With the public facing an ever-increasing barrage of sums, calculations and data, here are some numerical tricks and ideas that can help people make better sense of the worldThese days, keeping up with the news can sometimes feel like a maths exam. We face a constant barrage of figures, whether through national budgets, coronavirus data, hospital waiting lists or football transfer fees. It can be very easy to switch off and ignore all this, but being able to put these numbers into context and understand what they really mean is vital to our role as informed citizens. Here are some mathematical tricks and ideas that can help you make better sense of the world. Continue reading...

Excessive use of phosphorus is depleting reserves vital to global food production, while also adding to the climate crisisOur planet faces “phosphogeddon”, scientists have warned. They fear our misuse of phosphorus could lead to deadly shortages of fertilisers that would disrupt global food production.At the same time, phosphate fertiliser washed from fields – together with sewage inputs into rivers, lakes and seas – is giving rise to widespread algal blooms and creating aquatic dead zones that threaten fish stocks. Continue reading...

A picture is emerging of a healthy lifestyle which is key to the condition’s prevention – exercise, being sociable, and looking after your earsThe idea was simple. Recruit hundreds of people in their 80s and 90s, equip them with fitness trackers, and monitor their physical activity. Then, when the participants died, collect their brains and examine the tissue. Is there evidence, lurking in the tissue, that exercise benefits the brain?The results, from a 2022 collaboration between the University of California in San Francisco and the University of British Columbia, were striking. Physical exercise, late in life, seemed to protect the ageing connections between brain cells – the synapses where memories are made. The work, if backed up by further studies, could see exercise, and potentially drugs that mimic biochemical aspects of activity – prescribed to help slow the onset of dementia. Continue reading...

Scathing open letter accuses big pharma of ‘exploiting’ publically funded vaccines and says humanity must come before commerceThe Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, former first lady of South Africa and Mozambique Graça Machel and former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon are among nearly 200 signatories to a letter calling on governments to “never again” allow “profiteering and nationalism” to come before the needs of humanity, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.In a scathing open letter, published on 11 March, current and former presidents and ministers, Nobel laureates, faith leaders, heads of civil society organisations and health experts say Covid-19 vaccines and treatments had been developed with public funding but that pharmaceutical companies had exploited them to “fuel extraordinary profits”. Continue reading...

Asteroid known as 2023 DW is 50 metres wide and has a 1-in-607 chance of striking Earth – but not for two decades at leastSpace experts predict a large asteroid could hit Earth just in time to ruin Valentine’s Day – in 2046.The 50-metre wide asteroid, known as 2023 DW, is forecast to take more than two decades to reach us, perhaps almost three. Continue reading...

A report has been seized upon to argue that lockdown had little effect on mental health – but the truth is more nuancedImagine that your teenager was a star athlete, on track for a university athletics scholarship. But then they develop long Covid at the height of the pandemic, meaning they no longer had the lung capacity to run, let alone live independently. If that was your experience, you’re likely to think the government didn’t do enough to protect children from Covid-19, or vaccinate them fast enough.On the other hand, what if your child developed an eating disorder due to social isolation and depression? In that case, you might think that lockdown measures were disproportionate. If you lost a loved one to the disease, then you might blame government for doing too little. If your small business of 20 years shut down, you might blame government for doing too much.Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh Continue reading...

Those exposed to more light in hours before sleep appear more likely to develop gestational diabetes, researchers suggestWhile reading until the small hours or scrolling under the covers are common bedtime habits, pregnant women might want to switch off sooner to reduce their risk of developing gestational diabetes, researchers have suggested.According to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, gestational diabetes affects at least four to five in 100 women during pregnancy. If it is not well controlled it can lead to complications, including health problems for the baby. Continue reading...

My throat made strange gurgling noises, like a creaky floorboard. My body would get full of airWhen I was about four, I watched my two-year-old brother throw up into a basket of fries in a restaurant. He had a hypersensitive gag reflex, which meant vomiting was a common occurrence. I could never get that basket of fries out of my head.I developed a fear of vomiting called emetophobia, meaning I’d avoid throwing up at all costs. This phobia has had a much greater impact on my health than I ever could have thought. Continue reading...

Scientists call for collective effort to protect Earth’s orbit from dangers posed by space junkSatellite makers and operators must be held responsible for the growing hazard of space debris, according to experts who say a legally binding global treaty must be thrashed out to protect the orbital environment.With the number of satellites rising dramatically, the agreement would make manufacturers and users responsible for de-orbiting defunct hardware and cleaning up any debris created when orbiting objects slam into one another. Continue reading...

The Barbie modelled on me is a space scientist with her own telescope. Girls should be shown that anything is possible

Climate crisis to deliver ‘ongoing systemic shocks’ to production as hot conditions become more frequent, researchers sayClimate conditions that reduce coffee yield have become more frequent over the past four decades, with rising temperatures from global heating likely to lead to “ongoing systemic shocks” to coffee production globally, new research suggests.Researchers analysed the impacts of climate factors such as temperature, rainfall and humidity in the top 12 coffee-producing countries globally between 1980 and 2020. Continue reading...

The film Everything Everywhere All at Once has enjoyed critical acclaim and awards success. Ahead of the Oscars, where it’s tipped to sweep the board, Ian Sample speaks to theoretical physicist and philosopher Sean Carroll about why we seem to be drawn to the idea of multiple worlds, and what the science says about how the multiverse might actually workClips: Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24), Independent Spirit Awards, Critics’ Choice Awards Continue reading...

Pandemic resulted in ‘minimal’ changes in symptoms, according to review led by McGill University researchersCovid-19 may not have taken as great a toll on the mental health of most people as earlier research has indicated, a new study suggests.The pandemic resulted in “minimal” changes in mental health symptoms among the general population, according to a review of 137 studies from around the world led by researchers at McGill University in Canada, and published in the British Medical Journal. Continue reading...

BGI Group, which is said to have made multiple attempts to hack into Genomics England, was given £11m testing contract in 2021

‘Cleanup is futile’ if production continues at current rate, amid rapid rise in marine pollutionAn unprecedented rise in plastic pollution has been uncovered by scientists, who have calculated that more than 170tn plastic particles are afloat in the oceans.They have called for a reduction in the production of plastics, warning that “cleanup is futile” if they continue to be pumped into the environment at the current rate. Continue reading...

Gold disc represents first solid evidence of main Norse god being worshipped in fifth centuryScandinavian scientists have identified the oldest known inscription referencing the Norse god Odin on part of a gold disc unearthed in western Denmark.Lisbeth Imer, a runologist with the National Museum in Copenhagen, said the inscription represented the first solid evidence of Odin being worshipped as early as the fifth century – at least 150 years earlier than the previous oldest known reference, which was on a brooch found in southern Germany and dated to the second half of the sixth century. Continue reading...

Creation of mammal with two biological fathers could pave way for new fertility treatments in humansScientists have created mice with two biological fathers by generating eggs from male cells, a development that opens up radical new possibilities for reproduction.The advance could ultimately pave the way for treatments for severe forms of infertility, as well as raising the tantalising prospect of same-sex couples being able to have a biological child together in the future. Continue reading...

New twist in debate over whether bryozoans cropped up during Cambrian explosion or laterA group of fossils previously thought to be of ancient marine creatures may actually be of a type of seaweed, a study has suggested, hinting that the blueprints of animal life did necessarily not crop up in the same era.Researchers say the potential of evolution to throw up novel body plans among animals did not end with the Cambrian explosion more than 500m years ago. During the Cambrian period, which began about 540m years ago, there was a huge burst in the diversity of life on Earth, with the body plans that help to define different major animal groups – such as the shells of molluscs and jointed skeletons of arthropods – cropping upabout 520m years ago. Continue reading...

UK trial of first non-hormonal drug for condition may lead to ‘long overdue’ innovation in relieving often debilitating pain

Archaeologists find broken altar stone in cathedral gardens they say was likely used as private shrine or cult roomThe Normans began construction more than 900 years ago on the building that would become Leicester Cathedral, but legend has long had it that the site has been one of worship as far back as the Roman occupation of Britain.Now, an archaeological discovery has experts suggesting the legend may well be true. Continue reading...

Those eligible are being urged to come forward for the jab as infections remain high across UKVulnerable people in the UK are to be offered another Covid booster jab this spring, public health bodies have said, as the virus continues to circulate at high levels.According to the latest data from Office for National Statistics, about one in 45 people in England, Scotland and Wales had Covid in the week ending 21 February, with the figure at one in 90 for Northern Ireland. In England, infection levels are rising, including in people aged 70 and over. Continue reading...

Japan's H3 rocket, billed as a possible competitor to SpaceX's Falcon 9, self-destructed after liftoff when its second-stage engine apparently failed. It is the second H3 failure for Japan's space agency, Jaxa, after the rocket failed to leave the launchpad in a previous attempt in February. Footage taken from Jaxa's livestream shows Tuesday's launch from the Tanegashima space centre in south-western Japan. The launch initially appeared to be a success, with the rocket lifting off and the first-stage separation appearing to go as planned. Moments later, the livestream was paused before operators announced they had ordered the rocket to self-destruct

Ian Sample speaks to mathematical biologist Kit Yates about what Matt Hancock’s leaked WhatsApp messages reveal about scientific understanding at the heart of government during the pandemic, and what should be done to prepare for the futureClips: BBC, ITV Continue reading...

Next-generation rocket, which Jaxa space agency hopes can compete against SpaceX Falcon, blows itself up after engine failureJapan’s next-generation H3 rocket has self-destructed after liftoff when its second-stage engine apparently failed.The mission was to launch an observation satellite. The rocket has been mooted as a possible competitor to SpaceX’s Falcon 9. Continue reading...

Research compared development of children of heterosexual couples with those of lesbian and gay parentsThe children of same-sex couples fare just as well, if not better, than those of heterosexual couples, research has shown.While data on so-called “sexual minority families” is limited, the UK’s Office for National Statistics recorded 212,000 same-sex families in the UK in 2019, a 40% rise since 2015. The number of same-sex parents rose from 4,000 in 2010 to 12,000 in 2013. Continue reading...

My colleague, mentor and friend Heidy Mader, who has died aged 61 of cancer, was an outstanding experimental scientist. She applied lessons learned in developing the Wispa chocolate bar as a research physicist at Cadbury to lead a revolution in understanding the flow of lava and magma as a professor at Bristol University.Heidy was born in Cosford, Shropshire, to Renate (nee Pitz) and Eric Mader. Eric was an officer in the RAF, and Renate, who came from Germany, went on to become a teacher. The family moved frequently within the UK, following Eric’s postings. Continue reading...

Jeremy Quin says it is unprecedented for serving permanent secretary to resign to take job with leader of opposition. This blog is now closed

Guy Standing on the questions that remain with regard to the historic deal to protect international watersThe ocean treaty is good news (High seas treaty: historic deal to protect international waters finally reached at UN, 5 March), promising to protect biodiversity in the high seas. It is a rare case of multilateralism in this century. But euphoria should be tempered by the realisation that giving it effective teeth will be enormously challenging.It promises to create a body to manage conservation and establish marine protected areas in the high seas, the 64% of sea outside national exclusive economic zones. Those cheering the treaty should recall that the last great multilateral agreement, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), reached in 1982, set up a body to manage the international seabed and establish a benefit-sharing system. Continue reading...

It is thought the Roman emperor Claudius could have inspired work found in the temple of DenderaArchaeologists have unearthed a sphinx-like statue and the remains of a shrine in an ancient temple in southern Egypt.The artefacts were found in the temple of Dendera, in Qena province, 280 miles (450km) south of Cairo, Egypt’s antiquities ministry said. Continue reading...

The solution to today’s ‘counting without counting’ puzzleEarlier today I set the following puzzle, repeated here with its solution.The inspiration for the problem is one of the earliest, and most important streaming algorithms, the predecessor of the tech used by streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify. Continue reading...

Emissions from food system alone will drive the world past target, unless high-methane foods are tackledEmissions from the food system alone will drive the world past 1.5C of global heating, unless high-methane foods are tackled.Climate-heating emissions from food production, dominated by meat, dairy and rice, will by themselves break the key international target of 1.5C if left unchecked, a detailed study has shown. Continue reading...

The country is on track for a record $90bn agricultural production year but forecasts indicate drier times ahead

Intervention is ‘yet another sticking plaster’ says Royal Society president, as EU funding programmes highlightedScientists have welcomed the launch of a 10-point government plan designed to help cement the UK’s place as a global science and technology superpower, but said more funding would be needed to achieve this goal – including securing full association with EU programmes.The science and technology framework, launched on Monday, is the first major output of the recently created Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. It outlines 10 vital actions necessary to foster the right conditions for industry, innovation and scientific research to deliver highly paid jobs, boost economic growth in cutting-edge industries, and improve people’s lives. Continue reading...

Three years into the pandemic, unanswered questions about the condition limit physicians’ ability to treat patientsMore than three years into the Covid pandemic, there are a host of important unanswered questions about long Covid, which significantly limit healthcare providers’ ability to treat patients with the condition, according to US physicians and scientists.That vacuum of information remains as much of the US has moved on from the pandemic, while Covid long-haulers continue to face stigma and questions over whether their symptoms are real, providers say. Continue reading...

How to count without countingUPDATE: To read the solution click hereToday’s puzzle is tricky! I mean trickle-y. It is all about streams.The source of the puzzle is a ‘streaming algorithm’, which is a type of procedure in computer science that analyses data as it arrives in a stream, rather than waiting for the data to be stored in a memory. Continue reading...

One of greatest risks of gene editing tools ‘is that the people who would benefit most will not be able to access them’The next generation of advanced genetic therapies raises profound medical and ethical issues that must be thrashed out to ensure the game-changing technology benefits patients and society, a group of world-leading experts has warned.Medicines based on powerful gene editing tools will begin to transform the treatment of blood disorders, conditions affecting the heart, eyes and muscles, and potentially even neurodegenerative diseases before the end of the decade, but the cost will put them out of the reach of many patients. Continue reading...

I was lonely after lockdown and wanted to know why women gardened so wrote to those I admired. Now I have a host of new friends from different generations and backgroundsThis year, I dedicated the drizzly, flat little days between Christmas and New Year to having a clearout. I felt an intangible lightness with each book, old birthday card or defunct gadget that passed out of the door and into a new home. In my late teens I nurtured a habit of taking amateur snapshots on film –and it’s taken me until now to make peace with the fact that I would never actually process decade-old, under-exposed negatives into anything, and throw them away. But there was one contact sheet that made me pause – not because I wanted to preserve it, but because it directed me to a memory too poignant to remember: my 27th birthday.The photos, in tiny thumbnail form, reminded me that we threw a party at the flat I was living in at the time and I wore a short black dress. Friends gathered on the balcony and stood in a line up to lift me up, sideways against their bodies. It should have been indistinguishable from any other contact sheet in the box – people who didn’t realise how young and beautiful they were, relationships that were no longer intact, cans on kitchen worktops. But this slip of paper brought with it a reminder of the piercing loneliness I’d felt in my 20s, something I’ve since come to realise but have rarely had to probe. Continue reading...

The European Space Agency’s Juice probe launches next month, flying closer to icy moons – including Ganymede, the solar system’s largest – than ever beforeFor most of the past 200 years, were you to ask an astronomer where the most likely place in the solar system is to find life, the answer will have been Mars. The red planet and its potential inhabitants have captured our collective imagination for centuries, transforming from an imaginary canal-building civilisation in the 19th century to the much more scientifically plausible microbes of today. But now, the thinking is different.In the past few decades, astronomers have been increasingly drawn to the deeper, darker realms of the solar system. Specifically, they have become fascinated by the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Years of research have all but proved that some of these moons contain vast oceans of liquid water below their frozen surfaces. Continue reading...

The technique – known as proteomics – could bring new insights into the past two million years of humanity’s historyTiny traces of protein lingering in the bones and teeth of ancient humans could soon transform scientists’ efforts to unravel the secrets of the evolution of our species.Researchers believe a new technique – known as proteomics – could allow them to identify the proteins from which our predecessors’ bodies were constructed and bring new insights into the past 2 million years of humanity’s history. Continue reading...

Matt Hancock’s leaked messages are not the evidence we are waiting for. A government report into its own pandemic response is overdueA war of words played out over the first two years of the pandemic. On one side were commentators and scientists opposed to any form of social restriction as a way of keeping infection rates down. On the other, those who argued the government should be pursuing a “zero Covid” policy to eliminate the disease at all costs. Caught between this tug of war were the majority of scientists and the British public.Sometime last summer, those debates melted into the background with the promise of a “to be continued…” when the statutory inquiry into Covid eventually starts to publish its findings. But the second season of Lockdown Wars has been thrust on us sooner than expected after the Telegraph obtained more than 100,000 pandemic WhatsApp messages. They were passed on by the journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who was granted access to them by Matt Hancock while she was co-authoring the former health secretary’s pandemic diaries. She has argued that the public interest in releasing the messages justified breaking her non-disclosure agreement. Continue reading...

A national debate on the controversial issue is essential, but the research could immeasurably improve the lives of millions of people and their descendantsHundreds of researchers, lawyers and ethicists from across the world will tomorrow gather at the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing at the Francis Crick Institute in London. For three days, they will debate developments in a field that promises to have considerable consequences for medicine for the rest of this century.As they will make clear, human genome editing will soon allow doctors and scientists to alter the structure of genes and in turn induce changes in physical traits, including reducing disease risk. Continue reading...

Citizens’ panel of people with experience of genetic conditions says discussion urgently needed for researchMinisters must consider changing the law to allow scientists to carry out genome editing of human embryos for serious genetic conditions – as a matter of urgency. That is the key message of a newly published report by a UK citizens’ jury made up of individuals affected by genetic conditions.The report is the first in-depth study of the views of individuals who live with genetic conditions about the editing of human embryos to treat hereditary disorders and will be presented at the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing, which opens at the Crick Institute in London this week. Continue reading...

In the last five years, 324 health sector staff have received payouts of more than £150,000, according to new figuresNHS trusts and other organisations overseen by the Department of Health and Social Care agreed staff payoffs worth £42m in 2021/22, including 36 “golden goodbyes” worth more than £150,000 each.In the last five years, 324 staff in the health and care sector got payoffs of more than £150,000, including 44 who received more than £200,000, according to analysis of DHSC figures. Continue reading...

Latest analysis of vase found in Colchester in 1853 shows the vessel was a piece of sports memorabilia from an area of combatGladiator fights backed by roaring crowds in impressive-looking arenas have long inspired film-makers behind classics such as Gladiator and Spartacus. Now new research reveals for the first time that such a sporting spectacle took place in Britain in the late second century AD.Crucial evidence has been discovered within a spectacular vase – decorated with a depiction of a gladiatorial combat – which was unearthed from a Roman grave in Colchester in 1853. Continue reading...

The author of The Battle for Your Brain has serious reservations about neurotechnology, from the surveillance of mental experiences to ‘brainjacking’Our brainwave activity can be monitored and modified by neurotechnology. Devices with electrodes placed on the head can record neural signals from the brain and apply low electric current to modulate them. These “wearables” are finding traction not only with consumers who want to track and improve their mental wellness but with companies, governments and militaries for all sorts of other uses. Meanwhile, firms such as Elon Musk’s Neuralink are working on next-generation brain implants that could do the same thing, only with far greater power. While the initial use may be to help people with paralysis to type, the grand idea is for augmentation to be available to all. Nita Farahany, a professor of law and philosophy at Duke University who studies the ethical, legal and social ramifications of emerging technologies, is sounding the alarm.Technology that can read our minds sounds terrifying. But it is also way ahead of where things are. Aren’t you jumping the gun?

Focus should shift away from seeking to exploit discoveries on other planets, researchers sayHumans boldly going into space should echo the guiding principle of Captain Kirk’s Star Trek crew by resisting the urge to interfere, researchers have said, stressing a need to end a colonial approach to exploration.Nasa has made no secret of its desire to mine the moon for metals, with China also keen to extract lunar resources – a situation that has been called a new space race. Continue reading...

Leaked WhatsApps reveal his ignorance – from fluffed stats to ‘herd immunity’ – needing constant correction by advisersThe question of why the government diverged from the suggestions of its scientific advisers on key pandemic policies has long been a source of debate. Why did Boris Johnson proudly boast of shaking hands “with everybody” at a hospital with known coronavirus patients on the same day in early March 2020 when the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) warned against doing so? Why did the government fail to take action in the autumn of 2020, when cases were rising and Sage recommended a circuit-breaker lockdown? Why were primary schoolchildren sent back to mix in the classroom for just a single day in January 2021? Could it be that ministers simply didn’t understand the science? The recent leak of 100,000 WhatsApp messages has shed some light on the issue.One conversation emerging from the leak, between Johnson, his chief political adviser, Dominic Cummings, and his scientific advisers, presents a particularly egregious example of scientific illiteracy.Kit Yates is director of the Centre for Mathematical Biology at the University of Bath and author of The Maths of Life and DeathDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.com Continue reading...

Jackie Dent’s grandparents’ body donation was hardly discussed until a chance conversation set her on a quest to find out more about the secretive world of dissection

Prof Martha Clokie says phages could become routine for some conditionsThe use of experimental therapies based on bacteria-killing viruses needs to be rapidly scaled up in the NHS to combat the worsening threat of antibiotic resistance, one of the UK’s leading scientists has said.Prof Martha Clokie, who has pioneered research into bacteriophages, or phages, at the University of Leicester, said the approach was helping a growing number of patients in compassionate use cases, and could become a routine treatment in future for conditions such as chronic UTIs and diabetic foot ulcers. Continue reading...

Natural History Museum scientists say plasticosis, which scars digestive tract, likely to affect other types of bird tooA new disease caused solely by plastics has been discovered in seabirds.The birds identified as having the disease, named plasticosis, have scarred digestive tracts from ingesting waste, scientists at the Natural History Museum in London say. Continue reading...