Exclusive: study raises hopes that Covid-related damage to sense of smell may be more superficial than previously feared

AXA1125 targets cell power plants that may be dysfunctional in long Covid patients with severe fatigue

Fast food boxes and wrappers contain toxic chemicals known to interfere with our reproductive systems and contribute to attention and learning disordersIt’s no surprise that fast food is generally bad for your health. But now there’s a new reason to worry: according to a new study out of George Washington University, fast-food containers (such as wrappers used for burgers and burritos) contain toxic chemicals known to interfere with our reproductive systems and contribute to attention and learning disorders. Put simply, our hamburgers and burritos are wrapped in toxic waste.Many convenience foods come with an ingredient list showing consumers what went into the product they’re eating or drinking. Of course, this list doesn’t include the chemicals used to make the box, bag or wrapper encasing the food, or other materials that come into contact with our meal – like the plastic gloves used to handle the sandwich toppings. But these compounds make their way into our food and we ingest them.Norah MacKendrick is an associate professor of sociology at Rutgers University and the author of Better Safe Than Sorry: How Consumers Navigate Everyday Toxics Continue reading...

Parents alarmed as children held overnight before some sent to centralised quarantine for two weeks

Holmes honoured for ‘transformative role’ in Covid response, while Prof Anthony Weiss takes innovation prize for work on biomaterials to assist wound healingProf Edward Holmes of the University of Sydney has won the prime minister’s prize for science, for his “transformative role in the scientific response to Covid-19”.Holmes, an expert on the evolution of viral diseases, publicly shared the genome sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus for the first time in January last year, publishing it on behalf of a consortium of Chinese scientists. Continue reading...

Curious report suggests calm thousand millennia of ‘Boring Billion’ was more lively than thoughtToday our planet is a lively place: the climate swings from greenhouse to icehouse and back again, while earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain ranges and ocean trenches are all signs of its restless surface. But if you go back far enough, you reach a period where Earth was a very dull place. Nicknamed the “Boring Billion”, the period between 1850m and 850m years ago appears to have had hardly any plate tectonic movement, very little change in climate and a stalling of biological evolution. But was this period more interesting than we think?Geologists have been studying the geochemistry and makeup of continental rocks from the Boring Billion. The geochemistry suggests that the continental crust was hot and thin (40km or less) – not suitable for plate tectonics or building mountain ranges. But curiously the structure and composition of continental rocks indicate that crust did shimmy around and that low mountain ranges existed. The findings are published in Geophysical Research Letters. Continue reading...

The Science Weekly podcast is in Glasgow where we will be bringing listeners daily episodes from Cop26. Each morning you will hear from one of the Guardian’s award-winning environment team. Today, host Madeleine Finlay, talks to Jon Watts about a significant announcement made by global leaders on forest and land use, and we hear from an indigenous leader in Guyana about why it might not be enough.The third day of Cop26 was dominated by what some are saying is a very positive announcement on forests and land use – the so-called Glasgow Agreement. Host Madeleine Finlay talks to the Guardian’s global environment editor, Jonathan Watts about what world leaders have pledged. She also speaks to indigenous leaders and rights activists from Guyana and Indonesia about their thoughts on the new deal.Plus, senior Guardian reporter for the US, Nina Lakhani reports from a memorial acknowledging the lives of those who have died trying to save their communities and the forests which they live in and that we all so crucially depend on. Continue reading...

Analysis of 400 studies found risk of secondary cancer ranges from 6% to 22% depending on different factorsWomen diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 35 face a higher risk of it spreading, according to the first global study of its kind.Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer, with 2.3 million people diagnosed every year. Survival rates are generally good, which is largely because of screening, early diagnosis and improved treatment. Continue reading...

Cop26 countries must take action to stop record heat becoming an annual event, say experts

Dutch physicist who helped to identify the links between human-induced climate change and extreme weather disastersGeert Jan van Oldenborgh, who has died aged 59 of multiple myeloma, was co-founder and member of a team of scientists who identified — at speed and while politically a hot topic — the links between human-induced climate change and forest fires, heatwaves, drought, flood and other specific meteorological catastrophes.This is trickier than it sounds. Extreme events have always happened, and for decades most climate scientists were not willing to say that this or that flood or heatwave was directly powered by ever-higher greenhouse gas emissions driven by profligate fossil fuel use. If they did, it was usually long after the event. Continue reading...

In focusing on the stories of recovery this documentary, following patients participating in stem cell research trials in the US, allows the optimism to outshine the controversyHere is a film that tugs at the heartstrings as it painstakingly covers the lives of 10 patients participating in stem cell research trials in the US. From a quadriplegic high-school basketball star to a mother with recurring cancers, the subjects experience remarkable recoveries thanks to this medical revolution. One of the most moving moments is when Ryan, the teenage athlete, returns home four months after his initial treatment and raises his hand to greet his loved ones at the airport, a progress that would have been unimaginable without the advent of stem cell therapy.While the treatment has proved extraordinarily successful in combating incurable diseases, the research remains controversial as it involves the use of human embryos, which is inevitably intertwined with the abortion debate hotly contested in US politics. Furthermore, pharmaceutical corporations are hostile to a medical technology that would significantly reduce the traditional reliance on medications. Indeed, in the case of cancer patients, as stem cells can multiply into healthy cells to repair damaged areas from within, the research aims to reach a point where chemotherapy would no longer be needed. Once banned by George W Bush, federal funding for stem cell studies has gradually increased, though it remains mostly awarded for non-embryonic research. Continue reading...

The Science Weekly podcast is in Glasgow where we will be bringing listeners daily episodes from Cop26. Each morning you will hear from one of the Guardian’s award-winning environment team. Today, host Madeleine Finlay hears why the Bahamas are under imminent threat from the climate crisis and what Guardian environment reporter Fiona Harvey makes of India’s commitment to be net zero – by 2070.Today the world leaders arrived in Glasgow for Cop26, the critical climate conference. Alarm, anger and a few significant promises featured during speeches made by dozens of world leaders.Host Madeleine Finlay talks to Guardian environment reporter Fiona Harvey who reflected on the tone of the summit, which was set by Boris Johnson, who opened the Cop26 talks with a stark warning that “the anger and impatience of the world will be uncontainable” if the talks fail to get the world on track to avoid disastrous global heating of more than 1.5C. António Guterres, the UN secretary general, noted governments’ lack of progress in cutting planet-heating emissions. There were some significant announcements, too, such as Narendra Modi, prime minister of India, promising that his country would get to net zero emissions by 2070 and Johnson unveiling new climate aid for vulnerable developing countries. Continue reading...

The popular theme park became the site of a suspected Delta outbreak, with authorities mass testing tens of thousands in the pursuit of Covid zero

Beck’s work revolutionised the diagnosis and treatment of depression and other psychological disorders and continues to have a resounding influenceDr Aaron T Beck, a groundbreaking psychotherapist widely regarded as the father of cognitive therapy, died on Monday at his Philadelphia home aged 100.Beck’s work revolutionised the diagnosis and treatment of depression and other psychological disorders. He died peacefully early in the morning, according to a statement issued by the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, which he co-founded with his daughter, Dr Judith Beck. Continue reading...

It is the first such delay by Nasa since 1990 when the mission commander of Space Shuttle Atlantis fell illNasa has announced a rare health-related delay in its SpaceX rocket launch of four astronauts to the international space station, the second postponement of the mission in a week, citing an unspecified medical issue with one of the crew.The space agency on Monday described it as a “minor medical issue” that was “not a medical emergency and not related to Covid-19”, but it declined to elaborate on the nature of the problem or say which astronaut was involved. Continue reading...

If by 2052 a computer could match the human brain then we need better ways to build it“Progress in AI is something that will take a while to happen, but [that] doesn’t make it science fiction.” So Stuart Russell, the University of California computing professor, told the Guardian at the weekend. The scientist said researchers had been “spooked” by their own success in the field. Prof Russell, the co-author of the top artificial intelligence (AI) textbook, is giving this year’s BBC’s Reith lectures – which have just begun – and his doubts appear increasingly relevant.With little debate about its downsides, AI is becoming embedded in society. Machines now recommend online videos to watch, perform surgery and send people to jail. The science of AI is a human enterprise that requires social limitations. The risks, however, are not being properly weighed. There are two emerging approaches to AI. The first is to view it in engineering terms, where algorithms are trained on specific tasks. The second presents deeper philosophical questions about the nature of human knowledge. Continue reading...

The solutions to today’s 3D logic puzzlesEarlier today I set you the following “three-dimensional” logic puzzles, a genre thought to have emerged decades ago in Hungary. (For more details about the Hungarian link here’s the story.) The idea is that the solution is mapped out on a three-dimensional grid.1. Date night Continue reading...

The technology was viewed with scepticism before the pandemic but there is now growing confidence about its useIt is one of the most remarkable success stories of the pandemic: the unproven technology that delivered the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines in record time, helping to turn the tide on Covid-19. The vaccines are based on mRNA, the molecule that instructs our cells to make specific proteins. By injecting synthetic mRNA, our cells are turned into on-demand vaccine factories, pumping out any protein we want our immune system to learn to recognise and destroy.Pre-pandemic, the technology was viewed with scepticism – a clever concept, but not guaranteed to deliver. Now there is growing confidence that mRNA vaccines could have far-reaching applications in tackling diseases from flu to malaria. Continue reading...

With millions of followers, the stance of some Apostolic church leaders threatens to undermine fight against CovidHymnal melodies reverberate around the hillside in Kuwadzana, a Harare suburb. On a blisteringly hot Saturday, members of the Apostolic church, dressed in white, hum and sing together.Songs, long prayers and a little Bible reading punctuate the outdoor service. It’s a spectacle for passersby. Continue reading...

Logic puzzles in three dimensionsUPDATE: To read the solutions click hereWhen it comes to the world of mathematical puzzles, Hungary is a superpower. Not just because of the Rubik’s cube, the iconic toy invented by Ernő Rubik in 1974, but also because of its long history of maths outreach.In 1894, Hungary staged the world’s first maths competition for teenagers, four decades before one was held anywhere else. 1894 also saw the launch of KöMaL, a Hungarian maths journal for secondary school pupils full of problems and tips on how to solve them. Both the competition and the journal have been running continuously since then, with only brief hiatuses during the two world wars. Continue reading...

Pacific country has made it through nearly two years of the pandemic Covid-free, but a repatriation flight from New Zealand has led to the country’s first caseEarly on Monday morning, the normally quiet capital of the Pacific country of Tonga, Nuku’alofa city, was packed with cars.There were long queues outside vaccination centres, as well as banks, Western Union outlets and shops as people rushed to prepare for the tiny nation’s first proper lockdown. Continue reading...

Archaeological discoveries are shattering scholars’ long-held beliefs about how the earliest humans organised their societies – and hint at possibilities for our own. By David Graeber and David Wengrow. Continue reading...

The Science Weekly podcast is in Glasgow where we will be bringing listeners daily episodes from Cop26. Each morning you will hear from one of the Guardian’s award-winning environment team. Today, environment correspondent Fiona Harvey explains why this climate summit is so criticalFor almost three decades, world governments have met nearly every year to forge a global response to the climate emergency. This year is the 26th iteration, postponed by a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it is being hosted by the UK in Glasgow.Guardian environment correspondent Fiona Harvey tells Science Weekly host Madeleine Finlay why this year’s summit is so critical. Under the landmark Paris agreement, signed in 2015, nations committed to holding global temperature rises to “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels, while “pursuing efforts” to limit heating to 1.5C. To meet those goals, countries also agreed on non-binding national targets to cut – or in the case of developing countries to curb the growth of – greenhouse gas emissions in the near term, by 2030 in most cases. Continue reading...

The majority of those dying of Covid-19 in the UK and the US are have not been vaccinated. Bereaved relatives are telling their stories to try to convince others to get their jabsPhil Valentine was a Tennessee-based conservative talk radio host who was sceptical about the US government’s response to the coronavirus crisis. He was not completely ‘anti-vax’, but he did not think he was vulnerable to Covid and talked on air about his decision not to be vaccinated. He even performed a song called Vaxman, a parody of the Beatles’ Taxman. Shortly after the song was released, he contracted the virus.Before Valentine died, he sent a message to his brother Mark from hospital about his regret. He asked him to tell others to get the vaccine to make amends for the message he had spread on his show. Continue reading...

Accolade reflects how use of the short form of ‘vaccine’ rose by 72 times in a year and spread across societyIn a year when talk over the virtual garden fence has focused on whether you have been jabbed, jagged or had both doses yet, and whether it was Pfizer, AstraZeneca or Moderna you were injected with, Oxford Languages has chosen vax as its word of the year.After deciding last year that it was impossible to sum up 2020 in one word, the company that produces the Oxford English Dictionary said the shorthand for vaccine had “injected itself into the bloodstream of the English language” this year during the Covid pandemic. Continue reading...

A scientist and gifted speaker makes a convincing case for calm, informed discussions in the race to avert catastropheIt’s not an exaggeration to say that Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World is one of the more important books about climate change to have been written. Much of the literature to date feeds the appetite of readers who are already interested in the issue, but this book by Katharine Hayhoe, an internationally renowned climate scientist, could result in a massive expansion of interest in the subject.Hayhoe is a gifted public speaker and Saving Us is a follow-up to her terrific Ted Talk in 2018, “The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: talk about it”. It is an entertaining masterclass on the science of communication, which pulls no punches about the threat that humanity faces or the size of the task to avoid catastrophic consequences. Continue reading...

Evidence from animal remains shows Norse seafarers settled on the islands centuries before Portuguese explorersThey came from the land of the ice and snow and the midnight sun – but still ended up in some balmy destinations. This is the conclusion of researchers who have discovered evidence to support the idea that the Vikings settled on the clement shores of the Azores several hundred years before the Portuguese arrived in 1427.Given that the Vikings are usually associated with the frozen north, the claim is startling. Nevertheless, it is based on solid science, says a group of international researchers who recently analysed lakebed sediments in the Azores, an archipelago in the mid-Atlantic. Continue reading...

Tens of thousands of people are turning to the drug to treat a range of conditions – but the evidence is patchy and costs can be highWhen Helen was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in her early 40s, her doctor prescribed her a range of opioids. She tried morphine, meperidine and a few others, but none helped ease the constant pain her chronic condition caused.Long before medicinal cannabis was legal in Australia, while Helen was travelling across North America, a doctor at a dispensary suggested she try cannabidiol oil. “He gave me this bottle of tincture and taught me to use one or two drops under my tongue,” Helen says. “My pain decreased dramatically. I was stunned.” Continue reading...

Losing weight may be tough, but keeping it off, research tells us, is tougher – just not for the reasons you might thinkAs the director of the Energy Metabolism Laboratory at Tufts University, Massachusetts, Susan Roberts has spent much of the past two decades studying ways to fight the obesity epidemic that continues to plague much of the western world.But time and again, Roberts and other obesity experts around the globe have found themselves faced with a recurring problem. While getting overweight individuals to commit to shedding pounds is often relatively straightforward in the short term, preventing them from regaining the lost weight is much more challenging. Continue reading...

My debut novel is full of the brothers and sisters who were absent through my childhoodPeople often ask me about my brothers and sisters. They have read my debut novel, Girl A, and they expect to find my own family, encrypted in the fiction. There are seven siblings in the Gracie family in my book and between them there is caustic rage, begrudging respect, tenderness and cruelty. Too much love and too little.I don’t have any brothers and sisters. That’s the thing about writers, I would like to reply, bolder than I really am. They make things up. Me, I’m nowhere to be found. Although that isn’t quite the case. Continue reading...

The veteran scientist on Trump’s limited impact, Russia’s ruthless climate stance and on the urgency of COP26 in GlasgowProf Peter Stott is a forensic climate detective who examines the human fingerprint on extreme weather. A specialist in mathematics, he leads the climate monitoring and attribution team of the Hadley Centre for Climate Science and Services at the Met Office in Exeter and was part of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change team that won the Nobel peace prize in 2007. Since he started in the field more than 25 years ago, Stott has often found himself on the frontline of the battle against the fossil fuel lobby, petrostates and sceptical rightwing US politicians, which he details in his new book. Hot Air: The Inside Story of the Battle Against Climate Change Denial. He is also exploring new forms of scientific expression and is co-founder, with his wife, of the Climate Stories initiative, which brings artists, scientists and members of the public together to respond to the climate emergency by creating new poems, songs and pictures.You have spent a quarter of a century in climate science. On a personal level, how does that feel?

Scientists say keeping temperature rises to 1.5C is vital physical threshold for planet that cannot be negotiatedThe 1.5C temperature limit to be discussed by world leaders at critical meetings this weekend is a vital physical threshold for the planet’s climate, and not an arbitrary political construct that can be haggled over, leading climate scientists have warned.World leaders are meeting in Rome and Glasgow over the next four days to thrash out a common approach aimed at holding global temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, the lower of two limits set out in the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Continue reading...

Melbourne and Victoria’s regions reunited and major events being held at Flemington Racecourse and Sidney Myer Music Bowl. This blog is now closed

Foraging bees keep away from centre of colony when infested with mites, find researchersIn the past 18 months humans have become all too familiar with the term “social distancing”. But it turns out we are not the only ones to give our peers a wide berth when our health may be at risk: research suggests honeybees do it too.Scientists have found that when a hive of honeybees is under threat from the mite Varroa destructor – a parasite linked to the collapse of honeybee colonies – the bees respond by changing the way they interact with one another. Continue reading...

Prof Stuart Russell says field of artificial intelligence needs to grow up quickly to ensure humans remain in controlA scientist who wrote a leading textbook on artificial intelligence has said experts are “spooked” by their own success in the field, comparing the advance of AI to the development of the atom bomb.Prof Stuart Russell, the founder of the Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence at the University of California, Berkeley, said most experts believed that machines more intelligent than humans would be developed this century, and he called for international treaties to regulate the development of the technology. Continue reading...

Coronavirus-induced parosmia is surprisingly common and the sensory confusion can have profound effects

How to save the world, by counting to zero: the Guardian's Phoebe Weston breaks down all the climate jargon we have been hearing in the run-up to Cop26, the make-or-break climate summit starting on Sunday, and explains what we – and most importantly, our governments – need to do to help protect our planet and its future

The virus won’t disappear – it will just become endemic. But it could still put pressure on health systems in years to comeAs Cop26 gets under way in Glasgow this weekend, one collective action problem is taking centre stage against the backdrop of another. Covid-19 has been described as a dress rehearsal for our ability to solve the bigger problem of the climate crisis, so it seems important to point out that the pandemic isn’t over. Instead, joined-up thinking has become more important than ever for solving the problem of Covid-19.The endgame has been obvious for a while: rather than getting rid of Covid-19 entirely, countries will get used to it. The technical word for a disease that we’re obliged to host indefinitely is “endemic”. It means that the disease-causing agent – the Sars-CoV-2 virus in this case – is always circulating in the population, causing periodic but more-or-less predictable disease outbreaks. No country has entered the calmer waters of endemicity yet; we’re all still on the white-knuckle ride of the pandemic phase.Laura Spinney is a science journalist and the author of Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World Continue reading...

Final preparations begin for Nasa’s Artemis programme to return astronauts to moonNasa’s Orion crew capsule has been secured to the top of the Space Launch System rocket at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Final preparations are beginning for the first uncrewed launch in Nasa’s Artemis programme to return astronauts to the moon.The fully stacked rocket stands at 322ft (98 metres), about 6ft taller than Big Ben in London. The European Space Agency has provided the critical service module that gives the Orion capsule electricity, air, water, communications and propulsion. Continue reading...

Species was direct ancestor of early humans in Africa and discovery has led to reassessment of epochResearchers have announced the naming of a newly discovered species of human ancestor, Homo bodoensis.The species lived in Africa about 500,000 years ago, during the Middle Pleistocene age, and was the direct ancestor of modern humans, according to scientists. The name bodoensis derives from a skull found in Bodo D’ar in the Awash River valley of Ethiopia. Continue reading...

Simon Clarke explained his absence from pre-budget photo op was due to condition that affects thousands in UKA minister has been praised for “leading by example” after he spoke openly about his experience of agoraphobia, a condition that leads to thousands of hospital admissions every year.Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury, said on Wednesday he would not take part in the traditional pre-budget photo with the chancellor as he is agoraphobic. He said the condition “prevents me from being comfortable in some open spaces”. Continue reading...

Physicist hailed as the father of Pakistan’s atomic weapons industry who confessed to smuggling nuclear secretsThe father of Pakistan’s atomic weapons industry and the greatest proliferator of nuclear weapons in history, Abdul Qadeer Khan, who has died aged 85 after testing positive for Covid-19, was heralded as a hero in his native country, but he left a troubling legacy for the west. Along with Pakistan, the states of Libya, North Korea and Iran all benefited from the nuclear physicist’s dealings. His story is also deeply connected with the travails of neighbouring Afghanistan.There are two basic paths to make the material that provides the explosive power of a nuclear weapons. The first is to process plutonium. The second is to use high-speed centrifuges to enrich uranium to weapons-grade material, called highly enriched uranium (HEU). Continue reading...

Tuberculosis campaigners tell G20 leaders $1bn is needed annually for vaccine research to reverse decades of underfundingA group of tuberculosis survivors are calling for more funding and action to find new vaccines, after the numbers dying of the infection rose for the first time in 10 years.In 2020, 1.5 million were killed by TB and 10 million infected, according to the World Health Organization. Campaigners want world leaders to invest $1bn (£730m) every year into vaccine research, spurred on by the momentum from the Covid jab development. Continue reading...

The clocks go back in the UK this Sunday and many will welcome the extra hour in bed. But research suggests that changing the time like this could be bad for the body. Anand Jagatia speaks to the Guardian’s science correspondent Linda Geddes and chronobiologist Prof Till Roenneberg about how daylight saving time affects our biology – and whether we should get rid of it permanently Continue reading...

Finds at Richborough include skeleton of cat nicknamed Maxipus and potential evidence of figurative arena panelsA big night out for the people of the Roman settlement at Richborough on the Kent coast about 2,000 years ago might have involved gladiatorial contests, wild beast hunting or the occasional execution of a criminal.Taking place in a vast amphitheatre, seating up to 5,000 people, on the western edge of the settlement, such an event was a “special occasion, drawing people from Richborough town and its surrounds”, said Paul Pattison, a senior properties historian at English Heritage. “These were public spectacles, the equivalent of going to a big blockbuster film, in our terms.” Continue reading...

It’s certainly not just women who worry about ageing and procreation – and now men have begun speaking about their own deep anxietiesIt was when Connor woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom that he started thinking about it. The 38-year-old civil servant from London got back into bed and couldn’t sleep: he was spiralling. “I thought: ‘Shit, I might not be able to have children. It actually might not happen,’” he says.“It started with me thinking about how I’m looking to buy a house, and everything is happening too late in my life,” Connor says. “Then I started worrying about how long it would take me to save again to get married, after I buy the house. I was doing the maths on that – when will I be able to afford to be married, own a house and start having kids? Probably in my 40s. Then I started freaking out about what the quality of my sperm will be like by then. What if something’s wrong with the child? And then I thought, oh no, what if me and my girlfriend don’t work out? I’ll be in an even worse scenario in a few years.” Continue reading...

Study is the first time DNA from a long-dead person was used to demonstrate a familial link between a living individual and a historical figureA sample of Sitting Bull’s hair has helped scientists confirm that a South Dakota man is the famed 19th-century Native American leader’s great-grandson using a new method to analyse family lineages with DNA fragments from long-dead people.Researchers said on Wednesday that DNA extracted from the hair, which had been stored at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, confirmed the familial relationship between Sitting Bull, who died in 1890, and Ernie LaPointe, 73, of Lead, South Dakota. Continue reading...

Signatories include scientists from US, EU, India and African and South American countriesChief scientists and presidents of the national science academies of more than 20 countries including Sir Patrick Vallance have written to world leaders ahead of the Cop26 climate summit, urging them to set out policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply, to limit global heating to 1.5C.Governments must rapidly step up their policies to deploy low-carbon energy and other technologies and address emissions from the main high-carbon sectors of the economy, as well as bring forward innovative technologies, the signatories urged. Continue reading...

As the professor guides us through the solar system via excessive CGI and poetic chat, you can’t help but think his latest quest would be more effective if it wasn’t so dumbed downI don’t know how you make an hour-long programme that takes you slowly through 14bn years of history, but the BBC and Prof Brian Cox have done it with the first episode of Universe. Possibly it is a space-time paradox that only the good professor himself could solve. (Please do not write in if I deployed the phrase “space-time paradox” incorrectly. I am an arts graduate who begins this series not entirely sure whether solar systems are bigger than galaxies, and needs this programme very much, even if I cannot honestly say I enjoy it.)The four-part BBC Two series, as you have probably guessed from the title, will eventually deal with just about everything astrophysical. But the opener is all about stars – especially our big yin, the sun. It is pegged to Nasa’s Parker solar probe’s mission, though mentions of this are brief bookends. In between, Cox does his thing. Continue reading...