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Only three new treatments available in 10 or more poorer countries, report findsMany antibiotics are unavailable in poorer countries despite higher infection rates, exacerbating the threat of drug-resistant superbugs, according to a report to be presented to world leaders and the bosses of top pharmaceutical companies in Davos.The report, released by the Access to Medicine Foundation, an Amsterdam-based non-profit group, also shows that the number of new treatments being developed for common infectious diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis and gonorrhoea has fallen. Continue reading...

Mauro Ferrari joins organisation at a tricky time and says his focus is on identifying ‘breakthrough people’At the age of 43, Mauro Ferrari astonished his peers by giving up his career as a highly regarded professor of engineering at the University of California in Berkeley to enrol at medical school.He had been driven to find a cure for the cancer that had killed his wife at the age of 32, leaving him alone with three traumatised children. “I feel comfortable talking about this now – I didn’t for years,” he says. “Everyone has got a wound that pushes them to do better.” Continue reading...

Scientists had expected fall in levels of HFC-23 after India and China said they had halted emissionsEfforts to reduce levels of one potent greenhouse gas appear to be failing, according to a study.Scientists had expected to find a dramatic reduction in levels of the hydrofluorocarbon HFC-23 in the atmosphere after India and China, two of the main sources, reported in 2017 that they had almost completely eliminated emissions. Continue reading...

Shortage of UK sperm donors means posthumous contributions could help infertile couplesMen in Britain should be able to donate their sperm after death, according to ethicists who argue that posthumous contributions would help infertile couples and relieve the pressure on living donors.The shortage of sperm donors in the UK has led to at least 7,000 samples being imported each year, primarily from Denmark and the US, to keep up with the demand from fertility clinics. Continue reading...

Research shows widening health gap between higher and lower socioeconomic statusThe poorest third of the UK’s older working-age adults today have worse health than people born a century ago had at the same age, according to research that also shows the health gap between rich and poor is growing.The study is the latest to show widening health inequalities. A report compiled by the Centre for Progressive Policy thinktank last year found dramatic regional differences in healthy life expectancy around the UK. It found that people living in former mining towns in Blaenau Gwent spend about 16 fewer years in good health than those living in Wokingham. Continue reading...

This should become the number one priority in public health, writes Dr Guru SinghExcellent article by Edward Bullmore in Journal (Inflammation is the new frontier in public health, 20 January). Unfortunately it does not fully explore the role of prevention. It is now being proven that sleep plays a major role in repairing the body, and in particular the brain, especially from the ravages of inflammation. After all, why do we sleep?Inflammation is an essential part of our existence – it’s the way the body responds to an attack from without or within. Unfortunately this also causes damage in other areas, including the brain. Hence the value of a good night’s sleep. Continue reading...

Americans had the right to know the harms of smoking. They have the right to know the harms of the energy industry, too

The author Kate Murphy thinks our inability to listen properly to other people is leaving us all feeling isolated. In a world of smartphones and busy schedules, can we re-engage?I was very suspicious about this assignment. Kate Murphy’s new book, You’re Not Listening, suggests that many of us – absorbed in our own thoughts and dreams, occupying our little digital bubbles – have lost the ability to listen, creating an epidemic of loneliness and isolation. The thesis seems inherently plausible – but why me? Are you trying to tell me something about my inability, or perhaps unwillingness, to listen?As my editor started telling me how I might approach this piece, I began – much to the amusement of our colleagues – interrupting her. OK, maybe I do have a little problem shutting up for a few minutes to listen; a tendency to anticipate what the other person is going to say and reply before they have even had the chance to express it the way they want to. “Bad listeners are not necessarily bad people,” Murphy says in her book, but being unable or unwilling to listen is not an attractive characteristic. It’s time for a spot of re-education. Let’s hope that after a life of lecturing rather than listening, it’s not too late. Continue reading...

This week’s challenge is to look for the faint star cluster close to Sirius, the Dog Star, the brightest star in the skyWhile you are keeping a watch on Betelgeuse to see if it is returning to its usual brightness, there is another challenge waiting in the skies around the constellation of Orion, the hunter. It is to see the faint star cluster M41 with theT naked eye. Catalogued by Charles Messier in the late 18th century, M41 is a collection of about one hundred stars in a volume about 25 light years across. It lies at a distance of around 2,300 light years from Earth. Continue reading...

The barrier between mind and body appears to be crumbling. Clinical practice and public perception need to catch upUnlikely as it may seem, #inflammation has become a hashtag. It seems to be everywhere suddenly, up to all sorts of tricks. Rather than simply being on our side, fighting infections and healing wounds, it turns out to have a dark side as well: the role it plays in causing us harm.It’s now clear that inflammation is part of the problem in many, if not all, diseases of the body. And targeting immune or inflammatory causes of disease has led to a series of breakthroughs, from new treatments for rheumatoid arthritis and other auto-immune diseases in the 1990s, through to the advent of immunotherapy for some cancers in the 2010s. Even more pervasively, low-grade inflammation, detectable only by blood tests, is increasingly considered to be part of the reason why common life experiences such as poverty, stress, obesity or ageing are bad for public health. Continue reading...

Mice cured of MRSA, raising hopes of treating antibiotic-resistant bacteria

At 50, I knew I was trapped in a gentle, terminal decline. But when I stumbled on boxing, I found the challenge I neededModern life has made us all so ill that we have been compelled to invent its polar opposite, “wellness”. It is not enough just to be well, there is an additional demand to be seen to be well. Wellness is complicated and needs time, money and access to special food, travel and social media. By chance in middle age, I discovered a cheaper, simpler and more enjoyable alternative: I took up boxing.Boxing is cheap, unpretentious, sociable and has transformative powers. On the outside I am an ordinary 56-year-old woman, but on the inside, after six years’ boxing training, I have surpassed notions of “wellness”. I can also skip for England and throw a great jab. Continue reading...

Generet prize will fund more trials by Steven Laureys to help written-off ‘vegetative’ patientsA pioneering Belgian neurologist has been awarded €1m to fund further work in helping diagnose the most severe brain injuries, as he seeks to battle “the silent epidemic” and help people written off as “vegetative” who, it is believed, will never recover.Steven Laureys, head of the coma science group at Liège University hospital, plans to use the £850,000 award – larger than the Nobel prize – to improve the diagnosis of coma survivors labelled as being in a “persistent vegetative state”. Continue reading...

As a study shows 47.2 is the height of misery, what is the economic theory and psychology of wellbeing – and does it offer a brighter tomorrowSo,” I say to my wife, “I’ve been asked to write about happiness peaking when we hit 47.2 years of age.” She stares at me like she’s waiting for a punchline, then shakes her head. “Because I’m about to hit 47.2,” I say, in case she had forgotten that we recently celebrated my 47th birthday. “A team of economists have worked it out.”There is an uncomfortable pause. My wife shakes her head again and says gently: “No, 47.2 is when you hit peak misery. It’s been all over the papers. Have you not been reading them? I was going to send you the links but I didn’t want you to have some sort of meltdown.” Continue reading...

Species around the world are being forced to alter their diet, migratory patterns, feeding grounds and moreLast week it was reported that rising ocean temperatures and changing sea currents are causing leatherback turtles’ journeys from nesting to feeding grounds to double in length. After laying their eggs on some beaches, the turtles must move to cooler waters to feed, but higher temperatures mean some are having to swim further to reach suitable areas, according to France’s Hubert Curien Institute. Continue reading...

Three of the new cases are severe, with experts worried about the disease’s spread ahead of lunar new yearChina reported 17 new cases of the mysterious Sars-like virus on Sunday, including three in a severe condition, heightening fears ahead of China’s lunar new year holiday, when hundreds of millions of people move around the country.The new coronavirus strain has caused alarm because of its connection to severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-03. Continue reading...

A year after a 90 metre-wide spinning sheet of ice drew global attention, another disc appears to be forming in the same riverWhat goes around comes around.An ice disc appears to be forming in the same Maine river where an unusually large one formed last winter and quickly gained international fame. Continue reading...

Researchers produce gadgets such as gastric balloons that break down when lit by swallowable lightsThe days of needing to have medical devices removed through an invasive procedure could be numbered. Researchers have produced gadgets such as gastric balloons that break down when light from a swallowable LED shines upon them.The team say the approach could be extended to a broader range of medical equipment, as well as offering a new approach to delivering drugs to the right location at the right time. Continue reading...

Individual choices will not solve the climate crisis but ministers should not be encouraging flying

From looking at my phone too much to sucking air through my teeth and biting my nails, I have habits I’d like to change. Can a treadmill desk and cookery lessons with my girlfriend help?

As the bushfires continue to rage across Australia, thousands of people have ended up face to face with the emergency. It’s hard to imagine how you would behave in a disaster like this. Would you panic? Or act quickly and be organised? More than 50 years of psychological and sociological evidence covering mass emergencies shows that people typically behave with cooperation and coordination. Nicola Davis speaks to John Drury, professor of social psychology at the University of Sussex, about why this is, and hears from Guardian Australia’s deputy culture editor, Stephanie Convery, about the fires Continue reading...

There were 11 million deaths in 2017 – more than from cancer – with children in poorer countries most at risk, study findsDeaths from sepsis around the world are twice as high as previously thought, with babies and small children in poorer countries at greatest risk, a major study has revealed.There were almost 50m sepsis cases worldwide and 11m deaths in 2017, according to US researchers writing in the Lancet medical journal. Sepsis, an overcharged response by the body to infection, is associated with one in five deaths worldwide, they say. By comparison, the World Health Organisation estimated that there were 9.6 million deaths from cancer in 2018. Continue reading...

Fossil is earliest evidence of breathing structure compatible with life on land, scientists sayFossil experts in the US have revealed the remains of what they say is the first animal that may have set foot on land – an ancient scorpion.The earliest animals were aquatic, but eventually transitioned on to land. While scorpions are known to be one of the first animals to have become fully land-dwelling, experts say the two new fossils add to a growing debate about when animals made the shift. Continue reading...

Concussion can have lifelong consequences and children are particularly at riskThe death in 2002 of the former England and West Bromwich Albion striker Jeff Astle from degenerative brain disease placed the spotlight firmly on the possibility of a link between heading footballs and the risk of dementia. The coroner at the inquest ruled that Astle, 59, died from an “industrial disease” brought on by the repeated trauma of headers, and a later examination of Astle’s brain appeared to bear out this conclusion.At that time there was sparse scientific data on the issue, but since then the balance of evidence has steadily tipped further in favour of a link. It has been shown that even single episodes of concussion can have lifelong consequences. Continue reading...

Former government advisor David Nutt says alcohol is more damaging than harder drugsAlcohol is the leading cause of drug harm, outstripping even heroin and crack cocaine, according to former government adviser David Nutt.Prof Nutt, who was sacked as chair of the advisory committee on the misuse of drugs in October 2009 for his views, says studies he and colleagues have done in their independent group, Drug Science, consistently show that alcohol harm outstrips that of heroin and crack cocaine, tobacco, cannabis and ecstasy in the UK, Europe and Australia. Continue reading...

Japanese team spent 12 years on the project after digging up deep-sea mudFor the first 2 billion years, life on Earth comprised two microbial kingdoms – bacteria and archaea. They featured an innumerable and diverse variety of species, but, ultimately, life on Earth was not that exciting judged by today’s standards.Then, the theory goes, a rogue archaeon gobbled up a bacterium to create an entirely new type of cell that would go on to form the basis of all complex life on Earth, from plants to humans. Continue reading...

Study adds weight to claims that stereotype of knuckle-headed Neanderthals is wrongNeanderthals went diving for shells to turn into tools, according to new research, suggesting our big-browed cousins made more use of the sea than previously thought.The study focuses on 171 shell tools that were found in a now inaccessible coastal cave in central Italy, known as the Grotta dei Moscerini, which was excavated in 1949. Dating of animal teeth found within layers alongside the shell tools suggest they are from about 90,000 to 100,000 years ago – a time when only Neanderthals are thought to have been present in western Europe. Continue reading...

The past five years – and the past decade – are the hottest in 150 years, the latest research has shown. It is bringing increasingly severe storms, floods, drought and wildfires, with one scientist saying the records being broken year after year is “the drumbeat of the Anthropocene”. We look at what the five hottest years look like in pictures

Objects raise hopes of scientists managing to track ‘blobs’ being swallowed by black holeA number of bizarre shape-shifting objects have been discovered close to the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.The blobs are thought to be giant stars that spend part of their orbits so close to the black hole that they get stretched out like bubble gum before returning to a compact, roughly spherical form. Continue reading...

A survey has warned that researchers are too stressed. It’s up to universities to improve their working environmentAcademic research is an exciting, creative and varied endeavour, yet there is growing evidence that our culture has developed unhealthy levels of anxiety and stress. As the UK increases research and development spending – all the more important after Brexit – we will see much-needed growth in the number and significance of researchers. Yet it’s clear that we also need to make changes to their working conditions.This is underscored by a new survey from research funder Wellcome, which says that 78% of researchers think that high levels of competition are creating unkind working conditions, while 57% warn of a long-hours culture. The findings resonate with my own experience: I have seen this stress during my academic career and through my conversations as a university leader. They also mirror the results of our own recent internal survey on research culture. Continue reading...

Readers who have attended AA praise the service it providesHolly Whitaker’s views about Alcoholics Anonymous need to be challenged (‘AA’s rules are written for men’, G2, 14 January). At meetings I attend there are individuals who have lost jobs, families and have been rough sleepers. AA being for “the people who sit at the top of our society,” not for the marginalised is the opposite of my experience. Membership of AA is free, unlike the $197 (reduced rate) for Ms Whitaker’s Tempest, which would make her organisation only for the socially advantaged. AA meetings are full of people who have lapsed many times and are unfailingly welcomed back as opposed to being made to feel “kind of stupid”. Men are twice as likely to be affected by alcoholism but membership of AA is 38% female. The “ego” that AA refers to relates to obsessively thinking about oneself rather than reaching out to others for help and offering support to them. Many atheists attend AA.

Last decade was also hottest yet in 150 years of measurements, say scientists

Nearly two thirds of those who took part had witnessed bullying or harassmentOverwhelming work pressure, discrimination, and widespread bullying and harassment are contributing to “shocking” levels of stress and mental health problems among scientists, according to a major survey into research culture.Nearly two thirds of scientists who took part had witnessed bullying or harassment, with many believing it had become “culturally systemic” in science. Among those who identified as disabled, the problem was even worse, with nearly three quarters having witnessed such behaviour. Continue reading...

Study of nearly 3,000 women suggests body may ‘choose’ not to invest in ovulationWomen who have sex more often are less likely to have an early menopause, according to research that raises the intriguing possibility that lifestyle factors could play a more significant role than previously thought in determining when the menopause occurs.The study, based on data collected from nearly 3,000 women who were followed for 10 years, found that those who reported engaging in sexual activity weekly were 28% less likely to have experienced menopause at any given age than women who engaged in sexual activity less than monthly. Continue reading...

Whether facial hair boosts men’s pulling power or is a turnoff has long been a matter of contentionPrince Harry sports one, Justin Trudeau has recently grown one, and Brian Blessed’s is almost its own being. But are beards attractive? As the old adage goes: “Depends on the man, depends on the beard.”Now researchers have found there might be another factor: whether a potential partner fears there might be something living in it. Continue reading...

A 111cm-wide Rafflesia was recently discovered but these giants are in dangerThe largest single flower ever recorded was found recently in Sumatra, Indonesia, measuring a reported 111cm (3.64ft) across. This was a specimen of Rafflesia tuan-mudae and beat the previous largest flower record of 107cm for Rafflesia arnoldii, also in Sumatra.Rafflesia is not only a giant flower, but it has no leaves, stems or proper roots. It cannot photosynthesise and instead sucks the food and water out of a particular vine using long thin filaments that look like fungal cells. It gorges itself on the vine for a few years before bursting out into a flower bud, swells for several months before blooming into a flower that looks like a bright red bucket with big thick lobes. It gives off a whiff of rotting meat that, together with its gigantic size, helps attract pollinating flies. Rafflesia also steals some of the DNA from the vine it lives on, using it for its own genetic code for reasons that are not clear. Continue reading...

Pioneering research on living patients could pave way for new and better treatmentA groundbreaking brain-scanning technique has uncovered evidence that suggests schizophrenia is linked to a loss of connections between brain cells.Scientists had previously suspected a breakdown in the connections between neurons played a role in the condition, based on postmortem studies. The latest research, the first to find evidence for this in the brains of living people, could pave the way for new and better treatment. Continue reading...

Apocalyptic scenes give glimpse of what would be normal conditions in 3C worldThe bushfires ravaging Australia are a clear sign of what is to come around the world if temperatures are allowed to rise to dangerous levels, according to scientists.“This is what you can expect to happen … at an average of 3C [above pre-industrial levels],” said Richard Betts, professor of geography at Exeter University. “We are seeing a sign of what would be normal conditions in a 3C world. It tells us what the future world might look like. This really brings home what climate change means.” Continue reading...

Independent review says evidence for using hormone for jet lag remains poorThe hormone melatonin should not be available on the NHS to help treat jet lag, a review of the evidence has concluded.Melatonin is a hormone produced in the body during darkness that plays a role in the body clock and helps to regulate sleep cycles. Continue reading...

Granules, shed by dying stars over 5bn years ago, are oldest known solid material on EarthStardust that formed more than 5bn years ago, long before the birth of the Earth and the sun, has been discovered in a meteorite that crashed down in Australia, making it the oldest known solid material on the planet.The tiny granules of stardust, shed by ancient stars as they expired, reveal clues about how stars formed in the Milky Way. The meteorite accumulated the stardust during the billions of years it spent soaring through space before it crashed down to Earth near the town of Murchison, Australia, in 1969. Continue reading...

Researchers foresee myriad benefits for humanity, but also acknowledge ethical issuesBe warned. If the rise of the robots comes to pass, the apocalypse may be a more squelchy affair than science fiction writers have prepared us for.Researchers in the US have created the first living machines by assembling cells from African clawed frogs into tiny robots that move around under their own steam. Continue reading...

Tiny 'xenobots' made up of living cells have been created by teams of scientists at the University of Vermont and Tufts University using a supercomputer to design them.The millimetre-wide bots could move toward a target and automatically repair themselves and researchers hope they will help clear human arteries, clean microplastics from the oceans and find radioactive waste

Mass trial of drug inclisiran comes after health service strikes deal with NovartisThe NHS is to launch a mass trial of an as-yet unapproved twice-yearly cholesterol-lowering injection, which it hopes will save lives and cut medical bills for thousands of people who do not take statins.About 40,000 people with high “bad” or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol will be invited to join the trial of inclisiran by NHS England via their GPs. The NHS has struck a novel deal with drugmaker Novartis, which will provide the injections free in exchange for the results of the five-year trial, which will be run by the NHS staff. Continue reading...

The solution to today’s problemEarlier today I set you the following puzzle: Continue reading...

Week-long storage boosts time organs are usable and distances over which they can be movedHuman livers from organ donors can now be preserved for a week, researchers have revealed, a dramatic improvement on previous techniques, which could only keep the organs usable for a matter of hours.The technology could boost the number of livers available for transplantation and offer new approaches to treating diseases such as liver cancer. Continue reading...

How to count a little in SpanishHow many “fews” do you need until you have “a lot”? In Spanish, the answer to this philosophical conundrum would seem to be 15.At least, that’s according to the puzzle below, in which the addition of 15 POCOs makes a MUCHO. Continue reading...

The 44-year-old is taking applications from women who want to join him on Elon Musk’s voyageJapanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is looking for a “special woman” to join him on Elon Musk’s mission around the moon.The founder of Zozo, Japan’s largest online fashion retailer, invited women interested in accompanying him on Musk’s Big Falcon Rocket in 2023 to apply online for a “planned match-making event”. Continue reading...

The variable red giant in Orion is one of the brightest stars in the sky. But it is at its dimmest for over a century. This may – or may not – indicate that it is about to blowThe magnificent constellation of Orion, the hunter, is now visible in the evening sky from both hemispheres, and there’s added interest in looking out for it over the next few weeks. The red giant star Betelgeuse marks one of the hunter’s shoulders and is one of the brightest stars in the sky – or at least it was. In December, it grew conspicuously dimmer. Although known to be a variable star, Betelgeuse is now at its dimmest for more than a century. Continue reading...