Science | The Guardian

Strict measures that continue almost three years into pandemic are prompting widespread protests. Here are the factorsChina’s strategy of controlling Covid-19 with lockdowns, mass testing and quarantines has provoked the greatest show of public dissent against the ruling Communist party in decades.Initially, China succeeded in suppressing the virus, but then more transmissible variants emerged, and in recent weeks the outbreak has grown with record numbers of cases reported. Continue reading...

Researchers say despite the lack of symptom relief, more trials are needed to focus on the targeted use of medicinal cannabis

Prof A David Smith highlights an effective approach to the diseaseYour otherwise excellent survey on the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (‘This looks like the real deal’: are we inching closer to a treatment for Alzheimer’s?, 22 November) hardly mentions the most promising approach, which is disease prevention. Alzheimer’s has multiple causes, and identifying those causes that can be modified is the direction we need to take. Factors such as smoking, high blood pressure, high blood glucose, lack of exercise, poor nutrition and limited social interactions have already been identified. Many of these are modifiable by lifestyle choices and by specific dietary interventions.For example, people with prodromal Alzheimer’s disease who had inadequate B vitamin status showed slowing of brain shrinkage and of cognitive decline when treated with high-dose B vitamins in an Oxford trial. A recent report found that members of the UK Biobank cohort who had diabetes (a risk factor for dementia) had less risk of developing dementia if they adopted healthy lifestyles. If a fraction of the amount spent by drug companies on Alzheimer treatment trials were to be spent on randomised trials of multidomain lifestyle interventions, there is every hope that much future Alzheimer’s disease could be prevented.

The app Visible is also geared towards people living with conditions such as chronic fatigue syndromeWhen Harry Leeming developed symptoms of long Covid, he found the lack of understanding of the condition alarming. “They became so severe that I went to A&E and I was turned away, being told that I had anxiety or that it was deconditioning,” he said. “It’s been very frustrating to not be taken seriously as a patient.”Now, he’s hoping to help those living with the condition by creating tools to track symptoms and manage activity. Continue reading...

Were you a Clevor Trever? The solutions to today’s puzzlesEarlier today I set you these five puzzles from Mathigon’s advent calendar. Here they are again, with solutions. Sorry if you came here to read about Ian Dury, but in recompense you get to get your head around these blocks:1. Hit me with your four cube stick Continue reading...

In Melbourne’s family court, Lucy visits hearings, legal interviews and mediations – all to relieve people’s stress as they navigate the justice system

Attacks on satellites could take out GPS systems, banking systems, power grids, and affect military operations, panel at space conference saysIt would no longer be “life as we know it” if a space war destroyed the satellites that the world now relies on, space commanders have warned, and China and Russia have demonstrated that they’re capable of doing just that.Senior military leaders from the US and Canada are in Sydney for an Australian Strategic Policy Institute conference on space as the new frontier in “commerce, industry, competition and war”. They have discussed the importance of working with allies, including Australia, to counter the threats posed by space war. Continue reading...

Disease is found in various animals and it is inaccurate to associate global outbreak with AfricaMonkeypox has been given a new name by the World Health Organization (WHO), which has announced the disease will now be called “mpox” in a bid to help tackle discrimination and stigma.The WHO announced its intention to rename the disease in June after concerns were raised that its original name is misleading, stigmatising and discriminatory, with a crowd-sourcing effort to find a new name announced in August. Continue reading...

Many people with autoimmune conditions across the UK are facing difficult decisions about funding complementary therapies. In the final episode of the series, Guardian journalist Richard Sprenger, who has multiple sclerosis, looks at how access to wellness therapies is under threat amid an acute cost of living crisis – and meets an NHS consultant in Devon championing a more progressive, integrative approach to holistic healthcare

Clubs also advised to limit heading training after research showing link with brain diseaseProfessional footballers in Scotland will be banned from heading the ball the day before and the day after matches after studies showing how it can affect the brain.Clubs are also being advised to limit heading balls in training to one session a week because of the links between repetitive heading of a football and brain damage. Continue reading...

There ain’t half been some clever brainteasersUPDATE: You can read the solutions hereToday’s questions come from this year’s Mathigon puzzle advent calendar. One of the many reason to be cheerful (Pt. 3) at this time of year.If you have a head for blocks, the first one is for you. Continue reading...

Fresh evidence of owners’ lavish lifestyle discovered at same site as rare Iliad mosaicIf you thought barn conversions were a relatively recent development for the property-owning classes, you’d be wrong – probably by 16 or 17 centuries.Archaeologists at the site of a Roman villa complex in the east Midlands have discovered that its wealthy owners converted an agricultural timber barn into a dwelling featuring a bathing suite with a hot steam room, a warm room and a cold plunge pool. Continue reading...

UK government-backed Heal-Covid trial finds Apixaban can cause dangerous bleeding and does not improve prognosisA blood-thinning drug given as a potential life-saver to many patients recovering from severe Covid does not work and can cause major bleeding, research shows.The findings have led to calls for doctors to stop advising people to take Apixaban, because it does not stop them from dying or ending up back in hospital and also can have serious side-effects. Continue reading...

Keep an eye out for the planet, appearing like a bright star with a slightly yellowish tingeLook for a pretty pairing of the moon and the planet Saturn this week. Saturn is currently due south in the early evening and cruising through the constellation of Capricornus. It will appear to be the brightest star in that particular region of sky, and will have a slightly yellowish tinge. The moon will be unmistakable with almost 40% of its visible surface illuminated.New moon took place on 23 November, and the moon is currently waxing. It will reach first quarter, or half-moon, on 30 November. Its meeting with Saturn takes place on 29 November. Continue reading...

Scotland and British and Irish Lions legend died over the weekend from motor neurone diseaseDoddie Weir, the former Scotland and British and Irish Lions rugby union player who died over the weekend from motor neurone disease, leaves “a lasting legacy” and will, admirers said, be remembered as a man who helped transform people’s understanding of the disease.Weir’s death aged 52 was announced by his family on Saturday. His wife, Kathy, said he was “an inspirational force of nature”. Continue reading...

A brutal take-down on the TV talent show led Emily Wilson into therapy. A decade later, she has turned her grim experience into award-winning standupIt’s not that Emily Wilson used to be secretive about the fact that, as a teenager, she’d appeared on the American incarnation of the X Factor. Rather, it hadn’t exactly gone well for her – awfully, actually – and by the time she was a 20-something comedian carving out a career in New York City, it was a period of her past she was desperate to forget.To say she’d totally buried the memories, Wilson reckons, might be overly dramatic. “It’s more that I knew it was shitty, and that it impacted me,” the 26-year-old explains over Zoom from her Upper West Side apartment. At 15, she’d appeared on the TV talent show, was treated brutally, had her dreams crushed yet was dragged further into the competition’s gruelling rounds. It’s fair to say a path to pop stardom wasn’t forthcoming. “It was total humiliation,” she says, “so I tried to put it in a box and never go back to it.” If the topic came up in conversation, Wilson would shut it down – “Yeah, it was crazy;” “I know, right?” – giving stock answers to end it. “It was to the point that only eight months into therapy did I first mention it,” says Wilson. Unsurprisingly, her therapist believed it warranted a chat. Continue reading...

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsThis week’s question: Will there ever be world government, and would we want it?Will we ever set up an outpost on another planet? Finnley Clarkson, SheffieldSend new questions to nq@theguardian.com. Continue reading...

The prizewinning author’s timely, precise study traces our attempts to understand the units that have such an impact on our healthIn spring 1858, the German scientist Rudolf Virchow published an unorthodox vision of the nature of living organisms. In his book, Cellular Pathology, he argued that the human body was simply “a cell state in which every cell is a citizen”. From a single originator, all other cells are derived, he argued, and when their function is disturbed, disease will often ensue.The origins of Virchow’s arguments are intriguing. A reclusive, progressive, soft-spoken physician who had eschewed a career in the church because he thought his voice too weak for preaching, he championed the cause of public health and promoted free thinking. His views led to frequent clashes with German authorities. He became particularly incensed over their failures to tackle outbreaks of typhus and denounced them in print. For his pains, Virchow was forced to resign from his hospital post in Berlin. Continue reading...

Millions have watched Netflix hit Ancient Apocalypse, which is just the latest interpretation of an enduring tale. But in its appeal to ‘race science’ it’s more than merely controversialFor a story that was first told 2,300 years ago, the myth of Atlantis has demonstrated a remarkable persistence over the millennia. Originally outlined by Plato, the tale of the rise of a great, ancient civilisation followed by its cataclysmic destruction has since generated myriad interpretations.Many versions have been intriguing and entertaining – but none have been as controversial as its most recent outing in the Netflix series Ancient Apocalypse. Continue reading...

Medicine Man exhibits included painting of a black African kneeling in front of a white missionaryA museum in London run by the Wellcome foundation health charity is to close one of its key galleries because it perpetuates “a version of medical history that is based on racist, sexist and ableist theories and language”.The Wellcome Collection’s announcement on Saturday affects a free permanent display called Medicine Man, which includes objects relating to sex, birth and death and includes anatomical models in wood, ivory and wax dating back to the 17th century. These were collected by Sir Henry Wellcome who amassed more than a million items on the history of health and medicine. Continue reading...

To answer life’s biggest questions, says the German theoretical physicist and YouTuber, we need to abandon unscientific ideas such as the multiverseSabine Hossenfelder is a German theoretical physicist who writes books and runs a YouTube channel (with 618,000 subscribers at time of writing) called Science Without the Gobbledygook. Born in Frankfurt, she studied mathematics at the Goethe Universität and went on to focus on particle physics – her PhD explored the possibility that the Large Hadron Collider would produce microscopic black holes. She is now a research fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, where she leads a group studying quantum gravity. Her second book, Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions, came out in August.The first question you ask the physicists you interview in the book is: “Are you religious?” How about you?

Nasa considers capsule’s flight a dress rehearsal for the next moon flyby in 2024, with astronautsNasa’s Orion capsule has entered an orbit stretching tens of thousands of miles around the moon, as it neared the halfway mark of its test flight.The capsule and its three test dummies entered lunar orbit more than a week after launching on the $4bn demo that’s meant to pave the way for astronauts. It will remain in this broad but stable orbit for nearly a week, completing just half a lap before heading home. Continue reading...

One of the largest creatures to have walked the Earth is to become the Natural History Museum’s new star attractionIt will be one of the largest exhibits to grace a British museum. In spring, the Natural History Museum in London will display the full cast of a skeleton of a titanosaur, a creature so vast it will have to be shoehorned into the 9-metre-high Waterhouse gallery.One of the most massive creatures ever to have walked on Earth, Patagotitan mayorum was a 57-tonne behemoth that would have shaken the ground as it stomped over homelands which now form modern Patagonia. Its skeleton is 37 metres long, and 5 metres in height – significantly larger than the museum’s most famous dinosaur, Dippy the diplodocus, which used to loom over its main gallery. Continue reading...

Instead of searching for the key to immortality, what if we tried to make people’s lives better in the here and now?Shortly after waking, Bryan Johnson drinks a murky concoction involving olive oil, cocoa flavanols and something derived from algae. Breakfast will be a blended green slurry of lentils, broccoli and mushrooms, with lunch and dinner not much different.The 45-year-old American entrepreneur is religious about his sleep, follows a strict workout regime, monitors the performance of his vital organs using hospital-grade medical equipment, and suggests to his social – media followers that deviating from what he calls the “blueprint” to have a raucous night out getting wasted with friends is a form of self harm.Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Home fungus growers can boost soil quality in small gardens and cultivate exotic varieties using coffee grounds and online kitsAn increasing number of gardeners are growing mushrooms in their vegetable patches to improve soil quality and grow food in small spaces.Mushrooms are now cultivated in the kitchen garden at Kew Gardens in south-west London and visitors have been keen to know how they might grow their own. Hélèna Dove, Kew’s head kitchen gardener, says: “Mushrooms have seen a great rise in popularity and we’ve seen a huge amount of interest from visitors since we installed our mushroom beds in Kew’s kitchen garden this autumn. Continue reading...

Evidence has been found of complex cooking by Neanderthals. Our writer finds out how their meals might have tastedPity the Neanderthal chef. With only rudimentary cooking implements – a hot rock, some scraps of animal skin, perhaps a favoured prodding stick, plus stones for pounding, cutting, scraping and grinding – their hands must have been a scarred mess, and the woodsmoke from the hearth must have played havoc with their eyes. However, according to research published this week, they did at least have access to a smörgåsbord of ingredients.Gone is the stereotype of Neanderthals tearing into raw tubers or gnawing on a leg of roasted animal meat. Microscopic analysis of ancient food scraps unearthed from a hearth in Shanidar Cave, in Iraq, has provided the first real indication of complex cooking – and thus of food culture – among Neanderthals. Continue reading...

Vaccine against all strains of virus hailed as major step in protecting against potentially devastating flu pandemicA universal flu vaccine that protects against all strains of the virus could be available in the next two years, according to a leading scientist.An experimental vaccine based on the same mRNA technology used in the highly successful Covid jabs was found to protect mice and ferrets against severe influenza, paving the way for clinical trials in humans. Continue reading...

‘One size fits all’ guidance could lead to 20m litres of drinking water being wasted each day in UK, scientists sayA recommendation to drink eight glasses of water a day is likely to be excessive for most people, according to scientists.The suggestion has become accepted wisdom and often appears in health guidance. The latest work, however, the most rigorous study to date on water turnover, reveals that people have a wide range of water intakes. Many people only require about 1.5 to 1.8 litres a day, lower than the two litres typically recommended, the research suggests. Continue reading...

Science shows us that many of those in authority are so used to wielding it that they are unaware of their privilegeThe thing that people with power don’t know is what it’s like to have little or no power. Minute by minute, you are reminded of your place in the world: how it’s difficult to get out of bed if you have mental health conditions, impossible to laugh or charm if you are worried about what you will eat, and how not being seen can grind away at your sense of self.I am often in rooms with people who do not understand this, people more educated than me, more privileged than me – people who are so accustomed to having power that they don’t even know it’s there. I am a black woman in my fifties, I am neurodiverse, and I have multiple mental health diagnoses. Part of my job as a researcher and cultural thinker involves working with leaders in the arts, business and politics, supporting them to see the one thing they can’t: the effects of the power that they wield.Suzanne Alleyne is a cultural thinker, founder at Alleyne&, and fellow of the thinktank Demos

On 15 November the world’s population reached 8 billion, according to the UN. Much of that growth is because we’re living longer. As a species we will continue to age, but eventually stop growing. The UN predicts that in the next century humanity will begin to go into decline. So what happens when societies get older and smaller – a problem some countries are already encountering? Ian Sample speaks to Prof Vegard Skirbekk about how humanity got here, and how we prepare for future demographic changeArchive: ANC 24/7, BBC News, euronews Continue reading...

Hoard once thought to be a fraud appears to be genuine, indicating mysterious Roman Sponsian livedA hoard of gold coins once thought to be fakes have been authenticated by researchers who say the artefacts reveal a long-lost Roman emperor.The coins bear the name and image of a shadowy historical figure, Sponsian, whose existence was previously placed in doubt by experts who suggested the coins were the work of sophisticated 18th-century fraudsters. Continue reading...

John McFall, 41, becomes first astronaut with physical disability to be recruited by European space agencyA Paralympic sprinter from the UK has been named among the latest intake of astronauts recruited by the European Space Agency.John McFall, 41, becomes the first astronaut with a physical disability, or para-astronaut, to be recruited by the space agency in a drive to overcome the barriers that prevent disabled people from participating in space missions. Continue reading...

Many of the world’s most inspiring solutions have been created by scientists who stole their ideas from the natural worldRead more: What happens when humans meddle with nature?Over millions of years of evolution, nature has worked out solutions to many problems. Humans have arrived late in the day and pinched them. For example, Velcro was invented after a Swiss engineer marvelled at the burdock burrs that got stuck to his dog’s fur; the idea for robotic arms came from the motion and gripping ability of elephant trunks, and the front of Japan’s bullet trains were redesigned to mimic a kingfisher’s streamlined beak, reducing the sonic boom they made exiting tunnels.There are different types of mimicry, the most straightforward is the simple idea of copying something that exists in nature. Buildings are an obvious example, as outlined by research published in Nature. The Beijing national stadium is inspired by a bird’s nest, the Lotus Temple in India is shaped, unsurprisingly, like a lotus and the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai is shaped like a palm tree. Continue reading...

Pancake/flatbread with a ‘nutty’ taste is first evidence of complex cooking and food cultureIf you thought Neanderthals survived on a diet of foraged berries and uncooked animal flesh, think again. Charred remnants of what appears to be the world’s oldest cooked meal ever found have been unearthed in a cave complex in northern Iraq, prompting speculation that Neanderthals may have been foodies.“Our findings are the first real indication of complex cooking – and thus of food culture – among Neanderthals,” said Chris Hunt, a professor of cultural paleoecology at Liverpool John Moores University, who coordinated the excavation. Continue reading...

Self-camouflage is just one of the tricks of Brenner’s bobtail squid, a newly found species that is also helping research into microbes in the human gutBobtail squid are the second smallest group of squid in the world, at between 1cm and 5cm from neck to rounded, stumpy butt, and they only come out at night.In 2019, scientists named a new species, Brenner’s bobtail squid (Euprymna brenneri), after finding them while night-diving off the Japanese island of Okinawa. “When you shine a light on them, they freeze,” says Oleg Simakov from the University of Vienna, one member of the squid-finding team. This makes them easy to catch in a hand net. Continue reading...

Changes in atmospheric pressure can set soils in motion hours or even days after heavy rainCan a change in the weather trigger a landslide? Sometimes, yes, according to research.Most landslides are set in motion by an earthquake or torrential rain, but some have no obvious trigger. In 2009, scientists were stunned to discover that the stop-start Slumgullion landslide in the Rocky Mountains – which has been inching down the hillside for 700 years – is triggered by changes in atmospheric pressure. Continue reading...

Analysis challenges WHO health guidance on amount of time women should delay after miscarriage or abortionWomen don’t need to wait for at least six months before trying for another baby after a miscarriage or abortion, an analysis of data suggests, challenging World Health Organization guidance.The research was also at odds with WHO advice that women should delay at least 24 months after a live birth before becoming pregnant again, to avoid complications in the next pregnancy. Continue reading...

Physicist who played a key role from the birth of particle physics in the 1940s to the discovery of the Higgs bosonThe particle physicist Donald Perkins, who has died aged 97, made seminal discoveries about the structure of the proton, and nuclear interactions at extreme energies, and first proposed the use of beams of pion particles in cancer therapy. His career spanned the birth of particle physics, as it emerged from studies of cosmic rays in the 1940s, through its maturation in the final decades of the last century, to the climactic discovery of the Higgs boson in the 21st. He played key roles throughout.When Perkins began research in 1948, the electron, proton and neutron were the only known fundamental particles whose role in building atoms was understood. The pion, a particle predicted to carry the strong force that binds atomic nuclei, had recently been discovered in cosmic rays by Cecil Powell of Bristol University, and it was in Powell’s group that Perkins began his research career. Continue reading...

Remains of slug-like Ediacaran animal Kimberella contain compounds suggesting it had a gut and ate bacteria and algae from the ocean floor

Epidemiologist whose research into the role of blood in heart disease paved the way for new targeted treatmentsTom Meade, who has died aged 86, pioneered the field of cardiovascular epidemiology. His research, spanning five decades, gave medical science a vastly improved understanding of the biology of blood and the circulatory system, opening the door for targeted new heart disease treatments.By the early 1960s, heart disease was the leading cause of death in many countries, with the culprit widely believed to be atheroma (fatty deposits inside the arteries), brought on by high cholesterol and a fatty diet. But in 1965, Meade, a researcher at the Medical Research Council (MRC), read something he described as “a real eye-opener”. His boss, the pre-eminent epidemiologist Jerry Morris, wrote that while the numbers of men dying aged 50-69 had surged since 1908, analysis of autopsy reports showed that the numbers dying with coronary atheroma had decreased. Meade wondered if other factors were in play, and what role blood might have in heart disease. He wanted to investigate. Continue reading...

Are you secure, anxious, or avoidant: songs we play repeatedly can be revealing. So what is it with me and Pulp’s Babies?When I discover or am reminded of a song I particularly like, I am one of those people who will listen to it over and over and over again. The song will be on when I am exercising, when I am running errands, when I am putting things in my online shopping basket to replicate the rush of actually buying them. It becomes, for a couple of days, omnipresent in my life, until another takes its place.One such recent pick has been Babies by Pulp. This is a track whose chorus hook goes: “I want to take you home / I want to give you children,” but whose narrator at one point also hides in a cupboard to watch his girlfriend’s sister have sex with a guy called David from the local garage. I have played it to death lately, so it seems that researchers in the psychology department of the University of Toronto would have a field day with me. Continue reading...

Seven ways in which our destruction of the natural world has led to deadly outcomesIn the early 1990s, vultures across India started dying inexplicably. Long-billed, slender-billed and oriental white-backed vultures declined to the brink of extinction, with the number of India’s most common three vulture species falling by more than 97% between 1992 and 2007. Six other species were in sharp decline too. Scientists started testing the dead birds and worked out they had been exposed to diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory drug routinely given to cattle in south Asia at the time. The vultures fed on the carcasses of cows and were poisoned. Continue reading...

After years of setbacks, dementia researchers are getting excited about a new antibody drug called lecanemab. No one expects it to stop cognitive decline, but even slowing it would be a breakthroughAt the end of November, thousands of researchers from around the world will descend on San Francisco for the annual Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease meeting. The conference is a mainstay of the dementia research calendar, the place where the latest progress – and all too often, setbacks – in the quest for Alzheimer’s treatments are made public for the first time.This year’s meeting is poised to be a landmark event. After more than a century of research into Alzheimer’s, scientists expect to hear details of the first treatment that can unambiguously alter the course of the disease. Until now, nothing has reversed, halted or even slowed the grim deterioration of patients’ brains. Given that dementia and Alzheimer’s are the No 1 killer in the UK, and the seventh largest killer worldwide, there is talk of a historic moment. Continue reading...

Targeting non-cancerous cells in tumours could open up new frontiers in fight against the diseaseScientists hope to double the survival rate of people with advanced cancer within a decade by using new lines of attack to fight the disease.Speaking at the launch of a joint five-year research strategy by the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and the Royal Marsden NHS foundation trust in London, experts described how targeting non-cancerous cells within tumours could open up new frontiers in the fight against the disease, enabling more people to be cured and others to survive for far longer. Continue reading...

It’s supposed to be the first ever carbon neutral World Cup. Organisers Fifa and host Qatar say they have implemented sustainability initiatives, taken measures to limit carbon output and will offset greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing credits. Fifa has admitted, however, that the tournament’s carbon footprint will bigger than any of its predecessors, and experts believe emissions have been underestimated, calling into question the claim of carbon neutrality.Madeleine Finlay speaks to sports reporter Paul MacInnes about the environmental burden of building stadiums, flying in players and fans from around the world and keeping the pitches green, and asks whether football is really ready to face up to its carbon footprintArchive: BBC Sport, Channel 4 News, Sky News, BBC News Continue reading...

Analysis shows significant benefits with no major side-effects for mother or baby but more trials needed ‘to confirm results’Acupuncture can significantly relieve the lower back or pelvic pain frequently experienced by pregnant women, according to a new global data analysis of the available evidence.There were no observable major side effects for babies whose mothers opted for the procedure, the findings suggest, although only a few of the studies evaluated outcomes. The meta analysis was published in the journal BMJ Open. Continue reading...

Nasa checked off another crucial milestone on its first crew-capable moon mission for 50 years early on Monday, with the Orion capsule of Artemis 1 “buzzing” the moon as it made its closest approach to the lunar surface of the 25-day space flight. The pass, 81 miles above the far side of the moon, was followed by a critical engine burn to place the spacecraft on a pathway to a wide lunar orbit 40,000 miles further on, the farthest a human-rated vehicle has ever travelled from Earth. Timelapse footage shows the capsule, moon and Earth in the same frame

Milestone in $4.1bn test flight that began last Wednesday after Orion launched into space atop massive Artemis rocketNasa checked off another crucial milestone on its first crew-capable moon mission for 50 years early on Monday with the Orion capsule of Artemis 1 “buzzing” the moon as it made its closest approach to the lunar surface of the 25-day space flight.The pass, 81 miles above the far side of the moon, was followed by a critical engine burn to place the spacecraft on a pathway to a wide lunar orbit 40,000 miles further on, the farthest a human-rated vehicle has ever traveled from Earth. Continue reading...

Sale of 1,400kg skeleton withdrawn after New York Times reported claims of similarities to T rex sold in 2020The British auction house Christie’s has been forced to call off the £20m auction of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton just days before it was due to go under the hammer after a well-known paleontologist raised concerns that parts of it looked similar to another dinosaur.Christie’s said on Monday that the 1,400kg (3,100lb) skeleton – nicknamed Shen – had been withdrawn from the auction in Hong Kong on 30 November, when it was set to be the star lot. Continue reading...

A study finds that six in 10 have no space for new patients. Therapists address the surge and how to tackle itAt a time when it feels like the world’s perpetually on fire, we all need a therapist – but trying to land one these days can be a nightmare.A study from the American Psychological Association (APA) published this week found that six in 10 psychologists “no longer have openings for new patients”. The shortage comes as demand for therapy soars: since the beginning of the pandemic, about three-quarters of practitioners have seen their waiting lists expand. In the same period, almost 80% of practitioners report an increase in patients with anxiety disorders and 66% have seen an increase in those needing treatment for depression. Continue reading...