The paleobiologist and author of Foyles’ nonfiction book of 2022 on Earth’s deep past, the joys of the British Library, and how early four-limbed vertebrates helped him find his feetThomas Halliday was born in 1989 and raised in Rannoch in the Scottish Highlands. He studied zoology at Cambridge before specialising in paleobiology for his master’s and PhD – winning the Linnean Society Medal for the best doctorate in biological studies. His debut book Otherlands: A World in the Making – which comes out in paperback on 2 February – was Foyles’ nonfiction book of 2022, while the historian Tom Holland called it “the best book on the history of life on Earth I have ever read”. Halliday lives in north London with his wife and sons.What is paleobiology?
Klein Hollandia discovery ‘opens up fascinating chapter in rich, shared maritime history between UK and Netherlands’• Shipwrecked: how tech is revealing world of 3m lost vesselsA remarkably preserved shipwreck known only as the “unknown wreck off Eastbourne” has finally been identified as the 17th-century Dutch warship Klein Hollandia which was involved in all the big battles in the second Anglo-Dutch war.Its identity has been confirmed after painstaking research by archeologists and scientists after its initial discovery in 2019, having lain 32 metres (105ft) underwater on the seabed since 1672. Continue reading...
The FDA asked its scientific advisers on Thursday to help chalk out plan to move to a flu shot-like schedule for coronavirusThe US is poised to make Covid-19 vaccinations more like a yearly flu shot, a major shift in strategy despite a long list of questions about how to best protect against a still rapidly mutating virus.The Food and Drug Administration asked its scientific advisers on Thursday to help lay the groundwork for switching to once-a-year boosters for most Americans – and how and when to periodically update the shots’ recipe. Continue reading...
Some publishers also banning use of bot in preparation of submissions but others see its adoption as inevitableThe publishers of thousands of scientific journals have banned or restricted contributors’ use of an advanced AI-driven chatbot amid concerns that it could pepper academic literature with flawed and even fabricated research.ChatGPT, a fluent but flaky chatbot developed by OpenAI in California, has impressed or distressed more than a million human users by rattling out poems, short stories, essays and even personal advice since its launch in November. Continue reading...
Study of 105 pairs of interacting felines decodes the cat behaviour that puzzles humans – and flags up the unsubtle battle cry of claws and yowlingWhen cats get together it can be difficult to tell rough and tumble play from a full-blown scrap. Now researchers say they have decoded feline behaviour to help owners spot when the fur might be about to fly.Dr Noema Gajdoš‑Kmecová, first author of the research from the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, in Košice, Slovakia – a cat owner herself – said understanding feline interactions could be difficult. Continue reading...
Researchers find pain and indigestion medication purchases were higher in women who went on to be diagnosedLoyalty card data on over-the-counter medicine purchases could help spot ovarian cancer cases earlier and enable more patients to fully recover, researchers have found.Pain and indigestion medication purchases were higher in women who went on to be diagnosed with ovarian cancer, usually about eight months later, according to a study of almost 300 women led by Imperial College London researchers. Continue reading...
The 4,300-year-old mummy was found at the bottom of a 15-metre shaft near the Step Pyramid at SaqqaraEgyptologists have uncovered a Pharaonic tomb near the capital, Cairo, containing what may be the oldest and most complete mummy yet to be discovered in the country, the excavation team leader has said.The 4,300-year-old mummy was found at the bottom of a 15-metre shaft in a recently uncovered group of fifth and sixth dynasty tombs near the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, Zahi Hawass, director of the team, told reporters. Continue reading...
As rich people plough money into ventilation to protect themselves, those with long Covid are treated as an embarrassmentYou could see Covid-19 as an empathy test. Who was prepared to suffer disruption and inconvenience for the sake of others, and who was not? The answer was often surprising. I can think, for instance, of five prominent environmentalists who denounced lockdowns, vaccines and even masks as intolerable intrusions on our liberties, while proposing no meaningful measures to prevent transmission of the virus. Four of them became active spreaders of disinformation.If environmentalism means anything, it’s that our damaging gratifications should take second place to the interests of others. Yet these people immediately failed the test, placing their own convenience above the health and lives of others. Continue reading...
Sent into apoplexy by whistling noses? Can’t bear the sound of people eating? You could be one of the many people affected by this potentially debilitating conditionAs a teenager, I remember being moved almost to tears by the sound of a family member chewing muesli. A friend eating dumplings once forced me to flee the room. The noises one former housemate makes when chomping popcorn mean I have declined their invitations to the cinema for nearly 20 years.I am not proud of myself for reacting like this – in fact, I am pretty embarrassed – but my responses feel unavoidable. It is probable that I have misophonia. According to a forthcoming scientific paper from King’s College London, so do 18% of people in the UK. Continue reading...
No danger, says Nasa, from delivery truck-sized asteroid that was discovered on Saturday and will pass lower than communication satellitesAn asteroid the size of a delivery truck will pass Earth in one of the closest such encounters ever recorded – coming within a tenth of the distance of most communication satellites’ orbit.Nasa said the newly discovered asteroid would pass 2,200 miles (3,600km) above the southern tip of South America at 7.27pm US eastern time on Thursday (12.27am GMT, 11.27am AEDT on Friday). Continue reading...
Over-60s who combined more healthy lifestyle choices enjoyed most benefit, found Beijing researchersA combination of healthy lifestyle choices such as eating well, regularly exercising, playing cards and socialising at least twice a week may help slow the rate of memory decline and reduce the risk of dementia, a decade-long study suggests.Memory is a fundamental function of daily life that continuously declines as people age, impairing quality of life and productivity, and increasing the risk of dementia. Continue reading...
NHS crisis, withdrawal of tax credits and exit from EU blamed for fall in UK share of R&D marketBig pharma is unhappy about the prices it is being paid in the UK – a state of affairs the rest of us might instinctively regard as welcome, as it suggests the NHS is still world class when it comes to negotiating terms for branded medicines. The UK spends about 9% of its healthcare budget on such medicines; other large European countries report mid-teen percentages.One response would be to tell the wealthy companies to count their blessings – or be quiet until NHS nurses have had a proper pay settlement and the patient backlog has been cleared. Hasn’t the pharma industry done well in the UK over many years from an arrangement that is broadly understood by both sides? Continue reading...
Activity detected in Kolumbo, just off Greek island, which is likely to trigger tsunami when it next eruptsIt has been quiet for nearly 400 years, but Kolumbo, an underwater volcano just off the Greek island of Santorini, is not asleep. A previously undetected magma chamber is gradually filling with melt, prompting researchers to recommend real-time monitoring of the volcano.The last time Kolumbo erupted, in 1650, it killed 70 people, but population growth and tourism on Santorini mean the impact of an equivalent eruption today could be far greater. Continue reading...
Study points to ‘substantial reductions in mortality’ and significant health benefits if policies implementedReaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions in England and Wales by 2050 will lead to an extra 2m years of life, a study suggests.The UK is legally committed to hitting net zero by 2050. Many of the proposed policies will reduce harmful environmental factors such as air pollution, and encourage healthy behaviours including diet and exercise, but this is the first time researchers have comprehensively modelled how net zero will affect health. Continue reading...
Study from St Andrew’s University gauges ability of people to interpret bonobo and chimpanzee gesturesWe may not be able to strike up a conversation, debate politics or chat about the meaning of life with other great apes, but our ability to understand one another might be greater than once thought.Researchers have discovered adult humans can discern the meaning of gestures produced by bonobos and chimpanzees, despite not necessarily using such gestures themselves. Continue reading...
Project, in concert with US government agency Darpa, aims to develop pioneering propulsion system for space travelNasa has unveiled plans to test nuclear-powered rockets that would fly astronauts to Mars in ultra-fast time.The agency has partnered with the US government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) to demonstrate a nuclear thermal rocket engine in space as soon as 2027, it announced on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Scientists warn of ‘unprecedented danger’ and say ‘Russia’s war … has raised profound questions’A panel of international scientists has warned that humanity’s continued existence is at greater risk than ever before, largely as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set its Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight, the closest to midnight the clock has been since it was established in 1947 to illustrate global existential threats at the dawn of the nuclear weapons age. Continue reading...
A parliamentary committee made some pretty benign recommendations, only for ministers to nope the most important bits. Their approach is like a devilish trolling operationI feel it’s quite unusual for a parliamentary committee to get the door slammed in its face by the government, but maybe I’m doing my sums in old money. Last summer, the women and equalities committee made a number of recommendations around menopause support. None of it sounded that major: no mandatory high-voltage air-conditioning units in public venues, no blanket rules on when to, and when not to, bother a menopausal woman with your nonsense, nothing like that. Just some basic workplace support from larger employers – specific menopause leave, more flexibility on sickness policy, a move to make the menopause a protected characteristic, so that there would be a statutory duty to make reasonable adjustments for it.Ministers noped all the crunchy bits, agreeing “in principle” to the floppy, pointless bits – a menopause “ambassador”, a public awareness campaign. Imagine, if you can bear your own teeth-grinding, what that campaign would look like: babyish fonts on a pink background, some 27-year-old-comms-professional-devised slogan telling you it’s OK not to feel OK. It’s like some devilish trolling operation: these menopausal women say they’re so angry they could set fire to furniture using only their white-hot eyeballs. Let’s put that to the test. Continue reading...
Medical training is in demand, but hesitancy on body donation means students have little to work with, while an illicit trade in transplant organs flourishesScalpel in hand, Carl Mwangi, a first-year medical student at the University of Nairobi, slices through the brain tissue. “To figure out where the vessels are, you have to dig in deeper,” he says, excited to be dissecting a human brain for the first time. But if he wants to do more dissections, the aspiring neurosurgeon will have to secure one of only 10 places on the anatomy programme here.Only postgraduate students and those specialising in anatomy are able to get hands-on dissection experience as Kenya’s oldest medical school grapples with a shortage of cadavers. Until recently, medical students would spend at least 250 hours on dissection in their first year. However, most students now learn through prosection – examining bodies that have already been cut open. Up to 12 students have to learn using one cadaver in anatomy class. Continue reading...
Rubble pile asteroid is almost as old as the solar system, a sign that it can withstand great shocks and may be difficult to destroy, research suggestsTiny specks of dust from a “giant space cushion” almost as old as the solar system can provide new clues about how to avoid catastrophic asteroid collisions with Earth, research suggests.Three tiny particles of dust – smaller than the diameter of a hair – collected from a 500-metre-long asteroid known as Itokawa show some of these space rocks are much older and tougher than previously thought. Continue reading...
I love the idea of my boy and his dad peering through a telescope together. But what will light pollution leave for them to look at?I was saddened to read about how light pollution is rapidly reducing the number of stars visible to the naked eye. In some locations where 250 stars are visible, it is estimated that only 100 will be visible in 18 years’ time.Growing up in the countryside, there were nights when the skies were so clear that if you were driving you felt compelled to pull over and get out to marvel at them. The only place where I have seen stars clearer than in Snowdonia (Eryri) is on remote Greek islands, where you find yourself gazing upwards, stupefied – an effect that is increased, in my experience, by copious amounts of local booze. Continue reading...
Older people prescribed 10 or more medicines by GPs at threefold increased risk, researchers sayOlder women are at higher risk than older men of experiencing adverse reactions to drugs prescribed by their family doctor, and older patients taking more than 10 medicines are at higher risk than those taking fewer, according to a study.Overall, one in four older people experience adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to pills prescribed by their GP, the research published in the British Journal of General Practice suggests. Continue reading...
Team at Cairo University conclude teenager was rich and he may point to evidence non-Egyptians were mummifiedA new digital scan has revealed intimate details about a teenage boy who was mummified about 2,300 years ago.A team of scientists led by Sahar Saleem, a professor of radiology at the faculty of medicine at Cairo University, concluded that the boy and his family were rich and of high social status because his body was adorned with 49 precious amulets. Continue reading...
by Presented and produced by Madeleine Finlay, sound on (#684EX)
Last week, New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced her resignation, saying that she “no longer had enough in the tank” to do the role justice. Madeleine Finlay speaks to cognitive scientist Prof Laurie Santos about the symptoms of burnout, what causes it and the best ways to recoverSince being elected prime minister in 2017, Jacinda Ardern has led New Zealand through the Covid-19 pandemic, a terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch and the White Island volcanic eruption. She also became a new parent while holding office, giving birth to her daughter Neve in 2018. So, despite her shock announcement last week, many won’t have been surprised by her reasons to stand down from the job – that she “no longer has enough in the tank”. Ardern might not have used the term herself, but her resignation has prompted a renewed focus on burnout.In this episode, Madeleine Finlay speaks to the cognitive scientist Prof Laurie Santos about burnout symptoms, why work can leave you feeling exhausted, and the best ways to recover. Continue reading...
Comet C/2022 E3, which orbits the sun every 50,000 years, will be closest to us next Wednesday and ThursdayAn exotic green comet that has not passed Earth since the time of the Neanderthals has reappeared in the sky ready for its closest approach to the planet next week.Discovered last March by astronomers at the Zwicky Transient Facility at the Palomar Observatory in California, comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was calculated to orbit the sun every 50,000 years, meaning it last tore past our home planet in the stone age. Continue reading...
The answer to today’s puzzleEarlier today I set you a puzzle about Piper and Alex, two prisoners who are set a seemingly impossible challenge.Here is the problem again, this time with the solution. Continue reading...
The debate over the risks of reinfections – which are likely to continue – could determine what precautions people take, but experts disagree on the dataA recent study states that Covid-19 reinfections could pose additional risks to people’s long-term health – as compared to only getting Covid once – however, some infectious disease experts in the US disagree that there is evidence showing repeat infections are more dangerous.The issue of the impact of repeated infections is becoming a crucial one in the United States as the Covid-19 pandemic is now tailing off amid a widespread relaxation of any social distancing or restrictions, which has seen many people catch the virus two or more times. Continue reading...
Using brain cells in prison cellsUPDATE: Read the solution hereToday’s puzzle involves two prisoners. Let’s call them Piper and Alex. You will be asked to find a strategy that wins them their freedom.Puzzles about prison escape strategies are a relatively new genre of mathematical challenge, only a few decades old. They emerged from computer science. A prison – a place where access to information is limited – is a perfect venue for puzzles about the efficient communication of information. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#6839P)
Volunteers less responsive to positive and negative feedback after course of serotonin-controlling drugsWidely used antidepressants cause “emotional blunting”, according to research that offers new insights into how the drugs may work and their possible side-effects.The study found that healthy volunteers became less responsive to positive and negative feedback after taking a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drug for three weeks. The “blunting” of negative emotions could be part of how the drugs help people recover from depression, but could also explain a common side-effect. Continue reading...
Northern latitudes will have to wait until March and April for better view of the inner planetThe inner planet Mercury reaches its greatest western elongation from the sun this week.This means that from the point of view of Earth, Mercury will be the furthest it can possibly be from the sun. For many around the world, especially the southern hemisphere, this means it will be at its easiest to pick out from the early-morning twilight sky. Continue reading...
by Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent on (#682RQ)
All-party group including peers backs campaign by victims’ group, saying Cape ‘knowingly put people in danger’MPs and peers have written to one of the biggest manufacturers of asbestos, calling on it to make a £10m donation towards mesothelioma research “for knowingly putting people in danger”.In a letter to Altrad, parent company of Cape, the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on occupational safety and health says that documents released after a long-running court battle show that Cape historically “provided misleading reassurance about the dangers of asbestos”. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#682RF)
Ingeniously simple lab experiment led by Prof Clare Burrage recognised by Blavatnik awardsDark energy is the enigma at the heart of modern physics: the universe is supposed to be awash with the stuff, but it has never been seen and its nature is unknown.When faced with a mystery of such epic proportions, simply eliminating certain options is considered a success. This week such an advance, using an ingeniously simple desktop experiment, was recognised by the prestigious Blavatnik award for young scientists. Continue reading...
From haunted dolls to horror films, there is a big appetite right now for fear-as-fun. Are we all just practising for what 2023 throws at us?A friend gleefully informed me that you can buy haunted dolls – “vessels” for unquiet spirits – on eBay. Rebekkah Sexual Spirit (“her vessel is missing an arm … she says she does not care”) has been snapped up, but you can get Maggie (“NOT A TOY”; “a vast mass of dark energy”; “can make you feel very unwell” – all of which sounds like me on an average Tuesday) for £225. You know the kind: horror movie trope dolls with smooth porcelain faces and blank eyes – absolutely terrifying. The first one startled me so much I twitched, accidentally clicked “buy” and had to carefully navigate backwards to save myself. Then I went back and looked at more.Why? They gave me that prickly, uncomfortable feeling: nasty but compelling. I’m not a thrill-seeker (except the thrill of racing the bin out as the lorry rounds the corner), but I’ve become quite enamoured of creepy recently. I spent a while freaking myself out studying the eerie images produced by the AI tool Midjourney when prompted to create photos of “people”. At a quick glance, nothing seems amiss; look closer and these preternaturally shiny wraiths smile with mouths crammed with perfect teeth, there are far too many long, tapered fingers everywhere and one digital changeling seems to have an extra collarbone. Argh! Continue reading...
By making their nutritious bread taste like normal white loaves, scientists aim to help disadvantagedIt’s creamy-white in colour with a deep brown crust. It has a mild floury taste but with a moreish salty tang. It crisps up nicely in a toaster, and it’s the perfect accompaniment to butter, jam or hummus.This is bread – but not as you know it. Scientists at the University of Reading are finding ways to make British diets far more nutritious and sustainable by stealth, replacing the soya flour, and some of the wheat, with broad beans – also known as faba or fava beans. Continue reading...
The success of mRNA-based drugs in combating coronavirus is inspiring scientists to create similar vaccines for melanoma and other tumoursIn December 2022, the US biotech firm Moderna, a company that emerged from relative obscurity to become a household name during the pandemic, published the results of a clinical trial that sent ripples through the world of cancer research.Conducted in partnership with the pharma company MSD, it demonstrated that a messenger RNA (mRNA) cancer vaccine, used in combination with immunotherapy, could offer significant benefit to patients with advanced melanoma who had received surgery to remove their tumours. After a year’s worth of treatment, the phase IIb trial found that the combination reduced the risk of cancer recurrence or death by 44%. Continue reading...
In 10 years, a quarter of the British population will be over 65. Yet it’s not lifespan but healthspan we should be trying to improveOver the past 180 years, lives in England have gone through a remarkable transformation. Men and women today are, on average, living twice as long as they did in 1841 with life expectancy increasing from 40.2 years to 78.6 years for males, and from 42.3 years to 82.6 years for females. The change is also reflected in many other parts of the world and has been achieved through vaccinations that protect against childhood illnesses, vastly improved sanitation, and a host of other factors.But how long is that rise likely to continue? What will lifespans be like by the end of the century? More and more men and women are likely to live to ripe ages, say scientists. One prediction suggests the global population of centenarians will have reached almost 4 million by 2050 – from just 95,000 in 1990. Some scientists have even suggested that some lifespans could reach 150 years. Continue reading...
Second man to walk on the moon says he and Anca Faur are ‘as excited as eloping teenagers’Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, has announced that he got married to his long-term partner on his 93rd birthday.The retired astronaut celebrated his birthday on Friday and said on Twitter that he “tied the knot” with Dr Anca Faur, 63, in a small ceremony in Los Angeles. Continue reading...
The UK is full of extremely rude-sounding towns and villages. But what’s it like to live in them? Some locals can’t wait to change the names, while others embrace the quirk – even selling signpost souvenirsOn the road to Twatt, a message arrives from a resident there. Am I making the pilgrimage up through Scotland to this hamlet on the island of Orkney only to admire its notorious, unwittingly rude road sign? If so, don’t bother. “Our council was so frustrated by that sign being stolen, they have now not replaced it,” says Judith Glue, who runs a gift shop selling pictures of the old Twatt sign to tourists who might otherwise leave the region disappointed. Grateful for her warning, I thank Glue and read over a list I’ve made of those other dwelling places in the UK that through some quirk of linguistic evolution have found themselves with fantastic, filthy-sounding names. At Cock Bridge, in Aberdeenshire, they have the same trouble as in Twatt. “Our sign is constantly being pinched,” says Geva Blackett, a councillor for the region. “People have been taking them away as mementoes. Why do they do it?”It’s an early lesson from my road trip around these towns, villages, parishes, hamlets and farms, many of which are irresistible to Insta-tourists and sign thieves – always phone ahead. One autumn day, I drive for over an hour to visit an Ass Hill in Dorset, just to find it’s an unremarkable and uninhabited lane between hedgerows. The village of Shitterton, about 20 miles away, is much more interesting. Residents here are quite accustomed to hobby-horse types like me wandering through to have a nose around and ask questions. Most are proud, even defiant about this startling name of theirs, which derives from the fact that about 1,000 years ago the site was an open sewer. Continue reading...
My friend Dr Morris Nitsun, who has died aged 79, was a consultant psychologist, psychotherapist and group analyst who worked in the NHS for 50 years. He was also a gifted artist.Born in Worcester, a small, remote town in the Western Cape, South Africa, Morris was the youngest of three children of Lithuanian-Jewish immigrants. His father, Joseph Nitsun, was a businessman who had lost family in the Holocaust, and his mother, Bessie (nee Joffie), a housewife, had escaped the frozen wastes of Siberia, where her family lived as political exiles. Continue reading...
The fallout from the pandemic-fuelled mental health epidemic on the people tasked with helping the rest of us is widespread, and growing“The clients that get under your skin are the ones that you can see your life mirrored in,” says Melbourne-based psychologist Lucy*. Given she had worked mostly in the trauma space over the span of her 20-year career – and had never experienced trauma herself – that didn’t come up a lot. “Listening to them was difficult, but it never felt like something that was happening in my life.”That all changed with the pandemic. Suddenly, “my life was the same as my clients”. They mirrored Lucy’s exhaustion, uncertainty, fear. “I didn’t want to talk about it any more and yet I had to go in every hour and talk through different versions of the same experience.” Continue reading...
Study measured glyphosate in urine and found high levels associated with signs of oxidative stressNew research by top US government scientists has found that people exposed to the widely used weedkilling chemical glyphosate have biomarkers in their urine linked to the development of cancer and other diseases.The study, published last week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, measured glyphosate levels in the urine of farmers and other study participants and determined that high levels of the pesticide were associated with signs of a reaction in the body called oxidative stress, a condition that causes damage to DNA. Continue reading...
Analysts say Xi has consolidated power so successfully that he is in effect the Communist party. With no opposition, it doesn’t matter if he makes mistakesJust a few months ago, the thought of questioning the strength of Xi Jinping’s leadership was inconceivable. He had just secured his third term, conducted a brutal purge of factional rivals and ensured he and his beliefs were inextricably and existentially tied with the Chinese Communist party. The zero-Covid policy – despite some societal grumblings – had been enshrined as the best and only way out of the pandemic.But zero Covid was already growing unpopular in China in the latter half of 2022. It was playing havoc with people’s lives with increasing lockdowns and quarantines, and a string of tragedies had been linked to the policy’s enforcement. Then in early December, after protests in major Chinese cities and rising cases of Omicron, the government suddenly ended the policy. Travel restrictions, quarantines, mandatory tests and other restrictions were drastically scaled back or dropped altogether. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#680HW)
Colony of about 500 birds seen in remote region where they face existential threat due to global heatingA newly discovered emperor penguin colony has been seen, using satellite images of one the most remote and inaccessible regions of Antarctica.The colony, home to about 500 birds, makes a total of 66 known emperor penguin colonies around the coastline of Antarctica, half of which were discovered by space satellites. The climate crisis is posing an existential threat to these colonies, as sea ice is rapidly melting. Continue reading...
UK trial across three countries finds that giving patients chemotherapy before surgery was more effectiveGiving bowel cancer patients chemotherapy before surgery cuts the risk of it coming back by 28%, according to the results of a trial experts are hailing as “fantastic”.As many as one in three patients diagnosed with the disease see it return after surgery, a figure described as “far too high” by cancer specialists who have spent years searching for new treatment strategies. In the UK, someone dies from bowel cancer every 30 minutes. Continue reading...
Research suggests if trend continues, view of Orion’s belt will disappear due to glow from artificial lighting“There is no light in earth or heaven / But the cold light of stars,” wrote the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.But for myriad writers and artists, that source of inspiration could be fading as research has revealed light pollution is rapidly reducing the number of stars visible to the naked eye. The study, published in the journal Science, suggests locations with 250 visible stars at present will have just 100 visible stars in 18 years. Continue reading...
Patients in England, Scotland and Wales missed out on starting blood pressure-lowering drugs, British Heart Foundation saysThousands of people are at risk of avoidable heart attacks and strokes, experts have warned, after nearly 500,000 people in England, Scotland and Wales missed out on starting blood pressure-lowering drugs during the pandemic.Researchers said that thousands of people could suffer a preventable cardiovascular event because they did not start taking vital medications known to stave off deadly heart and circulatory diseases amid the Covid related disruption to healthcare. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#67ZZP)
Re-engineered bacteria able to target drug-resistant infections in mice, research findsGenetically modified bacteria could be used to treat intractable lung infections, according to research aiming to combat the threat of antibiotic resistance.The research, in mice, showed that a re-engineered bacteria could be used to target drug-resistant infections and make them susceptible to antibiotics that would otherwise be ineffective. Continue reading...
Oak and beech 15th-century vessel is being returned to Welsh city where it was found in riverside mud in 2002The final pieces of what has been compared to a huge, heavy – but also very delicate – 3D medieval puzzle are being returned to the Welsh city where they were found in riverside mud two decades ago.Now experts can look forward to putting back together the 2,500 or so pieces of timber and finding a long-term home for the amazing object they will form – a 15th-century sailing ship. Continue reading...
by Presented by Ian Sample with Damian Carrington, pr on (#67Z7A)
Scientists have predicted the return of the El Niño climate phenomenon later this year. Its arrival will result in even higher global temperatures and supercharged extreme weather events. Ian Sample speaks to environment editor Damian Carrington about what we can expect from El Niño and whether we’re preparedAccording to early forecasts, the El Niño climate phenomenon will return this year, as the unusual three-year run of its cooler counterpart – known as La Niña – comes to an end. While the natural oscillation driven by ocean temperatures and winds in the Pacific naturally switches between El Niño and La Niña, scientists have warned that the arrival of El Niño will exacerbate the catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis. Ian Sample speaks to environment editor Damian Carrington about the El Niño and La Niña systems, what happens if El Niño pushes global temperature rises above 1.5C of warming, and if we’re prepared for even more extreme weather eventsClips: DW News, BBC News Continue reading...
Science | The Guardian