The So Hot Right Now conference will put the spotlight on dosages advocated by three headline speakers whose claims are disputed by other experts

A probe to be launched this week aims to pinpoint sites of lunar water, which could help plan to colonise the Earth's satelliteSpace engineers are set to launch an unusual mission this week when they send a probe built by UK and US researchers to the moon to map water on its surface. Lunar Trailblazer's two year mission is scheduled to begin on Thursday when the probe is blasted into space from Florida on a Space X Falconrocket.Its goal - to seek out water on the lunar surface - may seem odd given that the moon has traditionally been viewed as an arid, desiccated world. However, scientists have recently uncovered strong hints that it possesses significant quantities of water. It will be the task of Lunar Trailblazer to reveal just how much water there is near the lunar surface and pinpoint its main locations. Continue reading...

Archaeologist believes his find of the century' - of Pharaoh Thutmose II - could be surpassed by ongoing excavationTo uncover the location of one long-lost pharaoh's tomb is a career-defining moment for an archaeologist. But to find a second is the stuff of dreams.Last week British archaeologist Piers Litherland announced the find of the century - the first discovery of a rock-cut pharaoh's tomb in Egypt since Tutankhamun's in 1922. Continue reading...

Research group says discovery could lead to new type of environmentally friendly farmingA biological mechanism that makes plant roots more attractive to soil microbes has been discovered by scientists in the UK. The breakthrough - by researchers at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, Norfolk - opens the door to the creation of crops requiring reduced amounts of nitrate and phosphate fertilisers, they say.We can now think of developing a new type of environmentally friendly farming with crops that require less artificial fertiliser," said Dr Myriam Charpentier, whose group carried out the research. Continue reading...

Experts say current US outbreak is unlikely to end without intervention with further mutation of virus likelyA newer variant of H5N1 bird flu has spilled over into dairy cows separately in Nevada and Arizona, prompting new theories about how the virus is spread and leading to questions about containing the ongoing outbreaks.The news comes amid a purge of experts at federal agencies, including employees who were responding to the highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US Department of Agriculture. Continue reading...

Fast fashion and drinks cans among technological-age matter most likely to endure as fossils, say scientistsAs an eternal testament of humanity, plastic bags, cheap clothes and chicken bones are not a glorious legacy. But two scientists exploring which items from our technological civilisation are most likely to survive for many millions of years as fossils have reached an ironic but instructive conclusion: fast food and fast fashion will be our everlasting geological signature.Plastic will definitely be a signature technofossil', because it is incredibly durable, we are making massive amounts of it, and it gets around the entire globe," says the palaeontologist Prof Sarah Gabbott, a University of Leicester expert on the way that fossils form. So wherever those future civilisations dig, they are going to find plastic. There will be a plastic signal that will wrap around the globe." Continue reading...

Case brought during Biden presidency accused space company of refusing, unlawfully, to hire certain immigrantsThe US Department of Justice on Thursday said it would drop a case accusing Elon Musk's space technology company SpaceX of refusing to hire certain immigrants.The justice department last month signaled it could back away from the case, brought during Joe Biden's term. Musk, a top adviser and donor to Donald Trump, is leading a commission tasked with identifying waste in the federal government, dubbed the department of government efficiency", or Doge. Continue reading...

Experts warn young people should have limited use of devices and spend more time outdoorsEvery hour young people spend in front of screens increases their chance of being shortsighted, researchers have found, with experts warning young children should have limited use of devices and spend more time outdoors.Myopia is caused by having an over elongated eyeball and is a growing problem, with research suggesting about 40% of children and adolescents worldwide could have the condition by 2050. Continue reading...

Doctors in London have become the first in the world to cure blindness in children born with a rare genetic condition using gene therapy. The children had leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), a form of retinal dystrophy that causes vision loss due to a defect in the AIPL1 gene. Doctors injected healthy copies of the gene into their eyes using keyhole surgery that took just 60 minutes. Four children can now see shapes, find toys, recognise their parents' faces and, in some cases, even read and writeDoctors in London cure blindness in children with rare condition Continue reading...

Four children can now see shapes, find toys, recognise their parents' faces and some can read and writeDoctors in London have become the first in the world to cure blindness in children born with a rare genetic condition using a pioneering gene therapy.The children had leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), a severe form of retinal dystrophy that causes vision loss due to a defect in the AIPL1 gene. Those affected are legally certified as blind from birth. Continue reading...

Definitely maybe but probably not

Executive orders' impact on premier medical research agency has resulted in delayed projects and frozen fundingAcademics and scientists who work with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said the Trump administration's orders have severely disrupted work - delaying projects and casting the future of research funding and jobs into doubt as chaos in the agency reigns.An array of orders seeks to fundamentally reshape the NIH, the world's largest public funder of biomedical and behavioral research, in the Trump administration's image. The agency's work is the wellspring of scientific advancement in the US, and helped make the country a dominant force in health and science. Continue reading...

It can help relieve pain and tension, especially for patients recovering from injury or nerve compression conditionsAs a fairly diligent stretcher who tries to get at least five minutes of stretching in a day, I'd like to say that I'm fairly in tune with my body, and all its aches and pains. But recently I've been experiencing a bit of numbness and stiffness in my glutes that none of my usual stretches could address. Could the numbness indicate a possible issue with my nerves?It's possible it could indicate a tight sciatic nerve, said Morgan Sileo, an orthopedic clinical specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery, the treatment for which could include sciatic nerve flossing. Continue reading...

A dogged account of how the quest for a treatment may have been set back years by fraudulent evidenceLiving to old age is quite literally the best thing that any of us could hope for, given the alternative. It's a cruel irony, then, that many of us who make it that far will begin to lose our sense of who we are due to dementia. If you're 65, you've got about a one in 20 chance of developing the most common form, Alzheimer's disease, in the next decade. At 75, it'sabout one in seven, while those fortunate enough to reach 85 face aone in three chance.Given the toll this illness takes on sufferers and those around them, hundreds of millions of families around the world are desperate for a medical breakthrough - and for years, headlines have suggested that it might be imminent. Scientists had identified the cause of Alzheimer's, they promised, and potential cures werealready being tested. Continue reading...

Scientists are closely monitoring 2024 YR4 - and while it's relatively small, it reminds us of the dangers lurking in space

Paul Laskey now has chance to recover vision in left eye after three amniotic tissue graftsA man whose left eye was melted" during an acid attack has thanked the woman who donated her placenta, giving him the chance to recover his sight.Paul Laskey dashed in to protect his son from being robbed at knifepoint when the attacker squirted him in the face with a corrosive substance, believed to be battery acid. Continue reading...

Science editor Ian Sample joins co-host Madeleine Finlay to discuss some of the most intriguing science stories of the week. From a concerning rise in hospital diagnoses of constipation in children, to research suggesting that the environment is far more important for ageing and longevity than our genes, and how squeaks from genetically engineered mice are providing insight into how human language may have emergedPrimary-age child constipation rates up 60% in EnglandEnvironment more crucial than genes in risk of early death, study suggests Continue reading...

Failed water main or mineshaft most likely culprits as hole opens up in the village of GodstoneResidents of Godstone in Surrey have been evacuated from their homes amid fears that two large sinkholes in their high street could trigger a gas explosion. Here we look at what causes sinkholes, whether they are becoming more common and what can be done to prevent them. Continue reading...

President's call to Make America Healthy Again' has led to slashes in NIH funding - endangering jobs and vital researchThe Trump administration's planned cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) not only threaten essential biomedical research in the US, but the livelihoods of researchers - and some are seriously considering leaving the country.A 27 January memo from the Office of Management and Budget instructed federal agencies to pause funding allocations to ensure they serve Donald Trump's goals, including ending wokeness' and the weaponization of government, promoting efficiency in government, and Making America Healthy Again". Continue reading...

Analysis of UK BioBank data shows importance of factors including living conditions and smoking, say expertsThe environment is about 10 times more important than genes in explaining why some people have a higher risk of an early death than others, research has suggested.The study is based on an analysis of information from almost 500,000 participants in the UK BioBank database, including answers to questionnaires as well as data on deaths and diseases that occurred after people enrolled. Continue reading...

Also aptly known as a dancing plant, the telegraph plant's leaflets move in circular motions for no obvious reasonThe telegraph plant (Desmodium gyrans, also known as Codariocalyx motorius), is very strange. At the base of its larger paddle-shaped leaves are smaller leaflets that can be seen constantly twitching around in circles during the day for no obvious reason. These elliptical movements are driven by special motor cells at the base of each leaflet expanding and contracting with water - the movements grow faster with increasingly bright light or increasing temperatures. At around 35C, the leaflets can make one rotation every 90 seconds or so.Charles Darwin in 1881 called it a vegetable wonder" but was baffled by the plant's movements. No one supposes that the rapid movements of the lateral leaflets of [Desmodium gyrans] are of any use to the plant; and why they should behave in this manner is quite unknown." Continue reading...

Researchers say study, which involved training bream to follow a specific diver for treats, could change the way we treat fishWild fish can tell people apart - at least when they are wearing different-coloured outfits - researchers have found in a study they say could shift our relationship with the creatures.It is known that certain domestic animals - or those that live close to humans - can tell one person from another, a skill researchers say could be tied to particular humans being more inclined to share resources with them or, conversely, pose a danger. However, such discrimination is less well known in wild animals. Continue reading...

Poor diet, obesity and inactivity blamed on decline with Norway the only country seeing a riseLife expectancy improvement is stalling across Europe with England experiencing the biggest slowdown. Experts are blaming this on an alarming mix of poor diet, mass inactivity and soaring obesity.The average annual growth in life expectancy across the continent fell from 0.23 years between 1990 and 2011 to 0.15 years between 2011 and 2019, according to research published in the Lancet Public Health journal. Of the 20 countries studied, every one apart from Norway saw life expectancy growth fall. Continue reading...

Ambitious UK project aims to forecast climate catastrophes using fleets of drones, cosmic ray detection, patterns of plankton blooms and moreAn ambitious attempt to develop an early warning system for climate tipping points will combine fleets of drones, cosmic ray detection and the patterns of plankton blooms with artificial intelligence and the most detailed computer models to date.The UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria), which backs high-risk, high-reward projects, has awarded 81m to 27 teams. The quest is to find signals that forewarn of the greatest climate catastrophes the climate crisis could trigger. Tipping points occur when global temperature is pushed beyond a threshold, leading to unstoppable changes in the climate system. Continue reading...

About 20 people working on medicine devices at Food and Drug Administration dismissed amid government purgeUS Food and Drug Administration employees reviewing Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink were fired over the weekend as part of a broader purge of the federal workforce, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.The cuts included about 20 people in the FDA's office of neurological and physical medicine devices, several of whom worked on Neuralink, according to the two sources, who asked not to be identified because of fear of professional repercussions. That division includes reviewers overseeing clinical-trial applications by Neuralink and other companies making so-called brain-computer interface devices, the sources said. Continue reading...

The chemical compounds that block UV rays may lead to bleaching of coral and a decrease in fish fertilityUrgent investigation is needed into the potential impact sunscreen is having on marine environments, according to a new report.Sunscreens contain chemical compounds, known as pseudo persistent pollutants, which block the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays and can lead to bleaching and deformity in coral or a decrease in fish fertility. Continue reading...

The Scottish first minister, John Swinney, was recently forced to deny plans to ban cats after a report from independent experts said the species was a threat to Scotland's wildlife. In the UK, it is estimated that cats kill or bring home 57 million mammals and 27 million birds every year. Ian Sample hears from cat-owner Madeleine Finlay and the ecologist Prof Robbie McDonald about the best ways to reduce our feline companions' impact on wildlife without affecting welfareClips: Good Morning Britain, Channel 5 NewsSupport the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

The answer to today's triangular teaserEarlier today I set you the following two problems. Here they are again with solutions.1. Tricky triangle Continue reading...

Researchers say woman treated for neuroblastoma as a child is longest known survivor after having CAR T-cell therapyA woman treated with a pioneering type of immunotherapy for a solid tumour has been in remission for more than 18 years with no further treatments, experts have revealed.The therapy involves taking T-cells, a type of white blood cell, from a patient and genetically engineering them to target and kill cancer cells. These modified T-cells are grown in a laboratory and then infused back into the patient. Continue reading...

Discovery of pest in UK raises fears for Sitka spruce, which accounts for half of country's commercial plantationsA beetle that has previously devastated Norway spruce populations across continental Europe has been found to be equally attracted to the Sitka spruce, a finding experts say could have significant implications for commercial forestry.The eight-toothed European spruce bark beetle has now been found in the UK, raising fears for the Sitka, which accounts for a quarter of Britain's forest cover and half its commercial forestry plantations. Continue reading...

Yes, I've made balsamic vinegar pearls and sous-vide swede - but trial and error still produces the most delicious foodTo make pearls of balsamic vinegar, first chill a good amount of olive oil in a tall glass. While it waits in the fridge, in a small saucepan over a medium heat, bring the vinegar and agar-agar to the beginning of a boil - just until the agar-agar has dissolved. Let this mixture cool, remove the oil from the fridge, and use a pipette to drop balls of the agar-stiffened vinegar into the oil to form the pearls. Drain into another container using a small sieve to catch the pearls. Reserve the oil for another use.I remember making these, my first and only foray into what is known as molecular gastronomy", in 2013. It was already a bit passe at that time, but the science experiment aspect of creating a simple acidic garnish for a chocolate and strawberry cupcake that Valentine's Day was undoubtedly fun. The lesson influenced how I'd go on to use agar-agar, a seaweed-derived vegan gelatin, in dishes like panna cotta or flan, but I never made the pearls again. They were a novelty, and now I have a fond memory of cosplaying as Ferran Adria, a Spanish chef who popularised these sorts of processes through the restaurant El Bulli.Alicia Kennedy is a food and culture writer and author of No Meat Required: The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating, and a forthcoming memoir On Eating: The Making and Unmaking of My Appetites Continue reading...

The TV reporter's struggles with depression and the suicide of his father, whose own father killed himself, prompt this incisive, highly personal investigationJames Longman is an English broadcast journalist who was the BBC's man in Beirut before joining US network ABC, where he is now chief international correspondent. He has reported from wars in Syria and Ukraine and covered Covid lockdowns, the queen's funeral and the 2018 cave rescue in Thailand.On screen, Longman is the type of British journalist that Americans love: eloquent, charismatic and unflappable. Behind the composure, however, runs a tragic legacy of mental illness. In 1996, when he was nine, Longman's father John, an artist who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia in his 20s, died after setting fire to his Notting Hill flat. Longman's paternal grandfather also killed himself, and his mother, too, has endured mental health struggles. Longman's own experiences with depression from his mid-20s onwards have prompted him to wonder: Does sadness run in families? Have I inherited mental illness?"The Inherited Mind by James Longman is published by Hyperion Avenue (25). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply Continue reading...

Despite government efforts, armed groups control many remote areas. Now researchers are caught in the crosshairsRaul*, a biologist from Quito, has been leading conservation projects in the Choco rainforest in north-east Ecuador for more than 20 years. It has not been easy, he says, recalling the threats he has received over the years for reporting illegal hunters and loggers in reserves, but he never considered giving up.Last year, however, tensions in the area escalated after violence soared on the country's coast. Accounts of almost daily killings in the cities of Esmeraldas and Guayaquil emerged as gangs appeared to fight over territory, while forced recruitment in rural areas increased, as did extortions, known locally as vacunas, or vaccines. Continue reading...

A triangle and a rectangle walked into a pubUPDATE: Read the solutions hereToday's two questions test your geometrical smarts. The first is about a triangle, the second about a square.1. Tricky triangle Continue reading...

Dark skies away from street lights are required to view this formation attributed to the astronomer Petrus PlanciusThis week, we track down a faint and often overlooked constellation. Monoceros, the unicorn, spans the celestial equator, which makes it visible from most parts of the world. It often goes unnoticed, however, because it is surrounded by much more prominent constellations such as Orion, Canis Major, Canis Minor, and Gemini.The chart shows the view looking south-south-east from London at 20.00 GMT on 17 February, although the view will remain essentially the same all week. Because none of the stars in Monoceros will stand out, the easiest way to zero in on the unicorn is by identifying the brightest stars in the surrounding constellations. First, find Sirius in Canis Major. This is the brightest star in the night sky. From there proceed anti-clockwise to Rigel in Orion, then Betelgeuse. Hop across to Procyon in Canis Minor and you will have virtually encircled Monoceros. Continue reading...

I'm an intractable bedtime procrastinator. Why do the sensible thing when I can just lie on the couch, phone in hand, however exhausted I am?This says nothing good about me, but when I read that Oxford quantum physicists had made an exciting step towards teleportation, my first thought was: Will I live long enough for science to teleport me from the sofa into bed at night?"I'm an intractable bedtime procrastinator. However exhausted I am, once I achieve couch horizontality, bed seems pointless. With a heated blanket and the whole internet in my hand, why do the sensible thing when I can do what feels good right now? Continue reading...

Perhaps the problem might not be the world itself, but the way you see itThe question I am writing to you from the edge of the abyss... Hello! Despite the privileges I've had, my life has been a constant struggle. Since I was four, I've had little joie de vivre, thanks to a stew of mental health issues, a difficult home life and a recent discovery that I'm on the autistic spectrum. I don't blame my autism for everything - my personality would be difficult regardless - but it explains a lot.My life runs in cycles: denial of my feelings, stoicism, breaking point, sabotage and starting over. As a child, I'd bottle up frustrations at school, only to explode at home. In adulthood, these meltdowns have been more dramatic: quitting jobs, a half-baked suicide attempt, tantrums and, my biggest regret, the Pixie Cut Year. I've navigated life like the Charge of the Light Brigade, with little to show for it. I've had a string of odd jobs, television (ended in legal dispute), the Royal Albert Hall (unrequited crush) and living in a caravan in Scotland, where my job was to play chess with an elderly gentleman. Most recently, I worked for a religious leader despite being irreligious. For all my supposed creativity, I'm no closer to being a writer. Continue reading...

Memories emerge earlier in some cultures than others, but researchers have long puzzled over our inability to recall events before two or three years of age

Chrissi Kelly, who says anosmia is a like a bereavement', is trialling a simple procedure that could help those who lost sense of smell during Covid or other viral infectionsSmell loss was a defining symptom of Covid, and for some people, a curse. Most people regain their sense of smell as their infection fades, but some never recover. It means not being able to tell if milk is off, if there's a gas leak or what your newborn baby smells like.But for victims of anosmia and its crueller sibling, parosmia, where ordinary smells are transformed into the stench of rotting flesh or sewage, there is new hope. Researchers have discovered that a simple procedure can help people recover their sense of smell years after losing it to viral infections such as Covid, or even decades later. Continue reading...

That's the way to fulfil your goals and have fun in lifeWe all procrastinate, but most conventional advice for conquering it doesn't work, at least not for me, beyond chores like cleaning the kitchen or going to the gym or getting my tax return in on time. It certainly doesn't work for the kind of procrastination that has obstructed my best life: swerving that relationship I craved; postponing for years a book on the philosophy of love that I yearned to write before finally putting pen to paper; failing to pursue the hobby - piano playing - to which I've been devoted since childhood, while my piano sat in a corner, closed and silent.It's no use being told by self-help books to formulate my top priorities when I already have core goals that define who I am or want to become. Or to be urged to break up tasks into bite-sized steps, with a deadline for each step, because how does that work when it's a relationship or a vocation that I'm avoiding? Conventional advice says I should forgive myself my paralysis rather than beating myself up about it but, soothing as this is, it doesn't magically give me either the focus or the energy I need to fulfil those prized goals. I can remove external distractions, especially online access, but what am I to do about distractions inside my head: fantasising, say, about a holiday or a romance as an escape from the task in hand? Continue reading...

Paul Workman has researched untreatable chordoma for years. Now new technology points towards to a potential drug to beat itProfessor Paul Workman was 37 and already well established as a medical researcher when his mother, Ena, died of a rare bone cancer known as chordoma. About one in a million people are affected by the condition, which is untreatable.It was utterly frustrating," said Workman, who later became head of the Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery and then chief executive of the Institute of Cancer Research, London. Thirty-six years ago, there was little we could do to treat chordoma. There was little understanding of the disease and no drugs were available to help my mother." Continue reading...

Linda Geddes spends a week with a clown, a comic and some toddlers to test the science behind the uplifting power of playIf foreign politics, environmental collapse and the impending takeover of the world by machines are leaving you glum, psychologists have identified a strategy that could help bolster your resilience: lemonading".Rather than wallowing in an acerbic soup of despair, researchers have discovered that people with high levels of playfulness may be better equipped to cope with the dud cards life throws at them. Continue reading...

Sprinter and surgeon John McFall given medical certification for mission lasting up to six monthsA British Paralympic sprinter and surgeon has become the first person with a physical disability to be cleared to fly to the International Space Station in a landmark for human space exploration.John McFall, 43, is a member of the European Space Agency's astronaut corps and is now waiting to be assigned a mission after a feasibility study concluded there were no technical or medical reasons why he should not fly. Continue reading...

More than 1,700 academics complain about X owner's behaviour, citing his assault on scientific research'Pressure is growing on the Royal Society to expel Elon Musk from its fellowship after more than a thousand scientists signed an open letter expressing dismay at its lack of action on the matter.Musk, who owns the social media platform X, leads the US department of government efficiency" (Doge). He was elected a fellow of the UK's national academy of sciences in 2018 as a result of his work and impact in the space and electric vehicle industries. Continue reading...

Footage taken from the International Space Station shows the eerie green glow blanketing Earth on 4 January. The dazzling colours of the aurora were captured over Canada. Aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, is caused by electrically charged particles that are released by the sun Continue reading...

They ate the blueberry soy yoghurt right out of the dish by itself! Mad for it

Recruitment drive comes amid increasing focus on an asteroid with a low - but growing - likelihood of hitting earth in seven yearsChina has begun recruiting for a planetary defence force after risk assessments determined that an asteroid could conceivably hit Earth in 2032.Job ads posted online by China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) this week, sought young loyal graduates focused on aerospace engineering, international cooperation and asteroid detection. Continue reading...

Scientists hope that smell could be a non-invasive way to judge how well-preserved a mummy isSpicy, woody and sweet: it sounds like a description of a fancy air freshener. But researchers say the mix of aromas arise from something rather different: mummies.Researchers have used both human noses and scientific instruments to probe how ancient Egyptian mummies smell today, and to what extent the odours reflect the materials used during the mummification process. Continue reading...

Tributes paid to journalist remembered for infectious enthusiasm for science and talent for turning a phraseTim Radford, the Guardian's former science editor and mentor to a generation of writers who followed in his footsteps, has died aged 84.His reporting covered a breadth of topics from genetically modified crops and the environmental impact of greenhouse gases to the arrival of cloned animals and the discovery of gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of spacetime first predicted by Albert Einstein a century earlier. Continue reading...

Research aimed to improve detection of brain injury from intimate partner violence but critics say its non-fatal strangulation of animals was not justified