Exclusive: Global trial finds treatment with amivantamab and lazertinib halts progression for average of 23.7 monthsDoctors are hailing amazing" trial results that show a new drug combination stopped lung cancer advancing for more than 40% longer than the standard treatment.Lung cancer is the world's leading cause of cancer death, accounting for about 1.8 million deaths every year. Survival rates in those with advanced forms of the disease, where tumours have spread, are particularly poor. Continue reading...

Most childcare advice is simply opinion represented as fact. Research based on data and evidence is the liberation we need

Charity behind Anglo-Saxon reconstruction says it may be forced to look abroad after struggling to source wood in UKThe aim is ambitious: to complete a functioning reconstruction of the extraordinary Sutton Hoo burial ship by 2026 and test it on the river and sea, hopefully providing fresh insight into what life was like in Anglo-Saxon times.But the project, being run by a small charity, is struggling to source the right sort of British oak to finish the build and is calling for donations, worried that if it does not get the wood from the UK, it may have to look overseas. Continue reading...

Researchers say wider use of fluoride toothpaste means practice now has less of a role in reducing tooth decayThe dental health benefits of adding fluoride to drinking water may be smaller now than before fluoride toothpaste was widely available, a review suggests.Researchers from the universities of Manchester, Dundee and Aberdeen assessed evidence from 157 studies comparing communities that had fluoride added to their water supplies with communities that had no additional fluoride in their water. Continue reading...

Scans of underwater crater in West Africa suggest another large asteroid smashed into the planet around the same timeThe massive asteroid that brought about the end of the reign of the dinosaurs when it crashed into Earth 66m years ago was not a one-off, researchers say.Detailed scans of an underwater crater off the coast of Guinea in West Africa suggest that it was created when another large asteroid smashed into the planet around the same time at the end of the Cretaceous period. Continue reading...

Gilead Sciences announces deal to manufacture generic versions of lenacapavir, but critics say it excludes many countries where incidence is highestCheaper versions of the gamechanger" HIV prevention drug lenacapavir are to be made available in 120 low- and middle-income countries, manufacturer Gilead Sciences has announced.However, campaigners said the deal abandons" many countries with a high HIV burden, particularly in Latin America, and urged transparency over exact pricing. Continue reading...

Report shows significantly improved survival rates but a steep increase in diagnoses among women younger than 50A new report from the American Cancer Society (ACS) finds that breast cancer deaths have dropped dramatically since 1989, averting more than 517,900 probable deaths.However, the report also reveals younger women are increasingly diagnosed with the disease, a worrying finding that mirrors a rise in colorectal and pancreatic cancers. Continue reading...

Study uncovers vivid and poignant accounts of reefs as high as houses off countries including UK, France and IrelandOnly a handful of natural oyster reefs measuring at most a few square metres cling on precariously along European coasts after being wiped out by overfishing, dredging and pollution.A study led by British scientists has discovered how extensive they once were, with reefs as high as a house covering at least 1.7m hectares (4.2m acres) from Norway to the Mediterranean, an area larger than Northern Ireland. Continue reading...

Madeleine Finlay is joined by Ian Sample, the Guardian's science editor and Science Weekly co-host, to answer the questions we are all asking about Covid this autumn, from what is going on with the new variant XEC to how to get a vaccine and what scientists think the government should be doing differentlyCovid on the rise as experts say England has capitulated' to the virus Continue reading...

In postwar Warsaw, my grandmother Zosia fixed the teeth of prisoners and spies. In doing so, she came into contact with the hidden history of her times in a way few others couldTeeth are our meeting place with the outside world, the point of attack. Crystalline and mineral in nature, teeth show us at our most mollusc-like. The fact that we can grow them, lose them and grow them again (if only once) seems toally us with reptiles and the largest of the cartilaginous fish. Yet few things mark us more intimately as mammals than our teeth. The development of variable dentition is one of the great trump cards in the arsenal of mammalian evolution. At our very core, we are a tribe of nibblers, biters and grinders. The human dental formula - flat incisors, dainty canines, hard-working molars - is a classic omnivore's compromise: aggression and carnivory in front, industrious vegetarianism in back.Harder than bone - harder than any other part of the body - they are also where we are most vulnerable. Thomas De Quincey wrote that if toothaches could kill they would be considered the most dreadful among human maladies". Apocryphally, he is said to have claimed that fully a quarter of human misery could be chalked up to their cruel torture". I suspect this figure is an exaggeration, but I have had enough cavities, root canals, gum shavings, crown fittings and outright extractions to put the total at a healthy 20%. I have persistent nightmares about my teeth crumbling out of my mouth. For me, the smell of teeth being drilled is the scent of burning flesh. Continue reading...

The moon blotted out most of the sun across the Pacific Ocean, giving just a few specks of land an impressive annular 'ring of fire' eclipse. Only Easter Island and a small area near the southern tip of Chile and Argentina witnessed the annular eclipse, lasting just a few minutes Continue reading...

Experts say sequencing whole genome of newborns will be transformational' in earlier diagnosis and treatmentThe NHS in England is to screen 100,000 newborn babies for more than 200 genetic conditions in a world-first scheme aimed at bolstering early diagnosis and treatment.All new parents are currently offered a blood spot test for their babies, normally when the child is five days old, to check whether they have any of nine rare but serious conditions. The newborn's heel is pricked to collect a few drops of blood on a card that is sent away to be tested. Continue reading...

Risk found to be highest among black and north African people, as experts call for better mental health provisionPeople who migrate in adolescence have an increased risk of psychosis, researchers have found, noting the link is particularly strong among black and north African people.While research has previously suggested migration could play a role in the increased risk of psychosis among people from ethnic minorities, the study suggests age could be an important factor. Continue reading...

Biochemist whose work with magnetic resonance spectroscopy led to the pioneering diagnostic technique of MRIMagnetic resonance imaging, or MRI scanning, is a diagnostic technique that is now familiar to almost anyone who has had a bad back, a damaged knee or a suspected stroke.During the 1970s and 80s the Oxford biochemist Sir George Radda, who has died aged 88, worked with the same underlying physics to generate not an image, but a spectrum that revealed the biochemical state of the muscles and organs. For the first time it was possible to diagnose metabolic diseases without invasive tissue sampling. Continue reading...

Scientists took years to map 50m connections, which may lead to understanding of how wiring gives rise to behaviourResearchers have produced the first wiring diagram for the whole brain of a fruit fly, a feat that promises to revolutionise the field of neuroscience and pave the way for unprecedented insights into how the brain produces behaviour.Rarely in science has so much effort been directed toward so little material, with scientists taking years to map the meanderings of all 139,255 neurons and the 50m connections bundled up inside the fly's poppy seed-sized brain. Continue reading...

I don't have much faith in the future - but a psychology professor says cynicism doesn't hold up to scrutinyI would never describe myself as cynical. Yes, I have little faith in the likelihood of our coming together as a species to solve the climate crisis, make housing affordable or vote for the non-criminal presidential candidate.But that's based on evidence. Who could reflect on current events and feel optimistic about the future? Continue reading...

C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-Atlas) was discovered last year and is thought to orbit the sun every 80,000 yearsA comet that has not been seen from Earth since Neanderthals were alive and kicking has reappeared in the sky, with astronomers saying it might be visible to the naked eye.Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-Atlas) was discovered by astronomers early last year, and is thought to orbit the sun about every 80,000 years on a highly elongated path. Continue reading...

A 0.5% decrease in people aged 100 or over is probably related to post-WWI baby boom, ONS saysThe number of people living beyond the age of 100 in England and Wales may have reached a peak, according to government data.Estimates of the Very Old, a population analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), there were 14,850 people aged 100 or over living in England and Wales in 2023. Among these, an estimated 560 people were aged 105 or older. Continue reading...

Existing plant-based cheeses often fail to deliver the textures that dairy lovers prizeStretchy dairy cheese could now be made without any cows, after the development of yeast strains that produce the crucial milk proteins.The key to the development, by Israeli company DairyX, is producing casein proteins that are able to self-assemble into the tiny balls that give regular cheese and yoghurt their stretchiness and creaminess. Existing plant-based cheeses often fail to deliver the textures that dairy lovers prize, and the company believes it is the first to report this breakthrough. Continue reading...

Kew study reveals areas with at least 100,000 undiscovered plant species - most likely to be under threat of extinctionBotanists have identified 33 dark spots" around the world where thousands of plant species are probably waiting to be discovered, according to new research.From a palm tree in Borneo that flowers underground to a Malagasy orchid that spends its life growing on other plants, researchers are still making dozens of new species discoveries every year. Continue reading...

Just before Britain's last coal-fired power station, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, powered down for the final time, Madeleine Finlay travelled to Nottinghamshire with energy correspondent Jillian Ambrose for a last tour of the site. Britain is the first major economy to move away from coal entirely as it strives to meet the target of net zero by 2030. Jillian and Madeleine speak to employees to find out what working at the plant has meant to them, and how they're feeling as the closing date approachesClips: BBCEnd of an era as Britain's last coal-fired power plant shuts down Continue reading...

The solution to today's puzzleEarlier today I set you the following puzzle, which has been doing the rounds in the academic community, because of its counter-intuitive result. Here it is again with the solution. Continue reading...

It's difficult to predict the response to stimulants such as Ritalin and Vyvanse. Experts say treatment should be tailored for the individual

Our research suggests that it's not sadness per se that leads to poor mental health, but shutting down input from the body. Sense foraging' offers a way out of the trapModern life seems designed to stop us from being alone with our thoughts and feelings. Our days are built from the bricks of work and play, mortared by media and intoxicants. It's understandable: glimpses behind the curtain can be deeply uncomfortable. When we pause for a second, the mind too often gravitates towards our greatest sources of stress - be they troubled relationships or our own critical stories about ourselves.Scientists have even found that quite a few of us would rather give ourselves painful electrical shocks than wait in a distraction-free room for 15 minutes. Most people would agree that we need an occasional break from constant activity, but we seem unable to take advantage of our time off; rumination rushes in, spoiling what should be a period of respite. Distraction is one option - but why does taking time to chill" now require Netflix? Continue reading...

From processed food to antibiotics, there are many reasons for the increase in allergies - and an urgent need for better safety measuresIn February 2023, 13-year-old Hannah Jacobs died from a severe allergic reaction after drinking a hot chocolate from Costa Coffee. Hannah suffered from allergies to dairy, fish and eggs, and her mother had asked for soy milk, but the hot chocolate contained cows' milk. In July 2016, 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse died on a flight after eating a Pret a Manger baguette she had bought at Heathrow. She had a severe allergic reaction to sesame, which had been baked into the bread but wasn't listed on the ingredients label.These types of fatal events linked to food allergies seem to be occurring more frequently. They appear in headlines and have driven a movement to make planes, schools and other restricted environments nut-free". But are food allergies really on the rise, or is our coverage of them merely increasing?Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh Continue reading...

After huge gains by 2005, efforts to wipe the disease out in India, which has most of the world's cases, stalled. But the new campaign is seen as a political move without resourcesAs a teenager, Tanu Bai would burn her hands while cooking but feel no pain. I couldn't feel anything. My hands and feet were numb," she says. I'd burn them but wouldn't be able to tell." Her arms would sometimes become horribly swollen, and then there were the white spots dotting her body.Without treatment, the muscles and bones in her fingers slowly disintegrated and were reabsorbed into her body, reducing her hands to stubs. Orphaned at 10, she had no family to take care of her. Continue reading...

This puzzle is a giftUPDATE: Read the solution hereToday's puzzle has recently got attention among academic mathematicians.Make an intuitive guess at the answer before you try to work it out - the answer is very surprising. Continue reading...

Academics say there has been no serious response from FAO to their complaints of serious distortions' in reportMore than 20 scientific experts have written to the UN's food agency expressing shock at its failure to revise or withdraw a livestock emissions report that two of its cited academics have said contained multiple and egregious errors".The alleged inaccuracies are understood to have downplayed the potential of dietary change to reduce agricultural greenhouse gases, which make up about a quarter of total anthropogenic emissions and mostly derive from livestock. Continue reading...

Zodiacal constellation is composed of faint stars that represent two fish tied together by a cordAs September nights cool and lengthen, the constellation of Pisces, the fishes, emerges in the eastern sky. The chart shows the view looking east from London at 9.30pm BST on 30 September, shortly after the full constellation has risen above the horizon.As the autumn proceeds, the constellation will rise earlier and earlier. Pisces is one of the zodiacal constellations, meaning it crosses the sun's annual path around the sky. Continue reading...

Without plankton, the modern ocean ecosystem - the very idea of the ocean as we understand it - would collapse. Earth would have no complex life of any kind. By Ferris Jabr Continue reading...

When trust is shattered, the emotional impact can be devastating. But despite the pain it can bring, it is still possible to rebuild and heal

The existential threat from a large meteor is real, but two next-generation telescopes are about to make us saferOn 4 September, an asteroid was spotted curving towards Earth. Astronomers quickly established that it would impact the planet in 10 hours' time. The Philippines island of Luzon was in the line of fire, and there was nothing they could do about it but watch. Sure enough, at 16.39 UTC (17.39 in the UK), just as predicted, the space rock plunged into the world and burst into flames.If you're wondering why you're still around to read this, it's because that meteor was only a metre in length. Far too puny to cause any damage, the asteroid instead harmlessly ignited in the upper atmosphere, temporarily painting the sky in a blue-green streak of light. As it turns out, small asteroids hit the planet all the time. They're nothing to worry about - but it doesn't take a massive leap in size for one to become a threat. Continue reading...

Philippe Boxho's macabre true stories are approaching 1m copies sold and shedding light on a misunderstood' jobA girl on a farm is devoured by pigs. A walker's throat is slit by the broken-off blade of a lawn mower after it hits a stone. A woman fires 13 bullets into the body of her seemingly sleeping father but is cleared of murder because he had died of an aneurysm three hours earlier.Miniature tragedies like these cram the pages of the books of the Belgian forensic pathologist Philippe Boxho, and explain why his bestsellers are at numbers one, two and three of France's nonfiction charts: they are macabre but also darkly comic and, above all, true. Continue reading...

A catastrophe is indeed looming in letting Graham Hancock return with his oddball theories, now with Keanu Reeves in towDiary note: it may seem a while off, but the end of the world is still scheduled for 2030, precise date TBC. After once suggesting that nameless devastation could be upon us in 2012, the evergreen eschatologist Graham Hancock subsequently updated his advice to a comet, now six years off. Or thereabouts. MailOnline, which has been exhuming an ancient Hancock text, reminds readers of his dire warning for our age".What is certain, anyway, is that a great and horrifying catastrophe will occur as soon as 16 October. This is the day Netflix will launch something astounding, almost beyond belief, something sceptics said could never happen: series 2 of Hancock's Ancient Apocalypse. And stranger still: this terrible event stars, along with Hancock, the Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

Olympians and amateurs alike swear by legal products such as probiotics and creatine for improving their performance - but does the evidence back them up? We ask the experts about four favouritesIn August, Keely Hodgkinson won Great Britain's only Olympic gold medal on the track. The foundation of the 800m star's world-beating performance came from a regime that comprises intensity over mileage, cross-training, sand-dune workouts and a 15 supplement that has been around for years but has enjoyed a breakthrough year in 2024. Hodgkinson uses sodium bicarbonate - AKA baking powder - to power up her training and races, specifically Maurten's bicarb system" that, according to one leading coach, was used by 80% of endurance athletes in Paris. I couldn't recommend it strongly enough," said Hodgkinson's coach, Trevor Painter. But why? What is it about sodium bicarbonate and the Maurten system that's had it labelled gold dust" by another leading coach? And beyond the bicarb, what other legal supplements are used? The industry is currently valued at $17.61bn (13.15bn) - that's an awful lot of pills, powders and potions that purport to improve sporting performance. Here we look at the evidence on four of them. Continue reading...

Looking through old cutlery was a safe haven for my dad after he became lost in dementia land'The days are long in Dad's house in the last year of his life. He is mostly asleep in a hospital bed in the corner of the room, while I sit quietly on the sofa hoping he sleeps a little longer. I sit watching him, worrying he's stopped breathing, listening to the radio playing pop songs that transform the room into a time machine. Catch a bright star and place it on your forehead...", T Rex's Ride a White Swan transports me back to 1970, watching Top of the Pops in this room, Dad teasing us about Marc Bolan's shoes or Noddy Holder's trousers.When he wakes up, I ask him if he remembers the song. He shakes his head slowly. I don't remember anything..." Even trying to remember is too difficult and so, as the song fades away, we fall back into silence until he asks if we can look at spoons. Continue reading...

The space scientist, 56, talks about science and diversity, being made a Barbie, dyslexia and why she told Jools Holland we'd encounter aliens by the end of the yearI said we'd find evidence of alien life by the end of 2024. But I said that when I was on Jools Holland's Hootenanny, and my thinking was that if I said something outlandish they'd invite me back - if only to humiliate me. I'm sure alien life does exist. It's just a numbers game. But we probably won't get confirmation of it in the next three months.

One craft will block the view of the sun from the other to deepen understanding of solar disruptions on terrestrial technologyEuropean scientists are preparing to launch a space mission that has been designed to create total eclipses of the sun on demand.The robot spacecraft Proba-3 will be launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in a few weeks in a mission which will involve flying a pair of satellites in close formation round the Earth. They will be linked by lasers and light sensors, with one probe blocking the view of the sun as seen from the other craft. The effect will be to create solar eclipses that will last for several hours. Continue reading...

England's chief medical officer also tells inquiry that UK's low level of intensive care provision is a political decisionAnother pandemic as big as the Covid crisis that killed 7 million people worldwide is a certainty", Prof Sir Chris Whitty has warned, as he said that the UK's lack of intensive care capacity for the sickest patients was a political choice".The NHS faced an absolutely catastrophic situation" when the virus first hit in 2020 but it could have been substantially worse" if the UK had not gone into lockdown, England's chief medical officer said. Continue reading...

Immunologists push for increase in testing and more widespread vaccine booster rollout as new variant, XEC, emergesCovid is on the rise in England, and experts have warned that more must be done to prevent and control infections after a capitulation to the virus".Prof Danny Altmann, an immunologist at Imperial College London, said those working in the field were perplexed by the current attitude to the battle against Covid, as the latest figures showed an increase in hospital admissions. Continue reading...

Pledge at UN follows warnings that antimicrobial resistance may undo century of medical progress and kill 8.2m a yearWorld leaders have committed to reduce deaths linked to superbugs by 10% before the end of the decade.The target for 2030, set during a meeting at the UN's general assembly in New York, came with warnings that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) could reverse a century of medical progress. Continue reading...

Newly discovered figures dating back to 200BCE nearly double the number of known geoglyphs at enigmatic siteArchaeologists using artificial intelligence (AI) have discovered hundreds of new geoglyphs depicting parrots, cats, monkeys, killer whales and even decapitated heads near the Nazca Lines in Peru, in a find that nearly doubles the number of known figures at the enigmatic 2,000-year-old archaeological site.A team from the Japanese University of Yamagata's Nazca Institute, in collaboration with IBM Research, discovered 303 previously unknown geoglyphs of humans and animals - all smaller in size than the vast geometric patterns that date from AD200-700 and stretch across more than 400 sq km of the Nazca plateau. Continue reading...

Fish monitor sea floor using leg-like structures covered in bumps similar to those on a human tongue, study findsA bizarre type of fish with leg-like appendages uses its limbs not only to scurry around but also for tasting" the sea floor to find buried prey, researchers have found.Sea robins have six leg-like structures that are formed from modified fins and are known to use them to walk across the sea floor and even flip over shells in a hunt for prey. Continue reading...

Poll suggests half of Congolese have not heard of deadly disease, as conspiracy theories and rumours spreadFor doctors and nurses fighting mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the virus itself is not the only enemy. They are also facing swirling rumours and misinformation.The first of millions of promised doses of mpox vaccine have finally started to arrive. Now the focus is on ensuring that people who need them will take them when the vaccination campaign begins next month, and teaching wider communities how to protect themselves. Continue reading...

Scientists say total amount of physical activity people get is more important than how frequently they trainIf exercise takes a back seat in the working week, take heart. Cramming the recommended amount of physical activity into the weekend still has significant health benefits, research suggests.A study of nearly 90,000 people enrolled in the UK Biobank project found that weekend warriors" who fit a week's worth of exercise into one or two days had a lower risk of developing more than 200 diseases compared with inactive people. Continue reading...

It used to be that Brits would complain about Americanisms diluting the English language. But in fact it's a two-way streetI am an American, New York-born, but I started to spend time in London in the 1990s, teaching classes to international students. Being interested in language, and reading a lot of newspapers there - one of the courses I taught was onthe British press - I naturally started picking up onthe many previously unfamiliar (to me) British words and expressions, and differences between British and American terminology.Then a strange thing happened. Back home in the United States, I noticed writers, journalists and ordinary people starting to use British terms I had encountered. I'll give one example that sticks in my mind because it is tied to a specific news event, and hence easily dated. Continue reading...

Industrial civilisation is close to breaching a seventh planetary boundary, and may already have crossed it, according to scientists who have compiled the latest report on the state of the world's life-support systems. They say ocean acidification is close to critical threshold, posing a threat to marine ecosystems and global liveability. Ian Sample speaks to Prof Helen Findlay, a biological oceanographer at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, to find out why the oceans have reached this state, and whether there is anything we can do to reverse the damage.Earth may have breached seven of nine planetary boundaries, health check shows Continue reading...

Women with premature ovarian insufficiency condition are more likely to develop conditions such as diabetes and lupusWomen with premature ovarian insufficiency, whose periods stop before 40, have a much greater risk of severe autoimmune diseases, according to research.Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) occurs when women under 40 no longer produce eggs because their ovaries have stopped working properly. Periods become irregular and then stop, and some women experience menopause symptoms. It affects 1% of women globally. Continue reading...

Software with database of 380,000 pictures aims to aid quick and accurate identification and ensure correct use of antivenomsThe race to treat snakebite patients in time to save them could be eased by the development of software powered by artificial intelligence.The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is trialling AI snake detection in South Sudan using a database of 380,000 pictures of snakes to identify venomous species. Continue reading...

Researchers develop grain with lower glycaemic index and more protein that could have big impact in Asia and Africa'Scientists in the Philippines have created a new variety of rice that could help reduce the growing burden of diabetes.More than 537 million adults worldwide are living with the chronic disease - a number that is expected to grow to 783 million by 2045. Being overweight, genetics and a lack of exercise contribute to type 2 diabetes, which is the most common form. Type 2 occurs when the pancreas fails to produce enough of the insulin hormone, leaving too much glucose in the blood, and cells develop a resistance to insulin. Continue reading...