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When Christie Watson put on an HRT patch she found herself thinking about sex, all the time. What was going on?I began using HRT patches at 42, after a seemingly catastrophic breakdown that resulted in my climbing into a Sainsbury’s fish-finger freezer. My mental health was horrendous. I felt totally outside my own skin, dissociated, and that I’d lost my sense of self. I told a therapist that I related to Mrs Dalloway, a chronically depressed – and arguably narcissistic and bourgeois – fictional Virginia Woolf character. She suggested that these feelings could all be down to perimenopause, a term I’d only heard of vaguely, in passing, even as a former nurse. Perimenopause, she told me, can be an extremely rocky road, lasting up to a decade before menopause itself.My GP didn’t bat an eyelid at my bizarre symptoms, but offered me low-dose HRT patches and described the side-effects as minimal in most people. Some women experience breast tenderness or feeling sick, or headaches but, she said, this usually settled down. I hoped the patches would lead to fewer perimenopausal symptoms and a balancing out of my mood, some comfort and at least some realism. Continue reading...

Guardian Australia picture editor Carly Earl explains the dos and don’ts of photographing the moon

This week, Yvonne Roberts on the importance of small talk (1m34s), Emine Saner meets Nickelodeon actor Jennette McCurdy to discuss her explosive new memoir (7m15s), and Hadley Freeman has an out of body experience with shoe designer-turned-psychedelic-guide Patrick Cox (22m56s) Continue reading...

She may not have been part of our immediate family but many of us feel that, during her 70-year reign, we have ‘grown up’ with her

Weeks after installing a network of meteor-detecting cameras, the members of Fireballs Aotearoa were granted their dearest wish: a rock that fell to EarthIt looks like a scene from a crime show as a search party in hi-vis jackets walks in formation, heads down, searching the brush for clues. But this group is not looking for evidence of a crime, they are after something harder to find: celestial debris from the formation of our solar system.On 28 August, just before 11pm, an immense bright light was seen streaking across New Zealand’s southern sky, followed by a sonic boom. The spectacle, like a brushstroke of white paint on black ink, was captured by 20 hi-tech cameras across Southland set up for this exact event – a meteor entering the atmosphere above, and hopefully landing in, New Zealand. Continue reading...

Student’s find provides new evidence region may be one of first places early humans settled outside AfricaArchaeologists in Georgia have found a 1.8m-year-old tooth belonging to an early species of human that they say cements the region as the home of one of the earliest prehistoric human settlements in Europe, and possibly anywhere outside Africa.The tooth was discovered near the village of Orozmani, which lies about 60 miles south-west of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and is near Dmanisi, where human skulls dated to 1.8m years old were found in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Continue reading...

A dozen women to receive womb transplants as part of clinical trials at Royal Women’s hospital in Sydney

Giant ice sheets, ocean currents and permafrost regions may already have passed point of irreversible changeThe climate crisis has driven the world to the brink of multiple “disastrous” tipping points, according to a major study.It shows five dangerous tipping points may already have been passed due to the 1.1C of global heating caused by humanity to date. Continue reading...

Results believed to be first compelling evidence that modern humans were cognitively better than NeanderthalsNeanderthals have long been portrayed as our dim-witted, thuggish cousins. Now groundbreaking research has – while not confirmed the stereotype – revealed striking differences in the brain development of modern humans and Neanderthals.The study involved inserting a Neanderthal brain gene into mice, ferrets and “mini brain” structures called organoids, grown in the lab from human stem cells. The experiments revealed that the Neanderthal version of the gene was linked to slower creation of neurons in the brain’s cortex during development, which scientists said could explain superior cognitive abilities in modern humans. Continue reading...

Readers and healthcare professionals respond to Dr Sanah Ahsan’s article which argued that for too long, the dominant mental health narrative has located problems in individuals, and not in social injustice or inequalityLike Dr Sanah Ahsan (I’m a psychologist – and I believe we’ve been told devastating lies about mental health, 6 September), I too work as a clinical psychologist and I see every day the impact of inequality, social injustice and abuse of power on individuals’ mental health (and by association, the mental health of their children, partners, colleagues and acquaintances).For too long, the dominant narrative locates problems in individuals, medicalises them and leaves people feeling helpless, ill and stigmatised. It is as though they are defective, and not positive and resilient enough. This lie affects people from all walks of life, but most severely those who are already disfranchised through poverty and inequality. Continue reading...

Eggs from chickens kept indoors due to bird flu outbreaks could still be labelled free range, raising concerns among UK producersEggs produced in the EU could continue to be labelled as “free range”, even if the birds are not allowed outside, under new proposals.The European Commission has put forward plans for scrapping the time limit on the marketing of eggs as free range if chickens are forced to be housed to reduce the risk of outbreaks of bird flu. Continue reading...

According to a recent study, more than 14% of the world’s population probably has, or has had, tick-borne Lyme disease – an infection that can cause long and debilitating symptoms. That number is set to rise too, as climate and environment changes continue to increase tick populations and distribution.To help prevent some of these cases, pharmaceutical company Pfizer and biotech company Valneva will soon be testing a new vaccine against Lyme disease with 6,000 volunteers across Europe and in the US.Madeleine Finlay speaks to Dr Eoin Healy about what Lyme disease is and how the vaccine works, and hears from a special guest about their own experience of getting ill with the disease.Archive: BBC News, TODAY Continue reading...

This ocean warming controls the rate of climate change, and the effects such as sea level rise are irreversible on human timescalesOver the last 50 years, the oceans have been working in overdrive to slow global warming, absorbing about 40% of our carbon dioxide emissions, and more than 90% of the excess heat trapped in the atmosphere.But as our research published today in Nature Communications has found, some oceans work harder than others. Continue reading...

Research involving 103,000 French adults shows sweeteners ‘should not be considered a healthy and safe alternative to sugar’Artificial sweeteners are linked to an increased risk of heart disease and “should not be considered a healthy and safe alternative to sugar”, according to researchers.The harmful effects of added sugars have been long established for multiple chronic diseases, leading food companies to use artificial sweeteners instead in a wide range of food and drinks consumed daily by millions of people worldwide. Continue reading...

The protein, named Maia after the Greek goddess of motherhood, appears to be involved in the fusion of sperm and eggsA fundamental step in human fertilisation has been discovered by researchers who say it may offer new insights into unexplained infertility.Experts have identified a new protein that is found on the surface of human eggs. Nicknamed Maia, after the Greek goddess of motherhood, the protein appears to be involved in the fusion of sperm and eggs. Continue reading...

High levels of distress before coronavirus infection raises risk of long Covid, say Harvard researchersPeople who are highly stressed, anxious, lonely or depressed before catching coronavirus are more prone to long Covid than those in good mental health, according to a major study.A Harvard analysis of health data from nearly 55,000 US volunteers, most of whom were women, found that high levels of psychological distress before Covid infection raised the risk of long-term illness by 32%-46%. Continue reading...

Scientists drew on 72-year-old Scot’s rare condition to help identify people with neurological conditionScientists have harnessed the power of a woman’s hyper-sensitive sense of smell to develop a test to determine whether people have Parkinson’s disease.The test has been years in the making after academics realised that Joy Milne could smell the condition. The 72-year-old from Perth, Scotland, has a rare condition that gives her a heightened sense of smell. Continue reading...

In 2020, scientists found sparkling Peinaleopolynoe on hydothermal vents in the eastern Pacific – and were irresistibly reminded of the king of rock’n’rollNearly 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) underwater in the Pescadero basin in the Gulf of California lie some of the Pacific’s deepest hydrothermal vents – and they’re covered in small iridescent worms. “You’ll see little pink sparkly worms, blue ones, red ones, black ones and white ones,” says Avery Hiley, a graduate researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego.These are hungry scale-worms, or Peinaleopolynoe – peinaléos meaning “hungry” or “famished” in Greek – named as such because they were first found clustered around a pile of food that scientists had left experimentally on the deep-sea floor. For years they have been nicknamed “Elvis worms” for their sparkling scales, reminiscent of the sequined jumpsuits worn by Elvis Presley. Continue reading...

Study of 130,000 women used genetic analysis to establish causal link between activity levels and cancer riskIncreasing physical activity and reducing time spent sedentary is likely to decrease the risk of breast cancer, a study of more than 100,000 women suggests.An international team including researchers from Australia, the UK and US have used genetic analysis to establish a causal relationship between overall activity levels and cancer risk. Continue reading...

Children aged 5-11 will no longer be offered Covid jabs, except those in clinical risk groups, UKHSA confirmsThe decision to reduce the number of children who are offered Covid jabs has prompted outcry from parent groups and academics.The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said children who had not turned five by the end of last month would not be offered a vaccination, in line with advice published by the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) in February 2022. UKHSA said the offer of Covid jabs to healthy five to 11-year-olds was always meant to be temporary. Continue reading...

Milder winters could threaten crop yields as plant-eating insects spread northwards and become more voracious, researchers sayAgricultural pests that devour key food crops are advancing northwards in the US and becoming more widespread as the climate hots up, new research warns.The corn earworm (Helicoverpa zea) is considered to be among the most common farm pests in the US, ravaging crops such as maize, cotton, soya and other vegetables. It spends winter underground and is not known to survive in states beyond a latitude of 40 degrees north (which runs from northern California through the midwest to New Jersey), but that is changing as soils warm and it spreads to new areas, according to research led by North Carolina State University. Continue reading...

Society’s understanding of mental health issues locates the problem inside the person – and ignores the politics of their distressWe are living, we’re told, through a “mental health crisis”. Mental health services cannot cope with the explosion of demand over the past two years: 1.6 million people are on waiting lists, while another 8 million need help but can’t even get on these lists. Even children are showing up at A&E in despair, wanting to die.But there is another way to see this crisis – one that doesn’t place it firmly in the realm of the medical system. Doesn’t it make sense that so many of us are suffering? Of course it does: we are living in a traumatising and uncertain world. The climate is breaking down, we’re trying to stay on top of rising living costs, still weighted with grief, contagion and isolation, while revelations about the police murdering women and strip-searching children shatter our faith in those who are supposed to protect us.Dr Sanah Ahsan is a clinical psychologist, poet, writer, presenter and educatorDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.com Continue reading...

Last week, a team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The plant was seized by Russian forces in early May and has recently been the target of sustained shelling, increasing the risk of a nuclear disaster. The head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, who is leading the inspection team, has reported that the integrity of the plant has been violated several times.Ian Sample speaks to Prof Claire Corkhill about what this could mean for Zaporizhzhia, what the risks are if the plant loses external power, and how a nuclear meltdown can be avoidedArchive: BBC News, 60 Minutes Continue reading...

New Zealand researchers believe the isolated spruce could reveal much about the Southern Ocean, one of the world’s major carbon sinksIt is regarded as the “loneliest tree in the world” but the Sitka spruce on uninhabited Campbell Island has been keeping good company of late – with a team of New Zealand researchers who believe it could help unlock climate change secrets.The nine-metre tall spruce holds the Guinness World Record title for the “remotest tree” on the planet. It is the sole tree on the shrubby, windswept island, 700 kilometres south of New Zealand in the Southern Ocean. It’s the only tree for 222km around; its nearest neighbour grows on the Auckland Islands. Continue reading...

The solution to today’s puzzleEarlier today I set you this puzzle about PINs, the four-digit passcodes we use for phones and bank accounts.In the comments, many people said that the answer was obvious. These people fell into the trap.xx--x-x-x--x-xx--x-x--xx Continue reading...

From subatomic particles to human beings, interaction is what shapes realityQuantum theory is perhaps the most successful scientific idea ever. So far, it has never been proved wrong. It is stupendously predictive, it has clarified the structure of the periodic table, the functioning of the sun, the colour of the sky, the nature of chemical bonds, the formation of galaxies and much more. The technologies we have been able to build as a result range from computers to lasers to medical instruments.Yet, a century after its birth, something remains deeply puzzling about quantum theory. Unlike its illustrious predecessor, Newton’s classical mechanics, it does not tell us how physical systems behave. Instead, it confines itself to predicting the probability that a physical system will affect us in one way or another. When an electron is fired from one side of a wall with two holes, for instance, quantum theory tells us where it will end up on the other side, stubbornly saying nothing plausible about which hole it has gone through. It treats any physical system as a black box: if you do this to it now, it will react like that later. What happens in between? The theory simply doesn’t tell us. Continue reading...

Strategies for security codesUPDATE: You can read the solutions hereWhen it comes to choosing PIN numbers for our bank cards or our phones, the most popular numbers are the obvious ones , such as 1234, 1111, 1212 etc, according to what you read on the web.Today’s puzzle is about what is the best strategy when you choose the digits randomly. Continue reading...

When zoos were closed some primates became solitary and sedentary while others displayed dominant behaviourHumans weren’t the only ones to develop bad habits during lockdown. According to new research, some primates in zoos became more solitary and sedentary, and others displayed more sexually and physically dominant behaviour.The study compared the behaviour of bonobos, chimpanzees, baboons and gorillas in a zoo and safari park in 2020, when they were hidden from the gaze of humans during lockdown, with how they behaved after visitors returned. Continue reading...

The nights are drawing in to help stargazers, and this pair will be brilliantly brightSeptember in the northern hemisphere sees the start of astronomy’s observing season, when the nights begin to draw in, making stargazing easier. Greet the new season this coming weekend with the pleasing pairing of Jupiter and the virtually full moon.The chart shows the view looking east-south-east from London at 22.00 BST on Sunday 11 September. Also visible in the south-east, so just off this chart, will be Saturn, shining with its soft ochre colour. But the stars of the show are Jupiter and the moon. Both will be brilliantly bright, especially the moon, which will be 97% illuminated from our viewpoint. Continue reading...

British Museum among those loaning items to help Ad Gefrin visitor centre tell story of Northumbria’s golden ageRare Anglo-Saxon treasures from the British Museum are “returning home” to the north-east of England to help tell the story of a royal court in Northumbria’s golden age.The objects include one of the finest examples of Anglo-Saxon glass ever found in England and a replica of one of the superstars of Northumbrian artistry, the Franks Casket. Continue reading...

A scheme aims to help Australia become the first country to offer preventive genetic testing through public healthcare. Is that knowledge power?

The Tasmanian tiger was declared extinct in the 1980s, but now a team of scientists from the US and Australia want to bring it back to life – launching an ambitious multimillion-dollar project, with the backing of investors and celebrities like Chris Hemsworth. However, some in the scientific community question whether this project is worthwhile and scientifically possible.The Guardian Australia climate and environment editor Adam Morton speaks to Laura Murphy-Oates about the science behind bringing back the Tasmanian tiger and what this project could mean for the broader extinction crisisRead more: Continue reading...

In modern Britain, millions of kids grow up learning two languages or more – and experts believe fluidity in language has some surprising advantagesFor many three-year-olds growing up in the UK, it’s challenging enough to learn and master one language, usually English. Yet there’s another rising demographic of young children who are acquiring and absorbing vocabulary from multiple languages before they even start primary school.In 2021 there were around 6 million people with non-British nationality living in the UK, with 9.6m people born abroad – 35% of whom live in London. In the social sciences, this relatively new landscape of such diverse national origins is often referred to as “superdiversity” – a term coined by the German anthropologist Professor Steven Vertovec. The UK’s superdiversity is reflected in our school system, with around 20% of pupils speaking English as an additional language. In London schools, more than 300 different languages are spoken. Continue reading...

Twin academics Perry Zurn and Dani S Bassett fought to forge idiosyncratic paths through academia – then put that knowledge to use in a seven-year study of how we learnIn the early 17th century, there was a room in a house in Copenhagen bursting with hundreds of objects: bones and shells and taxidermised birds, not to mention weapons and rocks and a stuffed polar bear cub hanging from the ceiling. This was the Museum Wormianum, collected and curated by the Danish physician and philosopher Olaus Wormius, or Ole Worm to most. Four hundred years later, this quintessential cabinet of curiosities still inspires philosophy professor Perry Zurn and bioengineering professor Dani S Bassett, identical twins. What provoked Worm to collect? Which electrical signals were firing in his brain? How would the Enlightenment eccentric have behaved given access to Wikipedia?These are questions asked in Zurn and Bassett’s latest work, Curious Minds: The Power of Connection, in which they investigate the neurological, historical, philosophical, and linguistic foundations of curiosity. What exactly is curiosity? Where does it come from and how does it work? In a manuscript peppered with questions, the academics explore everything from Plutarch to Google algorithms, to argue that curiosity is networked. “It works by linking ideas, facts, perceptions, sensations and data points together,” they write in the book, “Yet it also works within human grids of friendship, society and culture.” Continue reading...

Treatments based on barnyard material and unprocessed milk may be developed by 2027An international team of scientists is working on a “farm dust” treatment to stop children developing allergies as research reveals the protective benefits of being brought up on a farm can last into adulthood.The study has found evidence that children brought up on family farms have greater protection into early adulthood from allergic rhinitis, a reaction that can cause a runny nose, sneezing and red eyes. Continue reading...

Head of US space agency suggests maiden test flight will probably be delayed until the middle of OctoberNasa called off its latest attempt to launch the groundbreaking Artemis 1 moon rocket on Saturday after failing to stem a fuel leak discovered during tanking. It was the second time in five days that technical issues had kept the spacecraft on the launchpad.Mission managers at Kennedy Space Center waited until late in the countdown to scrub the liftoff after the failure of several workarounds to try to plug the leak of liquid hydrogen as it was being pumped into the core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Continue reading...

After moving from South Korea I struggled to fit in. But I began to see a new way of understanding empathy through debatingWhen I moved from South Korea to Australia at the age of eight, I learned the worst part of crossing language lines was adjusting to live conversation – to its rapid, layered rhythms and many about-faces. Once spun out, the best I could do was wait for a topic change or long pause to regain a foothold. Tripping over loose words and broken sentences, I never got far.This was a problem because there were many things I did not understand about my new home – why all public figures (including politicians) presented as sports fans, why strangers were called “mates”, why none of the food was spiced. Unable to ask questions, let alone to raise objections, I began to wear a distant smile and to retreat into the private corners of my mind. Continue reading...

Fuel leak comes after Nasa fixed an engine issue that postponed the original launch attempt five days earlierNasa’s pioneering moon rocket sprang a hazardous fuel leak Saturday, throwing into doubt chances of a successful launch on a test flight that must go well before astronauts climb aboard.The Artemis 1 was poised to make a second attempt to fly on Saturday afternoon after the US space agency declared it had identified and fixed an engine issue that caused the postponement of the original launch attempt five days earlier. Continue reading...

Remains from Chad desert provoke rancorous dispute over whether species was earliest to walk uprightIt is a dispute that has taken a long time to reach boiling point. Seven million years after an apelike creature – since nicknamed Toumaï – traversed the landscape of modern Chad, its means of mobility has triggered a dispute among fossil experts. Some claim this was the oldest member of the human lineage. Others that it was just an old ape.The row, kindled by a paper in Nature, last week led scientists to denounce opponents while others accused rivals of building theories on “less than five minutes’ observation” . Continue reading...

Four minutes of idle chat with a stranger could lead to new connections, a study by economists findsThe golden rule of small talk, as anyone who has worked behind a bar can testify, is don’t say what’s on your mind. Rule two, avoid any reference to politics, religion, money, death, health and sex. The price of a pint and the weather are safe bets, and can be discussed in idle chat night after night, often with the same regular, as if never mentioned before. No confrontation, little harm done, nothing given away. Or so it was once thought.Now, economists Professor Daniel Sgroi and Neha Bose from the University of Warwick have conducted what they think is the first study of its kind, putting 338 individuals through an IQ and personality test before placing them in pairs to play two money games in which the extent of cooperation affected the outcome. Continue reading...

Space agency to cause collision with Dimorphos to test if it can avert sci-fi fears of catastrophic impact with EarthIn a few weeks, Nasa controllers will deliberately crash their $330m Dart robot spacecraft into an asteroid. The half-tonne probe will be travelling at more than four miles a second when it strikes its target, Dimorphos, and will be destroyed.The aim of this kamikaze science mission is straightforward: space engineers want to learn how to deflect asteroids in case one is ever discovered on a collision course with Earth. Observations of Dart’s impact on Dimorphos’s orbit will provide crucial data about how well spacecraft can protect Earth from asteroid armageddon, they say. Continue reading...

Individual hospitalised with the virus had recently travelled to west Africa, say public health officialsA second monkeypox strain has been identified in the UK, linked with travel to west Africa, public health officials have said.According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), an individual who had recently travelled to west Africa has been admitted to the high consequence infectious diseases (HCID) unit at the Royal Liverpool University hospital in Merseyside with the strain. Continue reading...

New paper issues ‘warning to humanity’ as it calls for urgent action to protect world’s 60,000 tree speciesScientists have issued an urgent “warning to humanity” about the global impact of tree extinctions.A new paper predicts severe consequences for people, wildlife and the planet’s ecosystems if the widespread loss of trees continues. “Last year, we published the State of the World’s Trees report, where we showed at least 17,500 tree species, about a third of the world’s 60,000 tree species, are at risk of extinction,” said Malin Rivers, lead author of the paper and head of conservation prioritisation at Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). “Now we want to highlight why it matters that so many tree species are going extinct. Continue reading...

I WILL NEVER APOLOGISE! But perhaps I may have been a tiny bit OTT about some things …

Men given a dose of gonadotropin-releasing hormone every two hours showed improvements in cognitive function in small-scale trialRegular doses of a hormone may help to boost cognitive skills in people with Down’s syndrome, a pilot study has suggested.Researchers fitted seven men who have Down’s syndrome with a pump that provided a dose of GnRH, a gonadotropin-releasing hormone, every two hours for six months. Continue reading...

About 1.5m people in UK say Covid after-effects are adversely affecting daily activitiesAn estimated 430,000 Britons were still suffering from long Covid two years after first contracting the virus, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics.One in every 32 people in the UK was estimated to have some form of long Covid at the end of July, equivalent to 2 million people. Of those, around 1.5 million said their symptoms were adversely affecting their daily activities, while 384,000 said their ability to undertake daily activities had been “limited a lot”. Continue reading...

Regular users no more likely to lack drive than non-users – but motivation may wane while under the influenceCannabis users are often depicted as lazy “stoners” whose life ambitions span little further than lying on the sofa eating crisps. But research from the University of Cambridge challenges this stereotype, showing that regular users appear no more likely to lack motivation compared with non-users.The research also found no difference in motivation for rewards, pleasure taken from rewards, or the brain’s response when seeking rewards, compared with non-users. Continue reading...

Telescope uses infrared light to reveal blazing gas giant shrouded in dusty red cloudsA blazing gas giant shrouded in dusty red clouds has been revealed in unprecedented observations of a planet beyond our solar system.The observations, which astronomers said marked a “historic moment for astronomy”, are the first direct images of a planet beyond our solar system by Nasa’s $10bn (£8.65bn) James Webb space telescope. They are also the first images of an exoplanet using infrared light, which gives a far more precise indication of a planet’s mass and temperature and will allow astronomers to detect the movement of clouds drifting across the planet’s sky. Continue reading...

George Monbiot criticised ‘chefs and foodies’ like me for focusing on regenerative grazing. But alternative, lab-grown foods, could have terrible consequencesI have huge admiration for George Monbiot, a columnist of this newspaper. His work has highlighted the urgent need to reduce our CO2 emissions and switch to greener energy. He has also shown intensive farming’s role in the dramatic levels of species decline and biodiversity loss. Much of what he writes I wholeheartedly agree with – but when it comes to the solutions we need to change our farming and food systems, we have radically different takes.It is indisputable that the farming “revolution” of the 1950s, with its widespread use of ammonia fertilisers and herbicides, pesticides and fungicides, has waged war on nature. These intensive, monocultural ways of producing food are not only contaminating our land and waterways, but are heating up our planet and contributing to a crisis in human health (more people die of diet-related disease globally than smoking, according to a study published in the Lancet). The animals in factory farms don’t have a great time either. The decline of insect life is incredibly worrying: without the earthworm, beetle and bee, life as we know it could cease. Topsoils, which we use to grow 95% of the world’s food, are depleting at an astonishing rate. We need to change the way we eat and produce food, and we need to do it quickly.Thomasina Miers is a cook, writer and restaurateurDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.com Continue reading...

A survey found 70% of UK adults are planning to heat their homes less, as energy prices soar. But what could be the effect?Keeping the heating turned off is one surefire way of reducing gas and electricity bills this winter, but it could come at the expense of people’s health – particularly those with heart and lung conditions.According to a survey of more than 2,000 UK adults, 23% are planning to do without heating this winter, while about 70% said they planned to turn their heating on less. Yet each centigrade degree reduction below 18C in Britain has been calculated to correspond with an extra 3,500 deaths. Here are the main ways in which cold homes can contribute to worse health. Continue reading...