions of meteorology and denigrate researchers' workSpain's environment minister has written to prosecutors to warn of an alarming increase" in hate speech and social media attacks directed against climate science communicators, meteorologists and researchers.In a letter sent to hate crimes prosecutors on Wednesday, Sara Aagesen said a number of recent reports examined by the ministry had detected a significant increase" in the hostile language that climate experts are subjected to on digital platforms. Continue reading...

Researcher calls for guidelines for diagnosing prolonged grief disorder to be expanded to cover people who lose petsGrief over the death of a pet could be as chronic as that for a human family member, research has shown, confirming what many people already know about their bond with their furry friends.People grieving the loss of a pet can suffer from prolonged grief disorder (PGD), a mental health condition brought about by the death of a loved one, a survey published in the academic journal PLOS One has found. Continue reading...

This is the moment a SpaceX capsule left the International Space Station on an emergency return flight to Earth prompted by a medical issue afflicting one of the astronauts. It is Nasa's first medical evacuation, with the mission being cut a month short. Onboard were American astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, a Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, and a Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui. Computer modelling predicted a medical evacuation from the space station every three years but Nasa has not had one before in its 65 years of human spaceflight

Four astronauts emerge from capsule after Pacific landing, including crew member in stable' conditionFour astronauts from the International Space Station have returned to Earth a month earlier than planned after one developed a serious medical condition onboard the orbiting outpost.Nasa confirmed that the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying the US astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, the Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and the Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov splashed down off the coast of San Diego at 12.41am local time (8.41am UK time). Continue reading...

Ian Sample puts listeners' questions on dreams and nightmares to Dr Michelle Carr, director of the Dream Engineering Laboratory in Montreal's Centre for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine, and author of the new book Into the Dream Lab. They look at why we dream, what we can learn by examining our dreams, and what we can do when dreams turn to nightmares. Dr Carr gives her top tips for taking charge of our dreams and trying to influence their contentSupport the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepodOrder Into the Dream Lab by Dr Michelle Carr via the Guardian Bookshop Continue reading...

Tests showed horses that smelled body odour from people watching scary films startled more easilyHorses can smell fear, or at least whether you have scared yourself witless watching a horror movie, according to researchers who say the effect has consequences for riders, trainers and others who work with the animals.In a series of tests, horses that smelled body odour from people watching scary films startled more easily, had higher heart rates and approached their handlers less often than when the odour came from people watching more joyful scenes. Continue reading...

Decoded genome of meat in pup's stomach helps scientists build picture of what caused extinction of speciesResearchers have shed light on the final centuries of the woolly rhinoceros after studying a hairy lump of meat from the stomach of an ancient wolf cub that became mummified in the Siberian permafrost.The beautifully preserved remains of a two-month-old female wolf cub were discovered in 2011 near the village of Tumat in northeastern Siberia. The animal is thought to have died 14,400 years ago when a landslide collapsed its den, trapping the cub and others inside. Continue reading...

Research finds no evidence heavier social media use or more gaming increases symptoms of anxiety or depressionScreen time spent gaming or on social media does not cause mental health problems in teenagers, according to a large-scale study.With ministers in the UK considering whether to follow Australia's example by banning social media use for under-16s, the findings challenge concerns that long periods spent gaming or scrolling TikTok or Instagram are driving an increase in teenagers' depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions. Continue reading...

Society should only eject fellows for fraud or other defects in their research, says Paul NurseThe president of the Royal Society has reignited a row over Elon Musk's association with the body by arguing that fellows should only be ejected for fraud or other defects in their research.In an interview with the Guardian, Paul Nurse defended the academy's decision not to take action against Musk - who was elected a fellow in 2018 - despite claims the tech billionaire had violated its code of conduct, including by his role in slashing US research funding as part of the US department of government efficiency". Continue reading...

Exclusive: Some scientists say many detections are most likely error, with one high-profile study called a joke'High-profile studies reporting the presence of microplastics throughout the human body have been thrown into doubt by scientists who say the discoveries are probably the result of contamination and false positives. One chemist called the concerns a bombshell".Studies claiming to have revealed micro and nanoplastics in the brain, testes, placentas, arteries and elsewhere were reported by media across the world, including the Guardian. There is no doubt that plastic pollution of the natural world is ubiquitous, and present in the food and drink we consume and the air we breathe. But the health damage potentially caused by microplastics and the chemicals they contain is unclear, and an explosion of research has taken off in this area in recent years. Continue reading...

Ian Sample puts listeners' questions on sleep to Dr Allie Hare, consultant physician in respiratory and sleep medicine at Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals and president of the British Sleep Society. They cover why women experience sleep disturbance during the menopause, why sleep paralysis affects some people more than others, and what scientists know about the link between sleep and dementia. Hare also gives her top tips for getting better sleep in 2026Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

It is the most essential thing we do - yet many of us arguably breathe badly. The author of Breath explains how that can be changedIn the last stages of writing his book, Breath, James Nestor was stressed. Which was ironic when writing a book about breathing patterns and mellowing out," he says. The book was late; he'd spent his advance and was haemorrhaging even more money on extra research that was taking him off in new, potentially interesting, directions - was it really necessary, he wondered, to go to Paris to look at old skulls buried in catacombs beneath the city? (It was.)Then a couple of months before the book's May 2020 publication date, the Covid pandemic hit, and Nestor was advised to wait it out. He couldn't afford to. One of the main motivations for releasing it at that time was to get that [on-publication] advance," he says. But I'll be honest, I didn't want to release it. I said: How are you going to promote a book that can't be sold in stores, that I can't tour for?'" He expected, he says, absolutely zero to happen". Continue reading...

A deadly fungus has already wiped out 90 species and threatens 500 more but Anthony Waddle is hoping gene replacement could be their salvationStanding ankle-deep in water between two bare cottonwood trees on a hot spring day, eight-year-old Anthony Waddle was in his element. His attention was entirely absorbed by the attempt to net tadpoles swimming in a reservoir in the vast Mojave desert.It was one of the perfect moments in my childhood", he says. Continue reading...

Behaviour among non-human species could help keep groups together in face of social challenges, says studySame-sex sexual behaviour among non-human primates may arise as a way to reinforce bonds and keep societies together in the face of environmental or social challenges, researchers have suggested.Prof Vincent Savolainen, a co-author of the paper from Imperial College London, added that while the work focused on our living evolutionary cousins, early human species probably experienced similar challenges, raising the likelihood they, too, showed such behaviour. Continue reading...

Recorded in cave drawings as far back as 1000BC, this is one of the oldest zodiacal constellations to be recognised in its modern formTaurus, the bull, is our focus this week. One of the oldest constellations to be recognised in its modern form, it was recorded as the bull of heaven in Babylonian records from about 1000BC, but cave drawings from Lascaux, France, suggest that humans may already have associated the stars with a bull approximately 14,000 years earlier.Taurus sits on the ecliptic, the path that the Sun follows around the sky throughout the year, so it is known as a zodiacal constellation. The brightest star in the constellation is the red giant star Aldebaran. In Arabic, its name means eye of the bull". Continue reading...

Neuroscientist Ben Rein is on a mission to show that being around others not only feels good, but can even improve recovery from strokes, cancer and heart attacks. So why are so many of us isolated and glued to our phones?I hate it." I've asked the neuroscientist Ben Rein how he feels about the online sea of junk neuroscience we swim in - the dopamine fasts", serotonin boosts" and people regulating" their nervous system" - and this is his kneejerk response. He was up early with his newborn daughter at his home in Buffalo, New York, but he's fresh-faced and full of beans on a video call, swiftly qualifying that heartfelt statement. Let me clarify my position: I don't hate it when it's accurate, but it's rarely accurate."He draws my attention to a reel he saw recently on social media of a man explaining that reframing pain as neurofeedback, not punishment" activates the anterior cingulate cortex (a part of the brain involved in registering pain). That's genuinely never been studied; you are just making this up," he says. He posted a pithy response on Instagram, pleading with content creators to leave neuroscience out of it". That's why I think it's especially important for real scientists to be on the internet," he says. We need to show the public what it looks like to speak responsibly and accurately about science." Continue reading...

Shots to prevent respiratory syncytial virus recommended only for high-risk babies even as experts hail jabs' successAs US officials move to restrict vaccines, including the shots to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), more evidence is emerging to confirm how dramatically the jabs reduce hospitalizations.Announced last week as part of new restrictions on one-third of all routine childhood vaccines, RSV shots are now recommended only for high-risk babies, instead of all infants. The Trump administration announcement was led by prominent vaccine critic and health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. Continue reading...

The Nobel prize winner discusses claims of a boys' club', Elon Musk's fellowship and rightwing attacks on sciencePaul Nurse is a turn up for the books. A Nobel prize-winning geneticist, former director of the Francis Crick Institute and erstwhile head of Rockefeller University in the US, his CV marks him out as one of this generation's most eminent scientific figures.But his presidency of the Royal Society, a position he has taken up for a second time, makes him rarer still. No other scientist in centuries has had a second term at the head of the academy. Continue reading...

For those who have spent years trying to raise awareness, Wes Streeting's intervention is bittersweet'When former Little Mix star Jesy Nelson announced her twins had been diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy type 1 (SMA1), a rare genetic condition that causes muscle wastage, the news quickly made front page news.The call for SMA to be added to newborn screening sprang to national attention and the health secretary, Wes Streeting, was quick to respond, saying Nelson was right to challenge and criticise how long it takes to get a diagnosis". Continue reading...

Space agency said crew of four will leave ISS next week with goal of touching down in California on 15 JanuaryNasa has announced when it will commence its first medical evacuation from the International Space Station after an astronaut fell ill with a serious" but undisclosed issue.The US space agency announced on social media on Friday night that it will aim to have the crew leave the station no earlier than 5pm EST on Wednesday, 14 January, with the goal of them landing near California early on Thursday morning, 15 January, depending on weather and recovery conditions". Continue reading...

Experts and community trying to untangle mystery of outburst that saw water travel almost 10km overland into a bigger lakeManoel Dixon had just finished dinner one night last May when a phone dinged nearby with a Facebook message.Dixon, 26, was at his family's hunting camp near their northern Quebec home town of Waswanipi. They knew the fellow hunter who was messaging Dixon's father, but what he wrote didn't make sense. Continue reading...

Ynys Mon (Anglesey): The wolf moon is spectacular enough, but look east and you'll see a celestial titan the size of a pinprickAs unmissable as new year's fireworks, the wolf moon held theheavens for the first few nights of January, casting an unearthly radiance over everything, night almost as bright as day. Now, as that moon wanes, prepare to be wowed by a true planetary A-lister: Jupiter.Named after the king of the sky gods in Roman mythology, Jupiter rises each evening in the east, unmatched by any star save Sirius. Tonight, however, it will be at its biggest and brightest, having reached opposition", meaning we on Earth are directly between Jupiter and the sun. If you have never tried star" gazing before, tonight's the night to start. Continue reading...

Results of research offer hope to older women - but it will be several years at least before technique is approved

Agency says US-Japanese-Russian crew of four will return to Earth in the coming days, earlier than plannedNasa has ordered its first medical evacuation from the International Space Station in its 25-year history after an astronaut in the orbital laboratory fell ill with a serious" but undisclosed issue.The US space agency said in a press conference that the crew of four led by the US commander Zena Cardman would return to Earth in the coming days, earlier than planned. Continue reading...

Scientists at UCL say drug developers should focus on two risk-raising variants of the Apoe geneNew therapies for Alzheimer's disease should target a particular gene linked to the condition, according to researchers who said most cases would never arise if its harmful effects were neutralised.The call to action follows the arrival of the first wave of drugs that aim to treat Alzheimer's patients by removing toxic proteins from the brain. While the drugs slow the disease down, the benefits are minor, and they have been rejected for widespread use by the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice). Continue reading...

Experts are urging guideline changes on what health professionals should wear to protect against flu-like illnesses including CovidSurgical face masks provide inadequate protection against flu-like illnesses including Covid, and should be replaced by respirator-level masks - worn every time doctors and nurses are face to face with a patient, according to a group of experts urging changes to World Health Organization guidelines.There is no rational justification remaining for prioritising or using" the surgical masks that are ubiquitous in hospitals and clinics globally, given their inadequate protection against airborne pathogens", they said in a letter to WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Research suggests supplementing eggs with a key protein reduces age-related defects, raising hopes of improved IVF for older women

Certain canines can learn using cues from people's gaze, gestures, attention and voices, researchers findWhether it is a piece of food or a four-letter expletive, words can be learned by young children overhearing adults - but now researchers have found certain dogs can do something similar.Scientists have discovered canines with the unusual ability to learn the names of myriad objects can pick up such labels by eavesdropping on conversations. Continue reading...

Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam