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 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...

Three crew members left the International Space Station and landed back on Earth after 245 days in space.The cosmonaut and station commander, Sergey Ryzhikov, handed over a symbolic key to the Nasa astronaut Mike Fincke during a change of command ceremony onboard the station.The spacecraft landed at 8.04am Moscow time near the Kazakh city of Zhezkazgan. Continue reading...

There are apparently breakthroughs on the way for those with sleep disorders - which sent me down a rabbit hole of research...I met a guy in pharmaceuticals who told me about a bunch of cool breakthroughs in sleep meds: mainly, we may be on the brink of a new Wegovy, but in this case it's a drug to cure narcolepsy. I suggested the two things are not quite the same, given that obesity is a global epidemic and narcolepsy is fairly rare. He countered that the way the drug works might also have applications for insomnia; similar to the Post-it note having been invented by someone trying to create the world's strongest glue.Anyway, in the course of this, I discovered the test for type 1 narcolepsy, which is that you're put in a room with zero stimulation - nothing to read, no one to chat to, perfect silence, perfect temperature - and timed on how long it takes you to fall asleep. If it's under eight minutes, you're narcoleptic. But the average, for a person with no complaints in that area at all, is 22 minutes. I was completely incredulous. This is a grip on consciousness more or less the same as a house cat. Bored? Go to sleep. Even a dog will have a quick look for something to eat first. Continue reading...

The work of surgeon and artist Joseph Maclise is the focus of a show at the Thackray Museum of Medicine in LeedsIt is an image of an unnamed black man with his eyes closed and his innards exposed. Drawn with care and precision, the image may be the only anatomical drawing of a black body made during the Victorian age.Now it is part of a new exhibition that focuses on the work of Joseph Maclise, a surgeon and artist whose work - including his 1851 atlas Surgical Anatomy - made the human anatomy accessible to the general public, and who was the brother of the celebrated artist Daniel Maclise. Continue reading...

At this time of year when stress levels are high, we can find ourselves being sent over the edge by frustrating post office queues, infuriating traffic jams and tension-filled family occasions. But what's the best way to release our anger and find peace and calm this festive season? To find out, Ian Sample hears from science correspondent Nicola Davis, who recently tried out a rage room as a means of channelling her fury, and from Brad Bushman, professor of communication at the Ohio State University. Is venting the most effective way to overcome anger, and if not, what is?Rage rooms: can smashing stuff up really help to relieve anger and stress?Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

Virus caught by person who travelled to Asia combines more severe form of mpox with less virulent typeHealth officials have identified a new variant of mpox in England after a person who recently travelled to Asia was tested for the virus.Genome sequencing showed that the virus was a recombinant" form containing elements of two types of mpox currently in circulation: the more severe clade 1, and the less virulent clade 2, which sparked the 2022 global mpox outbreak. Continue reading...

The answer to today's engineering challengeEarlier today I asked you to reinvent a component of the sixteenth century Dutch sawmill, which - according to a new book - was the world's first industrial machine. You can read that post here, along with some great BTL discussion about the world's greatest inventions. (Spoon or spear? Plough or spectacles? Transistor or trousers?)Round and up Continue reading...

First-century luxury vessel matches description by the Greek historian Strabo, who visited city around 29-25BCAn ancient Egyptian pleasure boat that matches a description by the first-century Greek historian Strabo has been discovered off the coast of Alexandria, to the excitement of archaeologists.With its palaces, temples and the 130 metre-high Pharos lighthouse - one of the seven wonders of the ancient world - Alexandria had been one of the most magnificent cities in antiquity. The pleasure boat, which dates from the first half of the first century AD, was 35 metres long and constructed to hold a central pavilion with a luxuriously decorated cabin. Continue reading...

You saw it here firstUPDATE: Read the solution hereThere are many contenders for world's greatest invention." The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.According to a new book, however, that title should go to the mechanised sawmill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593. Continue reading...

Observers in dark locations away from street lighting can expect to see more than 100 meteors an hourThe Perseid meteor shower in August often catches the headlines because of the warmer conditions associated with watching the display, but to many astronomers the Geminids put on the better show.The Geminids have been active since 4 December and they reach their climax this week with the peak of the shower taking place on the night of 13-14 December. The chart shows the view looking south-east from London at midnight as 13 December becomes 14 December. Continue reading...

More than 1,000 words used as far back as 325BC to be collected for insight into past linguistic landscapeIt is not likely to be a hefty volume because the vast majority of the material has been lost in the mists of time. But the remnants of a language spoken in parts of the UK and Ireland 2,000 years ago are being collected for what is being billed as the first complete dictionary of ancient Celtic.The dictionary will not be huge because relatively few words survive, but experts from Aberystwyth University say they expect they will end up with more than 1,000 words. Continue reading...

Tech moguls may foolishly hope to stay forever young, but others could benefit too from evidence of the human body's dynamic and varied journey through lifeAgeing can feel remarkably sudden. One morning you awake to find new aches, or lapses in strength and memory that you could swear were not present just a few days prior. We do not literally age overnight, but as research is increasingly showing, we may not do so in a steady, linear path either.Over the past decade a multitude of studies have suggested that ageing - at least for certain organs and bodily systems - may actually consist of long periods of stability, punctuated by inflection points or periods of rapid biological change. This shift in thinking has raised hopes for anti-ageing medicines. But it could also make us rethink our attitude to ageing in general, viewing it as a dynamic and varied journey - rather than simply a slow march of attrition and breakdown. Continue reading...

Some say it's overdiagnosis, others say it's greater recognition. But it's clear we must think about how our society is impacting human development

Scientists have developed algorithms that give predictive scores for a host of physical and mental traits

British fertility clinics raise scientific and ethical objections over patients sending embryos' genetic data abroad for analysis

Former Perth curator Mark Harvey is one of the few people on Earth to have described 1,000 new species, many of them arachnids. Colleagues say his legacy is unquantifiable'

Paper published in 2000 found glyphosate was not harmful, while internal emails later revealed company's influenceThe journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology has formally retracted a sweeping scientific paper published in 2000 that became a key defense for Monsanto's claim that Roundup herbicide and its active ingredient glyphosate don't cause cancer.