Controversial additive may be in as many as 11,000 US products and could lead to diabetes and obesityThe controversial food additive titanium dioxide likely has more toxic effects than previously thought, new peer-reviewed research shows, adding to growing evidence that unregulated nanoparticles used throughout the food system present an underestimated danger to consumers.In nanoparticle form, titanium dioxide may throw off the body's endocrine system by disrupting hormonal response to food and dysregulating blood sugar levels, which can lead to diabetes, obesity and other health problems, the study found. Continue reading...

The British journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian indigenous defender Bruno Pereira vanished three years ago while on a reporting trip near Brazil's remote Javari valley. The Guardian's Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, investigates what happened to them in a six-part podcast series. Find episode 2 and all future episodes by searching for Missing in the Amazon Continue reading...

Biological disadvantages may be shaped in first decade of a child's life depending on family affluenceChildren from poorer backgrounds are more likely to experience biological disadvantages such as ageing faster than their more affluent counterparts, according to a study.Academics at Imperial College London looked at data from 1,160 children aged between six and 11 from across Europe, for the study published in the Lancet. The children were scored using an international scale of family affluence, which is based on a number of factors including whether a child had their own room and the number of vehicles per household. Continue reading...

Resilience would have made history as the first non-US commercial lander to make a successful touchdownAn attempt to land a commercially built spacecraft on the surface of the moon looked to have ended in failure on Thursday, two years after its predecessor, launched by the same Japanese company, crashed following an uncontrolled descent.Resilience, an un-crewed vehicle from the Tokyo company ispace, would have made history as the first non-US commercial lander to make a successful touchdown, scheduled for 3.17pm ET Thursday (4.17am JST Friday) at Mare Frigoris (the Sea of Cold) in the far north of the moon. Continue reading...

Anne Wojcicki, ex-CEO of the DNA testing firm, put in a $305m bid, upending Regeneron's $256m agreementThe DNA testing company 23andMe is back up for sale, throwing a purchase agreement reached last month into chaos, court filings show.The board of directors of 23andMe, which filed for bankruptcy in March, had agreed to sell the company and its assets to the pharmaceutical firm Regeneron for $256m after conducting an auction in April. However, the founder and former CEO of the genetics company, Anne Wojcicki, put in a $305m bid through a newly formed non-profit, TTAM Research Institute, after the auction ended and pushed the bankruptcy court to reopen the sale process. She tried to buy the company multiple times during its long decline and bankruptcy but was rejected by the board. Continue reading...

Study finds medicines such as Ozempic associated with greater risk of developing age-related macular degenerationWeight loss drugs could at least double the risk of diabetic patients developing age-related macular degeneration, a large-scale study has found.Originally developed for diabetes patients, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) medicines have transformed how obesity is treated and there is growing evidence of wider health benefits. They help reduce blood sugar levels, slow digestion and reduce appetite. Continue reading...

Research finds more than 15m in US, UK, Germany and France with MASH have not been diagnosedMore than 15 million people in the US, UK, Germany and France do not know they have the most aggressive form of fatty liver disease, according to research.Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) - the formal name for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease - occurs in people who drink no or minimal amounts of alcohol whose liver contains more than 5% fat. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Melbourne team demonstrates way to make the virus visible within white blood cells, paving the way to fully clear it from the bodyA cure for HIV could be a step closer after researchers found a new way to force the virus out of hiding inside human cells.The virus's ability to conceal itself inside certain white blood cells has been one of the main challenges for scientists looking for a cure. It means there is a reservoir of the HIV in the body, capable of reactivation, that neither the immune system nor drugs can tackle. Continue reading...

Vast areas of the ocean are getting darker, according to research based on satellite imaging. Marine ecosystems are governed by faint light changes - from mass nightly migrations to coral spawning cycles - so what happens when that light begins to fade? Ian Sample talks to Prof Tim Smyth from the Plymouth Marine Laboratory about why this darkening is happening and how life in the photic zone' - the sunlit upper layer that is home to 90% of marine organisms - could be profoundly affected

Researchers enlisted help of AI along with radiocarbon dating to produce new insights into ancient textsMany of the Dead Sea scrolls could be older than previously thought, with some biblical texts dating from the time of their original authors, researchers say.The first of the ancient scrolls were discovered in the caves of Qumran in the Judean desert by Bedouin shepherds in the mid-20th century. The manuscripts range from legal documents to parts of the Hebrew Bible, and are thought to date from around the third century BCE to the second century CE. Continue reading...

Physicist and US government adviser who designed the first working hydrogen bombThe Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi called his student Richard Garwin the only true genius I've ever met". Garwin, who has died aged 97, is perhaps the most influential 20th-century scientist that you have never heard of, because he produced much of his work under the constraints of national or commercial secrecy. During 40 years working at IBM on an endless stream of research projects, he was granted 47 patents, in diverse areas including magnetic resonance imaging, high-speed laser printers and touch-screen monitors. Garwin, a polymath who was adviser to six US presidents, wrote papers on space weapons, pandemics, radioactive waste disposal, catastrophic risks and nuclear disarmament.Throughout much of that time, a greater secret remained: in 1951, aged 23, he had designed the world's first hydrogen bomb. Continue reading...

UK needs a clear national ambition' to avoid missing out as science changes rapidly, Space: 2075 report warnsHumanity must prepare for a sweeping revolution as nations and companies gear up to build moon bases, space stations and orbiting factories, and uncover evidence - if evidence is out there - that we are not alone in the universe.A horizon-scanning report from the Royal Society envisions a new era of space activities that will reshape the world, including clean energy beamed to Earth, robots that mine asteroids or recycle dead satellites, and manufacturing plants that circle the planet churning out products labelled Made in Space". Continue reading...

Half of those diagnosed will now survive for 10 years or more after advances in diagnosis and treatmentThe proportion of people surviving cancer in the UK has doubled since the 1970s amid a golden age" of progress in diagnosis and treatment, a report says.Half of those diagnosed will now survive for 10 years or more, up from 24%, according to the first study of 50 years of data on cancer mortality and cases. The rate of people dying from cancer has fallen by 23% since the 1970s, from 328 in every 100,000 people to 252. Continue reading...

Ian Sample meets Jaap de Roode, professor of biology at Emory University in Atlanta, and author of the book Doctors by Nature: How Ants, Apes and Other Animals Heal Themselves. De Roode explains how a chance discovery got him interested in animal medicine, the amazing ways that creatures use toxins to fight parasites and pathogens, and what humans have learnt about medicine from the animal world Continue reading...

Oncologists say patients rejecting proven treatments are dying needlessly because of increase in online cures'Cancer patients are snubbing proven treatments in favour of quackery such as coffee enemas and raw juice diets amid an alarming" increase in misinformation on the web, doctors have said.Some were dying needlessly or seeing tumours spread as a result, oncologists said. They raised their concerns at the world's largest cancer conference in Chicago, the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco). Continue reading...

Researchers say people born more recently, particularly women, have lower risk at same age as their grandparentsPeople born more recently are less likely to have dementia at any given age than earlier generations, research suggests, with the trend more pronounced in women.According to the World Health Organization, in 2021 there were 57 million people worldwide living with dementia, with women disproportionately affected. However, while the risk of dementia increases with age, experts have long stressed it is not not an inevitability of getting older. Continue reading...

Study utilises handwriting-generated electrical signal to measure tremor in tandem with AI machine learningIt won't be much good for taking down notes, but a 3D-printed pen filled with magnetic ink could help identify people with Parkinson's disease, a small pilot study suggests.More than 10 million people worldwide are thought to be living with Parkinson's, a neurodegenerative disorder with symptoms including tremors, rigidity, slowness of movement and mobility difficulties. While there is no cure, early diagnosis can help those affected access support and treatments earlier. Continue reading...

One pharmacist described scarcity of life-saving Creon as worst stock shortage' they have dealt withPeople with pancreatic cancer are eating only one meal a day because of an acute shortage of a drug that helps them digest their food.Patients with cystic fibrosis and pancreatitis are also affected by the widespread scarcity of Creon, a form of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT). Continue reading...

At this time of year in the northern hemisphere, just after the sun sets, these mysterious clouds can appear in the westIt's time to watch for the beautiful cloud formations known as noctilucent clouds. Latin for night shining", noctilucent clouds are seasonal and become visible in the northern hemisphere from late spring/early summer.Although unpredictable, when they do appear they will be seen in the western sky about half an hour after the sun sets. As the sky darkens into night, they will shine with an extraordinary electric blue colour. Continue reading...

While a test was quickly developed, weaknesses in the early pandemic response included no plan for nationwide testing and ineffective contact tracingThe Covid inquiry has spent the past three weeks on the UK's attempts to control the pandemic through test, trace and isolation. Here we look at the key findings from the module and experts' recommendations for future pandemic preparedness. Continue reading...

AI may soon be able to decode whalespeak, among other forms of communication - but what nature has to say may not be a surpriseCharles Darwin suggested that humans learned to speak by mimicking birdsong: our ancestors' first words may have been a kind of interspecies exchange. Perhaps it won't be long before we join the conversation once again.The race to translate what animals are saying is heating up, with riches as well as a place in history at stake. The Jeremy Coller Foundation has promised $10mto whichever researchers can crack the code. This is a race fuelled by generative AI; large language models can sort through millions of recorded animal vocalisations to find their hidden grammars. Most projects focus on cetaceans because, like us, they learn through vocal imitation and, also like us, they communicate via complex arrangements of sound that appear to have structure and hierarchy. Continue reading...

First clear evidence that structured exercise regime reduces risk of dying by a third, can stop tumours coming back or a new cancer developing

This year's collection of images from Capture the Atlas features an extraordinary milestone: a historic photograph of our galaxy taken from the International Space Station by Nasa astronaut Don Pettit, who recently returned from his latest mission onboard the ISS Continue reading...

Experts praise groundbreaking results from therapy using genetically modified Car T-cellsCancer patients treated with a pioneering immunotherapy that genetically modifies their own cells to wipe out tumours live 40% longer, according to exciting" and groundbreaking" results from a world-first clinical trial.Car T-cell therapy is a new form of immunotherapy where a patient's own T-cells - a type of white blood cell - are tweaked in a lab to target and kill cancer cells. The designer cells are then infused back into their bloodstream to fight the disease. Continue reading...

Study shows combination treatment for aggressive breast cancer delays advance by average 17 months and chemotherapy by two yearsA new triple therapy for aggressive, advanced breast cancer slows the progression of the disease, delays the need for further chemotherapy and helps patients live longer, research reveals.The combination treatment is made up of two targeted drugs: inavolisib and palbociclib, and the hormone therapy fulvestrant. It improved overall survival by an average of seven months, compared with the patients in the control group, who were given palbociclib and fulvestrant. Continue reading...

Global trial shows immunotherapy drug significantly lowers chance of cancer spreading or returningAn immunotherapy drug can ward off head and neck cancers for twice as long as the standard treatment, in the biggest breakthrough in two decades.Pembrolizumab stimulates the immune system to fight cancer, targeting a specific protein that enables the drug to wipe out cancer cells. Continue reading...

Doctor whose discovery helped create mifepristone was guided by his commitment to progress made possible by science'French scientist Etienne-Emile Baulieu, the inventor of the abortion pill, has died at the age of 98 at his home in Paris.The doctor and researcher, who achieved worldwide renown for his work that led to the pill, had an eventful life that included fighting in the French resistance and becoming friends with artists such as Andy Warhol. Continue reading...

Currently women are only eligible for breast screening from the age of 50, but thousands are diagnosed youngerMillions of women in their thirties could be offered breast cancer checks on the NHS after a world-first trial identified those with a higher risk of developing the disease.Currently, women are only eligible for breast screening from the age of 50. But about 10,000 women under 50 are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK each year, including 2,400 in their thirties. Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women aged 35 to 50. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Pentagon officials expect a space-based weapon to be ready only for a demonstration by 2028Donald Trump's so-called Golden Dome missile defense program - which will feature space-based weapons to intercept strikes against the US - is not expected to be ready before the end of his term, despite his prediction that it would be completed within the next three years.In the Oval Office last week, when he announced that the US space force would oversee the project under Gen Michael Guetlein, the president said he was confident that it would be fully operational" before he left office. Continue reading...

Through her book, Painting the Cosmos, and her non-profit, Onaketa, Dr Nia Imara hopes to introduce underserved youth to the sciencesWhen practicing funeral ceremonies during the antebellum period, enslaved west Africans mimicked the sun's rotation as they danced counterclockwise in hidden clearings. They would sing and shuffle their feet to the beat of the drums in a ring shout, a ritual to honor the deceased that originated in Africa and which is still practiced by the descendants of enslaved people in the south-east US today. For the bereaved who grieved the recent death of a loved one, their practice orbited around the setting sun.So begins a chapter about our closest star in Painting the Cosmos, a recent book by UC Santa Cruz astrophysicist Dr Nia Imara. The book blends science and art in an ode to the diversity of the cosmos. While touching on astronomical tidbits, such as the fact that scientists measure the rate of the sun's spin by tracking the sunspots on its surface, Imara demonstrates the influence of astronomy on life and culture throughout history. She compares the sun's rhythmic cycle to the repetition found in the Black artist Alma Thomas's abstract paintings of space, and the patterns in the west African Bwa people's multicolored wooden masks depicting the sun and nature. As a painter and one of the only Black female astronomy professors in the US, Imara focuses on the contributions of Black and brown artists and scientists throughout her book. Continue reading...

Peak District pilot scheme combines satellite data with sensors on the ground to measure particle pollutionResearchers have created a system to detect and measure the impacts of moorland fires, which will form part of a response to government proposals on heather and grassland burning in England.Dr Maria Val Martin from the University of Sheffield, one of the three universities involved, explained: I studied wildfire smoke impacts in the western US, and experienced smoke and air quality alerts first-hand while living and working in Colorado, but I never expected to encounter similar conditions here in the UK. Continue reading...

Evidence so far suggests NB.1.8.1 may spread more easily and partially sidestep immunity from prior infections or vaccination

Liquid biopsy, initially for lung and breast cancer patients, can rapidly match treatment to specific tumourThousands of cancer patients in England are to benefit from a DNA blood test that saves lives by fast-tracking them on to personalised treatments.In a world-first, the NHS will offer patients with lung and breast cancer - two of the most common forms of the disease - a liquid biopsy that detects tiny fragments of tumour DNA. Continue reading...

Minuscule fossils from 73m years ago are oldest evidence yet for birds nesting in polar regionsThe Arctic might evoke images of polar bears and seals, but 73m years ago it was a dinosaur stomping ground. Now fossil hunters say these beasts shared their turf with a host of different birds.Researchers believe their discovery of more than 50 bird fossils from the Prince Creek formation in Alaska is the oldest evidence of birds nesting in polar regions, pushing back the date by more than 25m years. Continue reading...

Failures uncovered as US health secretary touted gold-standard' science in health report ordered by Trump teamRobert F Kennedy Jr's flagship health commission report contains citations to studies that do not exist, according to an investigation by the US publication Notus.The report exposes glaring scientific failures from a health secretary who earlier this week threatened to ban government scientists from publishing in leading medical journals. Continue reading...

Scientists say device could alert workers such as pilots and healthcare staff when they are feeling the strainWhether it is doing sums or working out what to text your new date, some tasks produce a furrowed brow. Now scientists say they have come up with a device to monitor such effort: an electronic tattoo, stuck to the forehead.The researchers say the device could prove valuable among pilots, healthcare workers and other professions where managing mental workload is crucial to preventing catastrophes. Continue reading...

The new executive order allows political appointees to undermine research they oppose, paving the way for state-controlled scienceScience is under siege.On Friday evening, the White House released an executive order called Restoring Gold Standard Science. At face value, this order promises a commitment to federally funded research that is transparent, rigorous, and impactful" and policy that is informed by the most credible, reliable, and impartial scientific evidence available". But hidden beneath the scientific rhetoric is a plan that would destroy scientific independence in the US by giving political appointees the latitude to dismiss entire bodies of research and punish researchers who fail to fall in line with the current administration's objectives. In other words: this is Fool's-Gold Standard Science.Colette Delawalla is a PhD candidate at Emory University and executive director of Stand Up for Science. Victor Ambros is a 2024 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine at the Chan Medical School, University of Massachusetts. Carl Bergstrom is professor of biology at the University of Washington. Carol Greider is a 2009 Nobel laureate in medicine and distinguished professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Michael Mann is the presidential distinguished professor of earth and environmental science and director of the Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media at the University of Pennsylvania. Brian Nosek is executive director of the Center for Open Science and professor of psychology at the University of Virginia Continue reading...

Extinction-level cuts' to space agency's spending means labs will close and deep-space missions will be abandonedSome of the greatest mysteries of the universe, such as the possibility of life on Mars or Venus, may never be solved because of Donald Trump's proposed extinction-level" cuts to Nasa spending, scientists are warning.The Trump administration revealed last month its plan to slash the space agency's overall budget by 24% to $18.8bn, the lowest figure since 2015. Space and Earth science missions would bear the brunt of the cutbacks, losing more than 53% of what was allocated to them in 2024. Continue reading...

She founded Nasa's orchestra and has bounced heartbeats off the moon. Now Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stepanian has made a hilarious film taking issue with the tech bros' dreams of celestial conquestShe's a great inspiration," says Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stepanian, picking up a photo she keeps in her wildly decorated office of the scientist Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel prize and also the first person to win one twice. I pick people that really inspire me. Partners in crime. When a project is difficult, I think, What would Marie Curie have done? What would Hannah Arendt have done?' Hahaha."She talks mile-a-minute, finishing sentences with a laugh as she speaks to me in her office, which could well be the best one in London: an old, graffiti-covered tube carriage plonked on top of the roof of a Shoreditch nightclub, with views over the city. Its interior is loud and colourful: posters and flyers plaster the walls, while the floor is a trippy swirl of purples and pinks. And, propped up on her desk, is that photo of Curie. Continue reading...

Ian Sample is joined by Dr James Kinross, colorectal surgeon and author of the book Dark Matter: The New Science of the Microbiome, to answer all your questions about gut health.In episode two, Kinross explains what else, beyond antibiotics, can damage our microbiome, how we can start to repair it, and gives his top tips for keeping our gut microbes happyOrder Dark Matter by James Kinross from the Guardian bookshopSupport the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

The US health secretary decided to remove booster shots from the recommended immunization scheduleAdvocates for pregnant people said they are alarmed by Robert F Kennedy Jr's unprecedented and unilateral decision to remove Covid-19 booster shots from the recommended immunization schedule.A vaccine's inclusion on the schedule is important for patient access, because many private health insurance plans determine which vaccines to cover based on the schedule. Continue reading...

US health secretary calls leading medical journals such as Lancet corrupt' and pushes to create state-run alternativesRobert F Kennedy Jr has threatened to ban government scientists from publishing in the world's leading medical journals, which he branded corrupt", and to instead create alternative publications run by the state.We're probably going to stop publishing in the Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, Jama and those other journals, because they're all corrupt," the US health secretary said on the Ultimate Human podcast. He accused the publications of being controlled by pharmaceutical companies. Continue reading...

Facial movements help horses communicate signals such as difference between aggression and play, researchers findThey might get asked by bartenders about their long faces, but horses pull a variety of expressions when interacting with each other, researchers have found.While facial movements can help members of the same species communicate emotions or other signals to each other, they can also be important for inter-species understanding - such as helping humans glean insights into the experiences of domesticated animals. Continue reading...

Ship flew farther than on two previous attempts but sprang leaks and began spinning before re-entering atmosphere out of controlAnother SpaceX Starship prototype broke up over the Indian Ocean on Tuesday, capping the latest bumpy test flight for the rocket central to billionaire Elon Musk's dream of colonising Mars.The biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built lifted off at 6.36pm local time from the company's facility near a southern Texas village that earlier this month voted to become a city also named Starbase. Continue reading...

SpaceX's Starship rocket roared into space from Texas on Tuesday on its ninth unmanned test launch. It flew farther than the previous two attempts that ended in explosive failure, but the booster section lost contact with operators and plunged into the Indian Ocean

Regenerative agriculture has growth potential for the offsets market, but scientists question its green credentialsOn a blustery spring day, Thomas Gent is walking through a field of winter wheat on his family's farm, which straddles the Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire border. Some of the green shoots reach his knees, while the ground between the plants is covered with clover.Sinking a spade into the soil, Gent grins as he points to the freshly dug clod of earth on the blade. Look at the root structure," he says. It rained 20mm last night. The water has drained down because the soil structure is in the right format." Continue reading...

Team in China demostrate that multiple geological factors contribute to a landscape's predistribution to landslidesWe know that steep slopes and heavy rain help to trigger landslides, but are some types of landscape more susceptible than others? A study suggests that geologically complex regions are more likely to produce landslides.Yifan Zhang, from the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment in Chengdu, China, and colleagues developed an index of geological complexity that combines four different geological components: lithologic complexity (number of different rock types per unit area); tectonic complexity (density of faults); seismicity (probability of earthquake activity); and structural complexity (how disordered the rock structures are). Continue reading...

The insects had been in decline until people started cramming together in the first large settlementsThey survived the catastrophe that wiped out the dinosaurs, but bedbugs were in decline until the invention of the city, which sent their numbers soaring, researchers say.Genetic analysis of a group of bedbugs showed their history was entwined with the human story, with the blood-sucking parasites spreading and thriving as humans crammed together in large settlements. Continue reading...

My friend and scientific collaborator Kostya Trachenko, who has died aged 54 of cancer, was a theoretical physicist. He helped to reshape our understanding of liquids and revealed surprising connections between fundamental physical constants and the properties of everyday materials.Kostya's research findings, often in cooperation with his longtime collaborator Vadim Brazhkin, brought new clarity to the elusive behaviour of liquids. He developed a mathematical framework explaining how, under certain conditions, liquids behave like solids - such as when falling into water from a height. This insight led to a deeper understanding of how transverse sound waves propagate through liquids, and how these behaviours change with temperature. His work also explained the longstanding mystery of why the heat capacity of liquids often decreases with temperature, unlike in solids. Continue reading...

Vaccines that work need systems that work. Britain's starved services must be supported to reach those most at riskLast week, the UK announced a world first in sexual health programming: a vaccine that can protect against infection by gonorrhoea bacteria is to be made available in sexual health clinics across England, Scotland and Wales. Now comes the rollout - which will require avoiding the mistakes of the past to make sure it reaches those most in need.The vaccine has offered hope for intervention in an otherwise concerning landscape of increasing numbers of cases of gonorrhoea infection demonstrating resistance to treatment by antibiotics and with infection rates at their highest since records began.Benjamin Weil is a writer and researcher. He is the head of research and community knowledge generation at The Love Tank CIC Continue reading...