Shingrix linked to substantial reduction in diagnoses in the six years after people received the shotResearchers have raised hopes for delaying dementia after finding that a recently approved shingles vaccine was linked to a substantial reduction in diagnoses of the condition in the six years after receiving the shot.The discovery, based on US medical records, suggests that beyond the health benefits of preventing shingles, a painful and sometimes serious condition in elderly people, the vaccine may also delay the onset of dementia, the UK's leading cause of death. Continue reading...
Artefacts sent by farmer, who made the absolutely mad' discovery while cutting silageWhen the national museum of Ireland received two 4,000-year-old axe heads, thoughtfully" wrapped in foam inside a porridge box, from an anonymous source last month, it put out an appeal. The objects were significant" and exciting", it said, but experts needed to know more about where exactly they had been found.Now they have their answer: a farmer from County Westmeath has come forward as the mysterious sender, saying he made the absolutely mad" discovery while using a metal detector on his land. Continue reading...
Scientists say flaws in previous research mean health benefits from alcohol were exaggeratedFor the regular boozer it is a source of great comfort: the fat pile of studies that say a daily tipple is better for a longer life than avoiding alcohol completely.But a new analysis challenges the thinking and blames the rosy message on flawed research that compares drinkers with people who are sick and sober. Continue reading...
AI tools look for patterns in data over years to forecast weather accurately and faster than traditional methodsIn the past year, something of a revolution has hit the world of weather forecasting as artificial intelligence-based weather forecasts have come to the fore. Traditional weather forecasting methods rely on creating a digital three-dimensional grid that replicates as closely as possible the state of the atmosphere at the start of the forecast.Once this initialised state" is determined, complex equations are used to predict how the state of the atmosphere will evolve in the hours and days ahead. For decades, much research has gone into improving these forecasts, focusing on getting the starting point right, increasing vertical and horizontal resolution of these grids, and, of course, making refinements to the equations. Continue reading...
by Presented by Phoebe Weston, produced by Ellie Sans on (#6PFG4)
A series of super tusker elephant killings has sparked a bitter international battle over trophy hunting and its controversial, often-counterintuitive role in conservation. Biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston speaks to Amy Dickman, professor of wildlife conservation at the University of Oxford, about why this debate has become so divisive, and the complexities of allowing killing in conservationTrophy hunter killings spark fierce battle over the future of super tusker elephants Continue reading...
Study offers new ways to assess animal welfare in industry and could lead to happier flocksMark Twain wrote that Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to". New research seems to have proved him wrong, however, with the discovery that hens have the capacity to blush and use other forms of facial expression.Researchers in France found that female chickens appear to blush when they are scared or excited and fluff up their head feathers when they are content. The finding offers a new way of understanding the birds' emotions, which could help farmers judge the happiness of their flock. Continue reading...
Sam never caught any birds or mice - he preferred to pilfer human food from nearby houses, writes Frances McKayRegarding cat thieves (Cat burglars: scientists try to solve mystery of why felines steal' random objects, 20 July), some years ago Ilived in a terraced street in south-east London, and had two cats. Onewas called Sam - a large neutered ginger male, like a small lion, who was extremely affectionate and characterful.He never caught any birds or mice. Sam preferred human food. He swiftly learned to open our fridge and remove any item he chose. We fitted child-proof locks. So he started going elsewhere - raiding houses with cat flaps. Continue reading...
Researchers uncover remarkable new way in which trees provide a vital climate service' by reducing emissionsMicrobes in the bark of trees play a vital role in removing methane from the atmosphere, scientists have discovered.The greenhouse gas is a product of agriculture and the burning of fossil fuels and is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. However, it remains in the atmosphere for a shorter time. Continue reading...
Krusatodon kirtlingtonensis, which lived 166m years ago, a piece of the puzzle' explaining mammals' successThe remains of a diminutive mouse-like creature that lived 166m years ago could help answer one of biology's biggest questions of why mammals have become so successful, fossil experts say.Krusatodon kirtlingtonensis belongs to the immediate predecessors of mammals and lived alongside the dinosaurs during the middle Jurassic age. But while it was originally known only from individual teeth, researchers have now reported two partial skeletons. Continue reading...
Reptile's teeth found to have covering that helps keep serrated edges razor sharp and resistant to wearWith their huge size, venomous bite and the fantastical connotations of their name, Komodo dragons seem like the stuff of legend.Now, that status has been elevated further: scientists have discovered that their teeth are coated with a layer of iron that helps keep their serrated edges razor sharp. Continue reading...
Report says serious research needed into risks and benefits as melting could cause devastating sea level riseWe need to seriously consider geoengineering projects to save our glaciers or face catastrophic sea level rise, scientists say in a report.Antarctica and Greenland's ice sheets are melting fast and even if we manage to reduce carbon emissions and limit global heating to 2C, it is not clear if that will be enough to prevent ice sheet collapse. But geoengineering glaciers may be a way to buy us vital time, the authors of the report argue. Continue reading...
UK Space Agency awards 30k in funding to 10 teams racing to solve the complex problemInventors hope to crack how to create a reliable clean water supply on the moon - and it may involve a microwave oven from Tesco.The goal to set up a crewed lunar base was launched many moons ago but has yet to come to fruition. With reliance on water supplies from Earth risky and expensive, one of the many challenges is how to extract and purify water from ice lying in craters at the lunar south pole. Continue reading...
Previous studies had suggested men could sense changes in body odour, but recent test found no compelling evidenceThe widespread belief that men are more attracted to the scent of a woman when she is at her most fertile may not be true after all, researchers say.A flurry of studies in recent decades have made a persuasive case that female body odour changes over the menstrual cycle, allowing perceptive males - in theory, at least - to sense when mating is most likely to result in pregnancy. Continue reading...
Edward Rosen, Jabeer Butt and Edward Lyon respond to the first report of the official Covid inquiryI attended the launch of the Covid-19 inquiry report by Lady Hallett and I left the viewing room with my emotions all over the place (UK in worse state' to deal with pandemic than before Covid, say experts, 19 July). I remembered my dead colleague, dead patients and a dead friend. But I also remembered our first informal meeting in the NHS, when the possibility of a new pandemic was briefly and nonchalantly discussed. That was in October 1999. Labour was in power and our focus was on innovation and modernisation across the NHS. I was a passionate enthusiast for all this new policy - a cheerful foot soldier for change. Sound familiar?My contribution as a senior NHS change leader between 2002 and 2005 was to help build a new learning system or infrastructure that included a health observatory capable of horizon scanning for any threats to the NHS and, by default, to the public. This innovation was one arm of the new NHS University, which was designed to provide an integrated learning system across the health sector. The two areas of concern were pandemics and climate change. Continue reading...
Researchers say many drugs have shelf life of three years or less, with a mission expected to take about 36 monthsWhen it comes to crewed missions to Mars there is no shortage of hazards, from space radiation to a hostile environment. Now researchers have found another snag: many of the medicines astronauts may take with them are likely to expire before they return to Earth.Researchers say they have discovered a host of medications used in space have a shelf life of three years or less - a problem given Nasa expects a mission to Mars to take roughly 36 months. Continue reading...
by Kat Lay, Global health correspondent, in Munich on (#6PDNJ)
Generic version of a drug already on the market, which can suppress and prevent HIV, would still yield 30% profit if the current price was slashed, researchers sayA new drug described as the closest we have ever been to an HIV vaccine" could cost $40 (31) a year for every patient, a thousand times less than its current price, new research suggests.Lenacapavir , sold as Sunlenca by US pharmaceutical giant Gilead, currently costs $42,250 for the first year. The company is being urged to make it available at a thousand times less than that price worldwide. Continue reading...
There are stabs of the same fear that made The Beast fascinating, but this tale of a bored teenager in a scary, affectless future is too unfocusedProminent French film-makers are supported by their national industry and even their lockdown projects have been received with respectful attention. Earlier this year Olivier Assayas's autofiction Hors du Temps, or Suspended Time, premiered in Berlin - a dreamy Covid-era indulgence that he just about got away with. Now we have a chance to see Bertrand Bonello's musing sketch Coma: a lockdown essay that preceded his brilliant futurist film The Beast, with many of the same ideas and tropes.Coma broods on a scary, affectless future in which humanity will evolve away from the primacy of love and selfhood, and in which sexuality and violence will then be prominent as a symptom of the need to feel something, anything. As so often, Bonello sees human beings as mere dolls or puppets; stuffed mammal-shapes whose supposed individuality is a preposterous fiction. Here, a teenage girl (Louise Labeque) mopes impassively in her bedroom, driven half-mad by lockdown boredom; the film's title hints at the inert hibernation we all went through. Continue reading...
by Presented by Ian Sample, produced by Tom Glasser a on (#6PDHJ)
Last week, five supporters of the Just Stop Oil climate campaign who conspired to cause gridlock on London's orbital motorway were sentenced to lengthy jail terms by a judge who told them they had crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic'. Columnist and campaigner George Monbiot tells Ian Sample why the sentences are so significant, how they fit into a crackdown on protest in the UK in recent years, and what impact they could have on future climate activism in the UKClips: ITV, Just Stop Oil, BBC, The SunRead more reporting on this story Continue reading...
Charged metallic lumps found to produce oxygen in total darkness in process akin to how plants use photosynthesisIn the total darkness of the depths of the Pacific Ocean, scientists have discovered oxygen being produced not by living organisms but by strange potato-shaped metallic lumps that give off almost as much electricity as AA batteries.The surprise finding has many potential implications and could even require rethinking how life first began on Earth, the researchers behind a study said on Monday. Continue reading...
Young people are evaluating good and bad life decisions on a scale and seeking input from others. To philosophy experts, it sounds familiarYou can count calories, steps, streams of your favorite song - and now, you can assign a number to how cool you are. See: aura points, a way to calculate your rizz. (That's what the kids call charisma, and if you didn't know that, you just lost 100 aura points.)Ask someone out and get a yes? That's 100 aura points for you. Still on Snapchat past the age of 19? Gross and suspect ... dock 1,000 aura points. Confidently answered a question in class, but got it wrong? You're in the red now. Continue reading...
The answers to today's puzzlesEarlier today I set you these three problems from Parabola, a wonderful magazine from Australia that was first published 60 years ago this month. Here they are again with solutions. Continue reading...
Study got dog owners to either take a maths test or do something relaxing and observed effect on pets' emotionsThe ability of dogs to sniff out stress levels in humans has been known for some time.But the relationship between woman and man's four-legged best friend is two-way, and scientists now believe they have discovered that when a dog senses a person in distress, it has a knock-on effect in the behaviour of the animal - most notably, it makes them pessimistic. Continue reading...
Analysis of thousands of wild chimp gestures in east Africa found striking similarities to human conversationsHumans might be the masters of quick-fire banter, but it seems chimpanzees have their own rapid back-and-forths, albeit in the form of hand signals.Researchers analysed thousands of gestures made by wild chimps in east Africa and found striking similarities with the turn-taking seen in human conversations, in particular how swiftly the apes responded to one another. Continue reading...
Brain scans reveal evidence of five subtypes, raising prospect of tailored approaches to improving sleepThe sluggish start to the day, the struggle to concentrate on everyday tasks and the lethargy that comes with just a few hours sleep, these are the symptoms that will be familiar to anyone who suffers with insomnia.But according to research, not all sleepless nights are the same. Brain scans have revealed evidence for distinct forms of insomnia, each with an associated pattern of neural wiring. Continue reading...
Rosemary Fowler discovered the kaon particle during her doctoral research in 1948 but gave up PhD to have a familyA trailblazing physicist who gave up her PhD 75 years ago to have a family has received an honorary doctorate from her former university.Rosemary Fowler, 98, discovered the kaon particle during her doctoral research under Cecil Powell at the University of Bristol in 1948, which contributed to his Nobel prize for physics in 1950. Continue reading...
Ripsnorting riddles from Down UnderUPDATE: Read the solutions here.Parabola, a wonderful Australian maths magazine for secondary school pupils, celebrates its 60th birthday this month. Today's puzzles are taken from a recently published compilation of its best problems. Continue reading...
Moon passing close by will coincide with Saturn's retrograde motionThe moon glides to a close encounter with the ringed planet Saturn this week. The chart shows the view looking east-south-east from London at midnight as 24 July becomes 25 July, shortly after the pair have risen.The moon will be a waning gibbous, 18.7 days old, and heading for its last quarter phase. It will have about 83% of its visible surface illuminated. Continue reading...
Botanical gardens lost 400 trees during 2022 drought, prompting research into potential loss in coming decadesMore than half of the tree species at Kew's Royal Botanical Gardens are at risk of death because of climate breakdown, a study by the public body has found.Founded in 1840, Kew Gardens says it houses the largest botanical collection in the world. During the drought of 2022, the botanical gardens in south-west London lost 400 of its trees. Scientists at Kew decided they should map and chronicle the climate risk to the trees to see how many could feasibly be lost to the changing weather in the coming decades. Continue reading...
Research inspired by a rescue dog may allow breeders to avoid using canines with progressive retinal atrophyA mountain rescue dog whose duties ended after her eyesight failed has helped scientists create a test that could eradicate the genetic eye condition in her breed for good.Shola the English shepherd has an inherited eye disease called progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) that causes the light-sensitive cells at the back of the eye to deteriorate, eventually leading to blindness. Continue reading...
It's easy enough to get lured into adopting a brittle persona, but there are other ways to live your lifeMy work used to land in the form of harsh clacking on a titanium-reinforced MacBook, but these days I prefer to write in a pale blue suedette notebook that was given to me by a relative a few Christmases ago. It is an object that until recently I had kept at the back of a drawer, fearing it would seem too sappy a thing for a serious writer to own.It forms part of a new tendency in my life towards softness - the quality of being gentle to the touch, sensual and pliable, but also receptive, yielding and adaptive. As an antidote to our digitally enhanced lives, which can appear to be cold and hyper-real, softness seems to be on the rise. There is the girlhood aesthetic", which is the nostalgic use of bows, frills and smock dresses. In literature, Arrangements in Blue by Amy Key chronicles the author's journey to creating a soft and cosseting home environment, while the hugely popular Milk Fed by Melissa Broder is a love letter to fleshiness and abundance. Continue reading...
The evolutionary expert discusses the triumphs and challenges of the groundbreaking research on Galapagos Islands finches she undertook with her husband, PeterStudying Darwin's finches has been the life's work of the renowned British evolutionary biologists Rosemary and Peter Grant. For several months every year for 40 years, the husband-and-wife team visited the Galapagos Islands in the eastern Pacific to meticulously track the fate of thousands of finches on two small islands there. The Grants demonstrated that evolution by natural selection can be observed in the wild in real time: they were the first to see and measure it in action in nature. One Step Sideways, Three Steps Forward is Rosemary Grant's new memoir. It reflects on her far-from-straight path to becoming a biologist, living with a family on the Galapagos - for 10 years the scientists' two daughters accompanied them - and the joy of sharing ideas with her partner. Rosemary, 87, is senior research biologist, emeritus at Princeton University in New Jersey. The book comes ahead of a new edition of 40 Years of Evolution - the Grants' classic account of their study of the finches - due out later this year.The Galapagos are famous for their unusual and unique species including giant tortoises, marine iguanas and flightless cormorants. But what's the Charles Darwin connection?
Don't put your faith in the 10,000-hour rule - some athletes are born with talents the rest of us will never haveStefan Holm was told he was too short to be a high jumper. But by the time he won Sweden a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics, he had honed himself into the perfect projectile. It was the result of a 15-year obsession: his whole life had been pulled into alignment with this goal. If he wanted to stop on page 225 of a book, he would push himself to page 240, in order to train his mind to overshoot. It's all about your 10,000," he told David Epstein, author of The Sports Gene. There had been jumpers who had beaten him when he was young, and where were they now?But in 2007, entering the world championships in Japan as the favourite, he faced an unknown opponent: Donald Thomas, from the Bahamas. Thomas had begun jumping just eight months previously, on a whim after a bet, and admitted he found the high jump kind of boring". He had slacked off training - his form was all over the place - and his coach couldn't even persuade him to wear the right kind of shoes. But he had one big advantage: an achilles tendon that could store just a bit more elastic energy than everyone else's. That year, Thomas sprang awkwardly over the bar to victory. Continue reading...
Research helping mice reach a ripe old age is of little use to humans if it boosts longevity but not healthspansProspects for extending lifespans have generated some striking headlines in recent weeks. Tantalising drug lets mice live longer but retain youthful looks," the Times announced. Anti-ageing drug is holy grail' of cancer fight," claimed the Telegraph.Nor is the agent of this media adulation - antibodies that block the action of the inflammatory chemical IL-11 - the only wonder anti-ageing medication to make news over the past few months. In March, researchers announced that, by properly balancing two types of immune cells, they had managed to improve the ability of elderly mice to fight off viral infections and so live longer. This came on top of research last year from another group revealing they had used injections of the drugs dasatinib and quercetin to rejuvenate the hearts of mice and make them less frail. Continue reading...
Offensive term to be replaced as first step towards more changes in unprecedented reform of nomenclature rulesScientists have voted to eliminate the names of certain plants that are deemed to be racially offensive. The decision to remove a label that contains such a slur was taken last week after a gruelling six-day session attended by more than 100 researchers, as part of the International Botanical Congress, which officially opens on Sunday inMadrid.The effect of the vote will be that all plants, fungi and algae names that contain the word caffra, which originates in insults made against Black people, will be replaced by the word affra to denote their African origins. More than 200 species will be affected, including the coast coral tree, which will be known as Erythrina affra instead of Erythrinacaffra. Continue reading...
Researchers call on the government to settle dispute, which they say is impeding groundbreaking researchResearchers have called on the government to step in to settle a dispute preventing them from fully exploiting the world's largest store of human genetic data. The scientists say they are unable to access patients' data, held by British GPs, despite a decade of requests, and that the refusal is impeding the development of new diagnoses and treatments.Prof Naomi Allen, chief scientist of UK Biobank, told the Observer it had sequenced genomes of more than 500,000 volunteers and collated a host of other data about them. However, it was still prevented from accessing their primary health care data held by their GPs. Continue reading...
Habitat built to replicate the red planet's conditions when astronauts land - ambitiously set for the late 2030sAsk Anca Selariu what it was like living on Mars for a year, and there is no hesitation in her answer: absolutely exhilarating".The US navy microbiologist is one of four Nasa crew members who returned to Earth earlier this month after becoming the first humans to reside on the red planet, or at least the closest thing the US space agency currently has to it. Continue reading...
Scientists have long known the mental and creative benefits of the flow state, in which total absorption in an activity banishes anxiety. But what causes it, and how can we achieve it?As a professional ballet dancer, Julia Christensen knew the flow state well: a total absorption in her body's movements, without the constant chatter that typically accompanies our waking lives. The hours could fly by without her even registering the time that had passed.A back injury put an end to her career, and alongside the many other life changes that this brought on, she found herself missing the mental calm that had accompanied her practice and performances. I became aware that I couldn't control my thoughts," she says. And I'd never had to deal with that before." Continue reading...
Researchers unsure why animals turn up with items such as socks and gloves - but agree pilfered items are not presentsThe thieves went for particular items. Day after day, they roamed the neighbourhood and returned home to dump their loot. Before long they had amassed an impressive haul: socks, underpants, a baby's cardigan, gloves and yet more socks.It's not unusual for cats to bring in dead or petrified mice and birds, but turning up with random objects is harder to explain. Researchers suspect a number of causes, but tend to agree on one point: the pilfered items are not presents. Continue reading...
Citizens were failed by a lack of planning, and Lady Hallett wants a better system to be built fastCitizens of all four nations of the UK were failed by politicians and officials who neglected to prepare properly for a pandemic or other civil emergency. Former UK health secretaries Jeremy Hunt and MattHancock did not update or improve an inadequate pandemic strategy from 2011, that was geared towards flu rather than a novel virus. Resources that did exist were constrained" by funding and, after 2018, redirected towards Brexit planning. Ministers were guilty of groupthink and did not make effective use of external experts or challenge scientific advice. The possibility of a lockdown was never seriously considered. Nor was enough attention paid to the likelyimpact of a pandemic on vulnerable groups.These highly critical conclusions from the first module of the Covid inquiry are a landmark moment in the process of national reckoning being overseen by Heather Hallett. This is the first time that relatives of the 230,000 people who died of Covid have seen their anger about official failures, both before and during the pandemic, endorsed in such an authoritative way. Continue reading...
Research argues tremors occurred as Vesuvius erupted in AD79, causing buildings to collapse on to peopleVictims who perished in Pompeii after the devastating AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius may have been killed by a simultaneous earthquake, research has suggested.Scholars have debated for decades whether seismic activity occurred during the eruption of Vesuvius in southern Italy nearly 2,000 years ago, and not just before it, as reported by Pliny the Younger in his letters. Continue reading...
The UK must never succumb to such shocking complacency again. Planning for the next pandemic must start nowIn 2002, Sars, a dangerous coronavirus, spread across the world with a fatality rate of around 10%. Although it was contained relatively quickly, east Asian countries learned from this experience and updated their pandemic preparedness plans. Their governments wanted to be ready if the virus returned. On the other side of the world, the UK didn't react or adapt. Complacency was at play, especially with the assumption that Britain was one of the most prepared countries in the world for a pandemic.The consequence, as Lady Hallett's first report from the Covid inquiry notes, is that the UK government failed in its basic responsibility to its citizens of keeping them safe. The UK had too many preventable deaths, not only from Covid, but also from the shutdown of health services and a long lockdown that would have been unnecessary had public health systems been in place.Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh Continue reading...
by Presented by Ian Sample, produced by Ellie Sans, s on (#6PA0Z)
Multivitamins are cheap, convenient, and provide a little bit of reassurance if our diet isn't quite as healthy as we'd like. But a recent study of nearly 400,000 people spanning 20 years found they didn't help users live longer, and in fact appeared to show a 4% increased mortality risk. Ian Sample hears from JoAnn Manson, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, to find out what the evidence tells us about the overall health benefits of multivitamins, and how consumers can navigate this large and sometimes confusing marketClips: Good Morning America, CBSDaily multivitamins do not help people live longer, major study finds Continue reading...
The dinosaur remains, which measure 3.4 metres tall and 8.2 metres long, show evidence that it had arthritisThe largest and most complete stegosaurus fossil ever discovered sold for $44.6m at Sotheby's in New York on Wednesday to become the most valuable fossil sold at auction.The dinosaur remains, nicknamed Apex", exceeded its pre-sale low estimate by more than 11 times. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#6P9QB)
Separate teams find evidence of phosphine and ammonia, potential biomarkers on planet whose surface reaches 450CHot enough to melt metal and blanketed by a toxic, crushing atmosphere, Venus ranks among the most hostile locations in the solar system. But astronomers have reported the detection of two gases that could point to the presence of life forms lurking in the Venusian clouds.Findings presented at the national astronomy meeting in Hull on Wednesday bolster evidence for a pungent gas, phosphine, whose presence on Venus has been fiercely disputed. Continue reading...
Remembering the Pre-Fab Four | Longer days and more growth | Royal Mail elastic bands | Moon cave | Search for the Tory soulRe John Lennon saying the Beatles were bigger than Jesus" (Letters, 16 July), I am reminded of the row over the Rutles' Ron Nasty and his interview with a slightly deaf journalist who misquoted him as having said: We're bigger than God." He'd actually said bigger than Rod [Stewart]". This led to outrage and a rise in Pre-Fab Four record sales. People were buying them just to burn them," the Rutles' film All You Need Is Cash revealed.
Science | The Guardian