Science | The Guardian

New deaths in Africa plummet 70% but rise 19% in Middle East, as World Health Organisation urges countries not to drop their surveillance of virus

Data from Australia’s square kilometre array radio telescope was processed by a new supercomputer called Setonix – named after WA’s quokkaWithin 24 hours of accessing the first stage of Australia’s newest supercomputing system, researchers have processed a series of radio telescope observations, including a highly detailed image of a supernova remnant.The very high data rates and the enormous data volumes from new-generation radio telescopes such as Askap (Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder) need highly capable software running on supercomputers. This is where the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre comes into play, with a newly launched supercomputer called Setonix – named after Western Australia’s favourite animal, the quokka (Setonix brachyurus). Continue reading...

It has emerged that sea sponges can sneeze, casting off accumulations of particles trapped in mucus on their surfaces in the process.Dr Jasper de Goeij, a marine biologist at the University of Amsterdam and the senior author of the paper, said the team made their discovery while examining timelapse videos of sponges in an effort to understand how the creatures poo.Writing in the journal Current Biology, De Goeij and colleagues report how they found the Caribbean tube sponge Aplysina archeri had a constant stream of mucus flowing out of its pores against the feeding current – not unlike a runny nose – carrying particles with it.

Public urged to take precautions after second large landslide along Jurassic region in two weeksExperts are urging the public to be hypervigilant on south coast beaches as this week’s heatwave could trigger cliff collapses.One geologist said the area seemed the most vulnerable and beachgoers should take heed of official guidance. Continue reading...

Study identifies mystery elements in Kaogong ji, shedding light on how early bronzes were producedResearchers have deciphered enigmatic recipes for metal-making contained in an ancient Chinese text, revealing unexpected complexity in the art at the time.Six chemical formulas are given in a Chinese text from 300BC known as the Kaogong ji. The manuscript, known as The World’s Oldest Encyclopedia of Technologies, forms part of a detailed archive of early imperial rule, which archeologists have been trying to decode since the 1920s. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Research shows some people skip medical appointments because they feel humiliated by staffDoctors and nurses often “weight-shame” people who are overweight or obese, leaving them feeling anxious, depressed and wrongly blaming themselves for their condition, research has found.Such behaviour, although usually the result of “unconscious weight bias”, leads to people not attending medical appointments, feeling humiliated and being more likely to put on weight. Continue reading...

Virus, which causes symptoms including fever, fatigue, cough, loss of appetite and muscle aches, is believed to have spread from animals to humans

Survey by Cancer Research UK shows poorer people less likely to see their family GP, reducing survival chancesHalf of people with possible cancer symptoms in the UK do not contact a GP for at least six months, potentially reducing their chances of survival, research has found.Poorer people are less likely than the better-off to see their family doctor once they have eventually sought medical help, a survey by Cancer Research UK found. Continue reading...

Last week, debris from a suspected Chinese booster rocket made an uncontrolled return to Earth, reportedly falling just metres from villages in Malaysia and Indonesia, and triggering a rebuke from Nasa. This follows the recent discovery of SpaceX debris on a sheep farm in regional NSW.

World Health Organization issues statement after reports of animals being poisoned in BrazilThe World Health Organization has stressed that monkeypox outbreaks are not linked to monkeys, following a number of reported attacks on the primates in Brazil.“What people need to know is that the transmission we are seeing is happening between humans,” a WHO spokesperson, Margaret Harris, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday. Continue reading...

The singer’s advocacy enabled scientific advancements and offered hope and support to people affected by cancerIt’s not often a medical institute has to say it is unable to take calls because of overwhelming demand, but that was the case on Tuesday at Melbourne’s Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre, after the death of the 73-year-old singer and actor.Newton-John has been one of Australia’s most high-profile campaigners for the advancement of cancer research and treatment since her initial diagnosis of breast cancer in 1992 at the age of 44. Continue reading...

In early April this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new report giving the world just 30 months to get greenhouse gas emissions falling. Beyond that, we’ll have missed our chance of limiting global heating to 1.5C. As this summer of heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and floods prove, going much above 1.5C will have truly devastating consequences for us and the planet.With the window of opportunity rapidly closing, some scientists feel like writing reports and publishing papers is no longer enough, and are leaving their desks and labs to take action on the streets. In this episode recorded back in April, Madeleine Finlay meets scientists protesting at Shell HQ in London and speaks to the conservationist Dr Charlie Gardner about civil disobedience – and why he thinks it’s the only option left Continue reading...

Pop star best known for her role in the film musical devoted her later life to activism in support of cancer research

Maths is the bedrock of all the sciences, but promised funding is yet to be delivered, writes Prof Ulrike TillmannThe aim of making the UK a “science superpower” is welcome, but the deficiencies in the government’s strategy highlighted in a Lords report are only the start (‘Science superpower’ plan risks making UK bureaucracy superpower, says peer, 4 August).Lord Krebs compared the amount of bureaucracy involved to “setting off on a marathon with your shoelaces tied together”. However, the report barely mentions mathematics, the bedrock of all the sciences. Without a greater focus on the mathematical sciences, the nation is in danger of setting off on a marathon without any footwear. Continue reading...

The solutions to today’s puzzlesEarlier today I set you five ‘reverse engineering’ picture puzzles, in which I presented pictures of five structures and asked you to explain why they were built in that way. Below are the questions and the correct answers, but please do scroll below the line in the original article because some of the comedy wrong answers are very funny. Feel free to add to the tally at the bottom of this article too.1. Baffling bridge. Continue reading...

Study finds parents with young children decode babies’ cries better than adults with no childcare skillsIf the wails of your newborn baby leave you baffled as to what is wrong, just give it time. Deciphering a baby’s cries is all down to experience, new research suggests.Being able to tell whether a baby is in pain is vital information for new parents and caregivers. But rather than being an innate skill adults can rely on, understanding the difference between cries of pain and mild discomfort comes with experience. Continue reading...

Scientists have revealed their latest work on hardware that can supply the kind of background information, familiar with ebooks, for paper volumesWe’ve had ebooks, audiobooks, and of course good old-fashioned printed books – but could there soon be another way to read? So-called “augmented reality books” – dubbed “a-books” by their creators – are a step closer to mass-market production after a six-year project by researchers at the University of Surrey.While ebook readers are used to being able to access background information and extra features, a-books would allow users to swipe their fingers across a line in a physical, printed book and have related content flash up on their phones, laptops or smart TVs. Continue reading...

Could the universe be an elaborate game constructed by bored aliens?Elon Musk thinks you don’t exist. But it’s nothing personal: he thinks he doesn’t exist either. At least, not in the normal sense of existing. Instead we are just immaterial software constructs running on a gigantic alien computer simulation. Musk has stated that the odds are billions to one that we are actually living in “base reality”, ie the physical universe. At the end of last year, he responded to a tweet about the anniversary of the crude tennis video game Pong (1972) by writing: “49 years later, games are photo-realistic 3D worlds. What does that trend continuing imply about our reality?”

Baffling bridges and strange structuresUPDATE: You can read the answers hereIf you have ever strolled along the Macclesfield canal you may have walked across a ‘snake bridge’, like the one above, in which one side of the towpath spirals backward.The question is: why did they build bridges like this? Continue reading...

The annual Perseids shower lasts more than a month, but will peak this weekThe main meteor shower of the year for northern skywatchers has arrived. The annual Perseids meteor shower lasts for more than five weeks, starting on 17 July and lasting until 24 August, but it peaks on the night of 12-13 August.Under pristine observing conditions, this reliable meteor shower can reach peak rates of 60 to 100 visible meteors an hour. This year, however, the full moon will wash out many of the fainter meteors. The Perseids themselves are dust grains that were once part of the tail of comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 133 years. They now hit Earth’s atmosphere at a velocity of about 130,000 mph, and burn up high above our planet’s surface. Continue reading...

Institute of Cancer Research in London isolates gene that allows tumours to spread through the bodySkin cancer cells produce “molecular drills” to penetrate healthy tissues and spread around the body, according to research that raises the prospect of new therapies for the disease.Researchers used robotic microscopy to capture the formation of the drills by melanoma cells that were being grown in 3D skin-like material in the laboratory. Continue reading...

Potentially deadly, rheumatic fever has been eradicated in most of the developed world. Fresh research may help New Zealand finally follow suitNathanial Harland was four years old when his daycare teachers noticed the usually playful boy was lethargic and alone in a corner. That day a doctor listened to the child’s chest and told his family to take Nathaniel straight to hospital – he had a heart murmur.Further testing showed his heart had been damaged from an earlier, undiagnosed bout of rheumatic fever, a serious but entirely preventable disease that has been all but wiped out in most developed countries but which is still present in New Zealand and Australia. Continue reading...

Determining the way artificial intelligence is used and governed will be one of the century’s key political battlegrounds. Here’s what everyone needs to know“Google fires engineer who contended its AI technology was sentient.” “Chess robot grabs and breaks finger of seven-year-old opponent.” “DeepMind’s protein-folding AI cracks biology’s biggest problem.” A new discovery (or debacle) is reported practically every week, sometimes exaggerated, sometimes not. Should we be exultant? Terrified? Policymakers struggle to know what to make of AI and it’s hard for the lay reader to sort through all the headlines, much less to know what to be believe. Here are four things every reader should know.First, AI is real and here to stay. And it matters. If you care about the world we live in, and how that world is likely to change in the coming years and decades, you should care as much about the trajectory of AI as you might about forthcoming elections or the science of climate breakdown. What happens next in AI, over the coming years and decades, will affect us all. Electricity, computers, the internet, smartphones and social networking have all changed our lives, radically, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse, and AI will, too. Continue reading...

Collection bequeathed to National Museums Scotland includes species that are unknown to scienceA remarkable collection of fossilised birds that lived 55 million years ago has been bequeathed to the National Museums Scotland (NMS) in Edinburgh and includes dozens of species that are unknown to science.Dating from the beginning of the Eocene epoch, they represent the early stages in the evolution of modern birds. Continue reading...

Cheerfulness can boost your energy levels, even in tough times – as philosophers and writers have long recognised“The surest sign of wisdom is a constant cheerfulness,” wrote the French philosopher Michel de Montaigne in the 16th century. “Be cheerful,” commands Prospero – arguably the wisest of all of Shakepeare’s characters – in The Tempest. Yet the impact of cheerfulness – and the power it gives us to get through difficult moments in our lives – is hard to define and easy to disregard or dismiss, even as we strive to be happy.And that is one of the reasons Timothy Hampton, a professor in the department of comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, decided to write a book about it. Cheerfulness: A Literary and Cultural History explores how “cheerfulness” functions as a theme in the works of great philosophers and writers from Shakespeare to Jane Austen, and how it is portrayed in everything from 16th-century medical books to the Boy Scout handbook. Continue reading...

When Nathan Brosnan went missing his family was plunged into the agony of ‘not knowing’. A national DNA program is trying to give families like theirs answers

From genes to environment to personality, we are all manipulated by forces seemingly outside our control. But there are ways to get back in the driving seatDo you ever feel as though you’re not in control of your thoughts and actions? Perhaps you become irrational when you’re tired or have skipped lunch. Pour yourself a drink when you swore you wouldn’t. If so, you are certainly not alone. All of us struggle to think clearly, understand our decisions or predict our actions at times. A little cognitive chaos is a very human trait.Many factors shape the way we think. Genes and personality play a role, but so do fleeting states, such as hunger, tiredness, hate or love. And the less we understand these and other emotions, the more likely we are to be driven by them. Continue reading...

People prefer to keep busy rather than to enjoy a moment of reflection, researchers findLosing oneself in one’s thoughts or letting the mind wander is an underrated activity that is more rewarding the more it is practised, an academic study has claimed.Psychologists who studied a group of more than 250 people encouraged to engage in directionless contemplation or free-floating thinking said that the activity was far more satisfying than the participants had anticipated. Continue reading...

Groups across political spectrum call for outbreak of virus to be treated as public health emergencyLGBTQ+ groups from across the political spectrum have joined forces to demand the government increase efforts to combat monkeypox or risk it becoming endemic in the UK.There have been more than 2,600 cases of monkeypox in the UK so far, which in the majority of the cases affects gay and bisexual men and men who have sex with men (GBMSM). The US on Thursday declared a public health emergency over the virus, which followed the World Health Organization (WHO) last month calling it a global emergency. Continue reading...

People with highest levels of prostasin twice as likely to have diabetes and 43% more likely to die from cancerDoctors have identified a protein in the blood they believe could serve as an early warning sign for patients who are at risk of diabetes and death from cancer.Researchers in Sweden and China analysed two decades of health records from more than 4,500 middle-aged adults on the Malmö diet and cancer study. They found that those with the highest levels of prostasin, a protein that circulates in the blood, were almost twice as likely to have diabetes than those with the lowest levels. Continue reading...

Guardian analysis shows human-caused global heating is driving more frequent and deadly disasters across the planet, in most comprehensive compilation to dateThe devastating intensification of extreme weather is laid bare today in a Guardian analysis that shows how people across the world are losing their lives and livelihoods due to more deadly and more frequent heatwaves, floods, wildfires and droughts brought by the climate crisis.The analysis of hundreds of scientific studies – the most comprehensive compilation to date – demonstrates beyond any doubt how humanity’s vast carbon emissions are forcing the climate to disastrous new extremes. At least a dozen of the most serious events, from killer heatwaves to broiling seas, would have been all but impossible without human-caused global heating, the analysis found.The 12 events deemed virtually impossible without humanity’s destabilisation of the climate span the globe, including intense heatwaves in North America, Europe and Japan, soaring temperatures in Siberia and sweltering seas off Australia.Seventy-one per cent of the 500 extreme weather events and trends in the database were found to have been made more likely or more severe by human-caused climate change, including 93% of heatwaves, 68% of droughts and 56% of floods or heavy rain. Only 9% of the events were less likely, mostly cold snaps and snowstorms.One in three deaths caused by summer heat over the last three decades was the direct result of human-caused global heating, implying a toll of millions.Huge financial costs are also now attributable to human influence on the climate, such as $67bn of damages when Hurricane Harvey smashed into Texas and Louisiana in 2017, which was 75% of the total damages from the storm.Global heating has been hurting us for far longer than commonly assumed, with traces of its influence as far back as the heatwaves and droughts that triggered the infamous Dust Bowl in the US in the mid-1930s. Continue reading...

Palliative doctors call for relaxation of laws to redress huge unmet need for drugs among majority of world’s populationPatients suffering chronic pain are being denied treatment in low-income countries because of restrictive laws and concerns about opioid addiction, which have been fuelled by the crisis engulfing the US.Palliative doctors, who say there is a huge unmet need for pain-relief drugs in poorer countries, have called for laws to be relaxed and for the stigma around opioids to be addressed. Continue reading...

Veteran diver struck by ‘intricate detail’ sent footage to be uploaded to Jellyfish app

Xenotransplantation promises to solve organ shortage and to reshape how we think about human longevity, but it also raises a host of questionsShards of electricity burned through Mr P’s flesh. Layers upon layers of subcutaneous fat unraveled, filling the operating room with a pungent, metallic odor, like singed hair at the neighborhood barbecue. Within a few minutes, the pearly white bone of the sternum stuck out before a vein split open, filling the operative field with blood.Zap! Maroon juice turned into a crackly black mass. Continue reading...

Psychology professor draws on 20 years of studying often crippling issue that can affect sufferers’ careers and even healthHave you thought about tackling your procrastination but, you know … dog videos, shopping lists, catching up on Twitter, the last-ever episode of Neighbours with Mike and “plain Jane superbrain”, apparently.A Durham University professor and world-leading authority on procrastination is bidding to help. Fuschia Sirois has, over two decades of studying procrastination, heard so many heartbreaking stories that she is now publishing a research-based self-help guide offering insights and practical strategies to deal with it. Continue reading...

James Lovelock, the creator of the Gaia hypothesis, died last Tuesday on his 103rd birthday. Known as something of a maverick, the scientist and inventor was one of the most influential thinkers of the past century. Our global environment editor, Jonathan Watts, tells Madeleine Finlay about spending time with Lovelock for his forthcoming biography, the impact of the scientist’s ideas and inventions on the modern world, and how his immense influence will continue to be felt in the critical decades aheadArchive: Met Office, NBC News, DW News Continue reading...

The annual meteor shower will peak on 13 August. Find out the best time to view

Astrophysicist expects more debris to be found in area ‘over the years’ from SpaceX capsule from rocket launched in 2020

Author of Lords report says government’s approach ‘feels like setting off on a marathon with your shoelaces tied together’Britain’s plan to become a “science and technology superpower” is so lacking in focus and so full of new organisational structures that the country risks becoming a “bureaucracy superpower” instead, an influential crossbench peer has said.Prof John Krebs, the co-author of a Lords report on the government’s global ambitions for science and technology, said despite laudable rhetoric, there was no clear strategy as to how the “superpower” ambition might be realised, and reasons to doubt it would succeed. Continue reading...

Study finds reduced risk of cervical cancer recurring after HPV vaccination post-surgery, though further research is neededGiving women the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine when precancerous lesions are removed from their cervix may cut the risk of cells recurring and them getting cervical cancer, a study has found.Cases of cervical cancer in the UK have fallen hugely since school pupils aged 13 and 14 – first girls and later boys – began being offered HPV jabs in 2008 as protection against the disease. Continue reading...

When the CEO of the Australian Meat Industry Council is urging politicians to keep calm and stick to the science, we should all listen

Findings point to improvements in organ transplants and raise questions over nature of deathOnce the heart stops pumping blood, death quickly follows. Or does it?Scientists have developed a way to restore function in pig organs an hour after their hearts have stopped beating, raising fresh questions about the nature of death and pointing to ways to improve organ transplantation rates. Continue reading...

Researchers use stem cells from mice to form embryo-like structures with intestinal tract, beginnings of a brain, and a beating heartResearchers have created the world’s first “synthetic embryos” in a groundbreaking feat that bypassed the need for sperm, eggs and fertilisation.Scientists at the Weizmann Institute in Israel found that stem cells from mice could be made to self-assemble into early embryo-like structures with an intestinal tract, the beginnings of a brain, and a beating heart. Continue reading...

CAB-LA injections offer stigma-free protection for those at risk – particularly women in Africa. A deal with pharmaceutical companies is crucialSomeone was blowing a whistle. A crowd with placards surged into the conference room, chanting “PrEP costs pennies, ViiV’s greed kills”. Not an obvious slogan, but everyone in the room knew what it meant.The protesters took over the stage, denouncing “pharma’s greed” at the microphone. On the platform, those whose session had been interrupted smiled, even applauded. “Thank you for your advocacy. Please allow the session to continue,” read prepared slides on the overhead screens. Continue reading...

‘Substantial chance’ married or university-educated men outlive women without spouse or high school diplomaA study has called into question the long-held belief that women outlive men, especially men who are married or have a university degree.The analysis spanning two centuries across all continents concluded that although men have a lower life expectancy than the opposite sex, they have a “substantial chance of outliving females”. Continue reading...

Medicine is pragmatic. It has often established that a treatment works well before it has understood howThe chemical imbalance theory of depression is well and truly dead. A paper by Joanna Moncrieff and colleagues, longtime critics of the effectiveness of antidepressants, has caused a splash. The paper provides a summary of other summaries that confirm there is no evidence to support the idea that depression is caused by disturbance of the brain’s serotonin system.They have done us a favour by corralling the evidence that says as much, even if we knew this to be the case.This article first appeared in the Conversation. Christopher Davey is head of the department of psychiatry at the University of Melbourne Continue reading...

Jarlsberg is rich in vitamin K2, which has previously been found to improve bone healthEating Jarlsberg cheese may help to prevent bone thinning and stave off osteoporosis, research suggests.Jarlsberg is a mild cheese made from cow’s milk, with regular holes that mean it is classified as a Swiss-type cheese, although it originates from Norway. It is rich in vitamin K2, which has previously been found to improve bone health. Continue reading...

At least 2 million people in the UK are struggling with symptoms months or years after falling ill. They need support as well as treatmentHow do you tackle a problem when you don’t know what it is? Covid-19 was an unknown enemy, but was quickly identified. Long Covid, its equally unwelcome offspring, is a lesser threat, but is proving harder to pin down. Doctors are clear that it is widespread – yet are not sure how common it is, or how to respond.This is in part because it is an umbrella term for a wide range of symptoms; the World Health Organization says that up to 200 have been recorded, with shortness of breath, brain fog and fatigue the most common, while others range from loss of smell and tinnitus to stomach aches and depression. It may be that five or six separate syndromes are involved. Most of the symptoms have numerous potential non-Covid causes, making it still harder to isolate which are related to the infection. Continue reading...

The Australian Space Agency is investigating space debris found in farmland in the Snowy Mountains in southern NSW, after being notified by an astrophysicist who believes it to be from a SpaceX mission.Dr Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University, received a call last Thursday from Mick Miners and Jock Wallace, two sheep farmers in the small town of Dalgety, who reported having found a scorched object.Their report matched a SpaceX spacecraft which re-entered the earth’s atmosphere at 7am on 9 July, 20 months after its launch in November 2020► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube

Charred ring of metal five metres in diameter found in Kalimantan and smaller piece discovered in Sarawak, MalaysiaDebris suspected to be from a Chinese booster rocket that made an uncontrolled return to Earth on Saturday has reportedly been found metres from villages in Malaysia and Indonesia.A charred ring of metal about five metres in diameter was found on Sunday in Kalimantan, Indonesia, according to a Malaysian news outlet. Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said the metal appeared to be the exact size of the Chinese rocket’s core stage. Continue reading...