There are many story angles surrounding childhood cancer, but rarely mentioned is the burden of illness on everyday lifeAs a parent of two young children with a high-risk brain cancer diagnosis, it’s wonderful to see donation drives soar and yellow ribbons promote empathy for my family’s situation during childhood cancer awareness month.However, I’m also acutely attuned to important story angles that seem conspicuously absent. Continue reading...
When parents cast a child into the role of mediator, friend and carer, the wounds are profound. But recovery is possibleI came to research the emotional neglect of children by accident. More than a decade ago, I wrote my master’s thesis on the relationship between the personal and professional lives of psychotherapists. How did they manage to keep the distress they heard in their clinics from affecting their own emotional balance? And how did they stop their personal challenges from affecting their clinical work?In our conversations, I asked what brought them to be clinicians. The consistency of their answers surprised me. Virtually all said that being there for others, emotionally, came naturally; they were good at it because they were practised in tending others’ needs since childhood, starting with their own parents. With deeper conversations, I learned of the difficult family circumstances they each came from. Continue reading...
Whether it’s organic or psychosomatic or something in between, multiple chemical sensitivity can cause chronic illness, and its sufferers often feel abandonedSharon calls herself a universal reactor. In the 1990s, she became allergic to the world, to the mould colonising her home and the paint coating her kitchen walls, but also deodorants, soaps and anything containing plastic. Public spaces rife with artificial fragrances were unbearable. Scented disinfectants and air fresheners in hospitals made visiting doctors torture. The pervasiveness of perfumes and colognes barred her from in-person social gatherings. Even stepping into her own back garden was complicated by the whiff of pesticides and her neighbour’s laundry detergent sailing through the air. When modern medicine failed to identify the cause of Sharon’s illness, exiting society felt like her only solution. She started asking her husband to strip and shower every time he came home. Grandchildren greeted her through a window. When we met for the first time, Sharon had been housebound for more than six years.When I started medical school, the formaldehyde-based solutions used to embalm the cadavers in the human anatomy labs would cause my nose to burn and my eyes to well up – representing the mild, mundane end of a chemical sensitivity spectrum. The other extreme of the spectrum is an environmental intolerance of unknown cause (referred to as idiopathic by doctors) or, as it is commonly known, multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS). An official definition of MCS does not exist because the condition is not recognised as a distinct medical entity by the World Health Organization or the American Medical Association, although it has been recognised as a disability in countries such as Germany and Canada. Continue reading...
by Presented and produced by Madeleine Finlay with Fi on (#63TR8)
Against a backdrop of a cost of living crisis caused in part by soaring energy prices, the UK’s new prime minister, Liz Truss, appointed MP Jacob Rees-Mogg as secretary of state for business and energy. In this role, Rees-Mogg will have to tackle these issues while being responsible for the UK’s legally binding target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It is a goal he has previously described as ‘a long way off’. Madeleine Finlay hears from environment correspondent Fiona Harvey about his plans to extract ‘every last drop’ of oil and gas from the North Sea, the possibility of fracking in the UK, and the importance of energy efficiency and renewables in addressing the cost of living, energy and climate crises togetherArchive: BBC News, Channel 4 News, The Telegraph Continue reading...
The rate of syphilis cases has hit its highest in three decades as officials work on new solutions such as at-home test kitsSharply rising cases of some sexually transmitted diseases, including a 26% rise in new syphilis infections reported last year, are prompting US health officials to call for new prevention and treatment efforts.“It is imperative that we … work to rebuild, innovate, and expand (STD) prevention in the US,” said Leandro Mena of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a speech on Monday at a medical conference on sexually transmitted diseases. Continue reading...
Research shows early birds more sensitive to insulin levels and burn more fat at rest and during exerciseNight owls may be more prone to heart disease and diabetes than early birds because their bodies are less able to burn fat for energy, US researchers say.People who rise early rely more on fat as an energy source, and are often more active in the day, than those who stay up later, meaning fat may build up more easily in night owls, the scientists found. Continue reading...
State is the fifth to legalize environmentally friendly process that allows for natural reduction of human remains to soilCalifornia lawmakers have approved a new way of returning those who have died to the earth, after Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill allowing human composting on Sunday.Cremation, which accounts for more than half of burials, is an energy-intensive process that emits chemicals such as CO into the air. Through human composting, or natural organic reduction (NOR), the body is naturally broken down into soil. Continue reading...
Shuffling and studying the pictures on tarot cards can be like a moment of meditationMy first attempts with tarot readings began on a camping trip with a couple of close friends and their friends. It was Christmas before the pandemic and just before the rains.The ground was so thirsty that the deepest waterholes in the creek were stagnant (and carrying some kind of parasite, we heard later). Snakes coiled near us. Continue reading...
Findings will help build more accurate picture of how often space rocks crash into red planetResearchers have located fresh craters on Mars using shock waves caused by lumps of space rock as they tear through the sky and slam into the ground.The new scars on the face of the planet are the first impact craters ever traced from the bang and crash of hurtling meteoroids bombarding another planet. The findings will help scientists build a more accurate picture of how often Mars is battered by the solar system’s rocky detritus and refine their understanding of the deep internal structure of our planetary neighbour. Continue reading...
The answer to today’s puzzleEarlier today I set you the following puzzle about a hypothetical new Covid variant.Just in case this is the first article you have ever read on viruses: R is the reproduction number, meaning the average number of infections caused by any infected person. Continue reading...
The students traveled to salt lakes to collect specimens of unknown arachnids living in the harsh environmentA pair of California scorpion species that may have crawled under the radar for tens of thousands of years have finally been exposed – thanks to the efforts of two Bay Area teenagers. And for one at-risk species, the students’ work could prove life-saving.Prakrit Jain of Los Altos and Harper Forbes of Sunnyvale, 17 and 18 at the time, identified two new species – Paruroctonus soda and Paruroctonus conclusus – after a tip from social media and excursions into the harsh terrain the arachnids inhabit, aided by a black light and Jain’s mother’s car. Continue reading...
How would it spread?UPDATE: The solution can be read hereThe UK’s autumn Covid-19 booster programme is underway, with approximately 26 million people eligible to receive a jab over the next few months.Today’s puzzle imagines a hypothetical new variant, and asks the solver to think about how it would spread. It was set by Professor Adam Kucharski of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, one of the UK’s leading epidemiologists. Continue reading...
Official Wu Zunyou also called for people to avoid ‘skin-to-skin contact’ with those who had been abroad recently, as well as ‘strangers’A senior Chinese health official has advised people to avoid physical contact with foreigners to prevent possible monkeypox infection after the first known case of the virus on mainland China was reported on Friday.“To prevent possible monkeypox infection and as part of our healthy lifestyle, it is recommended that 1) you do not have direct skin-to-skin contact with foreigners,” Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the China Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted on his official Weibo page on Saturday. Continue reading...
The right kind of argument can apparently bring couples closer together. Is bickering about the bread bin a good start?I want to get better at arguing. Not the bitter, exhausting kind that happens online, and not the kind that occurs when you put two French people in a room and within 90 seconds one of them is quoting Montaigne and the other has countered with Immanuel Kant, even though they are talking about, say, low-energy lightbulbs (about which neither of them previously had an opinion).I’m interested in the domestic. I have never mastered the short, sharp spat, which can apparently be quite therapeutic. I wouldn’t know. After an early phase of massive, horrible fights, my motto for decades has been: “Why say something when you could let it fester, explode at the worst possible time, be horrified and grovellingly row back until the next time?” Continue reading...
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts• Click here for this week’s questionIf every person in the world isolated from each other for a certain period of time, say a month, would all transmissible diseases disappear? Lily PaulsPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. A selection will be published next Sunday. Continue reading...
Studies show that women with heart disease are more likely to be misdiagnosed than men, and will have worse outcomes for surgery. What is behind this bias and how can how it be fixed?Heart diseases are still chronically misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed in women. With depressing regularity, we see stories of women failed by the health system when they come to hospitals with the symptoms of a heart attack. As a professor of cardiac science with 40 years’ experience, for me it has been a frustrating journey to get to the real cause of this problem: a combination of professional, systemic and technical biases. The experiences of individual patients are complex to analyse and interpret, but now we can view these effects on a much bigger scale.Women are 50% more likely to receive a wrong initial diagnosis; when they are having a heart attack, such mistakes can be fatal. People who are initially misdiagnosed have a 70% higher risk of dying. The latest studies have similarly shown that women have worse outcomes for heart operations such as valve replacements and peripheral revascularisation. As well as being misdiagnosed, women are less likely to be treated quickly, less likely to get the best surgical treatment and less likely to be discharged with the optimum set of drugs. None of this is excusable, but is it understandable? Continue reading...
People you don’t see face to face can still provide a communityI was raised not to talk to strangers. Strangers, I was taught as a child, are people we’ve never met before, therefore we don’t know them. Childhood me would have been horrified to know that, now in my 30s, I frequently engage with complete randoms without giving it much thought. I’m not just talking about shop staff who make the mistake of asking me how my day is going, only to be met with a very honest, over-sharing response. I mean the way that social media apps have evolved to illicit a reaction or response, how my thumb reflexively double-taps a metronome as I scroll, giving iambic rhythm to the red hearts that pulse before my eyes. I am not alone in counting people I’ve connected with online as my friends, but how do these friendships compare to those we have in person?There is a certain ease in making online connections that can’t be replicated offline and it’s this ease that appeals to the time-poor, emotionally guarded side of me. Follow? Follow back, job done! While I had a large group of friends at secondary school, I wouldn’t say I am now part of anything that looks like Taylor Swift’s #squadgoals, a term often used to describe her large yet intimate circle of friends. Nor would I know how to go about getting a squad. According to Dr Marisa G Franco, psychologist, friendship expert and author of Platonic, making friends as an adult is more complicated than when we were kids. “Children in school have what sociologists consider the essential ingredients for friendship to happen organically, which is repeated unplanned interaction and shared vulnerability. As adults, we don’t really have environments with those elements, because at work we’re maybe more guarded and less vulnerable, even if we see each other every day.” Continue reading...
As her book of essays by female astronomers is published, the veteran scientist reflects on her career as an astronomy prodigy, the face of the Twilight Zone and Richard Feynman’s life modelVirginia Trimble, 78, is a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Irvine, whose astronomy career spans more than 50 years. She has studied the structure and evolution of stars, galaxies and the universe and published more than 1,000 works, including research papers in astronomy, astrophysics, the history of science and scientometrics – the field concerned with measuring scientific outputs – as well book reviews and biographies. She has co-edited The Sky Is for Everyone, a new collection of 37 autobiographical essays by distinguished female astronomers, including herself. Spanning a range of generations and nationalities, each tells of the barriers they have overcome to change the face of modern astronomy.What got you into astronomy?
Research says clicks emitted from whales’ heads are symbolic marking like human social expressionSperm whales are among the deepest divers on the planet. They are natural submarines, spending 70% of their time foraging for squid in the dark ocean for up to 80 minutes at a time. When they break through what Herman Melville called “the ocean’s skin”, they socialise, twisting and turning their grey bodies around one another in a sensual, enigmatic choreography.They measure up to 18 metres long and have the biggest brains on Earth. For at least 200 years, scientists have wondered what these mammals do with those brains. Now, evidence has emerged that may revolutionise the way we think about whales. Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#63N5F)
Research offers evidence that tobacco could damage health of people two generations laterChildren are much more likely to develop asthma if their father was exposed to tobacco smoke when he was growing up, a study has found.And they are at even greater risk of suffering from the common lung condition if their father was a smoker himself, according to the international team of researchers. Continue reading...
Some of the winning images from the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s 14 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. The selection includes the winning image by Gerald Rhemann, Disconnection Event, a rare photograph of a piece of Comet Leonard’s gas tail being disconnected and carried away by the solar wind
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#63PAQ)
Annual satirical awards laud little-known research topics such as why ducklings swim in a line formationIt is one of life’s overlooked arts: the optimal way to turn a knob. Now an investigation into this neglected question has been recognised with one of science’s most coveted accolades: an Ig Nobel prize.After a series of lab-based trials, a team of Japanese industrial designers arrived at the central conclusion that the bigger the knob, the more fingers required to turn it. Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#63PAR)
Doctor says findings show online healthcare can be as effective as face-to-face appointmentsWatching videos about how to cook, eat less and choose healthier foods can help obese children lose weight, reduce their risk of diabetes and become happier, a study has found.The doctor behind the findings believes they can help in treating childhood obesity because they show that online healthcare can be just as effective as face-to-face appointments. Continue reading...
Experts revise initial assumption that sighting was space junk linked to Elon Musk’s satellite programmeA fireball seen over many parts of the northern UK has been confirmed as a meteor after a day of confusion about its identity.The fireball was visible above northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland as it blazed across the clear night sky just after 10pm on Wednesday night. Continue reading...
Research using LinkedIn finds most useful acquaintances share a handful of mutual contactsWhether it’s the friend of a friend or a new contact from a conference, arms-length acquaintances have long been thought more useful than close chums when it comes to switching jobs.Now researchers say they have finally found a way to test the theory, revealing that while such “weak ties” do seem to facilitate job shifts, the most useful share a handful of mutual contacts. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#63P1S)
Theory of inner satellite ripped apart by gas giant’s gravity 100-200m years ago also explains rings’ relative youthSaturn’s famous rings could be the aftermath of a moon that was ripped apart by the planet’s gravity, according to scientists.The research, based on data from the final stage of Nasa’s Cassini mission, suggests that Saturn may have been ringless for almost all of its 4.5bn-year existence. But about 160m years ago, an inner moon strayed too close to the gas giant causing it to be pulled apart, painting out its own orbit in a trail of shattered icy fragments. Continue reading...
UK Meteor Network says it ‘cannot find any known space junk or satellite de-orbit’ to explain objectA fireball seen over Scotland and Northern Ireland is no longer believed to have been space junk from Elon Musk’s satellite programme, according to astronomers examining it.The UK Meteor Network said the fireball was visible for 20 seconds just after 10pm on Wednesday night. It received almost 800 reports from Scotland, North Ireland and northern England. Continue reading...
Study finds CAR T-cell treatment sends lupus into remission, raising hopes it could be used to treat diseases such as multiple sclerosisFive people with severe autoimmune disease have become the first in the world to receive a groundbreaking therapy that uses genetically altered cells to drive the illness into remission.The four women and one man, aged 18 to 24, received transfusions of modified immune cells to treat severe lupus, an autoimmune disease that can cause life-threatening damage to the heart, lungs, brain and kidneys. Continue reading...
Despite what we hear from the media, the reasons so many are gathering are complex and variousBritain is in mourning. This is affirmed every time we turn on the television and see the huge numbers of people watching royal processions, or willing to queue for long hours to file past the Queen’s casket. They have gathered, we are told, “to pay their respects”. They are there “to thank the Queen”. Above all, they are “united in grief”. In this way, a picture is built up of a homogenous national community defined by its love of monarch and monarchy. But things are not that simple.I am part of a team of social psychologists who have long been interested in collective behaviour, and we are investigating the crowds at the various ceremonial events in Edinburgh and London. We are interested in why people gather, how they experience these gatherings and the consequences – both for the individual and for society – of their presence. The first thing we have learned is that any attempt to reduce crowd participation to a single, universal motivation is a distortion. People come along for many different and mixed reasons, not all of which involve allegiance to the monarchy.Stephen Reicher is a professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews, a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and an authority on crowd psychology Continue reading...
Footage circulating on social media purports to show a fireball crossing the sky over Glasgow. Astronomers say the fireball crossed over Scotland and Northern Ireland on Wednesday evening. The UK's Meteor Network say they have received more than 800 reports of sightings and now believe it was 'space debris'
by Produced and presented by Madeleine Finlay with Ha on (#63N4C)
According to the World Health Organisation, air pollution causes 7 million premature deaths every year. We’ve known for a long time that air pollution causes lots of health problems, including lung cancer – but exactly how the two were linked was somewhat of mystery. Last week, a team from the Francis Crick Institute and University College London presented findings that shed new light on the role between air pollution and lung cancer. And, in doing so, could make us rethink how cancer develops.Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian’s science correspondent Hannah Devlin about how scientists uncovered this link – and what it might mean for the future of the field.Archive: Channel 4 News, BBC News, European Society for Medical Oncology Continue reading...
Transition to blue light radiation across Europe increases suppression of sleep hormone melatonin, say scientistsBlue light from artificial sources is on the rise, which may have negative consequences for human health and the wider environment, according to a study.Academics at the University of Exeter have identified a shift in the kind of lighting technologies European countries are using at night to brighten streets and buildings. Using images produced by the International Space Station (ISS), they have found that the orange-coloured emissions from older sodium lights are rapidly being replaced by white-coloured emissions produced by LEDs. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#63MJF)
Scientists at Georgia Tech say press-on innovation opens opportunities for medical and cosmetic usePainless, bloodless tattoos have been created by scientists, who say the technique could have medical and cosmetic applications.The technique, which can be self-administered, uses microneedles to imprint a design into the skin without causing pain or bleeding. Initial applications are likely to be medical – but the team behind the innovation hope that it could also be used in tattoo parlours to provide a more comfortable option. Continue reading...
Trial finds supplements could slow decline by 60% but Alzheimer’s and dementia experts caution larger studies neededA daily multivitamin and mineral supplement may reduce cognitive decline in older people, according to a US study that is the first to demonstrate they may benefit ageing brain function.The trial, involving more than 2,200 over-65s, suggests that daily supplements may slow cognitive decline by about 60%, or nearly two years, with the most substantial effects seen in older people with a history of cardiovascular disease. Continue reading...
Shrimp-like Cystisoma are protected from predators by being virtually invisible – thanks to unique retina and a body that casts almost no shadowThe inky depths of the ocean’s twilight zone are home to fist-sized shrimp-like crustaceans with ridiculously big eyes. Most of Cystisoma’s head is taken up by its eyes – all the better for seeing in the dark. “The bigger you make your eye, the more likely you are to catch any photons that are out there,” says Karen Osborn, research scientist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.A big challenge for animals living in deep midwater, in Cystisoma’s case between 200 and 900 metres down, is to see while not being seen by predators. “It’s basically like playing hide and seek on a football field,” says Osborn. “There’s nothing to duck behind.”
by Sandra Laville Environment correspondent on (#63KTH)
Scheme gets under way as data suggests Environment Agency’s own monitoring leaves rivers unprotectedCitizen scientists are being trained as the best hope to protect rivers from pollution and over-abstraction as data suggests the Environment Agency’s new monitoring programme leaves waterways unprotected.A £7m programme to set up citizen science testing in 10 river catchments across England is under way in an attempt to standardise the way volunteers carry out the monitoring. Continue reading...
Walking around, then sitting down and holding baby for up to eight minutes seems to be the most effective techniqueRather than stumbling back to bed in the early hours after finally soothing their crying baby, sleep-deprived parents may want to peruse the latest scientific literature on the transport of altricial mammals.In an attempt to help those rendered numb by sleep loss, researchers have conducted a series of experiments to find out which approach to wailing infants settles them the best. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#63JWW)
Governments and businesses failing to change fast enough, says United in Science report, as weather gets increasingly extremeThe world’s chances of avoiding the worst ravages of climate breakdown are diminishing rapidly, as we enter “uncharted territory of destruction” through our failure to cut greenhouse gas emissions and take the actions needed to stave off catastrophe, leading scientists have said.Despite intensifying warnings in recent years, governments and businesses have not been changing fast enough, according to the United in Science report published on Tuesday. The consequences are already being seen in increasingly extreme weather around the world, and we are in danger of provoking “tipping points” in the climate system that will mean more rapid and in some cases irreversible shifts.The past seven years were the hottest on record and there is a 48% chance during at least one year in the next five that the annual mean temperature will temporarily be 1.5C higher than the 1850-1900 average.Global mean temperatures are forecast to be between 1.1C and 1.7C higher than pre-industrial levels from 2022-2026, and there is a 93% probability that at least one year in the next five will be warmer than the hottest year on record, 2016.Dips in carbon dioxide emissions during the lockdowns associated with the Covid-19 pandemic were temporary, and carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels returned to pre-pandemic levels last year.National pledges on greenhouse gas emissions are insufficient to hold global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.Climate-related disasters are causing $200m in economic losses a day.Nearly half the planet – 3.3 to 3.6 billion people – are living in areas highly vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis, but fewer than half of countries have early warning systems for extreme weather.As global heating increases, “tipping points” in the climate system cannot be ruled out. These include the drying out of the Amazon rainforest, the melting of the ice caps and the weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, known as the Gulf stream.By the 2050s, more than 1.6 billion people living in 97 cities will be regularly exposed to three-month average temperatures reaching at least 35C. Continue reading...
Two patients take sharply differing approaches as they attempt to beat life-threatening tumours on their own termsReleased to coincide with World Cancer Research day, Thomas Meadmore’s tricky yet involving documentary follows two Britons going rogue in search of a better quality of treatment. Grant Branton, from Brighton, is a sometime biologist reeling after early tests spotted tumours in his bowels while missing shadows in his bones; Surinder Paul, landed with breast cancer, hopes to avoid a mastectomy by leaning hard into oils, juicing and cravatted energy healers – what oncological voice-of-reason Rob Glynne-Jones calls “quackery”. Both have taken their lives into their own hands, which notionally affords them greater control but also obliges them to take critical decisions – even fashion their own suppositories – on ever-dwindling energy reserves.
by Presented by Ian Sample, produced by Madeleine Fin on (#63JBD)
As we collectively mark the loss of the longest-serving monarch in British history and all that she represented on a national scale, many people are feeling a much more personal impact. The Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample, talks to Prof Michael Cholbi about what grief is, how losing a public figure can have such a profound impact on our lives, and why there’s value in grievingArchive: Channel 4 News, BBC News, Sky News Continue reading...
New Shepard rocket fails shortly after launch, but uncrewed capsule jettisons successfullyAn uncrewed rocket belonging to Jeff Bezos’s space company, Blue Origin, failed shortly after launch in Texas on Monday morning, a potential setback for the Amazon founder’s wider ambitions of sending humans into orbit.The malfunction of the New Shepard booster, a type of rocket that is similar to the one Blue Origin has used this year to send three crews of up to six people on suborbital flights, came 1min 4sec after launch and just as the vehicle was reaching its maximum dynamic pressure, known as “max q”. Continue reading...
Dr Susan Howard says psychologists in the 1980s were inspired to challenge the system when treating patients with mental health problemsAs a semi-retired clinical psychologist, I find it depressing that Dr Sanah Ahsan’s article (I’m a psychologist – and I believe we’ve been told devastating lies about mental health, 6 September) should sound so revolutionary. When I trained in the early 1980s, a module entitled “community psychology” was part of the curriculum and addressed the very issues she raises. Like Ahsan, some of us were inspired to challenge the system alongside treating our patients’ mental distress. Unsurprisingly, the module didn’t survive the rise of individualism characterised by the Thatcher years.When, 20 years later, I became a trainer of clinical psychologists, I was surprised and disappointed by how few of my younger colleagues engaged with the impact that structural, socio-economic issues had on our patients’ mental health. The role of clinical psychology had become one of picking up the pieces. Thus we inadvertently reinforced the idea that mental disturbance was the individual’s responsibility. Constraints in our role, with an increasing emphasis on therapeutic work, made it almost impossible to address how structural issues could be ameliorated – for example, by bringing a psychological perspective to community efforts aimed at effecting change. Continue reading...
This week the brightest objects in the constellation are the planet Saturn and the star Deneb AlgediIt is a great time of the year to search out Capricornus, the sea goat. This constellation was identified a few thousand years BC in Babylonian astronomy as the goat-fish, a hybrid creature with the body and head of a goat and the tail of a fish. In Greek mythology, the constellation is often associated with either Amalthea, who suckled Zeus, or Pan, the shepherd god.This week, the brightest object by far in the constellation is the planet Saturn. The chart shows the image looking south from London at midnight as 12 September becomes 13 September. Compare the brightness of Saturn with the brightest star in Capricornus: Deneb Algedi, just off to the east. Then carefully trace out the constellation. Continue reading...
Doctors hail new era for cancer screening as major research shows effectiveness of Galleri testDoctors have told health services to prepare for a new era of cancer screening after a study found a simple blood test could spot multiple cancer types in patients before they develop clear symptoms.The Pathfinder study offered the blood test to more than 6,600 adults aged 50 and over, and detected dozens of new cases of disease. Many cancers were at an early stage and nearly three-quarters were forms not routinely screened for. Continue reading...
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsIf every person in the world isolated from each other for a certain period of time, say a month, would all transmissible diseases disappear? Lily PaulsPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. A selection will be published next Sunday. Continue reading...
Experts agree on importance of traditions seen after Queen’s death in enabling bereaved to process lossThe death of Queen Elizabeth II has plunged the royal household and much of the country into a period of mourning, with black armbands and flags at half mast. While such traditions may seem far removed from everyday experiences of bereavement, experts say rituals can help us cope with death.“Mourning plays an important role in bereavement because it’s a way of externalising the emotions and thoughts of grief and, through that, incorporating the loss into your life and beginning to heal,” said Dr Lucy Selman, an associate professor in end-of-life care at the University of Bristol and the founding director of Good Grief Festival. Continue reading...
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