Campaigner for better treatments for people with brain cancerThe communications consultant Jessica Morris did much to give a voice to people who lacked one. In the years up to her death at the age of 57 from brain cancer, she made her illness the basis of a campaign to find treatments for others.In January 2016 she was hiking in a valley north of New York when she found herself trying to speak: “Sounds came out of my mouth, but they weren’t words,” she said later. That seizure led to a diagnosis of glioblastoma (GBM), the most aggressive form of brain cancer, for which the median survival rate is 14 months. Only 5% of patients survive for five years. Continue reading...
Prof Iain Buchan, the principal investigator for the Events Research Programme at Liverpool, explains how the trial events generated a large amount of valuable data about Covid transmissionAs lead researcher for the Liverpool pilots in the Events Research Programme (ERP), I would like to set out some important facts in response to your article regarding the phase one report (Covid event pilots compromised by low uptake of PCR tests, experts say, 25 June). The ERP is exploring how events with larger crowd sizes can return without social distancing, while minimising the risks of Covid-19 outbreaks. The programme comprises environmental studies of air quality and crowd movement in venues; epidemiological studies of virus spread at and around events; behavioural studies of audience experience; and economic and operational studies of running such events with risk-mitigation measures in place. The work has generated a large amount of valuable data, early analysis of which was reported last week.People participating in the pilots consented to take part, answered questions, took tests, allowed their data to be linked for study and reported high levels of satisfaction. It is also worth noting that: Continue reading...
David Curtis says publisher of Annals of Human Genetics blocked call for protest at treatment of UyghursThe editor of a long-established academic journal has said he resigned after his publisher vetoed a call to boycott Chinese science in protest at Beijing’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.Prof David Curtis, from University College London’s Genetics Institute, says his resignation as editor-in-chief of the Annals of Human Genetics is an issue of freedom of speech in the face of the science community’s increasing dependence on China. Continue reading...
This is serious enough for the 1% to start building bunkers ready for environmental collapseA few years ago, the author and academic Douglas Rushkoff got invited to a swanky private resort to talk to a bunch of obscenely rich hedge fund guys about the future of technology. He thought they were going to ask him how technology was going to improve the world, but they were far more interested in discussing the “Event”, their cutesy term for the collapse of civilisation. “How do I maintain authority over my security force after the Event?” one CEO, who had just finished building an underground bunker system, reportedly asked. The rest of the conversation, detailed by Rushkoff in a Guardian feature, continued in that vein.That Rushkoff piece was published in 2018, but I’ve found myself thinking about it a lot over the past few days. Why? Because the Event is starting to feel imminent. If that sounds alarmist, just take a look at the weather. Severe storms have caused extensive flooding in Detroit. Canada just set its highest temperature on record: a village in British Columbia reached 46.1C (115F) on Sunday. The US’s Pacific north-west also broke heat records over the weekend, with Portland, Oregon, reaching 44.4C (112F). Seattle, which isn’t exactly known for its sunshine, just had triple-digit temperatures for three days straight, breaking another record. The US National Weather Service in Washington has called the current heatwave “historic, dangerous, prolonged and unprecedented”. Continue reading...
People with ME/CFS face debilitating symptoms but often feel dismissed by doctors. The focus on long Covid could help change thatIn the fall of 2016, Ashanti Daniel, a nurse in Beverly Hills, California, went to an infectious disease physician looking for answers about a weird illness she couldn’t shake. After falling sick with a virus four months earlier, she still felt too tired to stand up in the shower.The appointment lasted five minutes, she said. The doctor didn’t do a physical exam or check her vitals. His assessment: her illness was psychogenic, resulting from something psychological. Continue reading...
This is an economic issue, and a ‘torture device’ that stops you opening your mouth properly isn’t the solutionWant to hear a weight-loss idea so ingenious it’s guaranteed to make your jaw drop by exactly 2mm? Introducing the DentalSlim Diet Control: a terrifying contraption that uses magnets cemented to your teeth to stop you opening your mouth by more than a couple of millimetres. That makes eating pretty difficult, causing you to shed weight along with your dignity. The device was developed by a team of researchers from the UK and New Zealand to “to help fight the global obesity epidemic” and is designed to be fitted by dentists. Which reaffirms all my worst suspicions about dentists.Related: New weight-loss tool prevents mouth from opening more than 2mm Continue reading...
Remains of man found in Latvia had DNA fragments and proteins of bacterium that causes plagueA hunter-gatherer who lived more than 5,000 years ago is the earliest known person to have died with the plague, researchers have revealed.Stone-age communities in western Europe experienced a huge population decline about 5,500 years ago, an event that is thought to have subsequently enabled a huge migration of people from the east. Continue reading...
Researchers say that people who can come up with convincing explanations for concepts they don’t understand are more intelligentName: Blaggers.Age: Any age. Continue reading...
Spacetime-altering shock waves came from massive neutron stars crashing into black holes millions of years agoThere are moments when life as an astrophysicist is like hanging around at the bus stop. You wait ages for a cataclysmic cosmic event to send shock waves through the fabric of spacetime and then two come along at once.Years after scientists began their search for quivers in spacetime anticipated by Albert Einstein, gravitational wave detectors in the US and Europe have detected the first signals from two neutron stars crashing into black holes hundreds of millions of light years away. Continue reading...
by Rachel Obordo, Caroline Bannock and Guardian reade on (#5KN1G)
Long Covid is highlighting conditions that have been around much longer than the pandemic. Ten readers share their experiences“The endless cycle of seeing doctors and never seeing any change or improvement” is how one 43-year-old woman from the US described what it’s like to live with chronic overlapping pain conditions. Long Covid has helped highlight issues surrrounding chronic illness but many people around the world have had to cope with debilitating symptoms of chronic pain for years, often without receiving adequate professional help.A 2011 report by the US Institute of Medicine recognised a cluster of chronic pain conditions that predominantly affect women and frequently co-occur. They were dubbed “chronic overlapping pain conditions” by the US Congress and include: vulvodynia, temporomandibular disorders, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome, fibromyalgia, endometriosis, chronic tension-type and migraine headache and chronic low back pain. Continue reading...
Fears of a possible fifth wave as Tokyo reported 317 infections on Monday and the ninth week-on-week riseA rise in daily cases of the coronavirus in Tokyo has triggered fears of a possible fifth wave of infections, less than a month before the city is due to host the Olympics.Tokyo reported 317 infections on Monday – an increase of 81 from the same day last week and the ninth week-on-week same-day rise in a row. Continue reading...
by Presented and produced by Shivani Dave, reporting on (#5KN04)
Before Covid, dementia was the biggest killer in the UK and Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type. A controversial new drug for Alzheimer’s, aducanumab, is the first in nearly 20 years to be approved in the US, which will trigger pressure to make it available worldwide. The Guardian’s health editor, Sarah Bosley, talks Shivani Dave through the mixed evidence of its efficacy Continue reading...
Fishermen alerted authorities to ‘suspicious’ items floating in the seaThe Algerian coastguard has seized almost half a tonne of cocaine after fishers alerted authorities to “suspicious” items floating off the north-west coast.The coastguard fished out 490kg (1,080 pounds) of cocaine split up into 442 packages from the water six nautical miles (11 kilometres) off Oran’s Cap Carbon on Saturday evening, a defence ministry statement said on Monday. Continue reading...
by Natalie Grover Science correspondent on (#5KMPD)
Analysis: scientists say the Delta variant should make the government think twice about resting all its hopes on vaccinesIf the new health secretary is to be believed, we are about to embark on an “exciting new journey” come 19 July. Sajid Javid, like the prime minister, appears confident that restrictions will be lifted irreversibly on that date. The data, however, is beginning to tell a different story.When Boris Johnson said his government would be guided by “data, not dates”, the scientific community – for the most part – endorsed the cautious approach. Now, the signs are ominous. Driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant, cases are once again starting to rise exponentially. Vaccination rates have slowed. An exhausted NHS is seeing a rise in hospitalisations. Over half of all people in the UK are not fully vaccinated. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#5KMAR)
Experts say scientific advances are making it easier to attribute the damages of climate breakdown to companies’ activitiesBusinesses could soon be facing a fresh wave of legal action holding them to account for their greenhouse gas emissions, owing to advances in climate science, experts have warned.More than 1,500 legal actions have already been brought against fossil fuel companies whose emissions over decades have played a major role in building up carbon in the atmosphere. Continue reading...
The answers to today’s puzzlesEarlier today I set you the following two puzzles, inspired by a money-saving trick devised by Carl Friedrich Gauss. (Click to the original for the explanation of the trick, and what it has got to do with Gauss).1. The double bill. Continue reading...
DentalSlim Diet Control, which uses magnets, has been likened to ‘medieval torture device’A weight-loss tool that uses magnets to stop people from opening their mouths wide enough to eat solid food has been developed by scientists in order to tackle obesity.The device, developed by medical professionals from the University of Otago in New Zealand and scientists from Leeds in the UK, can be fitted by dentists and uses magnetic components with locking bolts. Continue reading...
Technology could be used for patients who need only temporary help to regulate their heartbeatA wireless pacemaker that can dissolve in the body has been created for patients who need only temporary help to regulate their heartbeat.Since the first pacemaker was implanted in 1958, millions of people have benefited from the devices. According to the national audit for cardiac rhythm management, 32,902 pacemakers were implanted for the first time in the UK in the year 2018-19 alone. Continue reading...
Developed countries are seeing the benefits of quickly vaccinating their populations, but concerns remain about the unequal share of global vaccine supplies
Aducanumab’s approval masks the fact that we’re still very far from sure what causes the most common form of dementiaIn June 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first Alzheimer’s drug in 18 years: aducanumab (also known by its brand name Aduhelm). At the time of writing, the drug is also under review in the EU, Japan and several other countries.For the roughly 30 million people worldwide who live with Alzheimer’s, this is unprecedented news, and must seem like cause for optimism. Unlike existing drugs, which only feebly suppress cognitive symptoms, aducanumab attempts to get at the underlying cause of the disease, to stop and cure Alzheimer’s. Continue reading...
Take the 2021 envelope challenge!UPDATE: To read the answers click hereFinancially well-informed readers may have recently learned about a money-saving trick that uses a formula supposedly devised by Carl Friedrich Gauss, the 19th century maths colossus. The viral 100 envelope challenge is based on an apocryphal story that Gauss, when a young boy, outwitted his teacher by adding the numbers from 1 to 100 almost instantly.The child genius had realised that if you group the numbers from 1 to 100 in pairs, the sum is equal to (1 + 100) + (2 + 99) + (3 + 98) + … In other words, 101 + 101 + 101 + … Since there are 50 pairs of numbers, the sum is 101 x 50 = 5050. Continue reading...
For years people with conditions such as fibromyalgia or bad back pain – to name just two – have been told the pain is all in their head. With no obvious physical symptoms, nociplastic pain can be difficult to diagnose but its effects are very, very real. Research suggests that the immune system plays a role in nociplastic pain, giving people 'feel bad' symptoms including fatigue, anxiety and nausea
The mighty Draco constellation is perfectly placed for viewing in northern hemisphereAt this time of year in the northern hemisphere, the mighty constellation of Draco, the dragon, is perfectly placed in the evening sky. From mid-northern latitudes, the constellation is visible all year round, but in the summer months Draco is in prime position. Continue reading...
Bold climate targets are meaningless without policies to meet them. The PM should grab the chance to make Cop26 a successTargets are all very well. But not if there is no way of reaching them. In which case, they are a sham. This is the problem now confronting the government. The UK’s stated goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 78% by 2035 compared with 1990 levels is very ambitious. “Remarkable” was the word used last week by Lord Deben (the former Conservative environment secretary John Gummer). He chairs the climate change committee (CCC) that advises the government. Its latest reports make an unflattering contrast between impressive aims and the absence of plans to meet them.A strategy setting out how the UK intends to meet its net zero pledge is promised before the Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow in November. But there is little sign so far that ministers grasp the scale of the challenge. Not a single government department, the CCC finds, is moving at the necessary pace. Transport, agriculture, buildings, industry: in all the key emissions-producing sectors bar power generation, there has been an alarming lack of progress. Cuts to the aid budget now overseen by the Foreign Office mean that it too is implicated. Support for poor countries as they make the transition away from fossil fuels has long been recognised as a crucial element of the global climate process. Continue reading...
China's National Space Administration has released footage captured by the country's Mars probe. The videos and photos taken by the camera installed on the Zhurong rover of the Tianwen-1 spacecraft show the lander deploying a parachute before touching down on the surface of Mars and the rover driving away from its landing platform. State broadcaster CCTV said Zhurong had been working on the red planet for 42 days and had moved 236 metres so far
Families come in all different sizes – the secret is realising that yours may be even better than the one you longed forIt is a strange irony that the thing we want most in life is often that which eludes us. The writer and feminist Rebecca Solnit says, “Often it is the desire between us and the object of desire that fills the space in between with the blue of longing.”The protagonist in my debut novel, The Imposter, wrestles with the sensation that Solnit describes – that blue of longing. She travels on the top deck of the bus in the city where she lives, glancing into the cosy living room windows she passes, filled with seemingly happy families, and longs to be a part of one of them. Continue reading...
Ripples in spacetime caused by the collision of black holes were first detected in 2015. Now astrophysicists are looking for the waves created by the big bang itselfAbout 10 billion-trillion-trillionths of a second into the start of creation in the big bang, the universe is believed to have had a brief but absurdly fast growth spurt. This episode, called inflation, was so cataclysmic that the very fabric of space and time was set juddering with gravitational waves (GWs). By comparison, the GWs that were first detected six years ago to much fanfare were small-scale affairs caused by black holes colliding. But now scientists at the European Space Agency (Esa) are setting their sights on grander targets – and are hoping they might soon be able to detect the faint echoes of the universe’s inflationary birth throes, almost 14bn years after the event, using the largest instrument ever built. Hundreds of times bigger than the Earth, Esa’s planned gravitational wave detector will float in space and look for wobbles in spacetime caused by all manner of immense astrophysical convulsions.The first GW was identified in 2015 by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (Ligo), an international project whose success won the 2017 Nobel prize in physics for three of its key proponents. Ligo consists of two massive detectors in the American states of Washington and Louisiana. Each deploys two tunnels 2.5 miles (4km) long, intersecting at a right angle, along which a laser beam travels to a mirror at the far end and bounces back. The returning light waves interfere with one another where the arms cross. As a GW passes, it very slightly contracts or stretches spacetime. Because that effect will be different in each arm, it changes the synchrony of the light waves, and so alters the interference of the two beams. Continue reading...
by David Spiegelhalter and Anthony Masters on (#5KJWR)
Don’t think of this as a bad sign, it’s exactly what’s expected from an effective but imperfect jabA MailOnline headline on 13June read: “Study shows 29% of the 42 people who have died after catching the new strain had BOTH vaccinations.” In Public Health England’s technical briefing on 25 June, that figure had risen to 43% (50 of 117), with the majority (60%) having received at least one dose.It could sound worrying that the majority of people dying in England with the now-dominant Delta (B.1.617.2) variant have been vaccinated. Does this mean the vaccines are ineffective? Far from it, it’s what we would expect from an effective but imperfect vaccine, a risk profile that varies hugely by age and the way the vaccines have been rolled out. Continue reading...
UK trials begin for test that detects risk of oesophageal diseaseTrials of a new weapon in the battle against cancer are to be launched across Britain next month. The cytosponge – a sponge on a string – is to be used to pinpoint individuals at risk of developing oesophageal cancer.The aim is to tackle one of Britain’s most pernicious illnesses. Oesophageal cancer is often diagnosed late in its development when it is difficult to treat. It is the sixth most common cause of cancer deaths in the UK with only 15% of patients surviving five years after diagnosis and is more common in older people. Continue reading...
UK government and major brands back bid to help consumers assess environmental impact of productsA new traffic light system on food and drinks packaging is being launched to allow consumers to make more environmentally friendly choices.The scheme has been put together by Foundation Earth, a new non-profit organisation backed by the government, global food giant Nestlé and British brands including Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, the Co-op and Costa Coffee. Continue reading...
The scientist, 65, talks about quantum gravity, LSD, free love, escaping a bear and his lifetime in radical politicsVerona was a beautiful place to grow up, but the town was close-minded and provincial. Dad, a gentle and hard-working man, ran a business. Mum was intelligent and bored – a lethal combination. They encouraged my independence from a young age, which I took too far. At 14, I ran away from home and headed to France, to find like-minded, free-thinking young people.I took my first acid in Paris aged 16, then hitchhiked across Europe. One night I slept in a small boat I found moored by a pier on the Danube. Lying down to rest underneath the immense, starry sky was the first time I felt true happiness. Continue reading...
A brilliant scientific storyteller reads stone, pottery and bones to bring us the latest moving updates about our prehistoric ancestorsIn 2002, not far from Amesbury in southern Wiltshire and a mile or so from Stonehenge, archaeologists were investigating the site of a new school when they discovered something remarkable. It was the grave of a man, aged between 35 and 45, who died more than 4,000 years ago. Wessex Archaeology conducted the excavation and they labelled his remains as “skeleton 1291”. But to the public he soon became known as the Amesbury Archer.Among his bones were no fewer than 18 beautifully crafted flint arrowheads. The shafts had long since rotted away, along with the bow. But their positioning suggested they had been cast into the grave after the body had been laid in the wood-lined chamber. Together with two stone wrist guards, or bracers, they formed the largest collection of bronze age archery equipment ever found. Continue reading...
Amid bemusement from scientists at the deluge of often undeserved criticism, the Guardian pieces together the story behind the vaccine’s successes and failures
Billionaire space race gathers pace as Sir Richard Branson’s company gets FAA blessing for full commercial launchSir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has made another small leap in the billionaire space race after US authorities gave it permission to take paying customers to space.Its licence was enhanced on Friday by the US Federal Aviation Administration to allow a full commercial launch, after a successful test flight last month. Continue reading...
‘Dragon man’ skull reveals new branch of family tree more closely related to modern humans than NeanderthalsThe discovery of a huge fossilised skull that was wrapped up and hidden in a Chinese well nearly 90 years ago has forced scientists to rewrite the story of human evolution.Analysis of the remains has revealed a new branch of the human family tree that points to a previously unknown sister group more closely related to modern humans than the Neanderthals. Continue reading...
International Lunar Research Station is intended to be ready for crewed visits by 2036Russia and China have presented a plan to build the joint International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). The proposed lunar base is intended to be ready for crewed visits by 2036 and is unrelated to the American-led Artemis programme, which has pledged to land “the first woman and person of color” on the moon by 2024, although that date seems increasingly unlikely.Like Artemis, the ILRS is open to collaborating with other countries, and on 16 June the China National Space Administration and Russia’s state space corporation, Roscosmos, published a partnership guide. Continue reading...
After a world-leading response in 2020 it did not have to be this wayEighteen months into the Covid pandemic, Australians by now should have been looking forward to prudently and cautiously opening to the world.But rather than opening up, our largest city is shutting down. Continue reading...
I learned first-hand about longing through decades of celibacy – but why do we do it, and how can we stop?I was a 35-year-old virgin when I realized I was addicted to longing. I got off on the high of anticipating sex I knew I wasn’t going to have, and then masochistically wallowed when letdown inevitably followed.My crushes were the popular guys in high school, the elusive seat-mate on an airplane ride, and the soldiers shipped overseas. I binge-watched When Harry Met Sally and planned weekend trips to far-flung destinations hoping to rekindle an old flame or attract the eye of a romantic interest I’d spent hours stalking on Facebook. Continue reading...