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...
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...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#5ZQ2C)
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...
Scientists say man shares similarities with modern Italians and others who lived in region during Roman empireThe genome of a victim of the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius over the ancient city of Pompeii has been sequenced for the first time, scientists have revealed, shedding new light on the health and diversity of those who lived in the Roman empire at the time of the disaster.In a study published in Scientific Reports on Thursday, a team led by Gabriele Scorrano, an assistant professor of geogenetics at the University of Copenhagen, extracted DNA from two victims, a man and a woman, whose remains were found in the House of the Craftsman in Pompeii, a domus that was first excavated in 1914. Continue reading...
From ancient Egyptian cubits to fitness tracker apps, humankind has long been seeking ever more ways to measure the world – and ourselves. But what is this doing to us?If anything exemplifies the power of measurement in contemporary life, it is Standard Reference Peanut Butter. It’s the creation of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and sold to industry at a price of $1,069 for three 170g jars. The exorbitant cost is not due to rare ingredients or a complex production process. Instead, it is because of the rigour with which the contents of each jar have been analysed. This peanut butter has been frozen, heated, evaporated and saponified, all so it might be quantified and measured across multiple dimensions. When buyers purchase a jar, they can be certain not only of the exact proportion of carbohydrates, proteins, sugars and fibre in every spoonful, but of the prevalence – down to the milligram – of dozens of different organic molecules and trace elements, from copper and magnesium to docosanoic and tetradecanoic acid. Hardly an atom in these jars has avoided scrutiny and, as a result, they contain the most categorically known peanut butter in existence. It’s also smooth, not crunchy.The peanut butter belongs to a library of more than 1,300 standard reference materials, or SRMs, created by NIST to meet the demands of industry and government. It is a bible of contemporary metrology – the science of measurement – and a testament to the importance of unseen measures in our lives. Whenever something needs to be verified, certified or calibrated – from the emission levels of a new diesel engine to the optical properties of glass destined for high-powered lasers – the SRM catalogue offers the standards against which checks can be made. Most items are mundane: concrete and iron for the construction trade; slurried spinach and powdered cocoa for food manufacturers. But others seem like ingredients lifted from God’s pantry: ingots of purified elements and pressurised canisters of gases, available in finely graded blends and mixtures. Some are just whimsical, as if they were the creation of an overly zealous bureaucracy determined to standardise even the most peculiar substances. Think: domestic sludge, whale blubber and powdered radioactive human lung, available as SRMs 2781, 1945 and 4351. Continue reading...
by Presented by Ian Sample, produced by Madeleine Fin on (#5ZNA9)
The sudden surge of monkeypox cases outside Africa has alarmed public health authorities around the world. In Europe and North America it’s the first time community transmission has been recorded among people with no links to west or central Africa. So what is happening?Ian Sample talks to virologist Oyewale Tomori about why monkeypox is flaring up, whether we should fear it, and what we can learn from countries such as Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which have been tackling this virus for decadesArchive: Sky News Australia, BBC News Continue reading...
UK confirmed cases in outbreak rise to 78, and experts say virus may have been spreading unseen for some timePublic health officials have confirmed seven more cases of monkeypox in England, bringing the UK total to 78, as scientists said the virus may have been circulating unseen for several years.The sudden surge in monkeypox, which is usually found in west and central Africa, has been recorded in at least 20 countries in the past month, with more than 200 confirmed cases and dozens more under investigation. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#5ZMPC)
Molecule found in coffee typically described by people with parosmia as disgusting or repulsiveScientists have identified the “trigger molecule” that makes pleasant aromas smell like burning rubbish or sewage in people whose sense of smell is disrupted by Covid.The loss of smell is a defining symptom of Covid-19, with about 18% of adults in the UK estimated to have been affected. Some people also experience disturbances in their sense of smell – a condition known as parosmia – but the biological basis for this has remained a mystery. Continue reading...
Medication is often prescribed as a quick-fix but therapy can be more helpful in the long-run, if accessible. Here’s how to work out what is best for youSince the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a soaring demand for mental health services, with an estimated 1.6 million people in England waiting for specialised support, and another 8 million who would benefit but whose deterioration in mental health is not considered serious enough to even get on the waiting list. Anxiety rates have been recorded as rising significantly between 2008 (the year of the financial crash) and 2018, with increases in all age groups under 55, but trebling in young adults.The number of prescriptions issued for anti-anxiety medication has also been rising. Earlier this year, research was published showing that between 2003 and 2008 the use of drugs to treat anxiety was steady, but by 2018 it had risen considerably. During that earlier period, new anti-anxiety prescriptions rose from 25 or 26 per 1,000 person years at risk – a measure of the prevalence of anxiety – to 43.6 in 2018. Nearly twice the number of women are being prescribed medication as men. Continue reading...
Nice approves Keytruda, which with chemotherapy can lengthen survival of women with triple negative breast cancerWomen with advanced breast cancer in England will be able to benefit from a new type of immunotherapy on the NHS after a U-turn by the medicines watchdog.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has overturned its draft rejection of Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and said women in England can take the drug in combination with chemotherapy. Continue reading...
Rusty bits on Earth’s core could explain how the atmosphere became oxygenatedWhether it is your bike or a garden fork that you forgot to put away, most of us are familiar with the rapid rusting that happens when iron-containing objects are exposed to the elements.But it isn’t just iron left out in the rain that is vulnerable: research suggests Earth’s biggest deposit of iron – its core – could also be going rusty. Continue reading...
Firm aims to apply ‘equity lens’ across clinical tests to ensure diverse population groups take partThe pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is conducting a major review of diversity across its trials in an attempt to ensure its medicines work for all population groups, although it has admitted that including pregnant women is a particular challenge.The head of oncology at Britain’s biggest drugmaker, David Fredrickson told the Guardian that the firm was among those leading efforts to improve participation of people of colour and other under-represented groups in clinical trials. Continue reading...
Climate change is likely to exacerbate the rapid spread of viruses and pathogens as humans encroach on the natural worldIn the past three weeks there have been nearly 100 cases and 18 human deaths from a rare tick-borne disease in Iraq; a fourth case of the Ebola virus and more than 100 cases of bubonic plague have been found in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and just two years after Africa was declared free of wild polio, new cases have turned up in Malawi and Mozambique. A dangerous strain of typhus is circulating in Nepal, India and China. There are alarming outbreaks on several continents of mosquito diseases such as malaria, dengue and West Nile virus.Set against this global context, the so-far very limited monkeypox outbreaks that have started to appear in the last month – including 71 cases detected in the UK – are only remarkable because they are being reported in rich countries. Continue reading...
Legislation introduced in House of Lords aims to help speed up development of gene-edited productsGene editing could drastically increase global food security and reduce reliance on chemical fertilisers and pesticides in the coming decade, a scientific adviser to the UK government’s environment department has said.Speaking before the introduction of a bill on genetic technologies to the House of Lords on Wednesday, Prof Gideon Henderson said the legislation aimed to create a simpler regulatory framework that would speed up the development and commercialisation of gene-edited products by allowing them to be treated differently to genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which are subject to strict regulation. Continue reading...
Proportion of people protected has fallen substantially in decades since smallpox vaccination endedThe unprecedented surge in monkeypox cases in the UK and beyond was an outbreak waiting to happen after the end of global smallpox vaccination more than 40 years ago, scientists say.The UK Health Security Agency announced a further 14 cases in England on Tuesday, bringing the total to 70, and one further patient in Scotland. No cases have been identified in Wales or Northern Ireland. Continue reading...
In today’s newsletter: rising cases of an infectious disease will naturally cause alarm – but Guardian science editor Ian Sample tells Nimo Omer why we shouldn’t be too concerned
About 11% of cases could be prevented if people reduced TV watching from two or more hours to less than an hour a dayMore than one in 10 cases of coronary heart disease could be prevented if people reduced their TV viewing to less than an hour a day, research suggests.Coronary heart disease occurs when fatty material builds up inside the coronary arteries causing them to narrow, reducing the heart’s blood supply. Researchers say cutting down on time spent in front of the TV could lower the risk of developing the disease. Continue reading...
by Presented and produced by Madeleine Finlay, sound on (#5ZJJK)
Millions around the world are struggling with higher food and energy prices. In the UK inflation has reached a 40-year high of 9% in the 12 months to April, leaving many struggling to pay bills and shoulder normal living costs. When the weekly shop gets smaller and the flat gets colder, it’s our health that suffers.Madeleine Finlay speaks to health inequity expert Prof Michael Marmot about the ways poverty makes you sicker and why falling income is so bad for the country’s health. This cost of living crisis could be “austerity squared”, he warns. Continue reading...
The tomatoes contain as much provitamin D3 as two eggs, with UK outdoor field trials starting next monthScientists have created genetically edited tomatoes, each containing as much provitamin D3 – the precursor to vitamin D – as two eggs or a tablespoon of tuna.Outdoor field trials of the tomatoes are expected to begin in the UK next month, and if successful, could provide an important new dietary source of vitamin D. Continue reading...
One in eight Covid hospital patients have heart inflammation up to two months later, researchers findDamage to the body’s organs including the lungs and kidneys is common in people who were admitted to hospital with Covid, with one in eight found to have heart inflammation, researchers have revealed.As the pandemic evolved, it became clear that some people who had Covid were being left with ongoing symptoms – a condition that has been called long Covid. Continue reading...
The creator behind several iconic Star Wars ships also worked on 2001: A Space Odyssey and assisted in broadcasting the 1969 moon landingColin Cantwell, the man who designed the spacecraft in the Star Wars films, has died at the age of 90.Sierra Dall, Cantwell’s partner of more than two decades, confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter that he had died at his home in Colorado on Saturday. Continue reading...
Twenty cases confirmed in UK amid reports of child being admitted to intensive care in London hospitalMore monkeypox cases are being detected in Britain “on a daily basis”, a senior doctor has warned, amid reports that a child has been admitted to intensive care with the disease.Dr Susan Hopkins, a chief medical adviser to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said an update on confirmed cases would be released on Monday as efforts continue to contain the outbreak using contact tracing, testing and vaccination. 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 conceptsWhat, if any, are the evolutionary purpose of toenails?
Author Tim Clare spent a year researching his condition and trying every treatment he could. This is what workedI’m pinned to the floor, screaming. From two rooms away comes the sound of nursery rhymes, playing at full volume – my wife’s attempt to drown me out, so I don’t frighten our baby daughter. I’m having a panic attack. I am terrified and, beneath the fear, burning with shame.A couple of years ago, this was my reality. For more than a decade, panic attacks had controlled my life. I had several every week. I was continually, grindingly anxious. Continue reading...
Clinical trials show that curcumin, present in the spice, may help fight osteoarthritis and other diseases, but there’s a catch – bioavailability, or how to get it into the bloodWhile Kamal Patel was probing through the reams of user data on examine.com – a website that calls itself “the internet’s largest database of nutrition and supplement research” – before a planned revamp later this year, he discovered that the most searched-for supplement on the website was curcumin, a distinctive yellow-orange chemical that is extracted from the rhizomes of turmeric, a tall plant in the ginger family, native to Asia.Patel concluded that this was probably because of curcumin’s purported anti-inflammatory properties. “An astounding number of people experience inflammation or have inflammation-related health conditions, and curcumin and fish oil are two of the most researched supplements that can sometimes help,” he says. Continue reading...
The range and number of cases has puzzled doctors, who are asking why the virus has spread to the westScientists have warned that they expect monkeypox cases to continue to rise this week as more infected people are traced by health authorities.More than 90 cases have already been reported in Europe, the US and Australia, including 20 in Britain. Continue reading...
Skull discovered in drought-depleted Minnesota River last summer to be returned to Native American officialsNative American officials will be given a partial skull discovered last summer by two kayakers in Minnesota after investigations determined it was about 8,000 years old.The kayakers found the skull in the drought-depleted Minnesota River about 110 miles (180km) west of Minneapolis, Renville county sheriff Scott Hable said. Continue reading...
From OCD to agoraphobia and PTSD, there are almost as many types of anxiety disorder as things to worry about. Here’s how to spot the signs and find the relevant supportMany people will be familiar with the dry mouth, intrusive thoughts, and fluttering heart and stomach that are the hallmarks of anxiety. Often a temporary, and completely natural reaction to threat, these responses can be helpful in certain situations, sharpening the mind and sending blood to where it is needed faster.But whereas stress usually resolves once a concern has passed, anxiety persists and is often disproportionate to the challenge faced. If it continues for months, and starts to interfere with everyday activities, an anxiety disorder may be diagnosed. Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent on (#5ZFW4)
Nicholas Walton gives up leadership of €2.8m pan-European research after dispute over Northern Ireland protocolA Cambridge University astrophysicist studying the Milky Way and hoping to play a major part in the European Space Agency’s (Esa) next big project has been forced to hand over his coordinating role on the scheme after the row over Northern Ireland’s Brexit arrangements put science in the firing line.Nicholas Walton, a research fellow at the Institute of Astronomy, reluctantly passed his leadership role in the €2.8m pan-European Marie Curie Network research project to a colleague in the Netherlands on Friday. Continue reading...
A nine-year-old pointed out what was missing in Lyme Regis. Her long campaign has now borne fruitIt all began with a curious nine-year-old and a question that she asked her mother. Where in their hometown of Lyme Regis was the statue of Mary Anning, the pioneering Victorian fossil hunter who, she had recently discovered, had lived and worked there?There wasn’t one, Anya Pearson was forced to tell her indignant daughter. Anning’s lifetime of discoveries – including finding the first ichthyosaur skeleton at the age of just 12 – may have profoundly shaped the emerging science of palaeontology, but in her own Dorset town and farther afield, she had been largely forgotten. Continue reading...
High-stakes test follows two years of delays in a program designed to give Nasa another vehicle for sending astronauts into orbitBoeing’s new Starliner crew capsule has docked for the first time with the International Space Station, completing a major objective in a crucial test flight into orbit without astronauts aboard.The rendezvous of the gumdrop-shaped CST-100 Starliner with the orbital research outpost, currently home to a seven-member crew, occurred on Friday nearly 26 hours after the capsule was launched from Cape Canaveral US Space Force Base in Florida. Continue reading...
It’s not the first time the virus has been found in Britain but now there are chains of transmissionThe person was sick when they boarded the plane. Five days before leaving Nigeria for Britain, they noticed a rash that spread into a scattering of fluid-filled bumps. When the plane touched down on 4 May, they wasted no time. The person attended hospital where doctors, alerted by their recent travel, immediately suspected monkeypox. The patient was isolated and a doctor, clad in full PPE, took a swab from a blister on their skin.Because monkeypox is listed as a “high-consequence infectious disease”, the situation moved fast. The sample was sent to Porton Down science park in Wiltshire where the UK Health Security Agency’s rare and imported pathogens laboratory swiftly ran a PCR test. This confirmed the infection, which the agency announced the next day, on 7 May. Continue reading...
Scientists believe site in Guangxi with trees up to 40 metres tall may contain undiscovered speciesAn ancient forest has been found at the bottom of a giant sinkhole in China, with trees up to 40 metres (130ft) tall.Scientists believe it could contain undiscovered plant and animal species. Continue reading...
Sally Jaspars says novelist’s rock collection shows youngest Brontë sister ‘was in tune with the scientific inquiry of the time’A student has helped reveal that one of Britain’s most famous authors was not only a talented writer but also a skilled rock collector with an active interest in geology.Anne Brontë, the youngest of the three Brontë sisters, built up a collection of attractive specimens before her death at 29 in 1849. Continue reading...
More than 500 larvae already set free in Hampshire and Cornwall as part of project to revive declining speciesThey once lit up summer nights, people read by their luminescence and they’ve been celebrated by everyone from William Shakespeare to Crowfoot, a 19th-century North American chief.But glowworms have had their lights dimmed by a cult of tidiness in the countryside, the loss of wild meadows and light pollution. Continue reading...
Condition of rodents with spinal cord damage improved after they had lung disease drug, say researchersMice with spinal cord injuries have shown remarkable recovery after being given a drug initially developed for people with lung disease, researchers have revealed, saying the treatment could soon be tested on humans.It is thought there are about 2,500 new spinal cord injuries in the UK every year, with some of those affected experiencing full loss of movement as a result. Despite a number of promising areas of research, at present damage to the spinal cord is not reversible. Continue reading...