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Team in China demostrate that multiple geological factors contribute to a landscape's predistribution to landslidesWe know that steep slopes and heavy rain help to trigger landslides, but are some types of landscape more susceptible than others? A study suggests that geologically complex regions are more likely to produce landslides.Yifan Zhang, from the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment in Chengdu, China, and colleagues developed an index of geological complexity that combines four different geological components: lithologic complexity (number of different rock types per unit area); tectonic complexity (density of faults); seismicity (probability of earthquake activity); and structural complexity (how disordered the rock structures are). Continue reading...

The insects had been in decline until people started cramming together in the first large settlementsThey survived the catastrophe that wiped out the dinosaurs, but bedbugs were in decline until the invention of the city, which sent their numbers soaring, researchers say.Genetic analysis of a group of bedbugs showed their history was entwined with the human story, with the blood-sucking parasites spreading and thriving as humans crammed together in large settlements. Continue reading...

My friend and scientific collaborator Kostya Trachenko, who has died aged 54 of cancer, was a theoretical physicist. He helped to reshape our understanding of liquids and revealed surprising connections between fundamental physical constants and the properties of everyday materials.Kostya's research findings, often in cooperation with his longtime collaborator Vadim Brazhkin, brought new clarity to the elusive behaviour of liquids. He developed a mathematical framework explaining how, under certain conditions, liquids behave like solids - such as when falling into water from a height. This insight led to a deeper understanding of how transverse sound waves propagate through liquids, and how these behaviours change with temperature. His work also explained the longstanding mystery of why the heat capacity of liquids often decreases with temperature, unlike in solids. Continue reading...

Vaccines that work need systems that work. Britain's starved services must be supported to reach those most at riskLast week, the UK announced a world first in sexual health programming: a vaccine that can protect against infection by gonorrhoea bacteria is to be made available in sexual health clinics across England, Scotland and Wales. Now comes the rollout - which will require avoiding the mistakes of the past to make sure it reaches those most in need.The vaccine has offered hope for intervention in an otherwise concerning landscape of increasing numbers of cases of gonorrhoea infection demonstrating resistance to treatment by antibiotics and with infection rates at their highest since records began.Benjamin Weil is a writer and researcher. He is the head of research and community knowledge generation at The Love Tank CIC Continue reading...

When fossilised remains were discovered in the Djurab desert in 2001, they were hailed as radically rewriting the history of our species. But not everyone was convinced - and the bitter argument that followed has consumed the lives of scholars ever sinceOn a late-summer day in 2001, at the University of Poitiers in west-central France, the palaeontologist Michel Brunet summoned his colleagues into a classroom to examine an unusual skull. Brunet had just returned from Chad, and brought with him an extremely ancient cranium. It had been distorted by the aeons spent beneath what is now the Djurab desert; a crust of black mineral deposits left it looking charred and slightly malevolent. It sat on a table. What is this thing?" Brunet wondered aloud. He was behaving a bit theatrically, the professor Roberto Macchiarelli recalled not long ago. Brunet was a devoted teacher and scientist, then 61, but his competitive impulses were also known to be immoderate, and he seemed to take a ruthless pleasure in the jealousy of his peers. Michel is a dominant male," Macchiarelli told me. He's a silverback gorilla."Inspecting the skull, one could make out a mosaic of features at once distinctly apelike and distinctly human: a small braincase and prominent brow ridge, but also what seemed to be a rather unprotruding jaw, smallish canines and a foramen magnum - the hole at the base of the skull through which the spinal cord connects to the brain - that suggested the possibility of an upright bearing, a two-legged gait. Macchiarelli told Brunet he did not know what to make of it. Right answer!" Brunet said. Continue reading...

Ian Sample is joined by James Kinross, colorectal surgeon and author of the book Dark Matter: The New Science of the Microbiome, to answer all your questions about gut health.In episode one, James explains how the gut microbiome gets set up, how it impacts our early development, and the effect antibiotics can have on our microbesOrder Dark Matter by James Kinross from the Guardian bookshopSupport the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

A man 43,000 years ago dipped a finger in red pigment and made a nose on a face-like pebble in Spain, scientists sayOne day around 43,000 years ago, a Neanderthal man in what is now central Spain came across a large granite pebble whose pleasing contours and indentations snagged his eye.Something in the shape of that quartz-rich stone - perhaps its odd resemblance to an elongated face - may have compelled him to pick it up, study it and, eventually, to dip one of his fingers in red pigment and press it against the pebble's edge, exactly where the nose on that face would have been. Continue reading...

The solutions to today's puzzlesEarlier today I set you some problems on guardian numbers." Here they are again with solutions.The definition: the guardian of x is the next number that shares at least one digit of x. Continue reading...

On-brand mathematicsUPDATE: Read the solutions hereNumbers can be odd, even, prime, square, natural, perfect, complex, rational...and as from today they can also be guardians.Let the numbers be 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on. The guardian of x is the next number that shares at least one digit of x. Continue reading...

The planet will reach its maximum western elongation from the sun, making it visible in the early hoursVenus will reach maximum western elongation from the sun on 31 May. Maximum elongation means that it appears as far from the sun as it can, making it the most easily visible. The fact that it is to the sun's west means that it is visible in the morning sky.From the UK, Venus rises at about 03.15 BST, giving an observing window of about an hour from 03.30 BST. The sun rises at about 04.45 BST, and no observations should be undertaken once the sun is in the sky because permanent eye damage can occur from looking at its fiery surface. Continue reading...

The administration is attacking research, health and the environment. We might seem unlikely activists - but we have a duty to dissentThere is a stereotype that the natural political activists in academia are the humanities professors: literary scholars, social theorists and critics of culture are the ones who speak truth to power and fight back against oppression.Yet scientists also ought to stand up and organize against the Trump administration's attacks - not only the attacks on scientific research and integrity, but also the attacks on immigrants, on political speech and on democracy. Scientists cannot see themselves as above the fray but rather in coalition with other workers resisting authoritarianism. Continue reading...

As the BBC updates its groundbreaking series, a look at some of the recent scientific discoveriesIt brought dinosaurs stomping and roaring into the sitting rooms of millions of viewers. Now, 25 years after the series first aired, a new, updated Walking With Dinosaurs is back on the BBC this weekend.In the intervening years, science has not stood still. About 50 species have been discovered each year since 1999 and the advent of powerful imaging techniques and digital reconstruction have led to major advances in our understanding of what dinosaurs looked like and how they lived. Here are some of the biggest developments. Continue reading...

Case of man carrying rare genetic variant fuels calls for limit on number of children that can be fathered by one donorThe sperm of a man carrying a rare cancer-causing mutation was used to conceive at least 67 children, 10 of whom have since been diagnosed with cancer, in a case that has highlighted concerns about the lack of internationally agreed limits on the use of donor sperm.Experts have previously warned of the social and psychological risks of sperm from single donors being used to create large numbers of children across different countries. The latest case, involving dozens of children born between 2008 and 2015, raises fresh concerns about the complexity of tracing so many families when a serious medical issue is identified. Continue reading...

Mosquito experts say cuts in aid will lead to collapse of crucial surveillance and control in endemic countriesClimate change could make the UK vulnerable to insect-transmitted tropical diseases that were previously only found in hot countries, scientists have warned, urging ministers to redouble efforts to contain their spread abroad.Leading mosquito experts said the government's cuts to international aid would lead to a collapse in crucial surveillance, control and treatment programmes in endemic countries, leading to more deaths. Continue reading...

Scientists say new approach means effects of many genetic mutations can be analysed at once and yield results in daysA new blood-based test that could help speed up diagnoses for children born with rare genetic disorders has been developed by researchers in an effort to provide answers - and treatments - sooner.Rare genetic disorders include a host of conditions, from cystic fibrosis to diseases relating to the mitochondria - the powerhouses of our cells. However, getting a diagnosis can be arduous. Continue reading...

Researcher records Cooper's hawk in New Jersey making use of pedestrian crossing and line of cars while huntingIt is a tactic worthy of Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt: wait until a beeping pedestrian crossing indicates a traffic queue has formed then use the line of cars as cover to reach your target. But this isn't a scene from Mission: Impossible - it's the behaviour of a young hawk.The discovery is not the first time birds have been found to make use of an urban environment. Crows, for example, are known to drop foods such as walnuts on to roads for cars to crush them open. Continue reading...

Starbase in Texas, where the world's richest man has a rocket-launching facility, was incorporated this week. Mars obsessives are flocking there - but some long-term locals are far from happyAlong a flat coastal highway in south-east Texas, surrounded by wetlands and open plains, the artefacts of a new American oligarchy appear in quick succession. Three towering rockets stand upright on the horizon. A fleet of Tesla Cybertrucks speeds by. A large mural of the Shiba Inu doge" dog stares ahead, its arms crossed. There is a 4-metre-tall (12ft) bust of the world's richest person, painted in bronze, facing a dusty roadside. ELON aka MemeLord", a plaque beneath reads. It's not exactly romantic poetry, but the whole scene reminds me of the sonnet by Shelley: Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!"While old Ozymandias may have seen his fiefdoms crumble, Elon Musk's empire is possibly only just beginning. Here in Cameron County, on the southern tip of the Lone Star state, where Google Maps proudly displays the newly declared Gulf of America" just offshore, Musk has situated his self-described mission to save humanity and populate Mars. Just a few miles from his painted bust is the Starbase industrial complex, a rocket-manufacturing facility and launch arena, which commands the vista for miles. It is also the site of the multibillionaire's latest venture to acquire even more political power. Continue reading...

Breakthrough could lead to range of wearables that extend range of vision and help people with colour blindnessResearchers have given people a taste of superhuman vision after creating contact lenses that allow them to see infrared light, a band of the electromagnetic spectrum that is invisible to the naked eye.Unlike night vision goggles, the contact lenses need no power source, and because they are transparent, wearers can see infrared and all the normal visible colours of light at the same time. Continue reading...

Scientists warn of profound impacts as sea temperatures rise by up to 4C above average for springtimeThe sea off the coast of the UK and Ireland is experiencing an unprecedented marine heatwave with temperatures increasing by as much as 4C above average for the spring in some areas.Marine biologists say the intensity and unprecedented nature of the rise in water temperatures off the coasts of Devon, Cornwall and the west coast of Ireland are very concerning. As human-induced climate breakdown continues to raise global temperatures, the frequency of marine heatwaves is increasing. Continue reading...

Discovery has implications for all cells and tissues' and research bridged gap between scientists and non-scientistsAfter decades of mystery, new research has shed light on a question that has long stumped scientists and cat lovers alike - what exactly makes orange cats, well ... orange?Two studies published in Current Biology last week by separate teams at Stanford University and Japan's Kyushu University at last provided some answers. Scientists have known for more than a century that orange cats inherit coloring differently from other mammals. Now - with help from hundreds of cat owners - researchers have identified the genetic mutation that gives orange cats their signature hue. Continue reading...

Doctors in the US have become the first to treat a baby with a customised gene-editing therapy after diagnosing the child with a severe genetic disorder that kills about half of those affected in early infancy. Ian Sample explains to Madeleine Finlay how this new therapy works and how it paves the way for even more complex gene editing techniques. David Liu, a professor at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the inventor of these therapies, also describes the barriers that could prevent them reaching patients, and how he thinks they can be overcomeBiologist whose innovation saved the life of British teenager wins $3m Breakthrough prizeUS doctors rewrite DNA of infant with severe genetic disorder in medical first Continue reading...

Adding scans to existing screening could catch harder-to-detect early-stage cases of disease, research showsHundreds of lives could be saved every year with extra cancer checks for women with very dense breasts, a study suggests.Millions of women undergo breast screening, but regular mammograms can be less effective at spotting cancer in the 10% with very dense breasts, as the tissue can hide tumours on X-rays. This is because very dense breasts look whiter on scans, making it harder to detect early-stage disease, which also appears white. Continue reading...

Documents including signed copy of 1938 PhD dissertation to be auctioned after they were nearly thrown outWidely considered the father of theoretical computer science, Alan Turing's influence on modern life continues to be felt in the age of artificial intelligence. But despite this legacy, a cache of his most important papers was nearly shredded - only to be saved at the last minute when their significance was recognised at a family event.At auction next month, the papers are expected to sell for as much as 150,000 in 13 separate lots. Continue reading...

UKHSA says risk to public very low after detection in genetic material of mosquitoes caught in NottinghamshireWest Nile virus has been detected in genetic material of mosquitoes collected in Britain for the first time, the UK Health Security Agency has reported.The agency assessed the risk to the general public as very low" and said there was no evidence of transmission to humans or that the virus had become endemic. Continue reading...

Jim and Dilys Quinlan, who discovered the stone relief of the goddess of victory, have volunteered at Vindolanda, the site of an important Roman fort near Hexham, for 21 seasons. Dilys said: 'We've spent the vast majority of our annual leave at Vindolanda over the years. As veteran diggers, it is without doubt the most wonderful thing we've ever done and, importantly, it's something we do as a couple.' The 47cm-tall carving is thought to have symbolised the end of war and to have been part of a much bigger relief

These simple flowers, which bloom earlier than many others, are a rich source of nectar and pollen for insectsDandelions are often seen by gardeners as burly thugs, but they do have their benefits. The flowers are rich in nectar and pollen, feeding pollinating insects, which have suffered steep declines in recent years. Numbers of flying insects in the UK have fallen by 78% since 2004, according to a survey based on sampling vehicle number plates. As dandelions bloom early in spring, before many other flowers, they are a particularly valuable food for hungry pollinators, with dandelion nectar especially vital when early pollinators such as wild bees, honeybees and hoverflies emerge.Dandelion plants are particularly adept at thriving in urban places and can even grow in cracks in pavements, using a long, large taproot to tap into water and nutrients well below the ground surface. Urban dandelions grow bigger and better than those in the countryside, thriving in the warmer urban climate . Some species of dandelions can even tolerate the high levels of salt sprayed on roads in winter to help melt ice, and withstand roadside pollution from traffic. Continue reading...

The global food system has been captured by a few rapacious companies that profit from public ill-health. We need a radical overhaulOur food system is killing us. Designed in a different century for a different purpose - to mass produce cheap calories to prevent famine - it is now a source of jeopardy, destroying more than it creates. A quarter of all adult deaths globally - more than 12 million every year - are due to poor diets.Malnutrition in all its forms - undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, overweight and obesity - is by far the biggest cause of ill-health, affecting one in three people on the planet. Ultra-processed foods are implicated in as many as one in seven premature deaths in some countries. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Married volunteer diggers discover stone relief at site of Roman fort Vindolanda in NorthumberlandA striking Roman depiction of the winged goddess of victory has been discovered near Hadrian's Wall by volunteers helping archaeologists on an official excavation.The stone relief was found by a Merseyside couple at Vindolanda, the site of the important Roman fort near Hexham, Northumberland. Continue reading...

The US president, Donald Trump, has announced that his administration has begun developing the so-called 'Golden Dome' missile defence system, set to be finished before the end of his second term. Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump revealed the system will deploy next-generation technologies across the land, sea, and space to defend against hypersonic missiles, ballistic missiles, and advanced cruise missiles

New testing method means treatments could start sooner, possibly before patient leaves the operating tableA new method for diagnosing brain tumours could cut the time patients wait for treatments by weeks to hours and raise the possibility of novel types of therapy, researchers have said.According to the Brain Tumour Charity, about 740,000 people around the world are diagnosed with a brain tumour each year, around half of which are non-cancerous. Once a brain tumour is found, a sample is taken during surgery and cells are immediately studied under a microscope by pathologists, who can often identify the type of tumour. However, genetic testing helps to make or confirm the diagnosis. Continue reading...

The president sold the US model of the industry that made it: enormous power concentrated in the hands of a few menHello, and welcome to TechScape. This week in tech: Donald Trump the AI salesman visits the Middle East; 23andMe gets bought, mostly for its data; and Elon Musk's bot hallucinates an offensively incorrect historical record - twice.Legal aid hack: data from hundreds of thousands of people accessed, says MoJHow to protect your data after a cyber-attackScattered Spider hackers in UK are facilitating' cyber-attacks, says GoogleLargest US crypto exchange says cost of recent cyber-attack could reach $400m Continue reading...

Rising oceans will force millions away from coasts even if global temperature rise remains below 1.5C, analysis findsSea level rise will become unmanageable at just 1.5C of global heating and lead to catastrophic inland migration", the scientists behind a new study have warned. This scenario may unfold even if the average level of heating over the last decade of 1.2C continues into the future.The loss of ice from the giant Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets has quadrupled since the 1990s due to the climate crisis and is now the principal driver of sea level rise. Continue reading...

In March 2021, the Toronto-based reporter Leyland Cecco heard about a memo sent by New Brunswick health officials that warned about a possible unknown neurological syndrome thought to be affecting about 40 people. Since then the story has taken many twists and turns, most recently with a peer-reviewed study that concludes there is no mystery illness after all.Cecco tells Madeleine Finlay about the devastating symptoms that patients experienced, and why the research is unlikely to resolve the conflict over what has been causing themClips: Global news CA, CTV News Continue reading...

University of Reading report says conflicts including war in Ukraine among 12 most pressing threats to pollinatorWar zones, microplastics and street lights are among the emerging threats to the bee population, according to scientists.Bee experts have drawn up a list of the 12 most pressing threats to the pollinator over the next decade, published in a report, Emerging Threats and Opportunities for Conservation of Global Pollinators, by the University of Reading. Continue reading...

It's human nature to trust strongmen, but we've also evolved the tools to resist themA recent piece of research commissioned by Channel 4 suggested that more than half of people aged between 13 and 27 would prefer the UK to be an authoritarian dictatorship.The results shocked a lot of people concerned about the rising threat of autocracy acrossthe world, including me. Yet, on reflection, I don't think we should be surprised. The way we evolved predisposes us to place trust in those who often deserve it least -ina sense, hardwiring us to support the most machiavellian among us and to propel them into power.This seems like an intractable problem. But it's what we do in the face of that knowledge that matters. Continue reading...

Usage of punctuation down almost half in two decades as further research finds 67% of British students rarely use it

Evidence shows that arguing our case rarely convinces others. It's social relationships and actions that have that power

The Mayo Clinic hopes to uncover how the microbiome affects how patients react to cancer medicationsA leading US clinic hopes its fecal waste biobank will help researchers make new discoveries about how to treat cancer patients - one of several efforts to turn human waste into medicine.The Mayo Clinic biobank is part of researchers' years-long effort to personalize" medicine by uncovering how the microbiome changes how patients react to cancer medications. Continue reading...

Medications such as Ozempic have transformed obesity treatment and are now leading a healthcare revolutionObesity was once medicine's Cinderella subject with some questioning whether the condition should even be viewed as a biological disorder. But the arrival of a new class of appetite-suppressing drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy has transformed obesity treatment into the most scientifically exciting and commercially lucrative area of healthcare.These drugs lead to dramatic weight loss, are shifting perceptions and, according to a series of results announced at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Malaga this week, promise health benefits that extend far beyond weight management. Continue reading...

Scientific study of 3,000 dolls down the decades shows most now wear flatsShe walked into the world on high-heeled mules, but as Barbie's many careers gathered pace, her feet became more planted on the ground, researchers say.A rare analysis of nearly 3,000 Barbies released over 65 years found that high-heeled incarnations gradually made way for flat-shoed forms, as workplace rules relaxed and career doors opened for the PVC doll. Continue reading...

Coller-Dolittle award won by US team for discovering call that triggers avoidance and could be used as alarm signalA $100,000 prize for communicating with animals has been scooped by researchers who have shed light on the meaning of dolphins' whistles.The Coller-Dolittle Prize for Two-way Inter-species Communication was launched last year by the Jeremy Coller Foundation and Tel Aviv University. Continue reading...

Gene-editing breakthrough has potential to treat array of devastating genetic diseases soon after birth, scientists sayDoctors in the US have become the first to treat a baby with a customised gene-editing therapy after diagnosing the child with a severe genetic disorder that kills about half of those affected in early infancy.International researchers have hailed the feat as a medical milestone, saying it demonstrates the potential for treating an array of devastating genetic diseases by rewriting faulty DNA soon after affected children are born. Continue reading...

A demographic change is unfolding, and many of us can expect a long life. It's time to provide the support neededEthel Caterham, at the age of 115 years, is said to be the oldest person alive. She offers the sage life advice to say yes to every opportunity because you never know what it will lead to. Have a positive mental attitude and have everything in moderation." When she was born in 1909, the average life expectancy of a British female was 52 years - becoming a centenarian was a remote prospect.Today, according to the United Nations, centenarians are the fastest growing age group. By 1950, there were an estimated 14,000 whilst today there are nearly 750,000, projected to reach nearly 4 million by 2054. Medical advances, increases in the standard of living and improvements in public health have transformed the human condition. The American Academy of Actuaries estimates that one in six Americans born today will live to be 100. That is about the same as in the UK, where the Office for National Statistics suggests that the majority of babies can expect to live into their early 90s. Continue reading...

I was told my husband would never talk again, while physiotherapy was dismissed entirely. My son was failed in similar ways, but for the brilliance of some medical staff who refuse to believe a stroke is the endOn the night before the accident, John and I and our son Jay, who was then 26, lingered in the garden drinking wine and enjoying the mid-summer scent of jasmine and lilies. We talked about the Manet exhibition we had just seen at the National Gallery. We probably talked about how the end of the cold war might affect the chances of Bill Clinton winning the presidential election against George HW Bush in November. I know what John thought about that. I only wish I could recall his words.The next morning, 30 July 1992, John got up before me as he always did. In the kitchen I found the contents of the dishwasher - knives, forks, spoons, plates, mugs - jumbled together on the table. This was odd because unloading the dishwasher was the one domestic ritual he willingly performed. It would be years before I learned the reason. At the time I put it down to absent-mindedness. It was a month since he had delivered a book to the publisher and he was already preoccupied by the next one, about art in the European Renaissance. Before I had time to be annoyed, I heard a crash from his study at the top of the house. I ran upstairs and found him lying on the floor next to his desk. He looked up at me with the radiant, witless smile of a baby. And he said: Da walls." Continue reading...

Geoengineering, the controversial set of techniques that aim to deliberately alter the Earth's climate system, may be inching a step closer to reality with the announcement that UK scientists will be conducting real-world experiments in the coming years. To understand what's happening, Ian Sample is joined by the Guardian environment editor Damian Carrington. Damian explains what the experiments will entail and why scientists are so divided on whether pursuing this research is a good ideaClips: GB NewsReal-world geoengineering experiments revealed by UK agency Continue reading...

Kseniia Petrova, Harvard researcher arrested in February, faces deportation as lawyer calls case meritless'A Harvard scientist who has been held in US immigration detention for months was charged on Wednesday with smuggling frog embryos into the United States, and likely faces deportation.Kseniia Petrova, a Russian scientist and research associate working at Harvard University, was originally detained by immigration officials in February after attempting to enter the United States at Boston Logan international airport. Continue reading...

Dangerous indoor pollution could be tackled with air purifiers but costs are too high for many, researchers sayToxic pollution from wildfires has infiltrated the homes of more than a billion people a year over the last two decades, according to new research.The climate crisis is driving up the risk of wildfires by increasing heatwaves and droughts, making the issue of wildfire smoke a pressing global issue", scientists said. Continue reading...

Groups of large language model artificial intelligence agents can adopt social norms as humans do, report saysArtificial intelligence can spontaneously develop human-like social conventions, a study has found.The research, undertaken in collaboration between City St George's, University of London and the IT University of Copenhagen, suggests that when large language model (LLM) AI agents such as ChatGPT communicate in groups without outside involvement they can begin to adopt linguistic forms and social norms the same way that humans do when they socialise. Continue reading...

The discovery by two local fossil hunters on a river bank in Victoria has potentially far-reaching implications', scientists sayFossilised claw prints found in Australia suggest amniotes - the ancestors of reptiles, birds and mammals - evolved about 40m years earlier than thought.The footprints, in sandstone dated 354m to 358m years old, were probably made by reptiles crossing a surface dimpled by raindrops. Researchers said the trackways represent the oldest evidence of amniotes on the planet.Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Continue reading...