Lab notes: have some extra salt with those nanochips – a tasty week in science

A nanochip that sits on the skin and uses an electric field to reprogramme cells could be a breakthrough in the way we treat injured or ageing tissue, say researchers. Will it keep us healthy for longer? Or is that something that increasing our salt intake could help with? Scientist James DiNicolantonio thinks so, but his new book The Salt Fix has public health bodies falling over themselves to condemn his advice. We need to nail this healthy eating thing (not necessarily clean eating, though) if we're going to live long and prosper on other planets. And given that a new discovery about the Moon's magnetic field has raised fresh possibilities in the hunt for new worlds, we should really get on it quicksticks. Finally, two excellent yarns for all you bone lovers out there. Firstly, some good news from Bradford University, who are to digitise the slightly bonkers archive of the boundlessly eccentric palaeopathologist Calvin Wells, sadly without the shrunken head, but still: interesting objects abound. Secondly, analysis of bones found in a Somerset cave (which have already been linked to human cannibalism 15,000 years ago) has revealed evidence of ritualistic engravings. A charming combination of the horrifying and fascinating to start your weekend!