The answers to today’s puzzlesToday’s three questions are variations of classic logic puzzles that used a cheap Take That reference as clickbait. Here’s my excuse.1. The fork in the road Continue reading...

Researchers suggest this treatment could help Alzheimer’s patients but critics are unsureGiving mild electric shocks to the brain could protect older people from short-term and long-term memory loss, research suggests.It remains unclear as to whether the approach could help people with dementia. Robert Reinhart, an assistant professor at Boston University and a co-author of the study, said memory loss was a normal symptom of cognitive decline experienced as we age, and that forgetfulness could affect decision-making, planning and learning, for example. Continue reading...

Research is first to demonstrate positive emotion provoking tears in a non-humanIf your canine companion ain’t nothing but a hound dog, crying all the time, it may be because they are brimming with emotion.Researchers in Japan say they have found that dogs produce tears when reuniting with their owners. What’s more, the blubbing appears to be linked to levels of the “bonding hormone” oxytocin. Continue reading...

While more extreme threats are unlikely to be realised, sticking to the precautionary principle is just plain common sense

(Solving) it only takes a minute, girlUPDATE: Solutions can be read hereApologies for those of you who are here to read about Take That. In this column’s defence, it is a continual challenge to find a funny headline with the world ‘logic’ in it.Today’s three puzzles require logical thinking. You may have heard the first one before. Still, it is a brilliant example of the elegance of this type of conundrum. Continue reading...

Exclusive: UK trial finds finds combination of drugs can work where tumours have become resistant to immunotherapyA new cancer treatment can stop the disease advancing in patients who are resistant to immunotherapy, doctors have discovered.

Second largest asteroid was discovered by four German astronomers in 1807 while looking for a missing planetThis week is a challenge. You will need a pair of binoculars but the prize is to see the asteroid Vesta as it makes its closest pass of the year to Earth.The chart shows the view looking south from London at 0200 BST on 23 August. Vesta will be 192.26m kms away. In theory, it will just be visible to the naked eye but it will be incredibly difficult to see unless you are viewing under perfect conditions in a dark sky without any light pollution. Preferably, you would also be located farther south than London, so that Vesta appears higher in the sky. Continue reading...

While de-extinction research may benefit conservation efforts overall, we shouldn’t have to rely on it to give a wildlife a future

Professors say two islands in Cardigan Bay are clearly marked on the Gough map held at Bodleian libraryIt is believed to be the Welsh Atlantis, a lost land lying below the water at Cardigan Bay. For at least 800 years, tales have been told of the legend of Cantre’r Gwaelod, but evidence that it really existed has been scant.Now, a medieval map depicting two islands off the Ceredigion coast provides some proof that the legend may be rooted in historical fact, according to a BBC report. Continue reading...

The treatment of long Covid offers an opportunity to use patient insight to shape how health conditions are treated, writes Stephanie SchreiberBen Bravery’s call to put patient perspective at the heart of medicine is spot-on and prescient, given the legacy of the Covid pandemic, which has left millions with stubborn Covid-related symptoms (As a cancer patient, I felt dismissed by doctors. As a doctor, I am desperate for the system to change, theguardian.com, 13 August). He is absolutely right to recommend a patient-led approach for doctors, but this is also necessary for all health and social care providers.The treatment for those with long Covid and other post-Covid issues presents a once- in-a-generation opportunity to use patient insight to shape how complex health conditions are treated. Two years into my own long Covid recovery, I was invited by Health Systems Innovation Lab at London South Bank University to take part in a series of workshops involving health and social care professionals (including clinicians). We worked to improve pathways of support. The success of this project has directly led to a new plan to embed patient input into their work. Continue reading...

Prof Christopher Smith of UK Research and Innovation responds to an article on grants being lost post-Brexit, and offers some reassuranceI was very sorry to read Prof José R Penadés’s experience of losing research funding (Thanks to Brexit, I lost a €2.5m research grant. I fear for the future of UK science, 18 August).I did want to take this opportunity, though, to reassure researchers who have been successful in the first and second wave of Horizon Europe calls that guaranteed funding is available through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Continue reading...

The story of women’s involvement with alcohol – both making and drinking it – is one of male control, says Mallory O’Meara“Wait, there aren’t any books about the history of women and drinking? Seriously?”I was texting my best friend to complain after I finished reading yet another cocktail history book that seemed to forget women exist. Months earlier, she had introduced me to the world of craft drinks. After years of being too intimidated to ask a bartender for anything more interesting than a vodka soda, I became immediately fascinated. There was so much talent and alchemy in the making of a cocktail that, for the first time in my life, I began to think more deeply about alcohol. I wanted to try more drinks, visit more bars, and most importantly, I wanted to learn. Continue reading...

Tailor-made supplements are being touted as the path to a healthier, happier, younger-looking you. Whether they work and whether they’re necessary is moot, say expertsCould a customised supplement plan created specifically for you be the answer to refreshing sleep, easy weight loss and a sunny state of mind? These are just some of the promises offered by the world’s personalised vitamin providers as I flick through their various questionnaires, each hinting at the tantalising possibility of looking healthier, happier and younger, all for the price of a subscription.I settle on one particular provider, Nourished, a company that offers an intriguing blend of tailored vitamins and 3D printing for a monthly fee of £35.99. Rather than popping a series of pills each morning, it promises to combine all the nutrients you need – based on your answers to questions that range from the minutiae of your exercise regime to how regularly you travel internationally – into a single layered gummy. Continue reading...

After a year on prescription stimulants, I started to unravel. Would a desperate experiment with street narcotics make me see things differently?At first being diagnosed with ADHD came as a relief. I cried in the psychiatrist’s office: maybe I wasn’t lazy after all. He gave me pills that, within days, offered me a glimpse of what I thought a neurotypical person’s brain might feel like: focused and smooth, like a game of leisurely tennis rather than a ball machine going berserk.Dexamphetamine felt like a silver bullet. Suddenly I could plan ahead, follow entire meetings, and pack a bag without having a nervous breakdown. Gone was the constantly harried feeling that had bullied me into perpetual motion for most of my 34 years. There seemed to be more time in each second to listen, absorb and think. I no longer wanted to punch people in the back of the head when they were blocking my way in the supermarket. Continue reading...

Jumping spiders display rapid eye movements and limb twitching similar to what is seen in dreaming dogs and cats, researchers sayThe question is not “do you have nightmares about spiders?” but, do spiders dream? About juicy flies, about humans, about anything at all?A US-European research partnership suggests that thousands of species of jumping spiders might experience rapid eye movement stages of sleep. That is the state in which humans have their most vivid dreams, though the study in question stops well short of concluding that spiders have dreams. Continue reading...

Unlike jabs, nasal vaccines target the respiratory tract, the body’s first line of defence against infectionPeople who receive a Covid booster dose in the UK next month will be among the first in the world to receive Moderna’s dual-variant vaccine, which protects against two strains of the virus. But scientists say there is a misconception that this latest vaccine is an upgrade on what has come before.The evolution of the Covid virus to be more transmissible and better evade immunity is outpacing even innovative mRNA vaccines such as Moderna’s. The current generation of vaccines remain essential to protect us against severe illness and death. But when it comes to controlling infection, we are in a situation equivalent to running at a steady speed on a treadmill that is accelerating. Continue reading...

We should be keeping endangered species alive rather than bringing animals back from extinctionThe last official sighting of a Tasmanian tiger in the wild occurred in 1930, when it was shot by a farmer. The marsupials, formally known as thylacines, were hunted to extinction by European settlers who considered them a threat to their sheep and poultry. However, the 6ft-long creatures may reappear if a group of biotechnologists have their way.The company Colossal Biosciences, along with researchers from the University of Melbourne, plans to “de-extinct” the thylacine by using gene-editing technology. Australia has the fastest rate of mammal extinction in the world; disappearances are down to the arrival of foreign species and wildfires linked to the climate crisis. Scientists argue that in Tasmania the loss of the thylacine left the numbers of smaller marsupials unchecked, leading to over-grazing and threatening a fragile ecological balance. Continue reading...

Reports of rise in social anxiety among overly cautious 11- to 25-year-olds who often interact onlineThey have been deemed “generation sensible” for their focus on social issues, healthy living and drinking less alcohol. But therapists say generation Z could miss out on a wealth of life experience due to their overly cautious attitude to taking risks.Many young people increasingly choose to stay within a comfort zone of a small network of like-minded friends in which much of their social activity is virtual, according to mental health experts. Continue reading...

An incredible storm blew up, as if we had released more than just an animalI’d been working as a gold miner for only 30 days when I made my big discovery. The company I’d been employed by, Treadstone Gold, had begun its second season mining a cut in Eureka Creek in a remote region in Yukon, north-western Canada.I had been operating various machines as I learned the ropes, and early in the afternoon of 21 June this year I was using an excavator with a “ripper” attachment – a big metal hook that allowed me to break through the permafrost. Continue reading...

Not on my watch!

Study of graves in Cambridge finds nearly twice as many monks died with worms compared with poorer folkMedieval clergy were more likely to suffer from intestinal parasites than the poorer public despite having better sanitation, research has found.Experts say those who dwelt in monasteries could have been at greater risk of such infections because they grew their own produce and may have used fresh human faeces as manure. Continue reading...

From deep inside a gold mine in Stawell, Victoria, researchers are hunting for the invisible substance thought to make up 85% of the matter in the universe

Largest research project of its kind also points to alcohol and being overweight as major contributorsSmoking, drinking alcohol, being overweight and other risk factors are responsible for almost half of all cancer deaths worldwide, according to the largest study of its kind.Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, and exposure to risk factors plays a key role in the biology and burden of many cancer types. Doctors do not know the exact causes of cancer, and not every case or death is avoidable, but there are risk factors that can increase people’s chance of developing it. Continue reading...

Archaeologists says prehistoric site in Huelva province could be one of largest of its kind in EuropeA huge megalithic complex of more than 500 standing stones has been discovered in southern Spain that could be one of the largest in Europe, archaeologists have said.The stones were discovered on a plot of land in Huelva, a province flanking the southernmost part of Spain’s border with Portugal, near the Guadiana River. Continue reading...

Trial is first successful demonstration of genetic engineering being used to directly target photosynthesis processGenetically modified soya beans designed to absorb light more efficiently produced a 25% greater yield in an advance that could significantly boost global food supplies.The field trials are the first successful demonstration that genetic engineering can be used to directly target the photosynthesis process in food crops. The improvements seen are almost unprecedented for this kind of intervention and would take decades to achieve through selective breeding. Continue reading...

Sexual offenders can be deceitful and cruel. But they may also be ashamed and desperate to change. Helping them is the only way to prevent more victims“I’ve got a list of questions I’d like to ask you about your sexual offending against children, if that’s OK,” I say. “You might find some of them … ” I pause, unable to find the words, “ … a bit detailed and personal.” The grizzled old man sitting in front of me nods, but does not make eye contact. I don’t know who is dreading the interview most, him or me.This was the first time I had been left on my own, in a cell, in a maximum-security prison, with a man convicted of serious sexual offences. It would be far from my last. I have spent the 25 years since that day in the mid-90s, when I was just 22 years old and in possession of a shiny new psychology degree, assessing, treating and researching men who commit sexual offences, including sexual murder.Rebecca Myers is a forensic psychologist who has worked with serious offenders for more than 25 years, and the author of Inside Job: The Life of a Prison Psychologist Continue reading...

Unlike most animals, mosquitoes can pick up on odours via several different pathways, study suggestsWhether you opt for repellant, long sleeves or citronella coils, the dreaded drone of a mosquito always seems to find its way back to you.Now researchers say they have found the mechanism behind the insect’s ability to home in on humans. Continue reading...

In rejecting EU funding programmes, Britain has jeopardised research and made itself far less attractive to overseas scientistsIn March, I was given a great scientific opportunity: a €2.5m grant from the European Research Council (ERC) to study how disease-causing bacteria swap genes with each other to become more infective, or evade treatments such as antibiotics. The ERC advanced grant is a very prestigious award, and it meant that I and the scientists at my lab at Imperial College London could finally get to work on questions and experiments we had been planning for the past few years.But just a few weeks later I was informed that the funding was in jeopardy. Because the UK failed to negotiate an agreement to remain in the EU’s Horizon Europe funding programme – which it had previously committed to doing – my grant, along with those of 142 other UK-based scientists, couldn’t be taken up in this country.José R Penadés is professor of microbiology at Imperial College London and the director of the MRC Centre for Molecular Bacteriology and Infection Continue reading...

A gripping account of how colleagues and admirers spirited the psychoanalyst from Nazi-controlled Vienna to LondonBy the spring of 1938 everyone in Sigmund Freud’s circle, apart from the great man, could see that the game was up. In March, the Nazis had annexed Austria, putting the founder of psychoanalysis – known to them as “a Jewish pseudoscience” – at enormous risk. By now Freud was 82, terminally ill and determined not to panic. Five years earlier, when the Nazis had made a public bonfire of his books in Germany, he had breezily declared: “What progress we are making. In the middle ages they would have burnt me; nowadays they are content with burning my books.” If only that had been the case.Why was Freud so convinced that he didn’t need to worry? Partly because he had spent a lifetime claiming that he didn’t do politics, apparently unaware that politics might still insist on doing something to him. The sturm and drang of Bolshevism and nazism and everything in between struck him merely as a noisy sideshow, the outward manifestation of various individuals’ ragged inner lives. Sort out the oedipal complex, the death drive and other bits and pieces, and international common sense would return. So the old man clung on in Vienna, the city where he had lived for all but the first three years of his life, convinced that things would come right in the end. Continue reading...

‘In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.’ While Benjamin Franklin’s quote remains true for most, the same might not be said for some of the world’s billionaires. And their efforts to extend life are under way too. Most recently, a Silicon Valley startup called Altos Labs signed up a dream team of scientists, including numerous Nobel laureates, with an aim to rejuvenate human cells.In this episode from February 2022, Ian Sample speaks to Prof Janet Lord about the science of ageing, extending our health as well as our lifespans, and how old we could actually goArchive: TEDx Talks, Bloomberg Studio 1.0, Lifespan News, Lance Hitchings Continue reading...

Study finds that unlike anxiety and depression, conditions including brain fog, dementia and psychosis, are still more likely two years onMillions of people who have had Covid-19 still face a higher risk of neurological and psychiatric conditions, including brain fog, dementia and psychosis, two years after their illness, compared with those who have had other respiratory infections, according to the single largest study of its kind.They also face an increased risk of anxiety and depression, the research suggests, but this subsides within two months of having Covid-19. Over two years the risk is no more likely than after other respiratory infections. The findings are published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal. Continue reading...

Study used fossil evidence to create a 3D model of the 50ft-long shark and estimated it could have eaten a killer whale in five bitesModern sharks have nothing on their ancient cousins. A giant shark that roamed the oceans millions of years ago could have devoured a creature the size of a killer whale in just five bites, research suggests.For their study published on Wednesday, researchers used fossil evidence to create a 3D model of the megalodon – one of the biggest predatory fish of all time – and find clues about its life. Continue reading...

New research rules out theory that 535m-year-old Saccorhytus coronarius fossil is our earliest known ancestorOne less relative to be embarrassed about – scientists have ruled out the possibility that a 535m-year-old microscopic fossil that looks like an “angry minion” is our earliest known ancestor.Previous research had suggested that Saccorhytus coronarius, a tiny sack-like creature, was an early member of a large group of animals called the deuterostomes, which vertebrates – including humans – belong to. Continue reading...

Five-year-old astronaut and his mum among first visitors to project that combines art and scienceFive-year-old Rowan Bailey-Davies and his mum, Gillian Davies, had come well prepared. He had donned his bright astronaut suit for this very special occasion, while she had picked geraniums from their garden.Their mission: to visit and help begin to furnish a “Martian house” that has appeared, golden and gleaming, among the sailing boats, wharf train tracks and cranes on the harbourside in Bristol. Continue reading...

I was working on a boat on the Great Barrier Reef, when two crewmates began a 20-minute dive. Hours later, with rescue helicopters circling, there was still no sign of them

The peatlands of Scotland’s Flow Country store 400m tonnes of carbon but are under threat amid warmer summersBoglands are precious landscapes, and the vast wilderness of bogs of the Flow Country in northern Scotland is considered the world’s largest area of blanket bog – a rare type of peatland that covers the landscape like a blanket and which forms in a cool, wet climate.The peat is created largely from sphagnum moss and when the plant dies its remains do not fully decompose in the bog’s acid waters, and so the dead moss becomes buried and turned into peat along with its carbon contents. The Flow Country is so vast its peatland stores 400m tonnes of carbon, more than double the carbon stored in all the UK’s woodlands, and a huge contribution to fighting the climate crisis. Continue reading...

When does forgetfulness become something more serious? And how can we delay or even prevent that change? We talk to brain expert Richard RestakYou walk into a room, but can’t remember what you came in for. Or you bump into an old acquaintance at work, and forget their name. Most of us have had momentary memory lapses like this, but in middle age they can start to feel more ominous. Do they make us look unprofessional, or past it? Could this even be a sign of impending dementia? The good news for the increasingly forgetful, however, is that not only can memory be improved with practice, but that it looks increasingly as if some cases of Alzheimer’s may be preventable too.Neuroscientist Dr Richard Restak is a past president of the American Neuropsychiatric Association, who has lectured on the brain and behaviour everywhere from the Pentagon to Nasa, and written more than 20 books on the human brain. His latest, The Complete Guide to Memory: The Science of Strengthening Your Mind, homes in on the great unspoken fear that every time you can’t remember where you put your reading glasses, it’s a sign of impending doom. “In America today,” he writes “anyone over 50 lives in dread of the big A.” Memory lapses are, he writes, the single most common complaint over-55s raise with their doctors, even though much of what they describe turns out to be nothing to worry about. Continue reading...

JCVI recommends that mRNA vaccines like the Pfizer and Moderna jabs are the most effective for the UK’s booster programmeThere are no plans to order further supplies of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine for the UK, it has been revealed, as experts expressed hope a new jab designed to target two variants will form the backbone of the autumn booster programme.Deemed a British success story, and estimated to have saved millions of lives worldwide, the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid jab played a key role early in the UK’s vaccination programme. But Prof Anthony Harnden, deputy chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), has suggested the jab is unlikely to be used in the future. Continue reading...

University of Melbourne partners with US biotech company to plan genetic restoration of the thylacine

Botanic garden prepares for hotter and drier summers with plants needing less irrigationRapidly rising temperatures have led Wakehurst, which describes itself as “Kew Gardens’ wild garden in the country”, to take decisive action to future-proof its 535 acres in Sussex.Last year it created a new American prairie grassland, with 12 million seeds, 110 different plant species and more than 50,000 live plants sown into six acres of landscape, and now one year on the results are on display. Continue reading...

As with Covid, corporate interests are taking priority over getting vaccines to people and areas that most need themTwo weeks ago I queued for more than five hours outside a London hospital to receive a monkeypox vaccination. But I’m one of the lucky ones; thousands of people in at-risk groups haven’t been so fortunate, and it’s about to get worse. Britain, despite being one of the centres of the outbreak, expects to run out of vaccines in the next couple of weeks, with no further deliveries planned until late September.This matters because it’s a race against time to prevent monkeypox becoming an endemic disease. At that point, we’ll be stuck with it, and it will continue to circulate at low levels indefinitely, with regular danger of outbreaks and possibly new and more dangerous variants. Even in the optimistic scenario that it gets no more severe, lives will be lost. And while LGBTQ+ groups have led the way in demanding a stronger response, we know that the disease is particularly dangerous for several groups, including small children, pregnant women and those with compromised immune systems.Nick Dearden is director of Global Justice Now Continue reading...

They may be one of the world’s favourite supplements but, according to a study from earlier this year, more than one in 10 fish oil capsules are rancid. Most of the oil comes from Peruvian anchovetas, a type of anchovy that is also used to feed pigs, poultry and farmed fish. And despite catching more than 4m tonnes a year of anchovetas to cater to the global demand, large industry players want to scale this up even further.In this episode from January 2022, Madeleine Finlay speaks to environment journalist Richa Syal about why so many fish oil pills are rancid, and hears from journalist Dan Collyns in Chimbote, Peru, about how the industry is affecting the local environment and its residentsArchive: The Doctors, ICIJ, Frontline PBS Continue reading...

Lab-grown spinal cords and glowing fish larvae are among the incredible images from the researchers at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at Queensland University, as they celebrate national science week with an annual competition to find the best pictures taken under the microscope Continue reading...

As a GP, more and more people are coming to see me about ADHD. But with specialists overwhelmed, where should they turn?It seems like almost everyone has a friend who has recently been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). As a GP working in suburban Melbourne, what had been an occasional topic patients broached is now a conversation I’m having multiple times a week.So what has changed, and what does it mean for our health and health system? Continue reading...

Higher summer temperatures caused by climate crisis may lead to more cases of melanoma, say medicsExperts have said higher summer temperatures caused by the climate crisis may fuel an increase in cases of potentially deadly skin cancers such as melanoma.The UK recorded its highest ever temperature of 40.2C last month, as climate scientists stressed the heatwave was not a one-off and high temperatures were likely to become more frequent. Continue reading...

Analysis: a bivalent vaccine has been approved and research is being carried out into possible pan-coronavirus vaccinesWhen the autumn booster programme begins next month, many people are likely to receive Moderna’s new bivalent vaccine, designed to protect against the original Covid strain and the more transmissible Omicron variant. As Covid continues to evolve, so will vaccination strategies. Here we look at some of the developments in the pipeline. Continue reading...

Roscosmos space agency developing orbital outpost as it prepares to end partnership with the westThe Russian space agency has unveiled a physical model of what a planned Russian-built space station will look like, suggesting Moscow is serious about abandoning the International Space Station (ISS) and going it alone.Russia wants to reduce its dependency on western countries and forge ahead on its own, or cooperate with countries such as China and Iran, after sanctions were imposed by the west as a result of the invasion of Ukraine. Continue reading...

Dean Lomax identifies probably oldest known vertebrate embryo from UK at Yorkshire Natural History MuseumA 180m-year-old fossil has quickly become one of the star exhibits at the UK’s newest museum, after it was identified as probably the oldest known example of a vertebrate embryo found in Britain.The Yorkshire Natural History Museum in Sheffield opened on Saturday, the ribbon cut by the palaeontologist and ichthyosaur expert Dean Lomax using a baryonyx claw. Continue reading...

Our government is pretending that the pandemic is ‘done’, ignoring both protective measures now and preparations for the futureRemember those days of looking at graphs and statistics of Covid infections and deaths and wondering if the end of the pandemic was in sight, or if it was safe to visit the parents, or if another tranche of restrictions was on the way? Thank goodness someone is still keeping track of those figures – namely the World Health Organization, whose latest update brings the welcome news that global weekly Covid deaths have dropped by 9%. All the same, the overall picture is complicated: deaths are rising in the Middle East but plummeting in Africa and declining more slowly in Europe and the Americas.We’re still in a pandemic, then. But unless you are in a hotspot, the chances are that you’re keen to move on, to return to some sort of normality while trying not to worry about all these symptoms of the climate crisis or the prospect of soaring winter fuel bills. For most of us (not, perhaps, the estimated 2 million or so in the UK living with long Covid) there are other priorities right now.Philip Ball is a science writer Continue reading...

Researchers say some patients had childhood jab, and HIV infection could erode protectionSmallpox vaccinations may not protect against monkeypox for life, research suggests, with experts saying HIV may play a role in eroding protection from the jab over time.Monkeypox outbreaks are ongoing around the world, with the World Health Organization declaring the disease a public health emergency of international concern. At present, the majority of cases in current outbreaks are among men who have sex with men. Continue reading...