Science | The Guardian

Negative stereotypes linked to some accents raise serious concerns of bias in justice system, warn researchersResearchers have said a study that found people who speak with accents perceived as working class are more likely to be suspected of committing a crime raises serious concerns" about bias in the UK criminal justice system.People with accents from Liverpool, Newcastle, Bradford and London risked being stereotyped, according to research led by the University of Cambridge in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University. Continue reading...

Scientists say frog's journey shows difficulty of spotting insects or fungi spread by global plant tradeA tiny tree frog hitchhiking in a bunch of roses to Sheffield from Colombia has inspired a study into invasive species reaching the UK's shores.Dr Silviu Petrovan, a researcher in the University of Cambridge's zoology department and a senior author of a paper published today in the journal BioScience, had his interest piqued when he was asked to identify a live frog found in roses in a florist's shop in Sheffield. Continue reading...

The Guardian's health editor Andrew Gregory explores the promises and challenges of revolutionary technology in the fight against cancerDecades ago, the treatment options for cancer patients could be summed up in three words: cut, burn, poison.As the Guardian's health editor, Andrew Gregory, explains, it was a shorthand for the limited choices open to oncologists and their patients - surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy - at a time when a cancer diagnosis was often understood to be a death sentence. Continue reading...

SpaceX launched its Starship rocket on its latest test flight, but the spacecraft was destroyed following a thrilling booster catch back at the pad. The spacecraft was supposed to soar across the Gulf of Mexico from Texas on a near loop around the world similar to previous test flights

Rocket's six engines appeared to shut down one after another after nearly nine minutes, while booster returnedSpaceX launched its Starship rocket on its latest test flight on Thursday, but the spacecraft was destroyed following a thrilling booster catch back at the pad.Elon Musk's company said the spacecraft's six engines appeared to shut down one by one, with contact lost just 8min 30sec into the flight. Continue reading...

International research also reveals conscientious or agreeable children are likely to receive preferential treatmentAs Philip Larkin once noted, your mum and dad have a lasting effect on you. Now, researchers have revealed which siblings in a family are more likely to be favoured: it is bad news for sons.Researchers have found daughters, older children and those who are more conscientious or agreeable are likely to receive preferential treatment. Continue reading...

Suni Williams got a change of scenery after a one-week mission stretched to months following capsule problemsOne of Nasa's two stuck astronauts got a much-welcomed change of scenery on Thursday, stepping out on her first spacewalk since arriving at the International Space Station more than seven months ago.Suni Williams, the station's commander, had to tackle some overdue outdoor repair work alongside Nasa's Nick Hague. They emerged as the orbiting lab sailed 260 miles (420km) above Turkmenistan. Continue reading...

If successful, Rocket Factory Augsburg will become first company in Europe to carry out vertical launch into orbitThe UK has granted permission to send the first rocket into space from the Shetland Islands to a German startup that plans to launch a craft as early as this year.Britain's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said on Thursday it had awarded the vertical launch licence to Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) to take off from SaxaVord spaceport in the archipelago 50 miles (80km) north of Scotland's mainland. Continue reading...

Potential looting and commercial trips pose risk to artefacts left by lunar landings, says World Monuments FundThe moon has been placed on a list of threatened heritage sites, owing to fears of potential looting and destruction caused by planned commercial trips.The watchlist of the World Monuments Fund (WMF) usually includes vulnerable cultural sites on Earth. This year's selection - the first since 2022 - includes Qhapaq Nan, a pre-Hispanic Andean road system. Antakya in Turkey and the Noto peninsula in Japan, which were damaged by earthquakes, also made the list. Continue reading...

With vaccine sceptic as Trump pick to lead US health policy, parents and advocates anticipate devastating changesA political battle over school-based Covid protocols in early 2021 quickly turned personal for one Colorado family, whose son's cystic fibrosis - a life-threatening genetic disease affecting the lungs and other vital organs - made him susceptible to complications from the virus.Kate Gould said the classroom became a dangerous place for her son after hardline conservatives took over the Douglas county school board and the district removed masking requirements. Continue reading...

Launch of Amazon founder's New Glenn craft on second attempt ramps up rivalry between tech billionairesJeff Bezos's Blue Origin company hailed a new era" in commercial spaceflight on Thursday after its giant New Glenn rocket made a long-awaited successful maiden launch from Florida.The spectacular early morning liftoff from Cape Canaveral space force station was a milestone moment for Bezos's rivalry with fellow billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX, which has stolen a march in Nasa's reliance on private industry for satellite and crewed launches in lower Earth orbit. Continue reading...

The mutatio, on Ermin Street linking Silchester and Gloucester, would have provided a place for travellers to rest or change horsesAt Gloucester services on the M5, travellers are resting and refuelling, taking a break from the demands of the road.Just a few miles east, scores of archaeologists are completing a two-year project that has unearthed a forerunner of the site, a 2,000-year-old Roman take on the service station. Continue reading...

Last year was full of unexpected science news, from a new strain of Mpox emerging in the DRC, to artificial intelligence dominating the Nobel prizes and two astronauts getting stuck' in space. So what will this year bring? Ian Sample and science correspondent Hannah Devlin discuss the big stories likely to hit the headlines and share their predictions for 2025Clips: France 24, Super Data Science podcast, R. DigitalSupport the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

Ed Miliband says funding pledge means Britain within grasping distance' of secure, clean, unlimited energy'The UK government has promised a record 410m investment in nuclear fusion which could help construct a world-leading fusion power project on the site of an old coal plant in Nottinghamshire.Ministers hope the funding, which will be made available for the coming financial year, will support the rapid development of the UK fusion energy sector and deliver a future powered by limitless clean energy". Continue reading...

Privately built spacecraft from Texas-based Firefly and Japan's ispace will conduct experiments for future missionsTwo privately built lunar landers were speeding towards the moon on Wednesday after space start-ups from Texas and Japan split the cost of an early-hours ride aboard a SpaceX Falcon rocket.The 1.11am ET launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Center saw a rover from the Tokyo company ispace share cargo space with a lander from Cedar Park-based Firefly Aerospace, whose Blue Ghost Mission 1 will conduct a number of experiments for Nasa after it touches down in early March.The Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...

Study highlights role of women in Celtic Britain and challenges assumptions most societies were patrilocalFrom Neanderthals to royal courts, history seems awash with women upping sticks to join men's families, but researchers have found that the tables were turned in Britain's Celtic communities.Researchers studying DNA from iron age individuals in Britain have found evidence that men moved to join their wives' families - a practice known as matrilocality. Continue reading...

Looking back through her post bag, Observer Magazine's Philippa Perry answers her readers most commonly asked question: why are other people so awful?From my many years as a therapist and advice columnist, I've started to see clear patterns in the problems that bother my readers the most. And I can confirm that Sartre was right: hell is other people. It's difficult relationships with those around us that cause the most anguish. It's such a common theme that I've given a lecture on the subject: Why are other people so awful? To help you into the new year, here's my advice on this most commonly experienced problem.Struggles in connecting to others - or, more specifically, the tension between wanting connection and feeling disconnected - can manifest in many ways. As well as difficulties in existing relationships, such struggles can also make you feel lonely or alienated. Continue reading...

Luke Evans, whose work has been called breathtakingly new', says he has lost experimental data and all equipmentA scientist in Liverpool has lost more than a decade of work after the prefabricated building that served as his research lab was destroyed in a suspected arson attack.Luke Evans, the chief executive of Scintilla CME and a PhD student at the University of Liverpool, was due to submit his work in March. His research centres on advanced fuel cell technology that converts organic waste into clean energy, and could be crucial in the transition away from fossil fuels. Continue reading...

Expert says the planet parade will be best viewed around 21 January and recommends downloading a sky map app to help spot them

Experts believe H5N1 bird flu belongs in a growing category of infectious diseases that can cause pandemics across many species. But there are ways to reduce the risksBird flu poses a threat that is unique and new in our lifetime" because it has become a panzootic" that can kill huge numbers across multiple species, experts warn. For months, highly pathogenic bird flu, or H5N1, has been circulating in dairy farms, with dozens of human infections reported among farm workers. It has now jumped into more than 48 species of mammals, from bears to dairy cows, causing mass die-offs in sea lions and elephant seal pups. Last week, the first person in the US died of the infection.This ability to infect, spread between, and kill such a wide range of creatures has prompted some scientists to call H5N1 a panzootic": an epidemic that leaps species barriers and can devastate diverse animal populations, posing a threat to humans too. As shrinking habitats, biodiversity loss and intensified farming create perfect incubators for infectious diseases to jump from one species to another, some scientists say panzootics could become one of the era's defining threats to human health and security. Continue reading...

The current wave of marches and activism around the world is the largest in documented history, giving scientists the chance to study what makes for a successful campaignOn 27 September last year, three climate activists were arrested for throwing soup over Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh at the National Gallery. The Just Stop Oil protest landed on the national front pages. But will the action help further the activists' cause to end fossil fuels?Scientists are beginning to find answers to this question. The number of protests more than tripled between 2006 and 2020 and researchers are working out which tactics are most likely to change public opinion, influence voting behaviour, change policy or even overthrow political regimes. Continue reading...

They may stare into space from shonky-looking booths, but these citizen scientists have helped discover comets, dangerous asteroids and more Continue reading...

Defiance isn't a one-size-fits-all prescription,' says psychologist Sunita Sah - here's what happened when I gave it a whirlGiving in to a pushy salesperson. Keeping quiet when you witness a workplace interaction that strikes you as unjust. Biting your tongue when a hairstylist declares that life is not worth living without micro-bangs. We've all been there. We've all caved in.Thank goodness for Sunita Sah's spirited book, Defy: The Power of No in a World that Demands Yes, which unpacks the act - and art - of refusal. The Yorkshire-raised physician, organizational psychologist and Cornell Business School professor's manifesto is a rousing call to action - or inaction, as it may be. She has researched our inclinations to submit to others' suggestions, expectations and orders, even when they entail putting our core beliefs and best interests on the back burner. Continue reading...

Wider sample used data from across 29 countries and 5m people, with a quarter from non-European ancestriesA global study has identified 300 previously unknown genetic risk factors for depression because it included a much wider population sample.According to the World Health Organization, 3.8% of the population has depression at any one time, affecting about 280 million people. Continue reading...

As wildfires continue to cause devastation in Los Angeles, Madeleine Finlay speaks to Albert van Dijk, professor of water science and management at the Australian National University, about how rising temperatures are causing rapid swings in extreme weatherClips: CBS News, CBS Sunday Morning, King 5 SeattleClimate crisis wreaking havoc' on Earth's water cycle, report finds Continue reading...

Study has linked a soft and liquid diet to smaller jaw size in children, but others say evolution is more likely the causeUltra-processed foods (UPFs) have caused concern among experts for their potential impact on human health, but now scientists have warned they might also affect how our bodies develop, in particular our jaws.We take a look at the issue and explore what, if anything, should be done. Continue reading...

In this fascinating book, the neuroscientist makes a strong case for the therapeutic force of music, describing ways in which it can be a beneficial part of recovery for patientsThat great music can up be uplifting, transportive, transcendent - and conversely sorrowful or deeply unsettling - is a given, but its power to heal in the medicinal sense strikes me as a much more difficult proposition to prove. In Music As Medicine, Daniel Levitin makes a valiant attempt to do just that, citing in his introductory chapter heavyweights such as Confucius - Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without" - and Plato - More than anything else, rhythm and harmonyfind their way into theinmost soul and take hold uponit".While both these statements attest to the deep pleasure to be derived from music - its soothing rather than healing properties - perhaps the most pertinent quote comes from the late Oliver Sacks, the neurologist and author of bestselling books such as The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and The Island of the Colourblind. Sacks was an enthusiastic piano player who, according to Levitin tackled Bach fugues with great joy and exuberance". He once described his clinical approach as essentially a musical one - I diagnose by the feeling of discordancy or some peculiarity of harmony." As Michael Rossato-Bennett's 2014 documentary Alive Inside shows, the impact of music on people can sometimes be spectacular: one 92-year-old man, Henry Dryer, whose days in a nursing home werepassed in a near catatonic state, suddenly became excited when played music from his youth- as Levitin puts it, singing joyfully and reminiscing". Continue reading...

Controllers scrap launch of 320ft New Glenn rocket due to unspecified issue in final minutes of countdownBlue Origin called off the debut launch of its new rocket early on Monday because of technical trouble.The 320ft (98-meter) New Glenn rocket was supposed to blast off before dawn with a prototype satellite from Florida's Cape Canaveral space force station. But launch controllers had to deal with an unspecified rocket issue in the final minutes of the countdown and ran out of time. Once the countdown clock was halted, they immediately began draining all the fuel from the rocket. Continue reading...

The notion that it's bad to be brought up without siblings should be banished for goodWhen I was growing up, only children were generally regarded as unfortunate souls; lonely, socially clumsy and often bullied. Partly, this was because they were unusual back then, and as those who've observed just about any species know, unusual individuals tend to be singled out by the pack. Today we live in a different world. From the late 1960s and 70s, the contraceptive pill, women's increasing control over their lives and IVF meant that parents were better able to plan their families and often chose to make them smaller. The single child no longer stuck out so much.But the stereotype has proved to be tenacious - so much so that many people still feel anxiety about the issue: parents over whether they have deprived their child of the experience of having siblings, only children that they may have missed out on a crucial part of theirdevelopment. Continue reading...

As science misinformation takes hold in the White House, those seeking to set the record straight need to meet people where they areYears ago, a pediatrician told me a story about vaccinating one of his patients. He had carefully drawn up the dose, flicked away the bubbles, and was about to administer the needle when the child suddenly started seizing. Everything ended up fine, but had the seizure started seconds later, could anything have convinced the mother it wasn't because of the vaccine?Vaccination is a miracle of modern medicine, but there's still something bizarre about being jabbed with a weakened pathogen - or some other mysterious substance. To get vaccinated, then, is an act of trust. Continue reading...

As commercial space activity ramps up, detritus from launches poses a risk to active satellites and those of us down on EarthLast month, people in a small village in Kenya looked to the sky and saw a red glowing ring slowly descending. The half-tonne piece of metal crashed into a nearby thicket with a loud bang, leaving them shaken and perplexed. What was the mysterious object? Was it an alien spacecraft? Sadly, the truth of the matter was much more prosaic: it was a piece of space junk.The Kenya Space Agency identified the object as a separation ring from a launch rocket. Such objects are usually designed to burn up as they re-enter the Earth's atmosphere or to fall over unpopulated areas, leading the agency to declare this as an isolated case". Continue reading...

Experts say mental health treatment is key to tackling rise in UK, rather than simply reclassifying drug as class AIt was once viewed as a fringe club drug whose use as a horse tranquilliser gave it a dirty" reputation. But with illegal ketamine use reaching record levels, the Home Office announced last week that it was considering reclassifying it as a class A drug in response to a dramatic increase in use among young people.An estimated 299,000 people aged 16 to 59 reported ketamine use in the year ending March 2023 in England and Wales, the largest number on record, according to Home Office data. Behind the headline figures, there is also evidence of a troubling culture shift, with an increasing number of people taking the drug, which has dissociative, anaesthetic and psychedelic effects, at home rather than in an occasional party setting. This heightens the risk of dependency, experts say, which can lead to devastating health consequences. Continue reading...

The red planet is only about 60m miles away and will also be directly opposite the sun for maximum lightIt's all about Mars this week. The planet is at its closest approach to Earth for the next two years and will experience a close conjunction with the moon at the same time as drawing opposite to the sun in the sky.Like a runner on the inside track, Earth laps Mars every two years or so, and this is currently happening. On 12 January, the two planets were at their closest, separated by only 59.7m miles (96.1m kilometres). Continue reading...

Antimicrobial resistance threatens many of the gains of modern medicine, making even routine surgery much riskier. Some scientists believe phages, lurking in every corner of the planet, offer hope

Dreaming is vital to our mental health - and it is possible to use them for our own goodDreams are pure emotional and cognitive gold. Those often surreal, fragmented images and plot lines that can instantly evaporate when we open our eyes, allow us not only to explore the themes and challenges of our day, but to step into the what-ifs of tomorrow.Whether we remember our dreams or not, our brain and dreams are multi-tasking to the nth degree while we sleep. Together, they are shunting keeper memories into our memory bank, ditching others that don't make the grade and strengthening positive emotions. They are weakening negative or traumatic ones, bolstering our stress resilience, cognitive function, problem-solving capabilities and our mental health. All of which explains the emotional rollercoaster that can come with sleep deprivation and insomnia (I've been there). Because when we're sleep-deprived, we're dream-deprived, robbed of those invaluable sleep-dependent perks that give us a depth of insight and emotional processing that's out of reach to our waking selves. Continue reading...

Psychologists say that singing, dancing and song preferences play a key role in the viability of romantic relationshipsWhat's the one thing your readers should do to help them use music to find and catch the partner of their dreams?" asks Patrick Savage, a senior research fellow in psychology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Go to karaoke and sing a duet. Go and sing A Whole New World with Brad Kane and Lea Salonga. That's the number one recommendation by science. Well, just by me. I don't have data on this, but from my personal experience, that's the best."Given that he is a musicologist, it is perhaps unsurprising that music is a key part of Savage's relationship with his wife. But his experience with using music as a romantic tool is not unique. Love songs are found across cultures and despite not being a neat category they have historically been most popular - 67% of the top 40 tracks in America between 1960 and 2010 contained love themes. Continue reading...

The global market for menopause products is worth 16.93bn, the majority of that spent on dietary supplements - but is there any evidence they do anything?I had just turned 40 when it started. Suddenly, the ads on my social-media feeds changed. The algorithms decided I was now officially middle-aged and crumbling - by their metrics - and it was time for me to start buying hormone-supporting supplement blends, collagen powder, bum-sculpting leggings and anti- wrinkle creams.In truth, the hormone supplements piqued my interest. I was sleeping badly, more anxious than ever, and low on energy after IVF and two pregnancies. Continue reading...

Writers, therapists and academics give advice on how to make, and strengthen, meaningful bonds with mates and friendsEmma Reed Turrell, psychotherapist, author and host of the podcast Friendship TherapyYou can keep balance in friendship by showing your working out, rather than making assumptions and mind-reading. This might sound like: I'd like to invite you to a party but I'm wondering if it might not be your thing and I want you to know that you can absolutely say no, or just come for an hour." That way you get to express your wish and your friend gets to be honest in their choices, rather than people-please you or dodge the question. Look for the both/and' of a balanced friendship, rather than an either/or' situation, and negotiate how to both get what you need from your communication styles or time together, rather than create a one-way street in which one of you is always keeping the other happy. Not everyone wants a two-way street in friendship and you might find you get push-back if you seek to rebalance an existing relationship but a true friend will welcome your honesty and one that doesn't might not have been a friend at all. Continue reading...

Colour-coded output from smartwatch device would be easy for public to readThey remain some of the most complex diagnostic procedures carried out by doctors. To take an electrocardiogram, or ECG, they first have to attach 10 or more electrodes to a patient's chest, arms and legs to measure the heart's electrical activity. Then, once these signals have been recorded, a cardiologist has to interpret them to determine if a person has a particular heart ailment.It is a life-saving technology - but a complicated, expensive one. However, UK scientists now believe they could soon overcome these limitations by developing devices which will allow patients to take their own detailed ECGs at home and be provided with easily interpreted diagnoses about the state of their hearts. Continue reading...

Technology secretary Peter Kyle has the task of making Britain a leading player in the AI revolution, but says economic growth will not come at the cost of online safetyWith the NHS still struggling, a prisons crisis still teetering and Britain's borrowing costs soaring, there are few easy jobs going in Keir Starmer's cabinet at present.But even in such difficult times, the task of convincing Silicon Valley's finest to help make Britain a leader in the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution - all while one leading tech boss uses the Labour government as a regular punching bag and others ostentatiously move closer to Donald Trump - is among the most challenging. Continue reading...

The makers of a device that delivers small electrical impulses to the brain are hailing the technology as a groundbreaking mental health treatment, but others are scepticalFlow helps the vast majority of people to improve their depression," reads the latest marketing email from Flow Neuroscience, a Swedish-based company that has been making headlines over the past year with what it describes as an innovative brain-stimulation treatment" that patients can use in their own homes.Flow's users receive a headset that delivers small electrical pulses to an area in the front of the brain called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is linked to decision making, motivation, planning and working memory, functions that become impaired in depression. Continue reading...

Ever since the first fuzzy images of its surface were captured in 1964, Mars has sparked imaginations worldwide. As Nasa publishes its photographic archives of the red planet, will Elon Musk's wild predictions of a crewed flight in four years come true?Last September, Elon Musk used the social media platform he had bought for 35bn to remind the world that he had bigger things on his mind than the forthcoming US presidential election. The first Starships to Mars will launch in two years when the next Earth-Mars transfer window opens," he posted on X. These will be uncrewed to test the reliability of landing intact on Mars. If those landings go well, then the first crewed flights to Mars will be in four years."Then came a grand restatement of even more impressive intentions. [The] flight rate will grow exponentially from there," he wrote, with the goal of building a self-sustaining city in about 20 years." For those who still doubt whether this plan ought to be quite the priority he evidently thinks, he finished with a familiar insistence: Being multiplanetary will vastly increase the probable lifespan of consciousness, as we will no longer have all our eggs, literally and metabolically, on one planet."Although Mars's volcanoes are no longer active, some of its dune fields are. Wind blowing from the north drives dunes of dark basaltic sand across the floor of a small crater Continue reading...

Here are some of the more curious health hacks circulating on the social media platform - and what the evidence saysThe deluge of improbable health hacks on TikTok can only mean it's the start of a new year. Here we look at some of the more curious tips and the evidence, where there is any, behind them. Continue reading...

John Calhoun designed an apartment complex for mice to examine the effects of overcrowding. It was hailed as a groundbreaking study of social breakdown, but is largely forgotten. So what happened? By Lee Alan Dugatkin Continue reading...

New Glenn launch is delayed until at least 12 January due to conditions in the Atlantic, where booster is slated to landJeff Bezos's Blue Origin announced it would launch its first orbital rocket no earlier than Friday", a pivotal moment in the commercial space race currently dominated by Elon Musk's SpaceX. Then the Amazon founder's rocket company delayed the launch until at least Sunday 12 January due to rough seas.Named New Glenn, the rocket is slated to lift off from the Cape Canaveral space force station in Florida. A statement from the company read: We're shifting our NG-1 launch date to no earlier than January 12 due to a high sea state in the Atlantic, where we hope to land our booster." Continue reading...

If we are to take seriously the risk facing humanity, regulators need the power to recall' deployed models, as well as assess leading, not lagging, indicators of risk, writes Prof John McDermidRe Geoffrey Hinton's concerns about the perils of artificial intelligence (Godfather of AI' shortens odds of the technology wiping out humanity over next 30 years, 27 December), Ibelieve these concerns can best be mitigated through collaborative research on AI safety, with a role for regulators at the table.Currently, frontier AI is tested post-development using red teams" who try their best to elicit anegative outcome. This approach will never be enough; AI needs to be designed for safety and evaluation - something that can be done by drawing on expertise and experience in well-established safety-related industries. Continue reading...

A powerfully inspiring study of optimism that avoids farcical good cheerHumans are unrealistically optimistic about the world and the future; we systematically underestimate our chances of experiencing unpleasant diseases, going through a divorce, or losing a loved one. About the only people who don't see the world through the lens of this optimism bias" are the clinically depressed. Depressive realism - the name given to the relative immunity of the melancholic to this illusion - suggests that we see reality clearly only at the cost of our mental health. This presents psychologists with an interesting dilemma. We are always caught between the delusion of wearing rose-tinted spectacles, and the debilitating affect of taking them off. Should we prioritise accuracy or happiness?Sumit Paul-Choudhury comes down firmly on the side of optimism in this lively exploration of glass-half-full thinking and its relationship with social progress. What initially feels like it might be a self-help book turns into an eye-opening history of the idea of optimism, before exploring its potential to help us address social and ecological challenges. The tension in our relationship to optimism, between its motivating and its delusional possibilities, is present throughout. Continue reading...

The Oxford English Dictionary announced its word of the year at the end of 2024: brain rot. The term relates to the supposedly negative effects of consuming social media content, but it struck a chord more widely with many of us who feel we just don't have the mental capacity we once did. Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, has been studying our waning attention spans for 20 years. She tells Madeleine Finlay why she believes our powers of concentration are not beyond rescue, and reveals her top tips for finding focusIs modern life ruining our powers of concentration?Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

Low-quality slop' generated by AI is crowding out genuine humans across the internet, but instead of regulating it, platforms such as Facebook are positively encouraging it. Where does this end?How do you do, fellow humans? My name is Arwa and I am a genuine member of the species homo sapiens. We're talking a 100% flesh-and-blood person operating in meatspace over here; I am absolutely not an AI-powered bot. I know, I know. That's exactly what a bot would say, isn't it? I guess you're just going to have to trust me on this.I'm taking great pains to point this out, by the way, because content created by real life human beings is becoming something of a novelty these days. The internet is rapidly being overtaken by AI slop. (It's not clear who coined the phrase but slop" is the advanced iteration of internet spam: low-quality text, videos and images generated by AI.) A recent analysis estimated that more than half of longer English-language posts on LinkedIn are AI-generated. Meanwhile, many news sites have covertly been experimenting with AI-generated content - bylined, in some cases, by AI-generated authors. Continue reading...

Social media is rife with alarming advice and warnings - experts share red flags to avoidWellness advice abounds on social media: warnings about toxic foods", assertions that parasites are driving your sugar cravings, or claims about solving the root cause" of bodily complaints with unproven remedies.Wellness woo" appears in many domains, like nutrition, dermatology, parenting and psychology, says Dr Jonathan Stea, clinical psychologist and author of a new book about mental health misinformation, Mind the Science. Common themes include distrust in mainstream medicine, the flawed belief that natural" is always best, and an overreliance on anecdotal evidence - for instance, I believe smearing beef tallow on my face cured my acne, so it will also cure yours!" Continue reading...