Science | The Guardian

ITVX's perpetual real-time broadcast from the International Space Station is awe-inspiring ... until it gets boring. But even though it's hard to watch for long, it's a humbling reminder of who we areI realise that, at this point, there are already far too many shows. Every channel, every streaming service is teeming with content demanding your attention, and there are simply too few hours in the day to watch them all. However, with that in mind, may I recommend a new show called Space Live? There's only one episode. The only potential downside is that the episode literally lasts for ever.Actually, that's inaccurate. Space Live isn't a show, it's a channel. It launched on Wednesday morning, tucked away on ITVX, and consists only of live footage of Earth broadcast from the International Space Station. It's beguiling to watch, especially for anyone who didn't realise that a person can be awestruck and bored simultaneously. Continue reading...

Astrophysicist proposes a radically mundane' theory for why humans have yet to encounter extraterrestrialsFor centuries, great thinkers have pondered why, given the hundreds of billions of planets in the galaxy, we have seen no compelling signs of intelligent life beyond Earth.Now, scientists are mulling an intriguing possibility: if aliens exist, their technology may be only marginally better than ours. And having explored their cosmic neighbourhood for a while, they simply got bored and stopped bothering, making it difficult to detect them. Continue reading...

Botanist trying to conserve highly vulnerable rhizanthella that survives by feeding on nutrients from a fungusRhizanthella is an extraordinary orchid that lives its entire life underground. It flowers below ground, has no leaves and survives by feeding on nutrients from a fungus that gets its food from the soil and by connecting with roots of the broom bush, Melaleuca uncinata.Rhizanthella was an international sensation when it was first discovered by a farmer ploughing a field in Western Australia in 1928. It still remains incredibly difficult to find, usually by searching areas with the right habitat and carefully scraping away soil searching for the blooms buried underneath - tiny reddish flowers wrapped in creamy-pink bracts. The blooms also have a heady scent of vanilla, and may be pollinated by termites or tiny flies. Continue reading...

Biggest and most powerful rocket ever built successfully made it halfway around the world while releasing mock satellites during its 11th test flight on Monday. The previous test flight in August - a success after a string of explosive failures - followed a similar path with similar goals Continue reading...

The Traitors has returned to UK screens with its biggest viewing figures ever as 19 celebrities compete to be crowned the winner. The game depends on being able to accurately spot a liar, but are any deception detection methods actually backed up by science?Madeleine Finlay speaks to Timothy Luke, a senior lecturer in the department of applied psychology at the University of Gothenburg, to find out whether sweating, nervous ticks and reduced eye contact really can alert us to deception, and if not, what can?Clips: BBC Continue reading...

The answers to today's questionsEarlier today I set these three puzzles, loosely based around 1729, the taxicab number". To read about the link between London cabs and 1729 please read the original post.1. Square pair Continue reading...

Report raises concerns about liability issues and lack of testing as development of AI health tools boomsThe use of artificial intelligence in healthcare could create a legally complex blame game when it comes to establishing liability for medical failings, experts have warned.The development of AI for clinical use has boomed, with researchers creating a host of tools, from algorithms to help interpret scans to systems that can aid with diagnoses. AI is also being developed to help manage hospitals, from optimising bed capacity to tackling supply chains. Continue reading...

Breakthrough raises new possibilities for regenerative medicine, which uses patient's own cells to repair damaged tissuesScientists have grown embryo-like structures in the laboratory that produced human blood cells, raising new possibilities for regenerative medicine.The ability to generate blood stem cells in the laboratory may one day make it possible to treat patients in need of bone marrow transplants using their own cells. Continue reading...

A tourism initiative in India's first dark sky reserve has brought new hope to a community as employment means they can stay close to their roots and cultureThe snow-flecked peaks surrounding the village of Hanle are bathed in golden light as the sun sets. In the valley, 28-year-old Tsering Dolkar secures a telescope to its tripod and focuses the lens beneath a clear sky.Zipped into warm jackets the visitors gather around Dolkar, gazing upwards as the sky darkens into a breathtaking tapestry of stars. She points toward a bright star in the western sky and announces: That is Venus." Someone says excitedly: There's the Milky Way!" Continue reading...

Do you have the knowledge?UPDATE: Answers are now up.Around 1919, the British mathematician G. H. Hardy hopped on a London cab on his way to visit his Indian colleague Srinivasa Ramanujan.The cab's licence number, 1729, seemed dull to Hardy but his pal fervently disagreed. It is a very interesting number," said Ramanujan. It is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways." Continue reading...

Conjunction just after midnight on 14 October will show brightest stars of Gemini shining brightly below moonIt is worth staying up for this pleasing view of the moon as it encounters Jupiter and the brightest stars of Gemini, the twins. The chart shows the view looking east from London at 00:30 BST in the very early morning of 14 October.Gemini will have risen a little earlier and will now be visible until the dawn. So early risers, as well as night owls, will catch this conjunction. The two brightest stars of Gemini are Castor and Pollux, the twin half-brothers of Greek and Roman mythology. Continue reading...

Two decades after the material was first produced, some UK firms have reaped its potential but others are strugglingAfter graphene was first produced at the University of Manchester in 2004, it was hailed as a wonder material, stronger than steel but lighter than paper. But two decades on, not every UK graphene company has made the most of that potential. Some show promise but others are struggling.Extracted from graphite, commonly used in pencils, graphene is a latticed sheet of carbon one atom thick, and is highly effective at conducting heat and electricity. China is the world's biggest producer, using it to try to get ahead in the global race to produce microchips and in sectors such as construction. Continue reading...

Alcohol, suicide and injuries driving rises among teenagers and young adults despite overall rates falling, authors sayThe world faces an emerging crisis" of higher death rates among teenagers and young adults, according to a major study on the causes of death and disability worldwide.The reasons vary from drug and alcohol use, and suicide in North America, to infectious diseases and injuries in sub-Saharan Africa, the researchers said, but warned that their data should serve as a wake-up call".In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

The particles are in our blood, brains and guts - and scientists are only beginning to learn what they doMicroplastics have been found almost everywhere: in blood, placentas, lungs - even the human brain. One study estimated our cerebral organs alone may contain 5g of the stuff, or roughly a teaspoon. If true, plastic isn't just wrapped around our food or woven into our clothes: it is lodged deep inside us.Now, researchers suspect these particles may also be meddling with our gut microbes. When Dr Christian Pacher-Deutsch at the University of Graz in Austria exposed gut bacteria from five healthy volunteers to five common microplastics, the bacterial populations shifted - along with the chemicals they produced. Some of these changes mirrored patterns linked to depression and colorectal cancer. Continue reading...

Doctor and medical editor who inaugurated the International Congress on Peer Review and Scientific PublicationIn deciding what research to publish and how to appraise it, medical journals bear a heavy responsibility - as seen when it goes awry. In 1998, for instance, the Lancet published a paper falsely linking autism with the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine. They retracted the paper, but the genie was out of the bottle: the ensuing health scare reverberates to this day.The British-born doctor and editor Drummond Rennie, who has died aged 89, was a towering figure in American medical journals, on a mission to combat inaccuracy in science reporting and drive up standards. A cartoon in the British Medical Journal in 2001 depicted him as a biblical prophet, beckoning his fellow medical editors towards the promised land" of rigorous science reporting. He was the deputy editor of two of the world's most influential medical journals: the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), from 1977 to 1981; and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), from 1983 to 2013. Continue reading...

Before the Spanish study, some scientists had been sceptical about the mammals attacking migratory birdsBats are generally viewed as harmless, if spooky, creatures of the night. But scientists have revealed a more savage side, after witnessing a greater noctule bat - Europe's largest bat species - hunting, killing and devouring a robin mid-flight.The grisly recording reveals the bat as a formidable predator, climbing to 1.2km (4,000ft) before embarking on a breakneck-speed dive in pursuit of its prey. On capture, the bat delivered a lethal bite and subsequent chewing sounds, recorded between echolocation calls, indicated that the bat consumed the bird continuously during flight for 23 minutes without losing altitude. Continue reading...

Scientist who transformed the understanding of materials and redefined our knowledge of crystallographyWhen Peter Hirsch produced the first images of defects or faults in crystalline structures using transmission electron microscopy at Cambridge University's Rutherford Laboratory, he transformed our understanding of materials science and redefined our knowledge of crystallography.In particular, in 1956 he and his team directly observed a specific type of fault, known as a dislocation, in pieces of stainless steel and aluminium foil, which previously had only been a somewhat controversial hypothesis. These faults are important because they control the ductility of the material, that is, its ability to sustain deformation before breaking. Continue reading...

Researchers say terrier and shepherd breeds display greater tendency for addictive-type behaviourWhether it is a spaniel with an insatiable love for a ball or a flat-coat that cannot be without its squeaky bear, dogs can be very keen on their toys. Now researchers say some may even show signs of addiction.While humans can take a host of activities to excess, from work to shopping, only gambling and internet gaming disorders are officially recognised as behavioural addictions, a main feature of which is repeating acts that are initially rewarding, even though they can result in longer-term harm. Continue reading...

Biologist who won the Nobel prize for discovering that adult cells can be reprogrammedThe exciting possibility that mature body cells, such as skin cells, might be transformed and used to repair damaged hearts or brains was long seen as science fiction. Once a cell had reached its specialised mature state, biologists thought, it could not adopt another identity. John Gurdon, who has died aged 92, was the first to show that it could. In 2012 he shared the Nobel prize for medicine with the Japanese researcher Shinya Yamanaka for this discovery.In 1958, while still a graduate student at Oxford University, Gurdon reported that he had removed the nuclei, which contain the cell's DNA, from frog eggs and successfully replaced them with nuclei taken from cells lining the guts of tadpoles. Continue reading...

If we really want to grasp what animals are saying', we need to understand their communication on their terms, not oursAnother day, another cute story about how dogs can grasp elements of human language and use them to communicate with us.First, there was Mr Waffles, the Yorkshire terrier thattalks" to his owners by pressing electronic buttons that have been pre-programmed with words and phrases. In one of his videos, viewed more than half a million times, the pint-sized pooch stares defiantly at the camera and responds to an empty packet of treats by pressing the I don't give a damn" button. Followed by the bitch" button. Bad dog, Mr Waffles.Helen Pilcher is a science writer and the author of Bring Back the King: The New Science of De-Extinction. To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply Continue reading...

This year's Nobel prizes in chemistry, physics and physiology or medicine have celebrated work that paves the way for the next generation of quantum technology, the creation of porous materials that have been compared to Hermione Granger's handbag and the discovery of the hidden army inside us that helps to keep our immune system in check. To find out more, Madeleine Finlay talks to our science editor, Ian Sample, and correspondents Nicola Davis and Hannah DevlinRead more of the Guardian's Nobel coverage Continue reading...

Trio honoured for developing revolutionary materials for applications ranging from gas storage to drug deliveryThe Nobel prize in chemistry has been awarded to three scientists who created revolutionary porous materials that can harvest water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide from industrial facilities and remove toxins from water.Susumu Kitagawa, of Kyoto University, Richard Robson, of the University of Melbourne, and Omar Yaghi, of the University of California, Berkeley, shared the 11m Swedish kronor (about 871,400) prize awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Continue reading...

Only the third interstellar comet ever to be seen contains material from other star systems that can be observed close upYou wait ages for an interstellar comet to arrive and then three come along at once. Or at least over the space of a decade. The latest interloper from another star system is the 3I/Atlas comet, which was first detected in July. As space agencies track the speeding object, here's what we know so far. Continue reading...

Research could offer hope for ME patients - but some experts urge caution and say more studies neededScientists say they have developed the world's first blood test to diagnose myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).There is currently no test for the condition and patients tend to be diagnosed based on symptoms, which means many can go undiagnosed for years. Continue reading...

Our brains are wired to believe new information, especially if it aligns with our views. But mistruths can have serious consequencesErnest Hemingway famously said that every good writer needs a built-in BS detector. But in 2025 we all need one. High levels of scientific misinformation are threatening the wellbeing of families and our society, and the problem is worsening at an alarming rate.Artificial intelligence and social media are turbocharging the spread of misinformation dressed as science. Lies that once travelled slowly, and stayed relatively local, now surge across the globe. Continue reading...

My father, Edgar Neufeld, who has died aged 92, was a Jewish refugee from the Nazis who became a scientist and senior IBM executive. He then dedicated himself to charitable work in education, for which he was made an OBE in 2003.After the family escaped from Vienna in 1938, Edgar grew up with his parents, Martha (nee Fuchs) and Sigi Neufeld, and his sister, Inge, in Manchester in a block of flats that was home to many other Jewish refugees. Sigi was a businessman and Martha later owned a gift boutique in London. Life gradually became more normal, and Edgar attended Manchester grammar school and Manchester City football matches. Continue reading...

Researchers in Australia find 16 genetic variants linked to depression in women but only eight in menWomen carry a higher genetic risk of depression, a new study has found.Claiming to be the largest genetic study to date on sex differences in major depression, the research published on Wednesday in Nature Communications has found 16 genetic variants linked to depression in women and eight in men. Continue reading...

Fred Ramsdell's wife switched on her phone and screamed - it was full of messages congratulating her husband

Trio led experiments that paved the way for the next generation of quantum technologiesThe Nobel prize in physics 2025 has been awarded to British, French and American scientists for pioneering experiments that paved the way for the next generation of quantum technologies.John Clarke, a British physicist based at the University of California at Berkeley, Michel Devoret, a French physicist based at Yale University, and John Martinis, of the University of California Santa Barbara, shared the 11m Swedish kronor (about 871,400) prize announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Continue reading...

Kevin Hall spent 21 years at the US National Institutes of Health and became known globally for his pioneering work on ultra-processed foods. In April he unexpectedly took early retirement, citing censorship under the Trump administration.Now he has co-authored a book with the journalist Julia Belluz that aims to bust myths and challenge wellness orthodoxy on everything from weight loss and metabolism to supplements and wearables. Hall tells Ian Sample what he wants us all to understand about diet, exercise and weight loss, and what led to his departure from the job he lovedOrder Kevin's book from Guardian BookshopSupport the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

Fred Ramsdell was among those honoured with a 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine but might not know because he is somewhere in Idaho and uncontactableThe Nobel committee has been unable to reach a winner of this year's prize for medicine, who is living his best life" on an off the grid" hiking foray, a spokesperson from his San Francisco-based lab, Sonoma Biotherapeutics, has said.Fred Ramsdell shared Monday's prestigious prize with Mary Brunkow of Seattle, Washington and Shimon Sakaguchi of Osaka University in Japan for their discoveries related to the functioning of the immune system. Continue reading...

Primatologist said in interview released after her death she would also put Putin, Xi and Netanyahu on that spaceshipIn a lifetime studying the behavior of chimpanzees, Jane Goodall became something of an authority on the aggressiveness of alpha male adults. Now, in an interview released just days after her death, the famed primatologist reveals what she would do with Donald Trump, Elon Musk and other human beings she saw as showing similar traits: launch them on a one-way trip into space.The insight into Goodall's thinking comes in the Netflix documentary Famous Last Words, recorded in March and kept under wraps until her death last week at the age of 91. Continue reading...

Mary E Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi win for work on preventing immune system harming bodyThe Nobel prize in physiology or medicine 2025 has been awarded to three scientists for their work on how the immune system is prevented from attacking the body.Mary E Brunkow, now at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, Fred Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, and Shimon Sakaguchi, now at Osaka University in Japan, have been awarded the prize for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance". Continue reading...

The insects' brilliant hues evolved in lush ecosystems to help them survive. Now they are becoming more muted to adapt to degraded landscapes - and they are not the only things dulling down

Comet responsible for phenomenon passed close to the sun earlier this year, creating high chance of a meteor stormOctober is the beginning of the autumn and winter meteor shower season, which culminates in the Geminids in December. This week features the Draconids. It may not be a prominent shower, but it is observer friendly. Unlike most, which peak in the early hours of the morning, the Draconids are best in the early evening.This is because the shower's radiant, the point from which the meteors appear to emerge, is highest in the sky as darkness falls. The chart shows the view looking high into the north-western sky from London at 20:00 BST on 8 October, the night of peak activity. Continue reading...

The Guardian journalist Josh Halliday talks about Huntington's disease, the impact the rare inherited condition has had on his family and the hope there may now be a treatmentFor years, the Guardian north of England editor, Josh Halliday, had a secret, unknown even to his friends: that for more than a decade, his father had been suffering from a devastating neurodegenerative disease; and that Halliday feared he had it too.Huntington's disease is a rare and cruel genetic condition. It can rob people of their voice, their mobility and even their personality. And worse than that, their children are faced with the possibility that one day they could develop the disease as well. Continue reading...

Visions of matriarchal utopia may be wishful thinking, but there's growing evidence of women wielding powerThere is a stubborn and widely held idea that in some earlier phase of our species' existence, women had equal status to men, or even ruled, and societies were happier and more peaceful for it. Then along came the patriarchy, and much bloodshed and oppression later, here we all are.This notion of matriarchy and patriarchy as polar opposites - with a switch having been thrown between them - was seeded in the 19th century by Marxist theory, taking root in archaeology without much evidence. From there it spread to public consciousness. Continue reading...

Scientists are still unravelling the thefts of Colin Wyatt, an English adventurer, artist and naturalist who charmed the entomological communityThe butterfly was dead when the old man found it, lying in the snow 1,600 metres above sea level. It didn't have a name then, as he bent down and scooped its body up from the ice - a tiny John Doe, light as a feather, barely visible to an untrained eye. But this encounter in the spring of 1922 wasn't his first brush with the short life cycle of an insect. It wasn't his first time on Barrington Tops either, a volcanic plateau perched high in the Great Dividing Range of New South Wales. The man's name was Johnny Hopson but to many he was known as the Father of the Tops".It was no secret that the plateau was good butterfly country; if you picked your moment right, the mountain air would be thick with them, gathering at dusk in cloud-like clusters ripe for someone like Hopson to catch hundreds at a time with a sweep of a net. Or, as in this case, a cold snap or unexpected snowfall might leave the ground littered with delicate corpses, waiting in plain sight for a keen-eyed collector. The butterflies were just the start of its riches and, once word began to spread of this nature's wonderland", collectors swarmed like moths to a flame. Continue reading...

Discovery of wide array of carbon-based substances on Enceladus shows solar system is fertile hunting groundFrom tentative evidence of habitable planets to the eyebrow-raising suggestion an interstellar comet might not be what it seems, the possibility of life beyond our solar system has long tantalised scientists and the public alike. But experts say ET is more likely to be found if we search in our own back yard.The prospect was revitalised on Wednesday when scientists announced the likelihood has risen that Saturn's sixth largest moon may be habitable after a study found Enceladus is spewing out a wider array of carbon-based substances than previously known. Continue reading...

There was dismay after Rory McIlroy's wife was hit by a beer at the Ryder Cup. But have crowds always been badly behaved, or is antisocial behaviour getting worse?The abuse hurled at Europe's golfers in the Ryder Cup elicited gasps and dismay on both sides of the Atlantic. The crowd at the Bethpage Black course in New York graduated from boos and heckles to homophobic slurs and insults aimed at players' wives. The first-tee master of ceremonies set the tone by leading a chant of fuck you, Rory!", putting Rory McIlroy firmly in the crosshairs - along with his wife, who was hit with a beer cup.After initially playing it down, American golf officials apologised and said some fan behaviour had crossed the line", but the affair has left a nagging sense of unease. What if the line has in fact moved? What if accepted codes of crowd behaviour have changed? Continue reading...

Amateur astronomers and photographers from around Australia were invited to submit their out of this world photos for Central West Astronomical Society's annual astrophotography competition, the David Malin awards. The winning images are now showing at the CSIRO's Parkes Observatory visitors centre

US president has proposed measures that Royal Swedish Academy of Science VP says will have devastating effects'One of the Nobel prize awarding bodies has warned that academic freedom is under threat in the US and elsewhere, with political interference risking long-lasting negative effects - as scientists get ready for next week's award announcements.Donald Trump has introduced or proposed a swathe of measures in his second term that critics argue will hamper education and scientific research. Continue reading...

Findings of study into fermentation process behind dairy product could serve as toolkit for creating new foodsWhether it is kombucha, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, or sourdough, today's foodies are not short of fermented treats to tantalise their tastebuds. But for the adventurous, the menu may be about to get wilder. How about a spoonful of ant yoghurt?Making it does not involve milking any ants. Instead, the unfortunate insects are dropped into a jar of warm milk, which is tucked into an ant mound and left to ferment overnight. The fermenting tradition originating from Turkey and Bulgaria is now being resurrected in the name of science. Continue reading...

Plantlife charity enlisted help of 850 volunteers to look for waxcaps in places such as private gardensGraveyards, sheep farms and garden lawns are among the hundreds of new sites for rare pink and purple fungi discovered by citizen scientists.The charity Plantlife has enlisted 850 volunteers to look for waxcaps in their local areas, so scientists can get data from places such as private gardens to which they have not previously had access. Continue reading...

Maj Gen Paul Tedman says Moscow trying to disrupt UK's military activities on weekly' basis and closely monitoring space assetsRussia is attempting to jam UK military satellites on a regular basis, according to the head of the UK Space Command.Speaking to the BBC, Maj Gen Paul Tedman said Russian forces were actively trying to disrupt UK-based military activities weekly" and were closely monitoring the country's space assets. Continue reading...

The renowned primatologist Jane Goodall has died aged 91. She will be remembered for her observations that revolutionised our understanding of chimpanzees, as well as her tireless environmental advocacy. Ian Sample talks to the Guardian's global environment editor Jon Watts, who met Goodall several times, to find out what her scientific legacy will be Jane Goodall, renowned primatologist, dies aged 91Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

Pioneering scientist whose breakthrough studies of chimpanzees changed how the animals were perceived and led to greater protectionDuring the final months of 1960, in what is now Gombe national park, Tanzania, Jane Goodall, then 26 years old, made two discoveries that established her name and reputation as a field scientist studying wild apes. First, she observed chimpanzees eating red meat. Before that moment, the scientific consensus, based on virtually no direct observation, was that chimpanzees were vegetarians.Then she witnessed an even more unexpected behaviour: a chimpanzee male, crouched nextto a high earthen tower builtby termites, studiously modifying a long stalk of grass until it became a useful probe. Thechimp then inserted the probe into a narrow tunnel that descended deep into the mound. As Goodall soon came to understand, members of the insect species' soldier caste inside the mound instinctively lock their powerful mandibles on to any intruding object - and thus they became, once the probe was carefully drawn back out, victims of a crafty ape. The termites, potentially a significant source of nutrition, were tasty enough to serve as food for several species of monkey in that part of east Africa. Only chimpanzees, however, had developed the cultural tradition of fishing" for them. Continue reading...

Scientists are warning that academic publishing needs urgent reform in order to retain trust in the research system. Ian Sample tells Madeleine Finlay what has gone so wrong, and Dr Mark Hanson of the University of Exeter proposes some potential solutionsQuality of scientific papers questioned as academics overwhelmed' by the millions publishedIs the staggeringly profitable business of scientific publishing bad for science? Continue reading...

The world-renowned primatologist Jane Goodall has died at the age of 91.Born in London in 1934, Goodall began researching free-living chimpanzees in Tanzania in 1960. In 1977 she founded the Jane Goodall Institute, which works to protect the species and supports youth projects aimed at benefiting animals and the environment.She was considered the leading expert on chimpanzees, with a career spanning more than 60 years. Her research was pivotal in proving the similarities in primate and human behaviour