Space agency says daughter of entomologist sold samples from 1969 Apollo 11 mission that belonged to NasaNasa wants its moon dust and cockroaches back.The space agency has asked Boston-based RR Auction to halt the sale of moon dust collected during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission that had subsequently been fed to cockroaches during an experiment to determine if the lunar rock contained any sort of pathogen that posed a threat to terrestrial life. Continue reading...
Animal thought to have been seeking place to lay egg in ruins of quake-hit home when Mount Vesuvius eruptedArchaeologists in Pompeii have discovered the remains of a pregnant tortoise that sought refuge in the ruins of a home destroyed by an earthquake in AD62 only to be covered by volcanic ash and rock when Mount Vesuvius erupted.The 14cm (5.5in) long Hermann’s tortoise and her egg were discovered during excavations of an area of the ancient city that, after being levelled by the quake, was being rebuilt for the construction of public baths, officials said Friday. Pompeii was then destroyed after the volcanic eruption in AD79. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#60QGK)
First major analysis examines impact across 185 countries since first jab was administered in December 2020Covid vaccines cut the global death toll by 20 million in the first year after they were available, according to the first major analysis.The study, which modelled the spread of the disease in 185 countries and territories between December 2020 and December 2021, found that without Covid vaccines 31.4 million people would have died, and that 19.8 million of these deaths were avoided. The study is the first attempt to quantify the number of deaths prevented directly and indirectly as a result of Covid-19 vaccinations. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#60PKG)
At about 1cm long, Thiomargarita magnifica is roughly 50 times larger than all other known giant bacteriaScientists have discovered the world’s largest known bacterium, which comes in the form of white filaments the size of human eyelashes, in a swamp in Guadeloupe.At about 1cm long, the strange organism, Thiomargarita magnifica, is roughly 50 times larger than all other known giant bacteria and the first to be visible with the naked eye. The thin white strands were discovered on the surfaces of decaying mangrove leaves in shallow tropical marine marshes. Continue reading...
If we can’t dramatically cut meat consumption then intensive ‘factory farming’ may be comparatively less risky, say authorsThe industrial farming of animals such as pigs, poultry and cattle to provide meat for hundreds of millions of people may reduce the risk of pandemics and the emergence of dangerous diseases including Sars, BSE, bird flu and Covid-19 compared with less-intensive farming, a major study by vets and ecologists has found.Despite reports from the UN and other bodies in the wake of Covid linking the intensive farming of livestock to the spread of zoonotic (animal-borne) diseases, the authors argue that “non-intensive” or “low-yield” farms pose a more serious risk to human health because they require far more land to produce the same amount of food. Continue reading...
500-year old structure, found in working-class area of Lima, thought to contain remains of society elitesScientists have unearthed an Inca-era tomb under a home in the heart of Peru’s capital, Lima, a burial believed to hold remains wrapped in cloth alongside ceramics and fine ornaments.The lead archeologist, Julio Abanto, told Reuters the 500-year-old tomb contained “multiple funerary bundles” tightly wrapped in cloth. Continue reading...
by Presented by Ian Sample, produced by Anand Jagatia on (#60NPA)
After wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone national park in 1995, researchers noticed some big ecological changes, leading to the regeneration of the landscape. It’s an argument used to justify the return of apex predators – but it’s increasingly being challenged. Phoebe Weston talks to Ian Sample about whether wolves really have the power to shape ecosystems, and what that means for the debate about bringing them back to the UKArchive: Good Morning Britain Continue reading...
Study of tiny parasites points to gene loss from adaptation putting them on dead-end evolutionary courseGliding through grease, and protected by our pores, tiny Demodex folliculorum mites lead a secretive life within our skin, only emerging at night to mate on our foreheads, noses and nipples. Successful as these sexual encounters are, their days as independent parasites may be numbered.The first ever genome sequencing study of these mites appears to have caught them in the process of transitioning to internal symbionts, entirely dependent on us for their existence. Eventually, this process may even lead to their extinction. Continue reading...
Scientists have designed a tiny robot fish that is programmed to remove microplastics from seas and oceans by swimming around and adsorbing them. Microplastics are the billions of tiny plastic particles which fragment from bigger plastic things used every day. They are one of the 21st century’s biggest environmental problems because once they are dispersed into the environment they are very hard to get rid of, harming the environment and animal and human health.
Disparities extend to lower chance of being named on patents and to areas such as healthcare where women dominateFemale scientists are less likely to receive authorship credit or to be named on patents related to the work they do compared with their male counterparts – including in fields such as healthcare, where women dominate – data suggests.This gender gap may help to explain well-documented disparities in the apparent contributions of male and female scientists – such as that of Rosalind Franklin, whose pivotal contribution to the discovery of the structure of DNA initially went unrecognised because she was not cited on the core Nature article by James Watson and Francis Crick. Continue reading...
Tiny self-propelled robo-fish can swim around, latch on to free-floating microplastics and fix itself if it gets damagedScientists have designed a tiny robot-fish that is programmed to remove microplastics from seas and oceans by swimming around and adsorbing them on its soft, flexible, self-healing body.Microplastics are the billions of tiny plastic particles which fragment from the bigger plastic things used every day such as water bottles, car tyres and synthetic T-shirts. They are one of the 21st century’s biggest environmental problems because once they are dispersed into the environment through the breakdown of larger plastics they are very hard to get rid of, making their way into drinking water, produce, and food, harming the environment and animal and human health. Continue reading...
A tour of the science, culture and history of bisexuality that ranges from the vehemently political to the charmingly weirdAccording to periodic reports in the media, bisexuality has been a brand-new fad since at least the 1890s. It was all the rage in 1974, for example, when the US magazine Newsweek discovered “Bisexual Chic: Anyone Goes”. A generation later, in 1995, the same magazine published a cover story declaring it “A new sexual identity”. In 2021, the Daily Telegraph parodied itself with a letter from an “Anonymous Dad” complaining about his bisexual daughter. “My daughter doesn’t like girls and boys, she likes boys”, he fumed. “But she says she is attracted to both to jump on another woke bandwagon, because for snowflake Gen Z, it’s trendy.” Like flares, student protest and hating your children’s taste in music, it seems bisexuality is always back in fashion. Criminal psychologist Julia Shaw’s book is an impassioned attempt to bring decades of serious academic research out of the shadows, to show that being bisexual is nothing new, it’s here to stay and is simultaneously less and more provocative than you think.As Shaw explains, the first use of the word in English was probably in 1892, in a translation of German psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing’s book Psychopathia Sexualis. “The book was intended for clinical-forensic settings, and Krafft-Ebing wrote it in intentionally difficult language and with parts in Latin so that laypeople couldn’t read it.” There is a rich seam of nonfiction that translates impenetrable academese about interesting subjects into language that curious lay readers can understand, including this book with its juxtaposition of academic language and cute social media speak. Here, “penile plethysmography” rubs shoulders with “[my] adorable bi bubble” and a church minister “so sparkly gay that he is a bit of a local legend”. Continue reading...
Covid reinfections have become increasingly common, due to decline in antibodies and the evolution of the virusWith recent UK data suggesting that the BA.4 and BA.5 Covid variants are kicking off a new wave of infections, experts answer the key questions about reinfection and prevention. Continue reading...
Survey also finds younger generations far more in favour of designer babies than older people areMore than half the UK backs the idea of rewriting the DNA of human embryos to prevent severe or life-threatening diseases, according to a survey.Commissioned by the Progress Educational Trust (PET), a fertility and genomics charity, the Ipsos poll found that 53% of people support the use of human genome editing to prevent children from developing serious conditions such as cystic fibrosis. Continue reading...
Study may have solved paradox of the faint young Sun – which shone 20% less bright in Archean timesThe Sun shone 20% less brightly on early Earth, and yet fossil evidence shows that our planet had warm shallow seas where stromatolites – microbial mats – thrived. Now a study may have solved the “faint young Sun paradox”, showing that saltier oceans could have prevented Earth from freezing over during Archean times, 3bn years ago.We all know that the composition of the atmosphere (particularly the abundance of greenhouse gases) plays a crucial role in tempering Earth’s climate, but what about the composition of the oceans? To answer this question researchers used an ocean-atmosphere general circulation model to investigate the impact of salinity. They show that saltier oceans result in warmer climates, partly because the salt depresses the freezing point of seawater and inhibits sea-ice formation, but mostly because the greater density of salty water alters ocean circulation patterns and aids heat transport to the poles. Continue reading...
by Written by Alex Blasdel, read by Andrew McGregor, on (#60MBZ)
We are raiding the Audio Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.This week, from 2018: Are you sitting comfortably? Many people are not – and they insist that the way we’ve been going to the toilet is all wrongRead the text version hereHow to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know Continue reading...
Pilot schools are recruiting instructors to meet demand for more sustainable and cheaper trainingPilot training schools in the UK are actively looking for instructors who can teach on electric-powered aeroplanes, as the surging price of fuel gives a boost to the country’s emerging zero-emissions market.The global electric aviation industry remains in its infancy, with the Slovenian-made Pipistrel Velis Electro, a two-seater training aircraft powered by lithium-ion batteries, only certified in the UK last year. Continue reading...
Fifth of people over 75 in England have not had fourth vaccine, raising concern as case rate rises againAround a fifth of people aged 75 and over in England have yet to have a fourth Covid jab, data suggests, leading to calls for a renewed push for vaccination of the vulnerable amid rising infections and hospitalisations.According to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in the week ending 11 June an estimated one in 50 people in England had Covid – about 1.13 million people – a rise from 1 in 70 the week before. Upticks have also been seen in the rest of the UK, while hospitalisations are also rising. Continue reading...
We tax cigarettes and sodas because they’re bad for you. We should tax companies that put carcinogens in the environmentAmericans don’t agree on much of anything lately. Except taxes – who doesn’t hate taxes? And also cancer: everyone hates cancer.Maybe hating cancer was on President Joe Biden’s mind when, earlier this month, he shared plans to reduce the cancer death rate by at least 50% over the next 25 years – a lofty goal for his Cancer Moonshot program.Industrial facilities, like those identified in a recent ProPublica report analyzing five years of data from the Environmental Protection Agency. They spew cancer-causing chemicals into the surrounding air, often permeating economically vulnerable communities where people of color disproportionately live. There are chemical and manufacturing plants spewing these pollutants right next to schools and daycares. Typically, facilities will claim it’s too expensive to remediate.Agrochemical companies, including those responsible for the contamination of Nebraska’s surface and groundwater; a 2022 study from the University of Nebraska Medical Center shows high numbers of pediatric cancer cases associated with watersheds tainted by chemicals in fertilizer and weedkiller. Nebraska’s pediatric cancer rate is the seventh highest in the country.Personal care product companies like Johnson & Johnson; in 2018, 22 women with ovarian cancer won a $4.69bn lawsuit against J&J (the award was later reduced to $2bn) for allegedly selling a baby powder containing cancer-causing asbestos for many years and covering it up. Classy.Jon Whelan is an entrepreneur and director of the environmental documentary Stink! Alexandra Zissu is a journalist, the author of six environmental health-related books, and a recent cancer mom. They’re both board members of Clean & Healthy New York Continue reading...
Our primitive brains summon up worst-case scenarios to protect us from danger. In today’s world, that can be debilitatingThe first day I returned to work after maternity leave, I walked to the office racked with a fear I knew to be highly unlikely: that our new, and loving, caregiver would push the stroller across the street at the precise moment a reckless driver ran the light. I imagined the sound of tires screeching, the sickening crunch. I started to sweat, and my heart rate quickened. And then, when I got to the office, I took a deep breath, told myself to pull it together, and did.What I was doing, I later learned, is common to new parents. In a heightened emotional state, you’re more prone to what psychologists call “catastrophizing”, or experiencing “intrusive thoughts” – imagining the worst-case scenario, however improbable it might be. They came at me full-throttle when I became a mother; according to studies, I’m not alone. By some estimates, more than 70% of new mothers have them. One close friend catastrophizes, but in reverse – once the danger has passed, once the baby has been released from the doctor with just a normal virus, not the dreaded MIS-C, she’ll sit with the fear of what could have happened.Sophie Brickman is a contributor to the New Yorker, the New York Times and other publications, and the author of Baby, Unplugged: One Mother’s Search for Balance, Reason, and Sanity in the Digital Age Continue reading...
Just a few years from now, herds of woolly ‘mammoths’ could be roaming the Siberian tundra. Are dodos and dinosaurs next for de-extinction?What Alida Bailleul saw through the microscope made no sense. She was examining thin sections of fossilised skull from a young hadrosaur, a duck-billed, plant-eating beast that roamed what is now Montana 75m years ago, when she spotted features that made her draw a breath.Bailleul was inspecting the fossils, from a collection at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, to understand how dinosaur skulls developed. But what caught her eye should not, the textbooks said, be there. Embedded in calcified cartilage at the back of the skull were what appeared to be fossilised cells. Some contained tiny structures that resembled nuclei. In one was what looked like a clump of chromosomes, the threads that bear an organism’s DNA. Continue reading...
by Produced and presented by Madeleine Finlay, sound on (#60JXW)
They support an incredible array of biodiversity and may also be some of the world’s most effective carbon sinks. But vast swathes of seagrass meadows have been lost in the last century, and they continue to vanish at the rate of a football pitch every half hour. Madeleine Finlay makes a trip out of the Guardian office to visit a rewilding project in Hampshire. She speaks to marine biologist Tim Ferrero about the challenges of replanting seagrass meadows and what hope it offers. Continue reading...
People who cannot stand on one leg for 10 seconds are found to be almost twice as likely to die within 10 yearsIf you have difficulty standing on one leg, it could be a sign of something more serious than overdoing it at the office summer drinks party. Middle-aged and elderly people who cannot balance on one leg for 10 seconds are almost twice as likely to die within 10 years than those who can, research suggests.How well a person can balance can offer an insight into their health. Previous research, for instance, indicates that an inability to balance on one leg is linked to a greater risk of stroke. People with poor balance have also been found to perform worse in tests of mental decline, suggesting a link with dementia. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#60JM1)
Ohio State University researchers gauged responses to climate science versus scepticism and suggest facts bear repeatingPeople’s views of the climate crisis can be influenced by the media, according to new research. But accurate scientific reporting only has limited impact on people who already have a fixed political viewpoint, particularly if it is opposed to climate action.Researchers who ran an experiment in the US to find out how people responded to media reporting on the climate found that people’s views of climate science really were shifted by reading reporting that accurately reflected scientific findings. They were also more willing to back policies that would tackle the problem. Continue reading...
Ballistic missile interception system trial follows North Korean tests and deployment of US THAAD system in South KoreaChina has claimed a successful test of a land-based ballistic missile interception system amid heightened tensions in Asia, in a move its defence ministry described as “defensive and not aimed at any country”.Beijing has in recent years been ramping up research into all sorts of missiles, from those that can destroy satellites in space to advanced nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, as part of a modernisation overseen by President Xi Jinping. It came after North Korea conducted a series of missile tests, which prompted South Korea and the US to warn that Pyongyang could conduct a nuclear test at any time. Continue reading...
Thanks to the war in Ukraine, there is a shortage of agricultural chemicals. As each adult produces enough pee annually to fertilise 145kg of wheat, perhaps bodily waste is the answerName: Peecycling.Age: As a term, dates to about 2006; as a practice, centuries old. Continue reading...
On successive days, before the sun rises, the visible planets will be visited in turn by the waning moonAwake with the dawn chorus this week? Take a look to the east. On successive days, before the sun rises, the visible planets will be visited in turn by the waning gibbous moon.Start looking at about 0400BST on the morning of 21 June, when the moon will be close to Jupiter. The chart shows the view looking east from London at 0400BST a day later on 22 June. By this time the moon will be heading for Mars, which it will pass on the morning of 23 June. Continue reading...
The government pretends that farming and the countryside are synonymous – and our environment suffers as a resultWe have a problem. The environment secretary, George Eustice – the highest green authority in the land – is, in a crucial respect, a climate denier. In an interview with the Telegraph, he claimed that “livestock, particularly if you do it with the right pastoral system, has a role to play in tackling climate change”.Though such claims are often made, there is no evidence to support them. A wide-ranging review of the data by the Oxford Martin School found no case of a livestock operation sequestering more greenhouse gases than the animals produce. Moreover, because of the very large land area required for grazing livestock, pastoral systems carry a massive carbon opportunity cost (this means the carbon that would be captured if the land were returned to wild ecosystems). According to the government’s Climate Change Committee, “transitioning from grassland to forestland would increase the soil carbon stock by 25 tonnes of carbon per hectare (on average across England) … This is additional to the large amounts of carbon that would be stored in the biomass of the trees themselves.”George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
Social media abuzz with pictures and theories about formations thought to be from exhaust plume of SpaceX rocketNew Zealand stargazers were left puzzled and awed by strange, spiralling light formations in the night sky on Sunday night.Around 7.25pm Alasdair Burns, a stargazing guide on Stewart Island/Rakiura, received a text from a friend: go outside and look at the sky. “As soon as we actually went outside, it was very obvious what it was he was referring to,” Burns said. Continue reading...
A pioneering research laboratory in Cambridge proves that corvids are delightfully clever. Here, its founder reveals what the crow family has taught her – and her heartbreak at the centre’s closureLeo, an 18-year-old rook, is playing mind games. It’s a street-corner classic – cups and balls. Only this time the venue is the Comparative Cognition Laboratory in Madingley, Cambridge, and the ball is a waxworm. Leo – poised, pointy, determined – is perched on a wooden platform eager to place his bet. A wriggling morsel is laid under one of three cups, the cups shuffled. Leo cocks his head and takes a stab. Success! He snatches the waxworm in his beak and retreats to enjoy his prize. Aristotle, a fellow resident donned in a glossy black feather coat, who has been at the aviary almost as long as the lab itself, looks on knowingly.Watching alongside me is Professor Nicola Clayton, a psychologist who founded the lab 22 years ago, and we are joined by Francesca Cornero, 25, a PhD researcher (and occasional cups and balls technician). Clayton, 59, who is short, with blonde hair, large glasses and is wearing loose, black tango trousers, studies the cognitive abilities of both animals and humans, but is particularly known for her seminal research into the intelligence of corvids (birds in the crow family, which includes rooks, jays, magpies and ravens). Corvids have long proved to be at odds with the “bird-brain” stereotype endured by most feathered creatures and her lab, a cluster of four large aviaries tucked behind a thatched pub, has paved the way for new theories about the evolution and development of intelligence. Thanks to Clayton’s own eclectic tastes, which span consciousness to choreography (her other love, besides birds, is dance), the lab also engenders a curious synthesis of ideas drawn from both science and the arts. Continue reading...
After admitting to other Black dads he found parenting difficult, Marvyn Harrison began transforming his relationship with his kidsIt was on Father’s Day, five years ago, that Marvyn Harrison sent a heartfelt message to his friends that would change his life for ever. Back then, his son was three and his daughter was six months old. And he couldn’t seem to help feeling constantly like a fake, an impostor. “I felt like I was being fraudulent,” he says.He was going through the motions of being a loving dad and a supportive husband, without feeling the intense emotional bond with his children he had always expected to feel. Looking back now, he says, “I didn’t understand how to connect deeper.” Continue reading...
The risk to humans from the disease, spread by wild birds, is low but a record level of outbreaks this year has researchers worriedBird flu outbreaks rose nearly fivefold last year, creating an urgent need for research into preventing the spread of the disease, according to the head of a new consortium investigating the virus.The record of 26 outbreaks involving H5N1 in 2021 has been shattered, with 121 outbreaks involving the H5 serotype this year, according to Prof Ian Brown, head of virology at the government’s Animal and Plant Health Agency (Apha). Continue reading...
by Hannah Summers and Beatrix Campbell on (#60H5M)
Lawyers and MPs in England and Wales express concern over ‘unregulated’ psychologists who play key role in disputes over domestic abuseMPs, lawyers and charity leaders are among those calling for an urgent inquiry into the use of unregulated psychological experts in the family courts, after an investigation by the Observer.In a letter sent to the justice secretary, the victims’ commissioner for London, Claire Waxman, and a group of MPs write: “We believe there is ample evidence that children and survivors of domestic abuse are being put at risk by the evidence provided by unregulated experts who do not belong to any professional body and therefore cannot be held to account.” Continue reading...
The scientist and author Dr Adam Rutherford looks at how the study of genetics has been warped for political endsIt’s a quirk of history that the foundations of modern biology – and as a consequence, some of the worst atrocities of the 20th century – should rely so heavily on peas. Cast your mind back to school biology, and Gregor Mendel, whose 200th birthday we mark next month. Though Mendel is invariably described as a friar, his formidable legacy is not in Augustinian theology, but in the mainstream science of genetics.In the middle of the 19th century, Mendel (whose real name was Johann – Gregor was his Augustinian appellation) bred more than 28,000 pea plants, crossing tall with short, wrinkly seeds with smooth, and purple flowers with white. What he found in that forest of pea plants was that these traits segregated in the offspring, and did not blend, but re-emerged in predictable ratios. What Mendel had discovered were the rules of inheritance. Characteristics were inherited in discrete units – what we now call genes – and the way these units flowed through pedigrees followed neat mathematical patterns. Continue reading...
Modern techniques to test traditional explanation that most bones from 1815 battle were ground into powder for fertiliserIt was an epic battle that has been commemorated in words, poetry and even a legendary Abba song, but 207 years to the day after troops clashed at Waterloo, a gruesome question remains: what happened to the dead?While tens of thousands of men and horses died at the site in modern-day Belgium, few remains have been found, with amputated legs and a skeleton unearthed beneath a car park south of Brussels among the handful of discoveries. Continue reading...
Litter left behind | Getting rid of things | Moving on from Partygate | Russian spy’s wrong turn | The Green Man in the treeCall me a peddler of conspiracy theories if you like, but I have had a good look at that piece of silver paper on Mars and it looks very much like a KitKat wrapper to me (Nasa rover sighting reignites fears about human space debris, 16 June).
Exclusive: experts believe new form of photoimmunotherapy may become fifth major cancer treatmentScientists have successfully developed a revolutionary cancer treatment that lights up and wipes out microscopic cancer cells, in a breakthrough that could enable surgeons to more effectively target and destroy the disease in patients.A European team of engineers, physicists, neurosurgeons, biologists and immunologists from the UK, Poland and Sweden joined forces to design the new form of photoimmunotherapy. Continue reading...
We’ve all had an everyday interaction go horribly wrong. Experts give advice on how to handle difficult issues like sex, money and even dog pooTricky conversations are easy to put off – but dodging them only makes things harder. They’re often about something that could make life easier or better but the fact that the exchange may be embarrassing or difficult for one party or both, forms a big barrier.Remembering a few ground rules could make things easier. First: this is a two-way thing. It’s not just about you – the other person may also be nervous, uncertain, defensive, scared or unhappy. Continue reading...
Unlike carbon dioxide, hydrogen does not have a direct effect on climate – it affects other pollutantsWe are taught at school that hydrogen burns to produce water. This is part of its image as clean fuel. But new analysis is providing warnings for the engineers who will create and operate our future energy systems.In 2021, the UK government launched its hydrogen strategy, providing a roadmap to kickstart a hydrogen economy by 2030 that visualises a future where hydrogen could be powering the boilers that heat our homes, fuelling our transport and providing heat for chemical and steel production. Continue reading...
Researchers in France used virtual reality to test the impact of tweaks made to urban settingsHaving bright colours and greenery in our cities can make people happier and calmer, according to an unusual experiment involving virtual reality headsets.A team of researchers at the University of Lille, in France, used VR to test how volunteers reacted to variations of a minimalist concrete, glass and metal urban landscape. The 36 participants walked on the spot in a laboratory wearing a VR headset with eye trackers, and researchers tweaked their surroundings, adding combinations of vegetation, as well as bright yellow and pink colours, and contrasting, angular patterns on the path. Continue reading...
An Anglo-Saxon burial site containing over 140 people along with their belongings has been uncovered near Wendover, Buckinghamshire, along the route of the HS2 railway. 'To find this number of individuals is really unique,' said Rachel Wood, a lead archaeologist working on the site. A total of 138 graves were found at the site, making it 'one of the largest Anglo-Saxon burial grounds uncovered in Britain'. More than 2,000 beads were discovered, with 89 brooches, 40 buckles, 51 knives, 15 spearheads and seven shield bosses. Wood called it a 'once-in-a-lifetime discovery'
Research counters idea that everyone wants to be as rich as possible, though many Americans want $100bnHow much money do you need to lead your “absolutely ideal life”? The answer for most people, according to new research by university psychologists, is $10m (£8.6m) – but not Americans, who say they need at least $100m, and frequently insist on $100bn.Academics at the universities of Bath, Bath Spa and Exeter found that contrary to the assumption that everyone wants to be as rich as possible, most people say they would be happy with a few million. Continue reading...
Court finds that Paolo Macchiarini carried out experimental procedure on patient who was not critically illA Swedish court has found an Italian surgeon, once hailed for pioneering windpipe surgery, guilty of causing bodily harm to a patient, but cleared him of assault charges.Paolo Macchiarini won praise in 2011 after claiming to have performed the world’s first synthetic trachea transplants using stem cells while he was a surgeon at Stockholm’s Karolinska University hospital. The experimental procedure was hailed as a breakthrough in regenerative medicine. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#60E2G)
Mars object thought to be piece of thermal blanket from when Perseverance touched down on planetNasa’s Perseverance rover typically beams back evocative images of bleak dusty landscapes, red-hued sandstorms and Martian rock samples. So its operators were surprised to receive an image on Monday of a shiny silver object resembling a discarded crisp packet wedged between two rocks.The object, the Nasa team concluded, is a piece of debris discarded by the robotic craft during its touchdown in February 2021. Continue reading...
Losing a loved one can be life-changing and, for some, debilitating. Could a diagnosis help, or are we medicalising a natural human emotion?For a while, Davina Rivers thought something wasn’t right with her. “It will be seven years in November since my husband died, and I’m still grieving for him every day, I miss him every day, I wish he was here every day,” she says. She has suffered from depression before, and she thought her intense grief had settled, like a grey mist, into a kind of depression. Rivers and her husband, Eric, married in 1998, and they have three daughters; he died in 2015 at the age of 49. She spoke to Eric’s brother recently, to celebrate the achievement of one of her daughters, which Eric would have been thrilled with. “He said: ‘Oh, yes, I thought about him one day this week’, and I just thought, “How different our lives are.” For me, it’s an everyday feeling: whenever I wake up, and go to sleep, I miss him.”She has met other widows online, and feels she is different. “I see people start new relationships and get married and go on to have great happiness in their lives, and I don’t see that for myself, somehow. My husband, I think he was my One.” Losing him, she says, has affected everything. Rivers, 61, continued to work after her husband was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, and after his death, she went back to work as a podiatrist five months later. “But I found it very difficult. I think the trauma of it all had a massive impact on me. I became quite introverted. I didn’t want to be a burden to people so I stopped going out. I don’t like going out walking, which is the really strange part of it: it’s almost like I don’t like people seeing me. I can get up and go to work, but I find it difficult to go for a walk.” And so, she says, “I seriously thought that there was something wrong with me.” Continue reading...
A journalist and psychotherapist explores what it means to be an adult in a world that often infantilisesWhat’s going to happen to the children, when there aren’t any more grownups?” sang Noël Coward, satirising the self-indulgent hedonism of the 1920s. But Coward’s ironic lyrics seem even more relevant today when the traditional values of adulthood, self-control, self-sufficiency and the willingness to take responsibility have become sources of angst rather than a desirable, if difficult, end. So what then, if anything, has been lost? In her book, journalist and analyst Moya Sarner attempts to find answers to this question.The project arose out of her own experience of psychoanalysis, where four times a week, for a number of years, she discovered the remedial effects of being properly listened to. This, in turn, led her to train as a psychotherapist. She takes her skills as a journalist and what she has learned about listening to explore the vexed question of what becoming a mature adult personality might entail, and why achieving it has become such a trial and a puzzlement for so many today, herself included. The answer, inevitably, is many-faceted, as emerges from her accounts of the interviews she holds with a wide variety of people, which she intersperses with psychological commentary drawn from eclectic sources, alongside meditations on her own attitudes to adulthood that have been prompted and enlarged by these conversations. Continue reading...
Science | The Guardian