Object hit balcony in Matera and remnants in pristine condition – ‘almost as if we collected it directly from space’, says expertResidents of southern Italy’s picturesque and ancient “city of stone” have been gripped by another rocky phenomenon after a meteorite crash-landed on the balcony of a home in Matera’s suburbs.The space object, which had been travelling at about 200mph, was spotted in the skies above the Puglia and Basilicata regions on 14 February, becoming known as “Valentine’s fireball”, before falling on to the balcony of the home of brothers Gianfranco and Pino Losignore and their parents. Continue reading...

Research into the disease has focused on plaques in the brain. But some scientists think viruses and bacteria play a role – and their work is gaining groundAs Davangere Devanand, a neurologist at Columbia University Medical Center, combed through the reams of scientific data on Alzheimer’s, he stumbled across a surprising idea – could an infection be involved in driving the disease?“I was looking for an Alzheimer’s treatment approach that had a reasonable shot of working,” he says. “I found this old theory, going back 35 years, which linked herpes viruses to the disease, and there were all these indirect lines of evidence.” Continue reading...

Co-author advises taking off your shoes at the door after studying dog poop on Upper East SideResearchers at New York’s Marymount College have published a study that, in its essence, attempts to establish how much dog poop footwear carries into the homes of New Yorkers on the affluent Upper East Side.The study, released to the Indoor and Built Environment journal, concludes there’s a strong argument for leaving your outside shoes at the door – or risk tracking fecal bacteria around the house. Continue reading...

Discovery that extrachromosomal DNA act as cancer-causing genes seen as breakthrough that could lead to new therapiesScientists have pinpointed pieces of DNA which, they say, act like Bond villains in the way they help cancers spread. These microscopic agents have also been shown to be responsible for helping tumours gain resistance to anti-cancer drugs.The discovery of these bits of genetic material – known as extrachromosomal DNA or ecDNA – could revolutionise the treatments of some of the most aggressive tumours that affect people today, add the researchers. Continue reading...

The primatologist, 88, on why animals need names, the last time she cried properly (1969), looking forwards to life after death and looking back at being a four-year-old scientistThe scientist in me was evident early on. At four, desperate to know how eggs come out of chickens, I hid inside a hen house waiting to witness it. When I finally returned, Mum had called the police. I’d been missing for hours. Instead of punishing me, she listened intently to my discoveries.I was jealous of Tarzan’s Jane as a child. Yes, I know they were fictional. But I still felt spurned he didn’t pick me. Continue reading...

What’s the secret to making it into triple figures? Never stay stuck in the past, keep a diary … and dance while you still canBritish army colonel, diplomat and writer; Kent, England

Oscar nominee Cate Blanchett reflects on her life-changing role in Tár (1m25s), food writer Bee Wilson investigates the real impact of energy drinks on consumers (21m38s), and David Robson on what a ground-breaking study says about our power to shape our future selves (48m09s) Continue reading...

Study in mice suggests drug could temporarily stop sperm moving by blocking critical proteinWhen it comes to contraception, men may finally have a greater choice than a condom or vasectomy, with a study in mice released this week suggesting it may be possible to develop a pill that could be taken shortly before sex.With what some have described as a “global epidemic” of unplanned pregnancies, and surveys suggesting many men hold positive views about a potential “male pill”, it seems to be fertile ground. Continue reading...

Sumerian Lord Palace of the Kings found in archeological collaboration with British MuseumIt has been described by the director of the British Museum as “one of the most fascinating sites” he has has ever visited, but the archaeologist who led the discovery of a lost Sumerian temple in the ancient city of Girsu has said he was accused of “making it up” and wasting funding.Dr Sebastien Rey led the project that discovered the 4,500-year-old palace in modern-day Iraq – thought to hold the key to more information about one of the first known civilisations. Continue reading...

Research shows people get more deep REM sleep than in summer, and may need to adjust habits to seasonFor those of us who struggle to leave our beds in the winter, taunts of “lazy” could well be misplaced.New research suggests that while humans do not hibernate, we may need more sleep during the colder months. Continue reading...

Physicist who designed and developed innovative instruments that provided evidence of changes in the Earth’s atmosphereThe consensus on how human activity is changing our climate is now so comprehensive that it is easy to forget that crucial to building the scientific understanding has been the acquisition over decades of many careful environmental measurements. John Harries, who has died aged 76, was involved in designing, developing and deploying instruments that were placed on aeroplanes, balloons and satellites to measure the heat radiation emitted by the Earth. His work resulted in the first direct observational evidence of an increase in the carbon dioxide greenhouse effect.Visible light is radiation with a spectrum of colours from blue at short wavelengths to red at long wavelengths. Radiation at even longer wavelengths is invisible, but the spectrum continues with heat radiation in the infrared and far-infrared. Each gas in the atmosphere absorbs and emits radiation uniquely, having its own characteristic spectrum, and, knowing this, we can interpret measurements of radiation to reveal the concentration of that gas. Continue reading...

Exclusive: museum in London agreed to take care not to say anything that could damage sponsor Equinor’s reputationThe Science Museum in London signed a sponsorship contract containing a gagging clause with the Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor, agreeing to take care not to say anything that could damage the firm’s reputation, it can be revealed.The agreement, a copy of which was obtained by the Guardian and the investigative journalism organisation Point Source, concerned sponsorship of the museum’s current Wonderlab exhibition. Continue reading...

Psychologists call it ‘vicarious trauma’ – the result of witnessing too much misery, even if you’re not experiencing it first hand. And it can affect anyone, from war correspondents to legal professionals and interpretersIf I had been told that my dream career could end up affecting my mental health, I might have thought twice about pursuing it. Or perhaps I wouldn’t have. After all, trauma is not new in journalism – “if it bleeds, it leads” is the adage.But while crime and war correspondents know the risks they run, I fell into covering harrowing stories accidentally. I spent more than a decade on and off in the BBC newsroom, mostly in the user-generated content (UGC) hub team, dealing directly with the audience – finding case studies and trends, and tackling disinformation early by verifying stories before they were broadcast. Sometimes it was the best job ever, when the stories we covered could change people’s lives. Other times, the job meant scouring through racist and xenophobic missives, and exposure to pornography and graphic images of human remains. I would weep and feel hopeless about the world we inhabit, as we found ourselves mapping the geographies of murder, deconstructing images of beheadings, or cross-referencing atrocities on social media videos and open-source intelligence from far-flung places. Continue reading...

The torrent of bad news – on the economy, on the climate and on the war in Europe – can be exhausting. Despite the news reflecting a grim picture of our society, some of Australia’s best writers, including Helen Garner and Tony Birch, have found happiness amid the chaos.In this episode of Full Story, Gabrielle Jackson talks to Guardian Australia’s editor-in-chief, Lenore Taylor, and assistant editor for features, culture and lifestyle, Celina Ribeiro, about how we can find joy without turning away from the world’s most pressing issuesRead more: Continue reading...

CBD is currently only prescribed for a small number of conditions such as rare, severe epilepsyOxford scientists are to launch a major global trial to investigate whether cannabis-based medicine can treat people with psychosis or psychotic symptoms.Currently, cannabidiol (CBD) is only prescribed for a small number of conditions. In the UK, for example, these include rare, severe epilepsy, and vomiting or nausea caused by chemotherapy. Continue reading...

Midlife used to mean settling down, going grey and buying a lawnmower. But with relaxation no longer an option, has the concept lost all meaning?Amid all the recent commentary about John Cleese resurrecting Fawlty Towers, one fact struck me as even more preposterous than the setting’s proposed relocation to a Caribbean boutique hotel: when the original series aired, Cleese was only 35 years old.When it comes to screen culture, middle age isn’t what it used to be. People magazine gleefully reported last year that the characters in And Just Like That, the rebooted series of Sex and the City, were the same age (average 55) as the Golden Girls when they made their first outing in the mid-80s. How can that be possible? My recollection of the besequined Florida housemates was that they were teetering off this mortal coil, but then everyone seems old when you are young. Continue reading...

According to new research by the children’s commissioner for England, one in 10 children have watched pornography by the time they are nine years old. And teachers say the effects are being felt in schools. So what makes young people vulnerable to this kind of content, and what impact might it have on their brains and behaviour? Madeleine Finlay speaks to Guardian education correspondent Sally Weale, and to consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr Dickon Bevington Continue reading...

The explosion, called a kilonova, created a rapidly expanding fireball of luminous matter before collapsing to form a black holeAstronomers have observed what might be the “perfect explosion”, a colossal and utterly spherical blast triggered by the merger of two very dense stellar remnants called neutron stars shortly before the combined entity collapsed to form a black hole.Researchers on Wednesday described for the first time the contours of the type of explosion, called a kilonova, that occurs when neutron stars merge. The rapidly expanding fireball of luminous matter they detailed defied their expectations. Continue reading...

BMJ report found nutritional benefits cited by multibillion-pound industry lacked scientific referencesMost health claims on formula milk products have little or no supporting evidence, researchers have said, prompting calls for stricter marketing rules to be introduced worldwide.Millions of parents use formula milk in what has become a multibillion-dollar global industry. But a study published in the BMJ has found most health and nutritional claims about the products appear to be backed by little or no high-quality scientific evidence. Continue reading...

Film-makers should retire the cliche of the lone male scientific genius, says Rachel Youngman of the Institute of PhysicsIt is hardly surprising to hear that there is a lack of diversity in the portrayal of artificial intelligence researchers in movies (Just nine out of 116 AI professionals in key films are women, study finds, 13 February). There is too often an assumption in popular culture that a scientist, inventor or programmer is male, nearly always white and, of course, a driven, eccentric genius. It is a deeply damaging and lazy stereotype, and needs to be dispatched to the dustbin of social and creative history.At the Institute of Physics, we see the real-life consequences of this in the worryingly low numbers of girls – and all young people from underrepresented backgrounds – studying physics. This is despite the fact that girls got more top grades than boys in A-level maths in 2021 and 2022. Continue reading...

International scientists propose black holes as source for dark energy, created when stars collapseNothing sucks more than a supermassive black hole, but according to a group of researchers, the enormous objects found at the heart of many galaxies may be driving the expansion of the cosmos.The radical claim comes from an international team who compared growth rates of black holes in different galaxies. They conclude that the spread of masses observed could be explained by black holes bearing cores of “dark energy”, the mysterious force behind the accelerating expansion of the universe. Continue reading...

A study of four- and five-year-olds suggests they respond less compassionately to others when a personal reward is at stake

Every day, around the world, 2bn cups are consumed. But what actually happens after you swallow that first mouthful? Here is everything you need to knowCoffee. Go juice. Liquid gold. The one with all the psychoactive properties. Once used by Sufi mystics as an aid to concentration during religious rituals, it’s now one of the most ubiquitous drinks on the planet: we get through about 2bn cups a day.It’s also one of the most valued and pored-over drinks. One particularly sought-after blend, Black Ivory, which is produced by encouraging elephants to digest arabica berries, retails at more than £2,000 a kilogram, while coffee-making championships attract thousands of spectators. Continue reading...

Oyster mushroom feeds on roundworms using a deadly nerve agent that causes paralysisA mushroom that eats animals sounds like a horror story. But the oyster mushroom is a full-bloodied carnivore that feeds on roundworms, killing its prey using a nerve gas.Even though oyster mushrooms are a prized food delicacy, don’t be fooled; they kill nematodes, tiny roundworms. The oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus usually grows on dead or dying trees, but the wood has so little protein that the fungus turns to consuming nematodes for nourishment. It uses a lethal array of tiny balls attached to the hypae, the long hair-like filaments of the fungus. When a nematode brushes past a ball it instantly bursts, paralysing and killing the tiny worm in minutes. The fungal filament then penetrates the carcass, dissolving its tissues and sucking out the nutrients. Continue reading...

Teddi Shaw, from Northumberland, first recipient on health service of Libmeldy, world’s most expensive drugA girl born with a rare and deadly genetic condition is expected to live a long and normal life after becoming the first person to be cured on the NHS with the help of a revolutionary gene therapy.Teddi Shaw was diagnosed with metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), an inherited condition that causes catastrophic damage to the nervous system and organs. Those affected usually die young. Continue reading...

‘Emotional’ posthumous discovery of 16-year-old hedgehog gives conservationists hope for the mammals’ future preservationA 16-year-old European hedgehog called Thorvald has been crowned the oldest in the world, smashing the previous record by seven years.The male hedgehog lived near the town of Silkeborg in the centre of Denmark. Dr Sophie Lund Rasmussen, from the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) at Oxford University, who led the Danish Hedgehog Project that discovered Thorvald, said she was overwhelmed when she discovered how old he was. Continue reading...

Scientists studying 2014 Hazelwood coalmine fire say breathing in tiny particles is linked to increased emergency presentations

Years as a therapist have taught me that silence ruins relationships. So forget the cards and the roses and celebrate each otherI popped into my local newsagent last week to pick up a copy of the Guardian newspaper and, as I stood in the queue, I realised I was standing next to a rack of Valentine’s Day cards.I began to browse and was struck by how many of the cards were humorous. Some were just silly – “dim sum-body say it’s Valentine’s Day?”, or there was one with a couple in the bathroom – “Roses are red, violets are blue, you shave your legs while I do a poo!” But to my surprise, there were also a lot of cards that were very explicit – “Roses are red, I’m shit at poems. Fancy a shag?” These cards had a laddish, rather adolescent quality.Susanna Abse is a couple psychotherapist and author of Tell Me the Truth About Love Continue reading...

Climate change and pollution are the latest factors contributing to a global rise in antibiotic-resistant superbugs, according to a report from the UN environment agency. Given that no new class of antibiotics has been discovered since the 1980s, what are our best hopes for tackling these bugs in the future? Ian Sample speaks to the Guardian’s science correspondent Hannah Devlin about genetically modified bacteria, the potential of plant toxins, and why scientists are hunting for viruses known as ‘bacteriophages’ in birdbaths and sewersClips: CNBC Continue reading...

Appetite suppressant Wegovy, popular with celebrities, seen as breakthrough treatment but not permanent remedyWeekly weight-loss jabs that are popular with celebrities will soon be made available through high street chemists in England, despite controversy over their use.Many people struggle to tackle obesity through diet and exercise alone as they often find they regain the weight that they lose. Continue reading...

On Valentine’s Day, psychologist Chris Cheers proposes we redefine love – not as something we find, but something we doOver the last few years, as a psychologist and as a friend, I have sat with many people struggling with isolation and loneliness. Some government-enforced, some just the way things have turned out. But although the causes may be different, one thing is clear: nobody wants to be lonely.Our bodies need social connection. It’s in our biology. This is one reason, as often reported, that married people are shown to have lower rates of mortality compared to single people of the same age. But it’s important not to end the story there. In his book The Myth of Normal, Gabor Mate points to other important findings that get mentioned less: that those who are unhappily married show poorer wellbeing and health than the unmarried and that improving the quality of all your relationships reduces your risk of death by the same amount as quitting smoking or drinking. Continue reading...

Animals possibly being knocked off course by storm events on the east coast of the US and in the CaribbeanSmall, wrinkled and stranded in chilly waters, young hard-shelled turtles have been turning up on the beaches of the UK and Ireland in higher numbers than usual this winter.According to reports made to the Marine Conservation Society and Marine Environmental Monitoring, 13 juvenile turtles have been stranded since November – 12 loggerheads and one Kemp’s ridley turtle. Continue reading...

Think you’re stuck being scatty, or an introvert? The latest research suggests otherwiseHave you ever wished you could be better organised or more sociable? Or more inventive and original? Perhaps you’re a constant worrier, and you’d prefer to be a little more carefree?If any of these thoughts ring true, you are far from alone. A number of surveys show that at least two-thirds of people would like to change some element of their personality. In the past, such desires appeared to be futile. Our personalities were thought to be formed in childhood and to remain fixed throughout lives. Like the proverbial leopard that could never change its spots, our virtues and flaws were believed to be woven into the fabric of our psyche. Continue reading...

Scientists predict asteroid strike for only seventh time as 1-metre object enters Earth’s atmosphereAn asteroid has lit up the sky over the Channel in the early morning after scientists accurately predicted its strike – only the seventh time that has happened.The European Space Agency said on Sunday night that the 1-metre-sized object would enter Earth’s atmosphere and strike the surface around the French city of Rouen. The BBC then reported that it was seen over the Channel, creating a stunning shooting star effect. Continue reading...

An asteroid exploded in the night sky after entering Earth's atmosphere over the Channel. The small asteroid, called Sar2667 by scientists, was predicted to make impact at about 3am by the European Space Agency in just the seventh correct prediction of this kind of phenomena

Extreme weather and a prolific citrus disease have plagued Florida’s orange crop, sending prices through the roofHas breakfast in the US ever been this expensive? The recent eggflation seen across the country has caused an uproar, and now orange juice is adding to the financial pain.Orange juice futures – contracts to buy and sell OJ – have almost doubled to $2.60 per pound over the last year, up from $1.40 a year ago, leading to price surges in stores. In January, orange juice not from concentrate hit $10 a gallon, while juice from concentrate hit $6.27 per gallon. Continue reading...

Water snake constellation slithers across southern meridian until dawnOn northern winter nights, it is so easy to be beguiled by the gloriously bright constellations of Orion, the hunter, and Taurus, the bull, that one can overlook the fainter constellations.So this week, find the three stars of Orion’s belt, follow them down to Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, and then look eastward until you find the faint ring of stars that makes up the head of Hydra, the water snake. The chart shows the view looking south-east from London at 8pm GMT on Monday, but the view will be similar every night this week. Continue reading...

As ever there are many theories – you can decide which one is true

The development of an ‘artificial pancreas’ could revolutionise the daily lives of people living with type 1 diabetes. Now the technology could be made available to more than 100,000 people in the UK on the NHSMore than 100,000 people with type 1 diabetes in England will be offered an “artificial pancreas”, in a revolutionary new treatment for managing the condition.The so-called closed-loop system uses an algorithm to determine the amount of insulin that should be administered to the user and reads blood sugar levels to keep them steady. For thousands of people in the UK, living with diabetes means regular finger-pricking, insulin injections and blood monitoring. But those time-consuming and sometimes stressful processes would become automated by the new treatment, which is being called a “holy grail” for those with diabetes. Continue reading...

A two-sided approach of acknowledging the negatives while searching for pockets of happiness may help

Amid stalemate over UK joining Horizon Europe due to Northern Ireland protocol, Michelle Donelan looks to allies outside blocThe government’s new science minister has said the UK is “more than ready to go it alone” if there is no resolution to the stalemate over taking part in the EU’s flagship research programme.Brussels has so far blocked Britain’s requests to join the €100bn (£88.6bn) Horizon Europe programme because of a dispute over the Northern Ireland protocol, leading UK ministers to draw up contingency plans for collaborations outside the bloc. Continue reading...

We’re all looking for that elusive ‘spark’ – but what really ignites a long-lasting relationship? Science is closing in on the answersFor centuries, our romantic fates were thought to be written in the stars. Wealthy families would even pay fortunes to have a matchmaker foretell the success or failure of a potential marriage.Despite the lack of any good evidence for its accuracy, astrology still thrives in many lifestyle magazines, while the more sceptical among us might hope to be guided by the algorithms of websites and dating apps. Continue reading...

Researchers for a pharmaceutical company stumbled upon a nightmarish realisation, proving there’s nothing intrinsically good about machine learningHere’s a story that evangelists for so-called AI (artificial intelligence) – or machine-learning (ML) – might prefer you didn’t dwell upon. It comes from the pages of Nature Machine Intelligence, as sober a journal as you could wish to find in a scholarly library. It stars four research scientists – Fabio Urbina, Filippa Lentzos, Cédric Invernizzi and Sean Ekins – who work for a pharmaceutical company building machine-learning systems for finding “new therapeutic inhibitors” – substances that interfere with a chemical reaction, growth or other biological activity involved in human diseases.The essence of pharmaceutical research is drug discovery. It boils down to a search for molecules that may have therapeutic uses and, because there are billions of potential possibilities, it makes searching for needles in haystacks look like child’s play. Given that, the arrival of ML technology, enabling machines to search through billions of possibilities, was a dream come true and it is now embedded everywhere in the industry. Continue reading...

Used by water companies but debunked by science, crossing rods in Wiltshire has this writer intriguedNestling in the shadow of a white horse and a Neolithic long barrow, in a renowned crop circle hotspot, Alton Priors, in Wiltshire, feels like the perfect venue for a spot of water witchery. Prompted by the news that Thames Water and Severn Trent Water use dowsing rods to detect water leaks, I’ve arranged to meet my mum – a geologist and amateur dowser – to investigate the phenomenon for myself.There are other reasons for picking this particular location. Geologically speaking, Alton Priors lies on the boundary between a chalk escarpment and sandstone, the latter underlain by clay, which means there are numerous springs gushing out of the ground. The local churchyard is also where an acquaintance of my mum once suggested she try dowsing, because “he just had a sense it would work there”. Sure enough, her rods crossed. Continue reading...

Parrot can figure out how to use a tool, pick the most suitable one and even transport a set togetherThey might not have a toolbox or even a fancy belt, but it appears Goffin’s cockatoos are the Handy Andy of the bird world. Researchers have revealed the parrots are able to figure out how to use sets of tools, select the best instrument for a job and even transport tools together before attempting to use them.While New Caledonian crows have long been hailed as expert tool users, recent research shows that Goffin’s cockatoos are also proficient at creating instruments and using them, with one study describing how wild birds manufactured and used three types of tools as “cutlery” to extract seeds from tropical fruit. Continue reading...

About 2 million people die a year as a result of a core group of fungi, and the WHO is concerned we are unprepared for the futureThe year is 2003, and a species of Cordyceps fungus has made the leap from ants to humans, transforming its hosts into frenzied, bloodthirsty zombies that spread the infection to everyone they bite. The solution proposed by a leading mycologist in Jakarta, Indonesia, where the first cases were detected, is radical, but in her view, essential: bomb the entire city and everyone in it to stop the infection in its tracks.Last month, HBO’s long-awaited post-apocalyptic series The Last of Us hit our screens, to huge acclaim from both critics and fans. It posits that it isn’t viruses or bacteria that pose the greatest threat to society, but fungi – those same organisms beloved by brewers, bakers and wild-food enthusiasts. More specifically, climate change has prompted Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, commonly known as “zombie-ant fungus”, to adapt to surviving at higher temperatures, rendering humans an alternative host. Continue reading...

Federal scientists would largely be barred from publicly discussing research, which could have a ‘chilling effect’, experts sayThe Biden administration has proposed what some critics label a “gag order” on federal scientists in the US that would largely bar them from publicly discussing their research, and could effectively prohibit them from taking part in controversial studies on issues like the climate crisis, chemical pollution and biosafety.The rule would have a “chilling effect” on the nation’s scientific discourse, and a similar policy has already been used to censor scientists, said Jeff Ruch, Pacific director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer), a non-profit that protects federal researchers. Continue reading...

Warning comes as Alphabet’s shares continue to plummet after error made by Bard AI system during demoThe type of factual error that blighted the launch of Google’s artificial intelligence-powered chatbot will carry on troubling companies using the technology, experts say, as the market value of its parent company continues to plunge.Investors in Alphabet marked down its shares by a further 4.4% to $95 on Thursday, representing a loss of market value of about $163bn (£140bn) since Wednesday when shareholders wiped around $106bn off the stock. Continue reading...

University of Sydney scientists have found a receptor protein which ‘acts a bit like molecular velcro, in that it sticks to the spike of the virus’

Presence of teeth from extinct hominin challenges view that only members of Homo genus used complex toolsThe discovery of stone tools dating back nearly 3m years has raised questions about which hominin species was behind the ancient technology.The artefacts, found at a site in Kenya, are thought to be the oldest known example of a specific set of stone tools used for butchery and pounding plant material. The emergence of the so-called Oldowan toolkit is viewed as a milestone in human evolution and was assumed to be an innovation of our ancestors. Continue reading...