New word puzzlesUPDATE: You can read the answers hereWe all love Wordle. But don’t you also crave new challenges? Today’s column is a post-Wordle girdle, strapping tightly together four word-based puzzles, three of which were sent in by readers of this column.1. Old horse Continue reading...

Although not extremely bright, Hercules will cover a large area of sky this summerThe Hercules constellation is well placed for viewing from the northern hemisphere at this time of year. Although it does not have any really bright stars, the central four make a keystone shape that is easy to recognise.Hercules is also easy to spot because it covers a large area of sky; it is the fifth largest of the 88 modern constellations. The chart shows the view looking south from London at midnight tonight. Continue reading...

In the study at a zoo in Helsinki, white-faced sakis could trigger audio or visual stimuli on demandMonkeys given their own “primate-focused” versions of Spotify and Netflix were more likely to choose audio stimuli over screen time, a study has found.Researchers at the University of Glasgow and Aalto University in Finland set out to explore how a group of three white-faced saki monkeys at Korkeasaari zoo in Helsinki would respond to being able to trigger audio or visual stimuli on demand. Continue reading...

Researchers find that patterns of blood vessels in the retina could help identify those likely to experience cardiac problemsA simple non-invasive eye examination may be able to predict risk of heart attack when combined with other information, according to a study.Researchers found that combining information about the pattern of blood vessels in the retina with traditional clinical factors enabled them to better identify participants’ risk of an attack, compared with established models that only included demographic data. Continue reading...

Figuring out how to support a loved one – without getting so caught up that we end up struggling ourselves – can feel like walking a tightrope

Wengrow and his late co-author David Graeber caused a sensation with their revisionist view of humankind’s development. But then came the attacks…Last year a book called The Dawn of Everything announced that most of what we think we know about human history is wrong. Its co-authors, David Graeber and David Wengrow, took aim at the established story that has been repeated by brand writers such as Jared Diamond, Yuval Noah Harari and Steven Pinker – the one that says that for most of prehistory, we lived in small egalitarian bands of hunter-gatherers, and it was only with the agricultural revolution about 12,000 years ago that we adopted larger forms of social organisation leading to complex, hierarchical communities. All of that, they argue, is based on outdated information.In their bestselling books Collapse, Sapiens and The Better Angels of Our Nature, those authors drew heavily on archaeological and anthropological findings, although none of them are archaeologists or anthropologists. By contrast Graeber, who died two years ago, was thought by many to be one of the leading anthropologists of his generation. And co-author Wengrow is a well-respected archaeologist. Continue reading...

An unprecedented trove of 8,000 bones presents archaeologists at a road dig with a prehistoric mysteryArchaeologists working near the site of an iron age home near Cambridge were perplexed when they uncovered a vast trove of frog skeletons. Quite why more than 8,000 bones had been piled up and preserved is a prehistoric mystery.They were all recovered from a single 14-metre-long ditch, right next to the site of an iron age roundhouse at Bar Hill, where there was a settlement during the middle and late iron age (400BC-AD43). The discovery was made by the Museum of London Archaeology (Mola) Headland Infrastructure, conducting excavations as part of the National Highways A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon road improvement scheme. Continue reading...

Feeling unmotivated, tired or discouraged? Sport scientists have tested the best methods for getting out of a slump and back to your personal bestFor most of my adult life, exercise was an ordeal. Even mild workouts felt gruelling and I left the gym in a fouler mood than when I’d arrived. The very idea of the runner’s high seemed like a cruel joke.As a science writer investigating the mind-body connection, however, I was surprised to discover many psychological tricks that can turn the pain into pleasure. Putting these simple tips to the test, I now happily burn between 6,000 and 7,000 calories a week with high-intensity interval training, 5km runs and yoga. What was once a torment is now the highlight of my day.The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Transform Your Life by David Robson is published by Canongate (£18.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply Continue reading...

It will deepen your connection to your confidante and may improve your situationIf you’ve ever kept a secret from a friend, a family member, or a romantic partner (and you have), then the chances are good that these same people have kept secrets from you. Not all of them, and not at every moment, but some of them some of the time.I can tell you with a fair degree of certainty that your loved ones’ secrets are about ambitions, beliefs, habits, deceptions, desires, discontents and violations of trust. In my research, I’ve asked more than 50,000 people about their secrets, and these are the themes that we often see. What I can also tell you is that as isolating as it can feel to have secrets, we are hardly alone in the ones that we keep. Continue reading...

Researcher says proboscis monkey may have mated with silver langur when unable to reach female of own speciesThe emergence of a “mystery monkey”, believed to be a rare hybrid of two distantly related primates, highlights the importance of protecting habit connectivity, according to a researcher who studied the animal.The female monkey first attracted attention in 2017, when photographs taken of it along the Kinabatangan River in Sabah, Malaysia, were uploaded to social media wildlife photography groups. Continue reading...

Expired products, cow milk, homemade formula – desperate parents are trying anything and everything to keep our babies fedI heard warnings about the formula shortage shortly after the mask mandate lifted in my town in North Carolina. My family was thrilled that life appeared to be going back to a semblance of normalcy, that my eight-month-old daughter could finally see people’s faces in public, that I could comfort her at the grocery store with a smile. Our hope was short-lived.The original formula recall announced by the FDA in February did not include the brand we used for our daughter, which made me assume that we would not be affected. As a first-time mom already concerned about keeping her baby safe during the pandemic, I didn’t need another thing to worry about. I thought that the government would step in before families had to go out of their way to find food. We noticed the large empty spaces on shelves at every store but remained optimistic that help would arrive soon. Yet the shelves only grew emptier.Anna Gazmarian’s memoir about mental health, southern culture, and evangelicalism is forthcoming from Simon & Schuster in October 2023 Continue reading...

Meet the footballing bees, optimistic pigs and alien-like octopuses that are shaking up how we think about mindsHow do you spot an optimistic pig? This isn’t the setup for a punchline; the question is genuine, and in the answer lies much that is revealing about our attitudes to other minds – to minds, that is, that are not human. If the notion of an optimistic (or for that matter a pessimistic) pig sounds vaguely comical, it is because we scarcely know how to think about other minds except in relation to our own.Here is how you spot an optimistic pig: you train the pig to associate a particular sound – a note played on a glockenspiel, say – with a treat, such as an apple. When the note sounds, an apple falls through a hatch so the pig can eat it. But another sound – a dog-clicker, say – signals nothing so nice. If the pig approaches the hatch on hearing the clicker, all it gets is a plastic bag rustled in its face. Continue reading...

Emma Thompson is right – more women are missing out on orgasms. Why?Hollywood sex scenes tend to follow a predictable formula: hot, passionate and rarely anything short of euphoric. So the basis of Emma Thompson’s new film, Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, in which she plays a widowed teacher who hires a male escort in the hope of having her first orgasm late in life, is seen as truly boundary-pushing.But while films do not tend to depict women looking tense, frustrated or simply a bit bored during sex, evidence suggests that in real-life many women share the experience of Thompson’s character. “Fifteen percent of women have never had an orgasm,” Thompson told ITV’s Lorraine Kelly, in a publicity interview this week, a figure that experts say is “plausible”. Continue reading...

This week, Marina Hyde on what’s next for the Tory party after Hannibal Johnson wins his confidence vote (01m14s), Hadley Freeman talks to singer Pete Doherty in Normandy (09m25s), and Joanna Moorhead advises on ways to make life’s hardest decisions (38m52s). Continue reading...

The wreck of a Royal Navy warship that sank in 1682 while carrying the future King James Stuart has been identified off the coast of Norfolk. The wreckage of HMS Gloucester was actually found in 2007 by two brothers, Julian and Lincoln Barnwell, following a four-year search that covered an area of more than 5,000 nautical miles. It is only now that its discovery can be made public. The HMS Gloucester was originally built in 1652 for the English navy, and participated in battles during the Anglo-Spanish war of 1654 to 1660 and the second and third Anglo-Dutch war. In 1682, the ship was wrecked after it collided with a sandbar, with up to 250 people dying as a result

UK could be entering third Covid wave this year but trend represents ‘small increase’ in positive testsThe UK may be entering its third wave of coronavirus this year, researchers warn, as official figures show infections are on the rise again in England and Northern Ireland.The Office for National Statistics said its latest analysis of swabs from households across Britain revealed a mixed picture with a “small increase” in positive tests in England and Northern Ireland, while the trend in Wales and Scotland remained unclear. Continue reading...

Dr Sean Kang, a cognitive psychologist, says the information is still there, but it’s tucked away in long-term memoryEver thought about a book you’ve read, and had no recollection of the plot? Or followed a recommendation to watch a TV show, only to find you’ve already seen it? We live in an age of mass content, with TV, books and films consumed at some of the highest levels in recent years. Could this be wreaking havoc with our ability to remember them? I asked Dr Sean Kang, a cognitive psychologist who specialises in memory: why do I keep forgetting the books I’ve read?I did English at uni and it’s embarrassing how often a former classmate will mention a book I have no recollection of. My theory is it’s because I’m a journalist, and dealing with words all day is doing something to my brain.

A gadget-rich programme says it will find out how you react to foods and teach you to eat the best onesFor decades, dietary advice has been notoriously faddy, swinging from the low-fat, high-carb guidance of the 1980s and 1990s to the low-carb or intermittent fasting diets recommended in more recent years.But one programme claims to be different: it promises to test how your individual body responds to different foods, and then teach you to eat the right ones for your biology. Continue reading...

WHO report has said origins of virus are still unknown and recommended further investigationChina has repeated its assertion the theory that the Covid-19 pandemic began with a leak from a Chinese laboratory is “a politically motivated lie”, after the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended continued investigations this week.“The lab leak theory is totally a lie concocted by anti-China forces for political purposes, which has nothing to do with science,” the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a daily briefing on Friday. Continue reading...

Prevalence in UK study twice as high as thought, putting them at higher risk of health issuesTwice as many men carry an extra sex chromosome as previously thought, according to researchers who called for more genetic testing to identify people at greater risk of related medical problems.Research on more than 200,000 men enrolled with the UK Biobank suggests that about one in 500 in the general population has an extra X or Y chromosome, double the number found in earlier work, though only a fraction are likely to be aware of it. Continue reading...

Something about this has triggered past feelings for both of you. The key is to unlock the roots of these feelingsI recently moved in with my boyfriend of just over a year. We were both clear from the outset we really value our personal space, and needed a bedroom each.Since we moved in together, it’s become clear that we have very different feelings about spending the night together. My boyfriend doesn’t want to spend more than two nights a week together. For me, the optimum number of nights apart is two or three a week, max. Continue reading...

At least 16 recipients of prestigious ERC grants making plans to reject UK offer and move their labs abroadThe UK is facing an exodus of star scientists, with at least 16 recipients of prestigious European grants making plans to move their labs abroad as the UK remains frozen out of the EU’s flagship science programme.Britain’s participation in Horizon Europe has been caught in the crosshairs of the dispute over Brexit in Northern Ireland, meaning that 143 UK-based recipients of European Research Council fellowships this week faced a deadline of either relinquishing their grant or transferring it to an institute in an eligible country. Continue reading...

HMS Gloucester could be the ‘most historic maritime discovery since the raising of the Marie Rose’The wreck of a Royal Navy warship which sank in 1682 while carrying the future king James Stuart has been identified off the coast of Norfolk.The wreckage of HMS Gloucester was actually found in 2007 by two brothers, Julian and Lincoln Barnwell, alongside their late father and two friends, following a four-year search which covered an area of more than 5,000 nautical miles. Continue reading...

Faced with a devastating diagnosis, Morris responds by doing all she can to improve the odds of survival for her, and othersIn 2016 Jessica Morris was on an annual hiking weekend with friends in upstate New York when she started to feel all wrong. Being out of breath was nothing new since she was in her mid-50s, and exercise had never been her thing. What was her thing, though, was talking – and now, weirdly, she couldn’t do that either. The words were all bunched up in her head and refused to launch themselves on to her tongue. The next thing she remembered was waking up in an ambulance, her face twisted into a permanent grin, which was strange, since she wasn’t feeling remotely happy.Within days Morris was diagnosed with a brain tumour, a glioblastoma. GBM typically rips through patients in 14 months, leaving only 5% alive at the end of five years. It is the disease that took the lives of the MP Tessa Jowell, Senator John McCain and Beau Biden, the president’s son. And, when Morris gets a definitive diagnosis, she knows that it is the one that will take her off, too: “in a nanosecond, my life had gone from one of smooth, predictable joy to one of unimaginable terror”. Continue reading...

What’s gone is gone, but don’t waste time worrying about that.

Both cities back on high alert, with new lockdowns in Shanghai , and the shutdown of entertainment venues in Beijing

Exclusive: Study finds people have ‘astonishing’ levels of compounds thought to disrupt hormonesA cocktail of chemical pollutants measured in people’s bodies has been linked to falling semen quality by new research.Chemicals such as bisphenols and dioxins are thought to interfere with hormones and damage sperm quality, and the study found combinations of these compounds are present at “astonishing” levels, up to 100 times those considered safe. Continue reading...

The space agency’s mission chief said scientific community may see it as ‘selling out’ with study expected to begin this fallNasa is launching a study of UFOs as part of a new push toward high-risk, high-impact science.The space agency announced on Thursday that it was setting up an independent team to see how much information is publicly available on the matter and how much more is needed to understand the unexplained sightings. The experts will also consider how best to use all this information in the future. Continue reading...

New research shows the gut of the Zophobas morio beetle larvae contains enzymes capable of breaking down the plastic, which is difficult to recycleBeetle larvae that can shred and eat polystyrene may provide alternative methods of breaking down and upcycling plastic waste, new research suggests.The larvae of Zophobas morio, a species of beetle, are commonly known as superworms and contain several gut enzymes that are capable of digesting polystyrene, Australian scientists have found.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

Japanese innovation thought to have potential to ‘build a new relationship between humans and robots’Japanese scientists have developed a “slightly sweaty” robotic finger covered in living skin in an advance they say brings truly human-like robots a step closer.The finger, which was shown to be able to heal itself, is seen as an impressive technical feat that blurs the line between living flesh and machine. But scientists were divided on whether people would warm to its lifelike anatomy or find it creepy. Continue reading...

Remains suggest spinosaur, a crocodile-faced hunter, measured over 10 metres from snout to tailFossil hunters on the Isle of Wight have unearthed the remains of what may be the largest predatory dinosaur ever found in Europe.Pieces of bone belonging to a massive spinosaur, a two-legged crocodile-faced beast that lived 125m years ago, suggest the land-based hunter measured over 10 metres from snout to tail. Continue reading...

The current outbreak of monkeypox in the UK has reached over 300 cases, according to official figuresThe current outbreak of monkeypox in the UK has reached over 300 cases, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). Experts, while concerned, have stressed that the risk for the general public remains low.We want to hear from anyone affected by the outbreak, particularly cases and contacts. Do you have any concerns? You can tell us about your experiences below. Continue reading...

European Chemical Agency’s positive assessment for continued sale of substance is flawed, say environmental campaignersEU regulators dismissed key scientific evidence linking glyphosate to rodent tumours in a positive assessment they gave for continued sales of the substance last week, according to a new report by environmental campaigners.Glyphosate is the world’s most widely used weedkiller and its EU relicensing has become a touchstone in a wider battle between environmentalists and agribusiness over the future of farming. Continue reading...

Research suggests a daily glass reduces harmful inflammation by boosting nitric oxide levelsA daily glass of beetroot juice could reduce harmful inflammation in people with coronary heart disease, according to new research.Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease, the most common cause of heart attacks and the single biggest killer of both and men and women worldwide. Continue reading...

When reports surfaced that Boris Johnson would be announcing the return of imperial measurements to mark the Queen’s platinum jubilee, there was some celebration, consternation, and a lot of confusion. Britain already uses a mix of both imperial and metric, and it is legal to price goods in pounds and ounces if this is displayed alongside the price in grams and kilograms. So what’s really behind this rekindled debate over units? Science editor Ian Sample speaks to author and metrology historian James Vincent about the rise of metric, the enduring political power of measurement, and why it’s unlikely we’ll be getting rid of pints in pubs any time soon.Archive: Good Morning Britain, GB News Continue reading...

Moderna shot is said to produce eightfold increase in antibody levels against Omicron in first four weeksAn updated version of Moderna’s Covid vaccine produces an eightfold increase in antibody levels against the Omicron variant, according to early trial results, raising hopes for a once-a-year booster to protect against the disease.The vaccine is the first “bivalent” formulation to combine protection against Omicron and the original strain of coronavirus, and is the company’s leading candidate for upcoming autumn booster programmes. Continue reading...

Every patient treated with immunotherapy drug went into remission, researchers in New York reportedEvery patient treated for rectal cancer with an experimental immunotherapy drug went into remission, in findings that researchers have hailed as a breakthrough.All 14 patients who were given the new drug, dostarlimab, were found after six months to have no trace of cancer. Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering cancer center in New York could find no sign of the disease through physical examination, endoscopies, MRIs or other scans. Continue reading...

Experts hope study can help with reintroducing captive otters into wild to aid conservation effortsOtters are able to learn from each other – but still prefer to solve some puzzles on their own, scientists have found.The semi-aquatic mammals are known to be very social and intelligent creatures, but a study by the University of Exeter has given new insight into their intellect. Continue reading...

From relationships, to sport, to happiness – why data points, not feelings, are a better guide to what worksIntuition is a funny business. Back in the day, you might have thought that making life decisions by blindly following your “gut feeling” was a bad idea and could get you into trouble. But in 2005 along came Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink, a massive bestseller that made the scientific case for “the power of thinking without thinking”. Split-second decisions, Gladwell argued, are often far better than ones that involve deliberation. Perhaps ironically, the idea that intuition was a good thing was itself quite counterintuitive – and counterintuitive ideas really sell books.But now it’s time for another U-turn. The new book by the economist and ex-Google researcher Seth Stephens-Davidowitz is the anti-Gladwell: it’s about how we can learn from “big data” to help us make better decisions in our lives – and how this often goes against what our intuitions might tell us. Continue reading...

Visitors from select countries will be allowed to return to Japan from Friday but will only be allowed to travel under strict conditions

Injectable, biodegradable technology developed by UK team works as a scaffold to help new tissue growBritish researchers have developed a biodegradable gel to repair damage caused by a heart attack in a breakthrough that could improve the health of millions of survivors worldwide.There are more than 100,000 hospital admissions every year due to heart attacks in the UK alone – one every five minutes. Medical advances mean more people than ever before survive, with 1.4 million Britons alive today after experiencing a heart attack. But hearts have a very limited ability to regenerate, meaning survivors are left at risk of heart failure and other health problems. Continue reading...

Missions will study heliophysics, astrophysics and planetary science phenomena only observable from southern hemisphere, Nasa says

Discrepancy between aesthetic value and extinction vulnerability could have repercussionsThere are plenty of fish in the sea, but “ugly” fish deserve love too, according to a study.The reef fish people rate as most aesthetically pleasing are also the ones that seem to need the least conservation support, while the fish most likely to rank as “ugly” are the most endangered species, the research has found. Continue reading...

CDC warns travelers to avoid contact with sick people, with more than 1,000 cases in at least 29 countriesThe US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has raised its monkeypox alert level and warned travellers to be mindful of approaching sick people, though it also said the risk to the general public remained low.More than 1,000 monkeypox cases have been reported in at least 29 countries and every continent except Antarctica as of Monday. The US has seen 31 cases of the virus in 13 states, including seven in New York and six in California. Continue reading...

Are synthetic chemicals we encounter every day causing us to gain weight? According to a major scientific review authored by dozens of scientists, there is now enough evidence to conclude that they are. Termed ‘obesogens’, these chemicals can be found in food packaging, personal hygiene products, electronics and even water. Madeleine Finlay speaks to environment editor Damian Carrington about how obesogens might be contributing to the global obesity pandemic, what they may be doing to our bodies, and if there’s anything we can do to avoid them.Archive: CBS Mornings, CGTN America, VOA Africa, Channel 4 News Continue reading...

Global La Niña-like conditions could result in more flooding rains in east Australia and bushfires in south-west US

Close human contact only started about 3,500 years ago and birds were initially venerated, find archaeologistsChickens were originally tempted down from the trees and into domestication by rice, according to research.Chicken is one of the most popular foods in the world today, with more than one billion birds slaughtered annually in the UK alone. But researchers at the University of Exeter, the University of Oxford and Cardiff University say in a new study that the birds are actually a relatively new addition to our farms. Continue reading...

Jim Fitton, 66, hoped for short suspended sentence after collecting fragments during archaeology tourLawyers for a British geologist handed a 15-year sentence by an Iraqi judge after being convicted of smuggling antiquities will immediately appeal against the shock verdict, which has left his family “stunned”.Jim Fitton, 66, arrived at court in Baghdad hoping for a short suspended sentence after being charged with collecting fragments from a site in southern Iraq during an organised archaeology tour. Instead, he was found guilty under a Saddam-era law that legal experts should not have applied to the case. Continue reading...

CO2 has not been so high since before hominids walked upright – and are not dropping fast enough to avert catastropheThe level of carbon dioxide in the world’s atmosphere is now more than 50% higher than during the pre-industrial era, further pushing the planet into conditions not experienced for millions of years, well before the emergence of humans, US government data shows.The latest measurements showing the relentless upward march of CO follows scientists’ new warning that the world may still barrel into disastrous climate change even if planet-heating emissions are drastically cut, which governments are still failing to achieve. Continue reading...

Extinction, a new book by Marc Schlossman, explores endangered and extinct species and the factors threatening them through a rare behind the scenes look at one of the most important sets of natural history collections in the world at the Field Museum in ChicagoConservation status chart:VulnerableEndangeredCritically endangeredExtinct Continue reading...