When it comes to recall, it’s very much a case of ‘use it, don’t lose it’. Here’s how you can improve yours, at any age...The forgetting curve is a visual representation of how much we forget if we don’t try to retain what we learn (a lot; pretty much everything). To combat that, it’s vital to test your recall at intervals. You don’t need to try to remember something specific: Nishant Kasibhatla, memory expert, grand master of memory and memory Guinness record holder, says you can improve your memory by practising recall at any time. Try it when you next get a coffee: “Who were the people in the queue? What colour was that poster? What else was on the menu?” Continue reading...
Formation of solid iron core 550m years ago restored magnetic field and protected surfaceAt the centre of the Earth, a giant sphere of solid iron is slowly swelling. This is the inner core and scientists have recently uncovered intriguing evidence that suggests its birth half a billion years ago may have played a key role in the evolution of life on Earth.At that time, our planet’s magnetic field was faltering – and that would have had critical consequences, they argue. Normally this field protects life on the surface by repelling cosmic radiation and charged particles emitted by our sun. Continue reading...
Expert fear that new variants will emerge and stress the need to prepare the best drugs to combat itHealth authorities need to act urgently to prepare for an autumn that could see further waves of Covid-19 cases spreading across the UK.That is the clear warning from scientists and doctors after last week’s figures revealed another dramatic jump in cases. More than 2 million people across Britain were found to be infected for the week ending 24 June, a rise of more than 30% on the preceding week. Continue reading...
Learning a craft can change lives – and a scheme showing inmates how to use a needle and thread has had some remarkable resultsIt’s a balmy afternoon in southwest London and there’s a deafening sound overhead. My companion, Sebastian, jumps excitedly to his feet and leaps outside into the sun-dappled courtyard. Cupping one hand over his eyes, he points the other towards a luxury Pullman train clattering past us at great speed, before breaking into an enormous smile. “The first time I came to this workshop, I heard the big wheels and the ground shook!” he says, his voice quivering, and with good reason. Only a few years ago, Sebastian (not his real name) was locked down for 23 and a half hours every day in his prison cell, with meals brought to his door, and no sense of movement at all.“Fine Cell Work was a godsend during that time,” Sebastian tells me – as he recalls the early months of the Covid-19 outbreak. “They went above and beyond to get work to people. We really felt that somebody was looking out for us.” When Fine Cell Work (FCW) was created in 1997 by Lady Anne Tree, her idea of patronage through embroidery seemed quaint to some, perhaps even lightweight in its ethos. What could needlework possibly offer prisoners in their darkest hour? And how could stitching and sewing clear a path towards recovery and rehabilitation upon their release? Over the past 25 years, this charity has shown just how powerful a French knot can be. Since its first needlework groups were set up in HMPs Cookham Wood, Maidstone and Wandsworth, FCW has taught intricate needlework to more than 8,000 prisoners, sending volunteers into 32 prisons across the UK, with an aim to enable their apprentices to lead independent, crime-free lives. Continue reading...
The Cosquer cave near Marseille astonished the diver who discovered it with its ancient depictions of sea and land animals. Now it has been painstakingly recreated in the French port for all to enjoyIt was in 1985 that the diver Henri Cosquer discovered, along the coast from Marseille, what has been called an “underwater Lascaux” after the famous cave network in the Dordogne. After several failed attempts, he managed to follow a narrow tunnel, 120ft below the surface of the sea, for almost 400ft and emerged in a stunning decorated chamber. Subsequent visits revealed many images of the horses, ibexes and deer common in prehistoric cave art, but also unprecedented pictures of seals and what look very much like penguins, including one which seems to show two males competing for a watching female. This initially raised questions about authenticity, though carbon dating of the charcoal confirmed that the drawings were prehistoric. The birds were later identified not as penguins but great auks (known in French as grands pingouins), an extinct species that looks similar but is not in fact closely related.The cave came to wider public attention when three divers drowned there in 1991. It was classified as a historic monument the following year and the French state has conducted ever more precise and detailed surveys using laser scanners and high-definition photography. Portable devices can now also carry out chemical analysis, for example of pigments, on the spot. But the Cosquer cave is the only known decorated cave with an entrance under the sea, and until now it has only been accessible to very experienced divers. Global warming means that it is eventually likely to be submerged and that its amazing rock art will only be preserved virtually. It is particularly to be welcomed, therefore, that a compellingly accurate replica has now opened to the public at a prime site in Marseille, where it is hoped it will attract about 500,000 visitors a year. Continue reading...
Covering of feathers left them able to cope when other creatures died off in mass extinction event, scientists sayFossil hunters have traced the rise of the dinosaurs back to the freezing winters the beasts endured while roaming around the far north.Footprints of the animals and stone deposits from north-west China suggest dinosaurs became adapted to the cold in polar regions before a mass extinction event paved the way for their reign at the end of the Triassic. Continue reading...
There can be no one unifying theory, writes Prof Jonathan Bard, while Nicholas Maxwell looks to the role of purposive actions and Pete Bibby says the fittest theory will surviveStephen Buranyi misses some key points in his article (Do we need a new theory of evolution?, 28 June). Darwin saw novel speciation as resulting from natural selection acting on anatomical variants, but that simple skeleton needed fleshing out. It took a century of research, for example, for us to understand the importance of inheritance in very small populations if novel variants were to become predominant.The major problems in understanding evolutionary change today are as follows. First, working out how anatomical variants form – and this is hard because we don’t yet have a full understanding of how normal embryology works (evolution, it has been claimed, is development gone wrong) and can only rarely recognise a favourable mutation. Second, unpicking the generally opaque processes of selection (there are at least four independent reasons why zebra stripes would be favoured). Third, understanding why substantial evolutionary change seems so slow, albeit that this is what the fossil record demonstrates. This is the topic that excites the community that Buranyi discusses, even though modern molecular genetics and systems biology show that heritable novelties can form more rapidly than they realise. Continue reading...
Lack of gravity and weightlessness means the longer astronauts stay in space, the more bone mass they loseAstronauts lose decades’ worth of bone mass in space that many do not recover even after a year back on Earth, researchers have found, warning that it could be a “big concern” for future missions to Mars.Previous research has shown astronauts lose between 1% and 2% of bone density for every month spent in space, as the lack of gravity takes pressure off their legs when it comes to standing and walking. Continue reading...
Fossils of Ailurarctos, an extinct panda relative, are oldest known evidence for the radial sesamoidAncient fossils discovered in China have helped researchers get a grip on the enduring mystery of the panda’s false thumb.Modern giant pandas sport a thumb-like sixth digit on their wrists, which scientists believe was pivotal in their transition from omnivores to bamboo-munching vegetarians. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#60YH3)
DNA analysis of 164 individuals from 2,800 to 300 years ago shows men would move to be with their wivesThe world’s earliest seafarers who set out to colonise remote Pacific islands nearly 3,000 years ago were a matrilocal society with communities organised around the female lineage, analysis of ancient DNA suggests.The research, based on genetic sequencing of 164 ancient individuals from 2,800 to 300 years ago, suggested that some of the earliest inhabitants of islands in Oceania had population structures in which women almost always remained in their communities after marriage, while men left their mother’s community to live with that of their wife. This pattern is strikingly different from that of patrilocal societies, which appeared to be the norm in ancient populations in Europe and Africa. Continue reading...
Device which can dissolve in the body represents an ‘engineering approach to treating pain’An implant which can cool nerves to block pain signals has been unveiled by researchers who say the device could offer an alternative to drugs such as opioids.The team behind the device say it could bring benefits for management of acute pain such as that experienced after amputations, nerve grafts or spinal decompression surgeries. Continue reading...
by Sophie Kevany, Tom Levitt and Tom Carstensen on (#60YCP)
The extermination of 15 million animals and unnecessary shutdown of an entire industry has cost taxpayers billionsThe Danish government lacked legal justification and made “grossly misleading” statements when it ordered a mass mink extermination two years ago, according to an official inquiry into Europe’s first compulsory farm sector shutdown, which has cost taxpayers billions in compensation to farmers.In November 2020, Denmark, the world’s largest mink producer, announced it would kill its entire farmed mink population of 15 million animals, because of fears that a Covid-19 mutation moving from mink to humans could jeopardise future vaccines. Continue reading...
With vaccines preventing most serious illness and death, any talk of bringing back restrictions is pure scaremongeringFour months ago, the UK took the decision to end all remaining legal Covid-19 restrictions, becoming the first major country in the world to do so. While some said it was too soon and that it would lead to a surge in cases, hospitalisations and deaths, this has thankfully not been the case. Instead, we have replaced the protection from lockdowns with the protection from science in the power of vaccines.Seeing and taking part in the incredible scenes around the UK to celebrate the Queen’s platinum jubilee just over three weeks ago showed just how far we have come in living with this virus. But even though we can rely on vaccines to protect us from severe illness or death, a virus as transmissible as Covid will not be eradicated. I have consistently said that Covid “will always be around” and that we should “live with Covid as we do flu”.Matt Hancock is the Conservative MP for West Suffolk, and former secretary of state for health and social careDo 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...
by Presented by Ian Sample with Nicholas Grassly. Pro on (#60XN2)
Last week, public health officials declared a ‘national incident’ after they found vaccine-derived poliovirus in London sewage samples. No cases of polio symptoms have been reported but there is evidence the virus is spreading. So what does it mean to have found the virus almost 20 years after the UK was declared polio-free? Ian Sample speaks to epidemiologist Nicholas Grassly to find out how worried we should be and what it means for the global effort to eradicate polio.Archive: Sky News Continue reading...
Reopened trial to look at whether plasma with high levels of antibodies can help save lives of immunosuppressedDoctors have treated the first UK patient in a reopened clinical trial that will explore whether blood plasma from “super donors” can help fight Covid in those with weakened immune systems.Super donors produce exceptionally high levels of antibodies after infection and vaccination, and there are hopes that transfusions of their blood plasma can wipe out the virus in people whose own immune systems are compromised. Continue reading...
Dogs genetically most similar to ancient Siberian wolves, but they are not direct ancestors and plenty of questions remainThe tale of how grey wolves became the pet dog of today has received a new twist, with research suggesting our furry companions arose not just from one population of wild ancestors, but two.Dogs were the first animals to be domesticated by humans, an event thought to have happened somewhere between 15,000 and 30,000 years ago when humans were living as hunter gatherers. Continue reading...
Frank, warm and funny podcaster and campaigner who raised millions for bowel cancer charitiesIn the last five years of her life, Deborah James, who has died aged 40 from cancer, never stopped talking about life as worth living. She did this as co-host of BBC Radio 5 Live’s award-winning, lively podcast about living with cancer, You, Me and the Big C, originally alongside the broadcast journalist Rachael Bland, who died in 2018, and the Girl Vs Cancer founder and activist Lauren Mahon.From its first episode in March 2018, frankness, honesty and humour were the unique selling points of the show, and Deborah, diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in December 2016, was its outrageous heart. She said that she had “the glam cancer”, and talked in detail about her experiences and symptoms, such as “pooing blood”, because “one of the biggest problems is that people aren’t frank enough”. Continue reading...
The technology correctly distinguished distress calls from other barn noises with 97% accuracyArtificial intelligence that could improve the welfare of farmed chickens by eavesdropping on their squawks could become available within five years, researchers say.The technology, which detects and quantifies distress calls made by chickens housed in huge indoor sheds, correctly distinguished distress calls from other barn noises with 97% accuracy, new research suggests. A similar approach could eventually be used to drive up welfare standards in other farmed animals. Continue reading...
Fossils from South African cave are 3.4 to 3.6m years old and walked the Earth at same time as east African relativesThe fossils of our earliest ancestors found in South Africa are a million years older than previously thought, meaning they walked the Earth around the same time as their east African relatives like the famous “Lucy”, according to new research.The Sterkfontein caves at the Cradle of Humankind world heritage site northwest of Johannesburg have yielded more Australopithecus fossils than any other site in the world. Continue reading...
Scientists are investigating whether reservoirs of virus ‘hiding’ in the body are contributing to long CovidSince the early days of the pandemic it has been clear some people shed genetic material from the virus in their stools for months after catching Covid-19. The findings were initially regarded as a curiosity, but there is mounting evidence to support the idea that persistent pockets of coronavirus – in the gut, or elsewhere – may be contributing to long Covid.Earlier this month, Prof David R Walt and colleagues at Harvard Medical School announced that they had detected Sars-CoV-2 proteins – most commonly the viral spike protein – in the blood of 65% of the long Covid patients they tested, up to 12 months after they were first diagnosed. Continue reading...
Professor says link to extreme weather sometimes overestimated but climate costs underestimatedClimate change is to blame for the majority of the heatwaves being recorded around the planet but the relation to other extreme events and their impacts on society is less clear, according to a study.“I think on the one hand we overestimate climate change because it’s now quite common that every time an extreme event happens, there is a big assumption that climate change is playing a big role, which is not always the case,” said Friederike Otto, a climate change and environment professor at the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London, who was one of the lead authors of the research. Continue reading...
From The Simpsons to QAnon via The Stepford Wives, the psychoanalyst’s absorbing study of mind control is part media studies, part political history Continue reading...
A new wave of scientists argues that mainstream evolutionary theory needs an urgent overhaul. Their opponents have dismissed them as misguided careerists – and the conflict may determine the future of biologyStrange as it sounds, scientists still do not know the answers to some of the most basic questions about how life on Earth evolved. Take eyes, for instance. Where do they come from, exactly? The usual explanation of how we got these stupendously complex organs rests upon the theory of natural selection.You may recall the gist from school biology lessons. If a creature with poor eyesight happens to produce offspring with slightly better eyesight, thanks to random mutations, then that tiny bit more vision gives them more chance of survival. The longer they survive, the more chance they have to reproduce and pass on the genes that equipped them with slightly better eyesight. Some of their offspring might, in turn, have better eyesight than their parents, making it likelier that they, too, will reproduce. And so on. Generation by generation, over unfathomably long periods of time, tiny advantages add up. Eventually, after a few hundred million years, you have creatures who can see as well as humans, or cats, or owls. Continue reading...
by Produced and presented by Madeleine Finlay with Al on (#60TWV)
When the Guardian’s UK technology editor Alex Hern was contacted on Twitter to ask if he was involved in a new cryptocurrency called Tsuka, he assumed they just wanted him to buy it. He ignored the messages. But soon after Alex realised that, without knowing it, he was already involved. What happened next reveals a lot about the strange world of ‘shitcoins’ – cryptocurrencies with no reason for existence beyond buying low and selling high. Madeleine Finlay speaks to Alex Hern about his shitcoin saga, and how the lines can get blurred between a gamble and a scamArchive: CNBC, Sky News Australia, NBC News, Bloomberg Continue reading...
The answers to today’s planetary perplexitiesEarlier today I set you the following problem, which was Elon Musk’s favourite interview question for engineers applying to work at SpaceX (according to his biographer Ashlee Vance).You’re standing on the surface of the Earth. You walk one mile south, one mile west and one mile north. You end up exactly where you started. Where are you? Continue reading...
UK studies will look into whether blood thinners may help people who have ongoing symptomsA possible link between blood clots and ongoing symptoms of Covid is under scrutiny by researchers in the UK.While Covid can cause a period of acute illness, it can also lead to longer-term problems. Research has suggested fewer than a third of patients who have ongoing Covid symptoms after being hospitalised with the disease feel fully recovered a year later. Continue reading...
by Lizzy Davies in Kilifi. Photography by Luis Tato f on (#60SR9)
The disease is a leading killer of under fives across Africa. But trials for a new vaccine suggest an end to the death toll could be in sightWhen Annah Kadhenghi had her first child last year, she named him Brighton Ushindi Baraka: baraka meaning “blessing” in Swahili, ushindi meaning victory. Last month, at the age of seven months, Brighton fought his first battle against an enemy that plagues millions of the world’s poorest: malaria.“His temperature was very high; he was vomiting. I took him to the hospital,” says Kadhenghi, a schoolteacher in Kilifi, eastern Kenya. Brighton defeated the mosquito-borne disease, and now sits contentedly at the weigh-in clinic at Kilifi county hospital. Continue reading...
The favourite interview question of the world’s richest manUPDATE: Solutions are now posted hereIn the early years of rocket company SpaceX, CEO Elon Musk liked to set job applicants the following problem:You’re standing on the surface of the Earth. You walk one mile south, one mile west and one mile north. You end up exactly where you started. Where are you? Continue reading...
Intestinal viruses such as rotavirus were found to be infectious for up to three days by attaching to microplastics, research showsDangerous viruses can remain infectious for up to three days in fresh water by hitchhiking on plastic, researchers have found.Enteric viruses that cause diarrhoea and stomach upsets, such as rotavirus, were found to survive in water by attaching to microplastics, tiny particles less than 5mm long. They remain infectious, University of Stirling researchers found, posing a potential health risk. Continue reading...
Often depicted as a set of scales, the zodiacal constellation is worth seeing in context between Virgo and ScorpiusThis week you can track down one of the fainter zodiacal constellations. Libra, the scales, is located in the southern celestial hemisphere, and so never rises that high in northern skies, but it is most visible from the northern hemisphere at this time of year.The chart shows the view looking south-west at midnight tonight. Although Libra will be visible all evening, it is worth waiting until midnight to see it in the correct context. It sits between the zodiacal constellations of Virgo, the virgin, to the west and Scorpius, the scorpion, to the east. Continue reading...
Discovery in the Klondike ranks as the most complete mummified mammal found in the AmericasIt was a young miner, digging through the northern Canadian permafrost in the seemingly aptly named Eureka Creek, who sounded the alarm when his front-end loader struck something unexpected in the Klondike gold fields.What he had stumbled upon would later be described by the territory’s palaeontologist as “one of the most incredible mummified ice age animals ever discovered in the world”: a stunningly preserved carcass of a baby woolly mammoth thought to be more than 35,000 years old. Continue reading...
Mitochondria are the body’s power plants, fuelling our cells. New research shows they play a role in many aspects of keeping us healthy – and could be the key to unlocking treatments for chronic diseases, including Parkinson’sAt Cambridge University’s MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, Michal Minczuk is one of a growing number of scientists around the world aiming to find new ways of improving mitochondrial health. This line of research could help provide much-needed treatments for people with long Covid, as well as revolutionising our understanding of everything from neurodegenerative illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease to the ageing process.Mitochondria, tiny tube-shaped structures that are found in their hundreds, sometimes thousands, in nearly all of our cells, are best known as the body’s power plants, continuously converting the food we eat into ATP, a complex chemical that acts as a form of energy currency for cells. Without ATP, every one of our cells, from the brain to the muscles, would lack the fuel they need to keep churning away, and our organs would swiftly grind to a halt. Continue reading...
How the phrase ‘what God has willed has happened’ helped me shift feelings of jealousy towards admiration and respectI don’t feel envy very often and that isn’t because I don’t know anyone who is worthy of it. The people in my life are nothing short of brilliant. My friends and family are talented writers whose books and magazines I display proudly on my shelves. They are erudite psychologists, driven designers, artists and poets whose work moves me deeply. It is easy to celebrate their most recent successes, to which I say, “Mashallah.”Being raised Muslim, mashallah is an Arabic phrase that I use often, if not daily. Most commonly spelt as mashallah or mashaAllah, the most accurate way of representing the phrase in transliteration is ma sha Allah, which means, “What God has willed has happened.” In many cultures it is believed that saying mashallah protects a person against the evil-eye. Another way of looking at it is that it shifts the focus from potential envy to admiration, gratitude and respect. Continue reading...
by Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent on (#60S5K)
Campaigners say they will seek judicial review amid fears delay could lead to loss of evidenceBoris Johnson is facing possible legal action over a delay to the start of the Covid-19 public inquiry, which campaigners fear could lead to evidence being destroyed.The prime minister pledged in parliament that the statutory inquiry into the UK’s handling of the pandemic, which has so far resulted in 196,977 fatalities with Covid on the death certificate, would begin by spring. But Downing Street has yet to finalise the terms of reference. Continue reading...
The woman who co-developed the AstraZeneca vaccine on reassuring doubters, her new book and having a baby penguin named after herDame Sarah Gilbert, 60, is a professor of vaccinology at Oxford’s Jenner Institute and author, with Catherine Green, head of Oxford University’s clinical biomanufacturing facility, of Vaxxers – a gripping narrative about developing the AstraZeneca vaccine that is wonderfully accessible and illuminating without dumbing down the science. She lives in Oxford with her husband and grownup triplets.Another wave of Covid-19 is reported to be on its way. To what extent are you able to anticipate what the virus will do next and prepare?
Experts divided on effectiveness of ECT and concerned by overuse in women and the elderlyIt is one of the most dramatic techniques employed in modern psychology. An electric shock is administered directly to the brains of individuals who are suffering from depression.But electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is controversial among some psychologists and is now the focus of a huge row – which erupted last week – over claims that it can trigger brain damage, that guidelines covering its use are weak and that it is used disproportionately on women and the elderly. Continue reading...
Health experts answer the key questions arising from the latest surge in infectionsBritain is now going through its third major wave of Covid-19 infections this year. According to the ONS Infection Survey released last week, about 1.7 million people in the UK are estimated to have been infected in the week ending 18 June, a 23% rise on the previous week. This follows a 43% jump the previous week. The figures raise several important questions about how the nation will fare in the coming months as it struggles to contain the disease. Continue reading...
The Oxford professor has studied our circadian rhythms for decades – and says much of what we think we know is wrongBorn in Aldershot in 1959, Russell Foster is a professor of circadian neuroscience at Oxford and the director of the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology. For his discovery of non-rod, non-cone ocular photoreceptors he received numerous awards including the Zoological Society scientific medal. His latest book – the first he has written without a co-author – is Life Time: The New Science of the Body Clock, and How It Can Revolutionize Your Sleep and Health.What is circadian neuroscience?
by Hosted by Savannah Ayoade-Greaves, narrated by Eri on (#60RAF)
This week, Marina Hyde on Boris Johnson’s ability to blame everything on anyone but himself (1m42s), musician Norman Cook, AKA Fatboy Slim, on his mental health DJ classes (8m48s), Emma Beddington investigates whether winging it to the top really works (19m07s), and Imogen West-Knights looks at how the ‘mid-century millennial’ look took over our homes (33m03s) Continue reading...
Team call in Michelin-starred restaurant to help crack challenge of mimicking texture of seafoodFrom plant-based meat that “bleeds” to milk grown in a lab, fake meats and dairy have come a long way in recent years. But there is another alternative that scientists are training their sights on, one with the most challenging texture to recreate of all: seafood.Scientists in Copenhagen are fermenting seaweed on fungi to develop the closest substitute for seafood yet, working with Alchemist, a two-Michelin-starred restaurant, to meet demand from diners for sustainable plant-based alternatives that are as good as – or better than – the real thing.
At 80 years old, the one-time Beatle offers a vision of optimism and empathy just as moving as the pageantry of the platinum jubileeA week has passed since Paul McCartney’s 80th birthday, and on Saturday he will play to a huge crowd at the Glastonbury festival. The great surge of reminiscence and celebration these two events have triggered – not least online, where millions of pictures, playlists and personal tributes have been shared – has felt like a rerouting of some of the feelings the public were encouraged to project on to the Queen’s platinum jubilee.But instead of flags, pageantry and a final connection to the second world war, McCartney’s big week has been all about rather different touchstones: the popular culture that he and the Beatles helped create in the 1960s, the fact that their music has endured, and the sense of optimism and empathy that has run through almost all his work, both with and without his three former colleagues. In times as uncertain and acrimonious as ours, these things inevitably mean a lot. Continue reading...
Experts worry about financial incentives for unnatural breeding methods without regulationCanine fertility clinics have boomed in the UK during the pandemic, experts have revealed, as calls grow for greater oversight of the industry.The clinics offer services ranging from artificial insemination to ultrasound scanning, semen analysis, progesterone testing and in some cases caesarean sections. Continue reading...
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