Biologist says specimen filmed by a Victorian fisher is unusual', but not a rare albino as some had wondered

The answers to today's problemsEarlier today I set you the following set of numerical challenges to celebrate the arrival of 2026.Auld lang signsFive 9sSix 8s.Six 7s.Six 6s.Four 5s.Six 4s.Four 3s.Four 2s.a partridge in a pair tree. (Only joking) Continue reading...

South coast most likely to see snowflakes, though a full festive blanketing has been unlikely for decades nowWhile ongoing showers might suggest this Christmas will be a washout, experts say a wintry snap is on its way and some areas of the UK might even have a white Christmas.According to the Met Office, high pressure is building - meaning that, while some areas may experience showers, many will have drier and more settled weather. Continue reading...

As number of lunar satellites soars, sites will be marked out where defunct hardware can be crash-landedPatches of the moon are destined to become spacecraft graveyards where dead lunar satellites and other defunct hardware can be crashed into the ground, far away from sites of cultural and scientific importance, researchers say.The number of satellites circling the moon is set to soar in the next two decades as space agencies and private companies build moon bases and dabble with mining operations and constructing scientific instruments on the barren terrain. Continue reading...

Researchers have realised the records are a goldmine' to study changes in environmental conditionsYangang Xing had never heard of organ-tuning books, but his colleague Andrew Knight often played the pipe organ at churches as a teenager.When the pair, who are researchers at Nottingham Trent University, set out to study how environmental conditions in churches had changed over time, Knight explained that all over the country many organs had notebooks full of data tucked away in their recesses.This article was first published by The Reengineer Continue reading...

From HIV to TB, scientists and doctors made breakthroughs in treatment and prevention of some of the world's deadliest diseasesWith humanitarian funding slashed by the US and other countries, including the UK, this year's global health headlines have made grim reading. But good things have still been happening in vaccine research and the development of new and improved treatments for some of the most intractable illnesses. Continue reading...

This is the latest in the relentless purge of climate researchers who refuse to be co-opted by the fossil fuel industryThe Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin would no doubt have understood and even appreciated the latest attack by the Trump administration on climate researchers and their work.The National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, is to be dismantled after more than 50 years at the forefront of global research on climate science and monitoring.Professor Michael Mann is the presidential distinguished professor and director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media at the University of Pennsylvania, and co-author with Peter Hotez of Science Under Siege; Bob Ward is policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science Continue reading...

The year ahead in numbersUPDATE: Read the solutions hereAs we say goodbye to 2025, let's delight in its numerical charms one final time. The year was unique this century as being a square number.44 = 193645 = 202546 = 2116Five 9sSix 8s.Six 7s.Six 6s.Four 5s.Six 4s.Four 3s.Four 2s.a partridge in a pear tree. (Only joking) Continue reading...

Patient watchers should wrap up warm to witness one of nature's subtler events on night of 22 to 23 DecemberIf the Geminids whetted your appetite for meteor showers, then you are in luck. This week it is the turn of the Ursids. Admittedly, they are nowhere near as plentiful as the Geminids, producing a maximum of just 10 meteors an hour, but there is a unique satisfaction to witnessing one of nature's subtler events.The dust grains that make up the Ursids come from the comet 8P/Tuttle, which was discovered in 1858 by the American astronomer Horace Parnell Tuttle, a prolific comet hunter. Continue reading...

Survey adds to experts' concern about addiction risk and highlights support for plan to ban sales to under-18sOne in eight teenagers aged 14 to 17 have used nicotine pouches, a survey has found, adding to health experts' concern about their growing popularity.Users hold the small sachets, which look like mini-teabags and are often flavoured, in their mouths to enjoy the release of the nicotine they contain. They are also known as snus". Continue reading...

Cutting-edge therapies exist, but the market cannot deliver them cheaply. Britain must build NHS capacity so that cures become collective goods, not expensive productsJust a small fraction of our 20,000 genes can cause disease when disrupted - yet that sliver accounts for thousands of rare disorders. The difficulty is: what can a doctor do to treat them? In a common condition such as type 2 diabetes, the underlying biology is similar for millions of patients. The doctor can prescribe metformin. But with a genetic disorder, the mutation might only affect a small number of people worldwide. In many cases, doctors won't even know which mutation is responsible, let alone how to fix it.Novel gene-editing breakthroughs are making headlines. But therapies are expensive and complex to develop. The cost of bringing any new drug to patients is now around $2bn, in part because, as BrianDavidSmith notes in New Drugs, Fair Prices, thesuccess rate, from discovery to market, is tiny" and there are approved treatments for less than 10% of the 8,000diseases that affect humans". Commercialincentives, he argues, skew innovation towards lucrative cancer drugs and long-term treatments for large populations. Complex gene therapies for very rare conditions are seen as too costlyto develop and too small to profit from. Continue reading...

The commercialisation of the cosmos is already underway, and our current laws aren't fit for purposeIf there is one thing we can rely on in this world, it is human hubris, and space and astronomy are no exception.The ancients believed that everything revolved around Earth. In the 16th century, Copernicus and his peers overturned that view with the heliocentric model. Since then, telescopes and spacecraft have revealed just how insignificant we are. There are hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, each star a sun like ours, many with planets orbiting them. In 1995, the Hubble space telescope captured its first deep-field image: this showed us that there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in our known universe, huge wheeling collections of stars dispersed through space. Continue reading...

Michaela Benthaus from Germany soared 65 miles above the Earth's surface in 10-minute Blue Origin flightA paraplegic engineer from Germany blasted off on a dream-come-true rocket ride with five other passengers on Saturday, leaving her wheelchair behind to float in space while beholding Earth from on high.Severely injured in a mountain bike accident seven years ago, Michaela Benthaus became the first wheelchair user in space, launching from west Texas with Jeff Bezos's company Blue Origin. She was accompanied by a retired SpaceX executive also born in Germany, Hans Koenigsmann, who helped organize and, along with Blue Origin, sponsored her trip. Their ticket prices were not divulged. Continue reading...

UN body to study possibility of integrating centuries-old practices into mainstream healthcareFrom herbalists in Africa gathering plants to use as poultices to acupuncturists in China using needles to cure migraines, or Indian yogis practising meditation, traditional remedies have increasingly being shown to work, and deserve more attention and research, according to a World Health Organization official.A historical lack of evidence, which has seen traditional practices dismissed by many, could change with more investment and the use of modern technology, according to Dr Shyama Kuruvilla, who leads the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre. Continue reading...

Study finds dropping an expletive can raise confidence and help people push harder during physically demanding tasksIt may not be in keeping with the festive spirit, but if you find yourself dropping the F-word while wrestling a Christmas tree up a flight of stairs, scientists say you could be on to something. A study has found that swearing can enhance physical performance by lowering inhibitions and pushing the brain into a flow state".In many situations, people hold themselves back - consciously or unconsciously - from using their full strength," said Dr Richard Stephens, a psychologist at Keele University who led the research. Swearing is an easily available way to help yourself feel focused, confident and less distracted, and go for it a little more." Continue reading...

Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock is a space scientist and science educator who has worked on a number of instruments that are revolutionising our view of the cosmos, including the James Webb Space Telescope. This year she will be giving the Royal Institution Christmas lectures, Britain's most prestigious public science lectures, in which she will be exploring some of the big questions space science still has to answer.Nicola Davis sat down with Dame Maggie to discuss the lectures, why she is convinced there is life beyond our planet, and her dream of journeying to a distant exoplanet. Madeleine Finlay hears from them both in this Christmas special edition of Science Weekly.Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

Vote on Isaacman, private astronaut and Mars missions advocate, passes 67-30 for him to be agency's 15th leaderThe US Senate has confirmed the billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman to become Donald Trump's Nasa administrator. The confirmation makes an advocate of Mars missions and an ally of the SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, the space agency's 15th leader.The vote on Isaacman, who Trump nominated, removed and then renamed for the post of Nasa administrator this year, passed 67-30, two weeks after he told senators in his second hearing that Nasa must pick up the pace in beating China back to the moon this decade. Continue reading...

The unusual phenomenon is caused by sunlight passing through layers of fogThe skies over parts of Britain turned a soft shade of pink on Wednesday morning as the low sun shone through layers of widespread fog to produce the rare atmospheric treat.Meteorologists at the Met Office said the fog formed when temperatures dropped overnight. They issued a yellow warning across a large area of central and northern England where the fog would be slow to clear, which remained in effect until 10am.Pink fog enveloped the countryside at sunrise in Oxfordshire. Continue reading...

Governor Jared Polis warned that breaking up Boulder's NCAR would put public safety at risk'The Trump administration is breaking up a research center praised as a crown jewel" of climate research after accusing it of spreading alarmism" about climate change.Russell Vought, the director of the White House's office and management budget, said the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, would be dismantled under the supervision of the National Science Foundation. Continue reading...

Findings mean more than 1 million people could meet NHS criteria for treatment with anti-amyloid drugsOne in 10 people in the UK aged 70 and older could have Alzheimer's-like changes in their brain, according to the clearest, real-world picture of how common the disease's brain changes are in ordinary, older people.The detection of the proteins linked with the disease is not a diagnosis. But the findings indicate that more than 1 million over-70s would meet Nice's clinical criteria for anti-amyloid therapy - a stark contrast to the 70,000 people the NHS has estimated could be eligible if funding were available. Continue reading...

At least 27 of 38 countries in WHO's European region are reporting high or very high influenza activity, body says

Exclusive: DNA advances show Roman-era skeleton, once hailed as first black Briton, came from southern EnglandBeachy Head Woman, a Roman-era skeleton once hailed as the earliest known black Briton and who scientists later speculated could be of Cypriot descent, has now been shown to have originated from southern England.The mystery of the skeleton's shifting identity was finally resolved after advances in DNA sequencing produced a high-quality genetic readout from the remains. Continue reading...

Nuno FG Loureiro, 47, was shot multiple times at his home, and no details about a suspect or motive have been releasedThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is grieving after the shocking" shooting death of the director of its plasma science and fusion center, according to officials.Nuno FG Loureiro, 47, was shot multiple times at his home in the affluent Boston suburb of Brookline on Monday night. Loureiro was taken by emergency responders to hospital, and he was pronounced dead there on Tuesday morning, the Norfolk county district attorney's office said in a statement. Continue reading...

A brilliant history of psychiatric ideas suggests we are on the cusp of a transformation in our understanding of severe mental illnessIn 1973, an American psychologist called David Rosenhan published the results of a bold experiment. He'd arranged for eight pseudo-patients" to attend appointments at psychiatric institutions, where they complained to doctors about hearing voices that said empty", hollow" and thud". All were admitted, diagnosed with either schizophrenia or manic-depressive psychosis. They immediately stopped displaying any symptoms" and started saying they felt fine. The first got out after seven days; the last after 52.Told of these findings, psychiatrists at a major teaching hospital found it hard to believe that they'd make the same mistake, so Rosenhan devised another experiment: over the next three months, he informed them, one or more pseudopatients would go undercover and, at the end, staff would be asked to decide who had been faking it. Of 193 patients admitted, 20% were deemed suspicious. It was then that Rosenhan revealed this had been a ruse as well: no pseudopatients had been sent to the hospital at all. Not only had doctors failed to spot sane people in their midst; they couldn't reliably recognise the actually insane. Continue reading...

Nepenthes khasiana oozes an enticing liquid on the rim of its pitchers that tempts its prey into a deadly trapA carnivorous pitcher plant has recently been found to use a chemical nerve agent to drug its prey and lead them to a deadly end, being consumed in digestive juices at the bottom of the pitcher traps.The pitcher plant Nepenthes khasiana oozes an enticing sweet nectar on the rim of its pitchers for visiting insects, particularly ants, to feed on to lure them into the trap. But the nectar is laced with a toxic nerve agent called isoshinanolone, which strikes at the ant's nervous system, leaving it with sluggish movements, weakened muscles, and causing it to groom itself excessively. Eventually the prey falls upside down in spasms, with the nerve agent sometimes killing it outright. But apart from isoshinanolone, the nectar also contains three types of sugars that can all absorb water and make the rim of the pitcher especially slippery, so the prey is more likely to slide down into the pitchers. Continue reading...

Organisers of award in honour of late primatologist hope it will inspire and encourage people to take actionEarth might be under pressure, but the Queen guitarist Sir Brian May is hopeful a new award from the science, music and arts festival he co-founded will encourage people to take action.The Starmus Jane Goodall Earth medal will be given in honour of the British primatologist who died this year and will recognise those who champion life on Earth. Continue reading...

The oil and gas industry must be legally bound to cut methane emissions. With climate tipping points approaching, time is running out Mia Mottley is the prime minister of BarbadosThe timing is brutal. Just as the world celebrates the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Paris climate agreement this month, new evidence shows that the world is crashing through the main defence that was constructed against climate catastrophe.The three-year temperature average is - for the first time - set to exceed the Paris guardrail of 1.5C above preindustrial levels. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2025 will join 2023 and 2024 as the three warmest since the Industrial Revolution, reflecting the accelerating pace of the climate crisis.Mia Mottley is the prime minister of Barbados Continue reading...

In today's newsletter: As species across the world struggle to keep pace with global warming, how do we report the rare glimmers of hope without downplaying the accelerating ecological crisis?Good morning. Amid the constant drumbeat of bleak news about the planet's environment and the accelerating climate emergency, the occasional bright spot still emerges. One example came last week, when researchers published the first statistical evidence that polar bears are changing their DNA in response to a warming Arctic.But is it really good news that human activity - the burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of habitats - is forcing animals to alter their genetic makeup? The picture, as ever, is complicated.Donald Trump | Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the BBC over its editing of a speech he made to supporters in Washington before they stormed the US Capitol in 2021, requesting at least $5bn in damages.Australia | Australia's national security agency Asio investigated one of the alleged Bondi shooters in 2019 over potential extremist links but decided he was not a person of interest", prime minister Anthony Albanese has revealed, despite two of the man's associates being jailed.International trade | The US has paused its promised multi-billion-pound investment into British tech over trade disagreements, marking a serious setback in US-UK relations.Health | Resident doctors in England will go on strike as planned this Wednesday for five days, after they voted to reject the government's latest offer to end the long running pay and jobs dispute.Ukraine | Europe is ready to lead a multinational force" in Ukraine as part of a US proposal for a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, European leaders have said. Continue reading...

First new treatments for sexually transmitted disease in decades approved by US Food and Drug Administration as number of cases worldwide surge to 82mThe first new treatments for gonorrhoea in decades could be a huge turning point" in efforts to combat the rise of superbug strains of the bacteria, researchers have said.Gonorrhoea is on the rise around the world, with more than 82m infections globally each year and particularly high rates in Africa and countries in the World Health Organization's Western Pacific region, which reaches from Mongolia and China to New Zealand. Cases in England are at a record high, and rates in Europe were three times higher in 2023 than in 2014. Continue reading...

We all know eating too much sugar is bad for our health - but would we be better off replacing it with artificial sweetener? It's a question Science Weekly listener Marion posed recently and, as Madeleine Finlay tells Ian Sample, the answer is complicated. She explains what the science says about sugar v sweeteners with the help of Prof Havovi Chichger, from Anglia Ruskin University, and Prof Jim Krieger, from the University of Washington's school of public healthSupport the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

An early flu season, a new variant and poor takeup of vaccines leave the already vulnerable health service in a dangerous position

Synthetic fabrics, particularly from fast fashion retailers, can be treated with a range of hazardous chemicals which can cause an allergic reaction. If you think this is happened to you, we'd like to hear from youHave you suffered any personal health repercussions you suspect may have been caused by your fashion purchases?Research has shown that synthetic fabrics, particularly from fast fashion retailers, are often treated with a range of hazardous chemicals - including dyes containing heavy metals such as lead, antimicrobial agents, and anti wrinkle treatments - that can cause allergic reactions such as skin irritation or respiratory issues in some people. Continue reading...

Winter solstice marks moment when Earth's north pole is tilted as far away from the sun as possibleAstronomical winter begins this week for the northern hemisphere, with the winter solstice taking place on 21 December. This is the shortest day of the year, and therefore the longest night. It has been greeted with many cultural celebrations through the ages. Ancient Rome's Saturnalia, for example, involved a week of feasting and gift-giving in which the masters served their slaves.The winter solstice marks the moment when Earth's north pole is tilted as far away from the sun as possible. This means that the sun appears at its most southerly position in the sky, and rises only to its lowest noon altitude, as seen from the northern hemisphere. Continue reading...

Australian researchers think the skeleton found in South Africa is not the same species as two found in the same South Africa cave systemLittle Foot, one of the world's most complete hominin fossils, may be a new species of human ancestor, according to research that raises questions about our evolutionary past.Publicly unveiled in 2017, Little Foot is the most complete Australopithecus skeleton ever found. The foot bones that lend the fossil its name were first discovered in South Africa 1994, leading to a painstaking excavation over 20 years in the Sterkfontein cave system. Continue reading...

A letter to the king has added a royal flourish to life at Rothera Research Station, where mail remains a vital link to the worldIt might be traditional to write to Father Christmas with a gift list, but when Kirsten Shaw wanted a new postbox for staff at the UK's Rothera Research Station in Antarctica, she wrote to the king.The request has resulted in a special delivery for Shaw - a station support assistant who, among myriad other tasks, runs the British Antarctic Territory post office at the station. Continue reading...

Psychiatry professor theorizes that the difference is related to how the substances interact with areas of the brainA recent review of alternative treatments for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) indicates that psychedelic treatments show promise for the disorder while cannabis does not.Dr Michael Van Ameringen, a psychiatry professor at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada and lead author of the review published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, said that 40-60 % of OCD patients get either partial or no relief with available treatments, including SSRIs and exposure and response prevention therapy. Continue reading...

Health secretary wrote to Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, urging her to take heat and ideology' out of debateThe health secretary, Wes Streeting, has called on the Conservatives to maintain the cross-party consensus on gender identity services built before the last election in a letter to Kemi Badenoch.Streeting wrote to opposition leader on Friday urging her to take the heat and the ideology" out of debate amid controversy over a puberty blocker trial for children. Continue reading...

Scientists say bears in southern Greenland differ genetically to those in the north, suggesting they could adjustChanges in polar bear DNA that could help the animals adapt to warmer climates have been detected by researchers, in a study thought to be the first time a statistically significant link has been found between rising temperatures and changing DNA in a wild mammal species.Climate breakdown is threatening the survival of polar bears. Two-thirds of them are expected to have disappeared by 2050 as their icy habitat melts and the weather becomes hotter. Continue reading...

It would be absurd to claim the UK has suddenly become a life-sciences leader thanks to the new pricing and tariffs pactThat's gratitude, eh? It's not even a fortnight since the government agreed to raise the prices the NHS pays for new medicines and here comes the boss of GSK, Britain's second largest pharma firm, to extol the virtues of doing business in the US.The US is still the leading market in the world in terms of the launches of new drugs and vaccines", said the chief executive, Emma Walmsley, in a BBC interview, explaining why GSK invests about three times as much over there as it does at home. Alongside China, the US is also the best market in the world to do business development". Continue reading...

Northern resident killer whales appear to use dolphins as scouts', in a surprising cooperative hunting strategyOrcas and dolphins have been spotted for the first time working as a team to hunt salmon off the coast of British Columbia, according to a new study which suggests a cooperative relationship between the two predators.The research, published on Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, shows interactions between northern resident orcas (also known as killer whales) and Pacific white-sided dolphins are not just chance encounters while foraging. Continue reading...

Study on skull of Altamura Man could be blow to adaptation theories about Neanderthals and their extinctionOne sign of a really cold day is the sharp sting of freezing air in your nose. It was believed that the noses of Neanderthals were better adapted to breathing the cold air of the Ice Age and that when the climate became warmer they were outcompeted by modern humans. This is now being questioned.The opening in the Neanderthal skull is bigger than ours, with a larger nasal cavity behind it. This was thought to have bony convolutions to warm and moisten the incoming air, similar to those seen on some arctic mammals. These delicate structures would only survive in an exceptionally well-preserved skull though, so it was never clear whether they were actually present. Continue reading...

The Guardian's science editor, Ian Sample, sits down with co-host Madeleine Finlay to discuss three eye-catching stories from the week, including a study investigating the link between social media use in children and rising rates of ADHD diagnosis. Also on the agenda is groundbreaking evidence that humans were starting fires 350,000 years earlier than previously known, and the discovery of a new strain of the mpox virus in EnglandEngland health officials identify newly evolved variant of mpoxSocial media use damages children's ability to focus, say researchers Continue reading...

Stargazers will be able to see potentially dozens of meteors an hour, with the peak on Sunday night

Space agency is investigating after Maven abruptly stopped communicating to ground stations over the weekendNasa has lost contact with a spacecraft that has orbited Mars for more than a decade, though the US space agency said it was trying to re-establish a communications link.Maven abruptly stopped communicating to ground stations over the weekend. Nasa said this week that the spacecraft had been working fine before it went behind the red planet. When it reappeared, there was only silence. Telemetry showed all subsystems working normally before it orbited behind [Mars]," Nasa said in a statement. Continue reading...

With NHS and No 10 advice differing, we look at best practice for flu prevention and protectionAn NHS leader has said people who are unwell with flu must" wear a mask in public. A UK government official has said if you need to go out while sick, you should only consider" wearing a mask.So what is the official advice, how serious is the threat posed by flu, and what should you do if have symptoms? Continue reading...

Groundbreaking find makes compelling case that humans were lighting fires much earlier than originally believedHumans mastered the art of creating fire 400,000 years ago, almost 350,000 years earlier than previously known, according to a groundbreaking discovery in a field in Suffolk.It is known that humans used natural fire more than 1m years ago, but until now the earliest unambiguous example of humans lighting fires came from a site in northern France dating from 50,000 years ago. Continue reading...

Reports say space exploration company has begun talks about stock market listing that could raise more than $25bn

Scientists issue urgent warning about chemicals, found to cause cancer and infertility as well as harming environmentScientists have issued an urgent warning that some of the synthetic chemicals that help underpin the current food system are driving increased rates of cancer, neurodevelopmental conditions and infertility, while degrading the foundations of global agriculture.The health burden from phthalates, bisphenols, pesticides and Pfas forever chemicals" amounts to up to $2.2tn a year - roughly as much as the profits of the world's 100 largest publicly listed companies, according to the report published on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Human beings in 7th place out of 35 species on monogamy scale, according to a study by Cambridge UniversityHumans are playing in the premier league of monogamous mammals, according to a new ranking of animals by their reproductive habits, but we may need a new manager to beat the beavers.In the study from University of Cambridge, humans ranked 7th out of 35 species on the monogamy scale, pipping white-handed gibbons and meerkats, but lagging behind moustached tamarins and Eurasian beavers. Continue reading...

Conservationist who devoted his life to the study and preservation of the African elephantThe British scientist Iain Douglas-Hamilton, who has died aged 83, became the world's leading authority on the behaviour of African elephants and played a vital part in ensuring their conservation.His efforts to save the African elephant began in 1965 when, as an Oxford zoology graduate who had also just received his pilot's licence, he flew his Piper Pacer bush plane from Nairobi down to Tanzania's pocket-sized Lake Manyara national park. The challenge he had accepted at the age of 23 was how to solve the problem of 450 elephants confined in a space too small to support them. Continue reading...