Noctilucent clouds, which glow after sunset, are the highest known clouds in Earth’s atmosphereLate spring/early summer in the northern hemisphere is a good time to look for noctilucent clouds. Roughly translated from Latin, noctilucent means “night shine”, which is a good description of these beautiful cloud formations. They can be seen glowing an electric blue colour against the darkening western sky about 30 minutes after the sun sets.Noctilucent clouds are the highest known clouds in Earth’s atmosphere, existing at an altitude of about 80km, which is virtually the edge of space. The Kármán line, which marks the boundary between the atmosphere and outer space, is defined as being 100km in altitude. Continue reading...

New Zealand scientists ‘jumping up and down’ at find during investigation of climate-induced melt of ice shelfBeneath a vast Antarctic ice shelf, in a cathedral-like cavern hundreds of metres high, are swarms of little shrimp-like creatures in a newly discovered underwater ecosystem that, until recently, had remained an ice-locked secret.A team of scientists from New Zealand discovered the ecosystem 500 metres below the ice in a suspected estuary, hundreds of kilometres from the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. Continue reading...

Experts say the apparent effects of a weekly dose of tirzepatide are potentially game changingA weekly dose of a diabetes drug appears to lead to significant weight loss in people with obesity, in a development experts have hailed as gamechanging.Obesity causes 1.2 million deaths in Europe each year, according to the World Health Organization, and the UK has one of the worst obesity rates. Continue reading...

Evidence uncovered in Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire extends known reach further west across BritainThe awe-inspiring beauty of the Preseli Hills and the surrounding wild moorlands have long drawn visitors to north Pembrokeshire in Wales. Now an archaeologist has found evidence that even the Romans were drawn to the area, with the discovery of an ancient road showing they travelled farther west across Britain than previously thought.Dr Mark Merrony, a Roman specialist, tutor at Oxford University and “a native of Pembrokeshire”, said the road had been completely missed. “This thing is just extraordinary. I’m astonished,” he said. Continue reading...

Most of us shy away from life’s hardest decisions. But there are ways to help usPsychology professor Laurence Alison is an expert in how to make decisions, but in the early days of his career, it was all theoretical. Then one day he took a call from “someone very senior”, who described a worrying trend: police chiefs were showing themselves unable, in critical situations, to make crucial choices. “He asked, ‘Is there anything you can do to help?’”There was. Alison – a straight-talking, no-nonsense person – started to translate what he knew from textbooks and turn it into practical advice. “Academic work on decision-making had concentrated on studying how they’re made in theoretical settings,” he says. “But I realised we needed to move it to real-time, lives-on-the-line situations: tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, where chances were, someone was being presented with a situation where almost every choice looked dire. I knew I had something to offer that would make a difference.” Continue reading...

Just as in the flu pandemic of the 19th century, waves of infections in the US and Portugal should remind us that Covid shows no signs of going awayShortly before the first British lockdown, the Italian novelist Francesca Melandri wrote an open letter to the UK describing our soon-to-be coronavirus future. At the time, Melandri had been under lockdown in Rome for three weeks and cemeteries in Lombardy, in northern Italy, had run out of plots to bury the dead. “We are but a few steps ahead of you in the path of time, just like Wuhan was a few weeks ahead of us,” Melandri warned. “You [will] hold the same arguments we did until a short time ago, between those who still say ‘it’s only a flu, why all the fuss?’ and those who have already understood.”Melandri’s predictions proved spot on. As British ICU wards filled with coronavirus patients, some commentators dismissed the measures as a media scare, arguing that Covid-19 was no worse than the 2009 swine flu. Others, grasping the urgency of the situation, offered to get the shopping in for elderly neighbours while cursing panic-buyers and joggers who refused to keep their distance. Continue reading...

Air pollutant nitrogen dioxide may contribute to intensive care admissions, German study findsPeople who contract Covid-19 are more likely to suffer severe symptoms if they have been exposed to air pollution for long periods.A study found that people who live in places where there are high levels of the atmospheric pollutant nitrogen dioxide had higher chances of ending up in intensive care units (ICUs) or of needing mechanical ventilation after they had caught Covid. Continue reading...

The psychologist is known for her work on the criminal mind, but wrote her new book to answer her own questions about her sexualityJulia Shaw is a psychologist at University College London and part of Queer Politics at Princeton University, a thinktank engaged in the research of LGBTQ+ equality and rights. Her new book, Bi: The Hidden Culture, History and Science of Bisexuality, draws on her experiences of being bisexual and her background in the psychological sciences to explore and celebrate a sexual identity she says remains marginalised and forgotten.What led you to begin researching bisexuality and write this book?

Chris Barrie says he hopes common sense will prevail and the TGA will allow drug to be more readily used to treat patients

The positive test was revealed the same day the CDC reported that there have been 21 confirmed cases across the USA fifth person has tested positive for monkeypox in New York City, local health authorities announced on Thursday, saying “we are monitoring the situation and will investigate any other suspected cases”.This positive test was revealed the same day the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that there have been a total of 21 confirmed monkeypox cases across the US in 2022. Continue reading...

Arguing by text often raised as a problem during sessions with counsellors and psychologistsIf you’re the first lady, then having an argument with the US president via text message (or “fexting”, as Jill Biden called it) might keep marital disputes private from the Secret Service, but relationship experts have warned it could make things worse.Biden revealed earlier this week how she and her husband, Joe, discreetly carry on arguments via text message in the White House, but according to relationship experts, arguing by text has become a problem commonly raised in couple’s counselling in recent years. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Focus on human needs must not result in impact on animals being overlooked, say researchersTaking a pet everywhere for emotional support, from aeroplanes to the daily shop, may be all the rage, but experts have warned animal welfare is at risk of being overlooked.The use of emotional support animals has boomed in recent years, with myriad cases hitting the headlines, from the peacock denied a seat on a United Airlines plane, to the cat banned from Sainsbury’s. Continue reading...

Just because you’re getting on a bit, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be getting some. You just might have to work on a few things. Couples and experts reveal the secret to later-life sexMidlife and beyond is a good time for re-evaluation, and it’s especially true for your sex life. Do you wish you had one? Do you still like it when your partner does that? Do you still like … your partner?“In therapy it’s not unusual to come across couples where the sexual relationship has gone off the boil completely for years, for various reasons,” says Ammanda Major, head of service quality and clinical practice at Relate. “That might be physical, emotional, it might be to do with the relationship. People might be thinking, ‘I’ve got another 20, 30 years perhaps, and I don’t want it to be like this.’” It is, she adds, “never too late” to have a fulfilling sex life. Here, then, is how to keep going for longer. Continue reading...

Study at NHS trust finds no patients were informed of risk of unplanned pregnancy from sugammadexWomen undergoing NHS operations are not being routinely informed that a drug commonly used in anaesthesia may make their contraception less effective, putting them at risk of an unplanned pregnancy, doctors have warned.Administered at the end of surgery before patients wake up, sugammadex reverses the action of drugs that are given earlier in the procedure to relax the patient’s muscles. The drug is known to interact with the hormone progesterone and may reduce the effectiveness of hormonal contraceptives, including the progesterone-only pill, combined pill, vaginal rings, implants and intra-uterine devices. Continue reading...

Study of 250,000 people sought to remove confounding factors such as socioeconomic statusTaller people have an increased risk of peripheral neuropathy, as well as skin and bone infections, but a lower risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, according to the world’s largest study of height and disease.A person’s height raises and reduces their risk of a variety of diseases, according to the research led by Sridharan Raghavan of the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center in the US. The findings are published in the journal PLOS Genetics. Continue reading...

Vegetated areas above treeline have increased by 77% since 1984, satellite data showsThe impact of global heating on the Alps is visible from space, with the snow-white mountains increasingly colonised by green plants, according to a study of high-resolution satellite data.Vegetated areas above the treeline in the Alps have increased by 77% since 1984, the study says. While retreating glaciers have symbolised the speed of global heating in the Alpine region, researchers described the increases in plant biomass as an “absolutely massive” change. Continue reading...

Procedure carried out in US on woman with microtia born with small and misshapen right earA woman has had her external ear reconstructed using a 3D-printed living tissue implant in what appears to be the first trial of its kind, according to reports.The technology has been developed for people with microtia, a rare congenital condition in which one or both outer ears are absent or incompletely formed. Continue reading...

Four women describe how UK waiting lists and attitudes to gynaecological symptoms have left them in agonyGynaecology waiting lists have grown by 60% since before the pandemic – a bigger proportion than any other area of medicine, according to the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.It means that many women with conditions such as endometriosis, prolapse and heavy bleeding can wait more than a year for NHS care in England. Continue reading...

Few of the 23 million Americans with lingering symptoms are getting answers – in this dangerous void, alternative providers and wellness companies have created a cottage industryRobert McCann, a 44-year-old political strategist from Lansing, Michigan, sleeps for 15 hours – and when he wakes up, he still finds it impossible to get out of bed. Sometimes he wakes up so confused that he’s unsure what day it is.McCann tested positive for Covid in July 2020. He had mild symptoms that resolved within about a week. But a few months later, pain, general confusion and debilitating exhaustion returned and never fully left. McCann’s symptoms fluctuated between grin-and-bear-it tolerability and debilitation. After a barrage of doctor’s appointments, MRIs, X-rays, blood work, breathing tests and Cat scans, he had spent more than $8,000 out of pocket – all with no answers. Nearly a year and a half since his symptoms returned, on some days it can take him upwards of three hours to get out of bed. Continue reading...

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible in order of their distance from the sun from FridayAmateur astronomers are preparing for a heavenly treat from Friday as the five planets visible to the naked eye line up in order of their distance from the sun across the pre-dawn sky.For those who can face the early start, and have an unobstructed view of the horizon to the east and south-east, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, could all be visible before the faintest, Mercury, vanishes in the glare of sunrise. Continue reading...

Bisexuality is the largest sexual minority in the world – but according to psychologist Dr Julia Shaw, it’s the least well understood. She talks to Madeleine Finlay about her new book, Bi, which challenges us to think more deeply about who we are and how we love. She discusses the history of trying to define and measure bisexuality, sexual behaviour in the animal kingdom, and how we can improve health outcomes for bi people. Continue reading...

For Aboriginal people, wellbeing is seen as holistic, with mental health inseparable from connections to family, culture and CountryAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have thrived in Australia for more than 60,000 years and are among the oldest continuing cultures worldwide. In this time, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander relational ways of being, knowing and doing kept families and communities well and ensured their continual survival for thousands of generations.Due to the devastating impacts of colonisation, and resultant social inequities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s health and wellbeing are significantly lower than other Australians. Continue reading...

Research finds only difference between so-called action-oriented and state-oriented people is confidenceIt’s a trait best seen in the eager pub quizzer – a tendency to leap to an answer without a shadow of a doubt.Now researchers have suggested that while people who have little difficulty making decisions are more confident in their choices, they are no more accurate than those who feel more torn. Continue reading...

ONS figures show that one in five people with long Covid had the infection two years agoTwo million people in the UK are thought to be living with long Covid, data has revealed, the highest figure since official surveys began.While Covid can cause a period of acute illness, some people continue to experience symptoms, such as breathlessness, muscle aches and fatigue, for months or even years – a condition that has been labelled long Covid. Continue reading...

Scientists discover ‘catastrophic’ change in blood cell composition, raising prospect of new therapies to slow ageing processA groundbreaking theory of ageing that explains why people can suddenly become frail after reaching their 70s has raised the prospect of new therapies for the decline and diseases of old age.Researchers in Cambridge discovered a process that drives a “catastrophic” change in the composition of blood in older age, increasing the risk of blood cancers and anaemia, and impairing the effectiveness of white blood cells to fight infection. Continue reading...

The virus’s behaviour in highly vaccinated countries may offer clues to our future with the disease

The latest updates on coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalisations, using the best available national dataCoronavirus has hit the UK hard for more than two years, with the country recording millions of cases and tens of thousands of deaths linked to the disease. Continue reading...

Scientists have found 3% of the population need less shut-eye than the rest of us. Could I train myself to be one of them?I don’t want to boast or anything, but I have always considered myself something of an elite sleeper. I love sleeping more than just about anything. Given the opportunity, I will sleep for marathon stretches and can snooze through even the most extreme situations. On one very choppy ferry crossing on the notoriously rough route to the Isles of Scilly, for example, my travelling companion spent the entire three-hour ride throwing up in the bathroom while I dozed happily on a plastic chair.Unfortunately, it has come to my attention that I am not an elite sleeper after all. It seems I am just lazy. Or, possibly, a high-functioning narcoleptic. Because, as it turns out, neurologists have been studying actual “elite sleepers” for years and they are defined as the approximately 3% of the population who are biologically programmed to need less sleep than the rest of us. According to a study that came out in March, elite sleepers have rare genetic mutations, which means they can sleep fewer hours than mere mortals without any risk of cognitive decline – excitingly, they could hold the key to a future cure for dementia.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Restrictions have eased and more than 22 million people are allowed to move around the city again

Residents in areas deemed low-risk for Covid are allowed to move around the city freely againShanghai has eased a range of Covid-19 restrictions in a step towards returning to normal after a two-month lockdown that confined residents of the megacity to their homes and battered China’s economy.The commercial hub of 25 million people was closed down in sections from late March, when the Omicron virus variant fuelled China’s worst outbreak since Covid first took hold in 2020. Continue reading...

Number of doses, not vaccine combinations, key to boosting immunity, according to largest study of its kindThree doses of the same Covid-19 vaccine or a combination of jabs work equally well in preventing infections, according to the largest study of its kind.While the effectiveness of individual coronavirus vaccines is well known, the evidence around combinations of jabs has been less clear, especially for particular groups such as older people and those who are immunocompromised. Continue reading...

City of 25 million people emerges from prolonged isolation under ruthlessly enforced restrictions

When I got pregnant, the law guaranteed lifelong anonymity. Now, with DNA testing on the rise, that law needs to changeOut of 68 million people in the UK, there are just 29,725 individuals who have no legal right to know their parentage. My child is one of them. It’s clearly wrong, and I am to blame. Twenty-seven years ago I decided to have a baby on my own. I didn’t have a partner, but two different men offered to be the donor. I went to a leading fertility doctor, the late Prof Ian Craft, who had produced the first test-tube twins. He advised that research showed it was less emotionally complicated for a child to have an anonymous donor – research I have since been unable to locate.So that’s what I did. Aged nearly 45, I gave birth to a wonderful healthy daughter. At the time, anonymous donors were guaranteed anonymity for life. So by making that decision I gave up my child’s right to ever know who her father was. Now I see the ethical flaw in the arrangement. How could I have given up someone else’s right to know who they are?Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.com Continue reading...

Lisa Jones-Engel quit her work as a lab researcher when she began to see how ‘like us’ monkeys are“Right here! Beneath our feet! Are 300 monkeys! They haven’t seen sunshine! In years!”Lisa Jones-Engel stands outside the entrance to the Washington National Primate Research Center along with two dozen other protesters – most 30 years younger than she. Her long gray-blond ponytail tucked over one shoulder, she yells into a megaphone. As she shouts, another part of her brain is thinking: “God, you sound like a fucking activist. You sound like one of them.” Continue reading...

Now that normal life has resumed for most people, will the disease continue to remain in the background?After enduring record-breaking levels of Covid in the past six months, Britain has seen cases fall to their lowest for a year. But as the country eases back into a life more normal, will the disease remain in the background – or is another resurgence on its way?Science editor Ian Sample explains how the virus is changing – and why one expert thinks infection rates “are not going to get down to very low numbers again in our lifetimes”. Continue reading...

A recent report on the exclusion of pregnant and breastfeeding women in clinical trials found that both women and babies in the UK are “dying needlessly” from a lack of suitable medications. Over the past 40 years, only two new medicines have been approved for use in pregnancy, leaving patients to weigh up unknown risks and make difficult decisions about their own health and that of their babies. Science editor Ian Sample talks to Peter Brocklehurst, professor of women’s health at the University of Birmingham, about why pregnant women are so often excluded from pharmaceutical research and how we can make sure they too benefit from modern medicine Continue reading...

The solutions to today’s teasersEarlier today I set you these three puzzles by the Japanese setter Tadao Kitazawa,1. The Pet HotelA S Y5 5 25 2 52 5 55 4 35 3 44 5 34 3 53 5 43 4 54 4 4 Continue reading...

Constellation is now on opposite side of sky to the sun and best placed for night-time observationVirgo, the virgin, is a prominent constellation in the northern spring skies. It is one of the zodiacal constellations, sandwiched between Libra to the east and Leo to the west.Being in the zodiac means the sun, moon and planets all pass through its boundaries at certain times; the moon every month, the sun once a year around the time of the autumnal equinox in September. Continue reading...

Purr-plexing problems from JapanUPDATE: Solutions can be read hereToday’s brain-manglers come from Tadao Kitazawa, a prolific creator of maths and logic puzzles from Japan. Over the last two decades he has introduced many original ideas, and given new twists to established genres.Puzzles, he writes, are about having fun with limited information. He tries to devise problems that look complicated at first sight, but that are very simple once you are on the right track. Are you feline lucky? Continue reading...

Report outlines ‘research waste’ that occurred during the pandemic, with weakly designed trials exposing millions to unproven treatmentsGovernment efforts to focus NHS resources on a smaller number of well-designed clinical trials could inadvertently be contributing to a backlog of stalled medical research, and result in some important trials being scrapped, researchers say.Their warning comes as a report outlines the scale of “research waste” that has occurred during the pandemic, with rampant duplication of scientific efforts and weakly designed clinical trials exposing millions of patients to unproven treatments, with little scientific benefit. Continue reading...

Being able to understand and manage emotions is key to health and happiness. For some, like me, that comes easier with animalsI like people. I really do. In fact, some of my best friends are people. However, most of my best friends are animals and if I had to choose between spending time with people or spending time with animals, I’d choose animals. I simply find them easier, and quite often nicer, to be around.Although I was late coming to the party in terms of pets, thanks to a career that afforded me neither the time nor the freedom to keep them, I have since made up for it and now count four dogs and three horses among my most loyal companions, as well as seven stray cats that have graciously chosen me to feed them. Continue reading...

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

Pioneering Bristol study blames the solid-fuel burners in people’s homes for breaches of World Health Organisation guidelinesLike many parts of the country, Bristol has experienced a huge rise in the number of houses installing wood burners over the past decade. But as they have proliferated, mainly in the wealthier parts of the city where many Victorian and Georgian houses have been renovated, so too have fears that they cause pollution.And now a group of citizen scientists taking part in the first community-led project targeting toxic smoke from wood burners has discovered new evidence about their dangers. Continue reading...

Creating hybrids might make animals more resistant to global heating, but it may mean losing species altogether

Do blueberries make you live longer? Is pilates proper exercise? How do you avoid loneliness? Botox, yes or no? Here’s how to age betterWho doesn’t want a long and healthy life? Ageing may be non negotiable but how you do it affords some wiggle room. There is, however, no time to lose. Ideally you’d have been getting your health in order before middle age. But it’s never too late to start. Each of us has a chronological age that’s measured in birthday candles. Since every person ages differently we also have a biological age that reflects how old our body really is. This age depends on the relationship between our genes, lifestyle and living conditions. It’s this biological age you can change by doing what I’m about to tell you. Continue reading...

Pandemic preparedness chief Sylvie Briand says ‘unusual’ spread of virus can be easily contained with the right measuresThe World Health Organization has warned that 200 monkeypox cases found in recent weeks outside countries where the virus usually circulates could be just the beginning.“We don’t know if we are just seeing the peak of the iceberg [or] if there are many more cases that are undetected in communities,” Sylvie Briand, WHO’s epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention chief, acknowledged on Friday in a briefing to countries. Continue reading...

Prof Ulrike Tillmann on Andy Haldane’s suggestion that maths could be rebranded as numeracy to make it more approachableI read with interest your article in response to Andy Haldane’s comments suggesting maths could be rebranded as numeracy (Pass notes, 18 May). I welcome Mr Haldane’s support for the mathematical sciences and appreciate his intent to make the subject approachable to all. Nevertheless, his proposal to alter the language around maths I find less appealing. Just as literacy is a necessary requisite to enjoy the richness and benefits of literature, so numeracy is just the key to unlocking the many wonders that mathematics provides.We should celebrate the diversity and complexity of maths and not shy away from making the case for why that makes the subject interesting, challenging and relevant. Continue reading...

UK experts urge confirmed cases to avoid handling household pets as precautionary measurePeople with monkeypox have been told to avoid contact with their pets for three weeks amid concerns the animals could become infected and pass the virus on to other people.Monkeypox is caused by a viral infection and can be found in animals including rodents and monkeys, as well as in humans. It is typically found in central and western Africa, however in recent weeks there has been a surge in human cases in countries where the disease is not endemic, including the UK. Continue reading...

Twenty years ago, the anti-GM movement had wide backing. Experts say the current mood on gene editing is softerAt the height of the anti-GM movement, in 1999, the then head of Greenpeace UK, Peter Melchett, was charged with theft and criminal damage after scything down a field of genetically modified maize.In a decisive victory for the anti-GM movement, Lord Melchett and 27 fellow activists were acquitted by a jury in what many took as a measure of the profound negative public sentiment towards GM technology. Continue reading...

This typographical trick certainly helps me focus. But maybe having a wandering mind isn’t such a bad thingWith ADHD, thoughts and impulses intrude on my focus like burglars trying to break into a house. Sometimes these crooks carefully pick the backdoor lock before they silently enter and pilfer all the silverware. At other times, stealth goes out of the window; they’re kicking through the front door and taking whatever they like.Either way, I was supposed to be reading a book just now, but all I can think about is how great it would be if I waded into a river to save a litter of kittens from tumbling down a waterfall just in the nick of time. I’ve got the kittens in my hand, and the crowd has gone wild; the spectres of Gandhi, Churchill and Obi-Wan Kenobi hover over the riverbank, nodding their approval while fireworks crackle overhead … I snap back and realise I’ve read three pages, only I don’t remember a single line.Daniel Lavelle writes on mental health, homelessness and social care Continue reading...