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...

Peta’s Julia Baines deplores the supergluing of 3D glasses on to the sensitive marine animalsThe recent experiments on cuttlefish (Cuttlefish given 3D glasses for test of how they judge distance, 9 January) are indefensible, curiosity-driven nonsense that benefit only the experimenters who make a living from them and from ignoring what we already know about awe-inspiring cuttlefish.Supergluing Velcro to the delicate dorsal surface of the animals’ heads, withholding food for several days, forcing them to wear 3D glasses and subjecting them to video images to prove something we already knew about the species is not only unnecessary, but also cruel. Continue reading...

Scientists reveal how they are dealing with a profound sense of loss as the climate emergency worsensMelting glaciers, coral reef death, wildlife disappearance, landscape alteration, climate change: our environment is transforming rapidly, and many of us are experiencing a sense of profound loss. Now, the scientists whose work it is to monitor and document this extraordinary change are beginning to articulate the emotional tsunami sweeping over the field, which they’re naming “ecological grief”. Researchers are starting to form support groups online and at institutions, looking for spaces to share their feelings. I talked to some of those affected. Continue reading...

Sir Patrick Vallance says: ’Science impacts every part of our lives, so scientists should be there at the table, all the time’Britain’s civil service is suffering from a serious lack of scientific talent that threatens its ability to compete with nations such as China. That is the stark view of the government’s own chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance.In a rare interview, Vallance said a dearth of scientists and engineers in government posed major problems for the nation as it attempts to deal with the threats of climate change, an ageing population and tightened national security. Continue reading...

Post-Brexit, we should be wary of spurning joint projects in science and educationLeaving the EU will produce the greatest loss of freedom since the Second World War. The freedom of businesses to trade with Europe dominates politics. But I suspect the loss of the freedom of the individual to live and work where they want in the EU, to fall in love and bring home whoever they choose and, above all, the freedom to think and study what they will and where they please will be the hardest to bear.You can see Britain’s horizons shrinking. The Liberal Democrats attempted to force ministers to commit to keeping Britain in the Erasmus programme that sends students to learn in EU universities. The government ordered its MPs to vote the motion down. One in six academic staff in higher education comes from elsewhere in the EU and science departments once had great success in persuading bright European PhD students to enrich research here. The Wellcome Trust tells me students are already looking elsewhere and we haven’t even left yet; applications from the rest of the EU for its junior fellowships have fallen by 25% since the referendum. Yet when scientists ask government to keep the movement of researchers as painless as possible, it makes the right noises but does nothing. Continue reading...

Astrology has influenced science for millennia, argues a new book – and it endures in algorithmic data modellingIf you type “Why are millennials” into Google, the top result completes the question with “obsessed with astrology”. Never mind the answer; the question alone is likely to incite exasperation among scientists, most of whom would condemn astrology as pseudoscience at its most fatuous and infuriating. Astrology may have long been debunked – there is no reason to suppose that our fate is written in the stars – but it still endures, endorsed by countless trashy magazines and newspapers (and some supposedly serious ones), feeding off our own, self-absorbed vanity.But the truth, however annoying, is that astrology played an important role in the history of science. Many of today’s scientists might be embarrassed to acknowledge, for example, that the 17th-century German mathematician Johannes Kepler, who discovered the laws of planetary motion, also cast horoscopes for his boss, the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. Continue reading...

Drunk sex was the only kind I could have with a new guy – until I quit drinking and focussed on sexual satisfactionI never expected I’d be proud of myself for having a one-night stand. Before I quit drinking, I’d always say I “loved dating”. Truthfully, I loved drinking and drunk sex was often the logical conclusion of the evening. I’d convince myself that having four or five drinks on a Wednesday and going home with a guy I just met was an “investment” in trying to get into a relationship, because nothing screams girlfriend-material like abruptly leaving at 2am to avoid wetting the bed.I was drunk every single time I had sex with someone new until I quit drinking entirely. I’d have sober sex with them later, once I got comfortable, but never the first time. Drinking felt critical to exposing myself – alcohol replaced clothing and physical distance as my security blanket. Continue reading...

Physics professor reflects on career ranging from most distant object to closest approach to the sunThe Voyager mission has not lacked for highlights, having beamed back the first glimpses of methane oceans, erupting volcanos on a Jovian moon and a thunderstorm on Saturn. But Prof Ed Stone, who has been at Voyager’s scientific helm since 1972, says there is one place above all that he longs to visit again.The veteran space scientist is calling for a return mission to Saturn’s icy moon, Enceladus, whose underground oceans are widely viewed as the most promising place in the solar system in which to hunt for extraterrestrial life. Continue reading...

Wolf Cukier, 17, discovered a planet 6.9 times larger than Earth and only the 13th of its kindA teenage intern on his third day helping out at a Nasa program to find worlds beyond our solar system has discovered a previously unknown planet with two stars 1,300 light years from Earth away in the constellation Pictor, the agency has announced.Wolf Cukier, 17, from Scarsdale, New York, made the discovery while peering through the agency’s orbiting Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (Tess) last year. Continue reading...

Analysis of gold bar published a few months before 500th anniversary of battle that forced Cortés to beat a temporary retreatA new scientific analysis of a large gold bar found decades ago in downtown Mexico City has confirmed it was part of the plunder Spanish conquistadors abandoned as they beat a temporary retreat from the Aztec capital.Related: After 500 years, Cortés still looms large on both sides of Atlantic Continue reading...

Vegan alternatives to meat are popular but recreating the texture of steak is challengingThe “most realistic” plant-based steak to date has been revealed, mimicking the texture and appearance of a real cut of meat.The fake steak’s ingredients include pea, seaweed and beetroot juice, which are extruded into fine fibres to recreate muscle tissue. Its producer, the Spanish company Novameat, says the steak will be available in some restaurants in Spain and Italy this year before scaling up in 2021. Continue reading...

Early interactions with caregivers can dramatically affect your beliefs about yourself, your expectations of others, and how you cope with stress and regulate your emotions as an adultIn 2006, a team of Norwegian researchers set out to study how experienced psychotherapists help people to change. Led by Michael Rønnestad, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Oslo, the team followed 50 therapist-patient pairs, tracking, in minute detail, what the therapists did that made them so effective. Margrethe Halvorsen, a post-doc at the time, was given the job of interviewing the patients at the end of the treatment.That’s how she met Cora – a woman in her late 40s, single, childless, easy to like. As a kid, Cora (a pseudonym) had suffered repeated sexual abuse at the hands of her mother and her mother’s friends. Before entering therapy, she habitually self-harmed. She’d tried to kill herself a number of times, too, her body still scarred by the remnants of suicides not carried through. Continue reading...

Roy Baumeister is a social psychologist whose work focuses on the role of negativity in our perceptions. Together with US journalist John Tierney he is the author of a new book, The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It. Sitting down with Ian Sample, Baumeister talks about how he became interested in negativity and how we may be able to combat its impact on the way we view the world Continue reading...

Impact of increase in shrubs and grasses not yet known but scientists say it could increase flooding in the regionShrubs and grasses are springing up around Mount Everest and across the Himalayas, one of the most rapidly heating regions of the planet.Related: 1.9 billion people at risk from mountain water shortages, study shows Continue reading...

Launch by Elon Musk’s company brings number of deployed Starlink satellites to 180Elon Musk’s SpaceX began the year with the launch of 60 more satellites in its Starlink constellation. Designed to supply internet access across the entire world, the company plans on launching nearly 12,000 satellites by the mid 2020s.Monday’s launch, which took place at 21.19 EST (0219 GMT on 7 January) was the third launch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. It brought the total number of deployed Starlink satellites to 180. Continue reading...

China’s viral pneumonia outbreak may have jumped species barrier, raising fears of pandemicThe finding that the outbreak of viral pneumonia in China that has struck 59 people may be caused by a coronavirus, the family of viruses behind Sars, which spread to 37 countries in 2003, causing global panic and killing more than 750 people, means that health authorities will be watching closely.China says the illness is not Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome), nor Mers (Middle East respiratory syndrome), both of which are caused by coronaviruses, and so far it appears milder than both. Unlike Sars, it does not appear to spread easily between humans and unlike Mers, which has a mortality rate of about 35%, nobody has died. Continue reading...

African grey parrots help other birds get food despite no benefit to themselves, a behaviour only previously seen in apesAfrican grey parrots help their peers complete tasks despite no immediate benefit to themselves, researchers have found, in the first study to show that birds display such apparently “selfless” behaviour.While other prosocial behaviours have been seen in birds, the team say helping peers to achieve a goal, so-called “instrumental helping”, has only previously been shown outside of humans in orangutans and bonobos. Continue reading...

Research highlights need to reverse cuts to NHS sexual health services, experts sayAlmost half of women in Britain have poor sexual health – almost three times the rate in men – researchers have said.Women’s sexual problems have been found to be more varied than those experienced by men. Nearly a third of all women were found to experience difficulties rooted in a lack of interest in sex – a problem associated with distress and dissatisfaction with their sex life. Continue reading...

World Health Organization says a new coronavirus, the family linked to Sars and Mers, may be behind Wuhan casesA cluster of more than 50 pneumonia cases in the central Chinese city of Wuhan may be due to a newly emerging member of the family of viruses that caused the deadly Sars and Mers outbreaks, according to the World Health Organization.While the UN health agency said it needed more comprehensive information to confirm precisely the type of pathogen causing the infections, it said a new coronavirus was a possibility. Continue reading...

Schemes from firms such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX raise fears for our view of heavensThe spectacular view of the heavens on a clear, dark night is under threat from plans to launch tens of thousands of satellites that will be visible tearing across the sky, astronomers have been told.Tech firms have begun to place a number of satellite “mega constellations” into low Earth orbit in a move designed to expand internet access and open new markets in the developing world. Continue reading...

Lifestyle keeps cardiovascular disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes at bay, research findsHealthy habits such as drinking in moderation, staying slim and exercising for at least 30 minutes a day could extend people’s disease-free life by up to a decade, research suggests.Experts found that people who led a healthy lifestyle could expect to enjoy many more years of good health than those who smoked, drank too much or were overweight. Continue reading...

Ninth-century Rök stone may deal with fear of cold climate crisis in ScandinaviaOne of the world’s most famous runestones is now believed to have been erected by Vikings fearing a repeat of a previous cold climate crisis in Scandinavia, a study has concluded.The Rök stone, raised in the ninth century near Lake Vättern in south central Sweden, bears the longest runic inscription in the world, with more than 700 runes covering its five sides. Continue reading...

A team of researchers have strapped a pair of 3D glasses to an unsuspecting cuttlefish and set it loose in an underwater movie theatre to work out how the marine molluscs know how far away their prey is before launching an explosive, tentacled attack Continue reading...

Researchers use 3D glasses, films and food to test whether cuttlefish use stereopsis to find preyThere are some questions in science that can only be answered by strapping a pair of 3D glasses to an unsuspecting cuttlefish and setting it loose in an underwater movie theatre.That, at least, was the thinking of a team of researchers who set themselves the task of working out how the marine molluscs know how far away prey is before launching their explosive, tentacled attacks. Continue reading...

When fearful, we turn to friends and family, to those in the caring professions and to our political leaders, writes Laurel FarringtonMichele Gelfand’s article (Authoritarians thrive on fear. We need to help people feel safe, Journal, 3 January) describes through the lens of psychology the vicious spiral of how fear-based reasoning results in a craving for authoritarianism. Politicians would do well to look further at this discipline. The need to feel safe is hardwired into humans: we would not survive without it. When afraid, children seek proximity to a trusted person, perceived as more competent than themselves – an empathic parent or caregiver, who comforts, reassures and solves problems.These raw bases of attachment behaviours carry over into adult life. When fearful, we turn to friends and family, to those in the caring professions and to our political leaders. If our security needs are unmet, we feel abandoned. The polyvagal theory of the neuroscientist Stephen Porges further demonstrates not only the power of trusted others to help override our fear response, but that many of these safety cues are non-verbal. Continue reading...

Myths about the bushfires grow online before finding their way into the rightwing press and the mouths of politiciansThe impacts of the climate crisis are now clearly manifesting in ways beyond rising temperatures. In Australia, the conditions for severe bushfires are occurring far more regularly (hot days, dry land and high winds). And the country is now suffering its most intense bushfire season ever. The quantity of land burnt, the smoke pollution impacts, the temperatures and number of homes lost are all breaking historical records.Related: The Australian fires are a harbinger of things to come. Don't ignore their warning | Steve Pyne Continue reading...

‘It’s right up in our face’ – close proximity of stellar nursery to our solar system stuns scientistsAstronomers have discovered a gigantic, undulating wave of dust and gas where newborn stars are forged over a 50 million billion mile stretch of the Milky Way.The gaseous structure, which holds more mass than 3m suns, runs directly behind our solar system as viewed from the heart of the galaxy, but has eluded observation until now. Continue reading...

A scientific expedition to Thwaites glacier aims to provide vital information about the dangers of melting Antarctic ice

Exclusive: solicitors call for UK ban of textured variety associated with lymphomaAt least 61 women in the UK have been diagnosed with a potentially fatal cancer linked to breast implants, but the type they received continues to be used, with no plans by the regulator to follow France and Australia in banning them.Lawyers for more than 40 of the women, who are bringing legal action against the manufacturers as well as the clinics and doctors who carried out the surgery, say the textured implants linked to anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) should be withdrawn from the market. Smooth implants are available instead, which have no proven connection to the cancer of the white blood cells. Continue reading...

Biochemist who built on the work of Hans Krebs to make key discoveries concerning metabolic cyclesHans Kornberg became a biochemist just at the point, in the mid-20th century, when methods became available to explore how organisms convert food and oxygen into energy and tissue – the combustion engine of life. He was one of the pioneers who identified key participants in such metabolic reactions and measured their effects, knowledge that is fundamental to all of biology.Kornberg, who has died aged 91, was a brilliant bench scientist and never happier than when solving problems in his lab. Yet his genial personality and commitment to the wider scientific community ensured he was recruited to lead a succession of educational and scientific bodies, where he was able to foster further generations of researchers. Continue reading...

Pneumonia-like illness in Wuhan is unclear in origin, with officials racing to contain outbreak before people travel for new yearChina has been battling what may be a new strain of pneumonia after 59 people contracted a mysterious respiratory illness in central China, prompting fears of another Sars outbreak.Health officials are worried about the upcoming Spring Festival in late January, when China celebrates lunar new year and millions of people will be travelling across the country to go home. Authorities have warned citizens to be on the lookout for symptoms like fever, difficulty breathing or body ache. Continue reading...

Discovery of unusual cemetery in Somerton offers clues as to standing of those buried thereThe resting places of more than 50 adults and children have been found in an unusual Roman cemetery unearthed during building work for a new school in Somerset.Archaeologists say the discovery at Somerton, near Glastonbury, sheds significant light on life and death in the south-west of Britain after the Roman invasion. Continue reading...

Brain scans of Romanian orphans adopted in UK show early neglect left its markChildren who experience severe deprivation early in life have smaller brains in adulthood, researchers have found.The findings are based on scans of young adults who were adopted as children into UK families from Romania’s orphanages that rose under the regime of the dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu. Continue reading...

In an ideal world it would not be left to film stars to point to the science underlying the climate emergency“You are in no position to lecture the public about anything,” Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais told his audience in a pointedly irreverent opening speech on Sunday. By the evening’s end, following statements about the bushfires from actors including Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett, he had apparently changed his mind – ending the evening with his own call for donations to the relief efforts. Charitable gifts will no doubt be welcomed by their recipients (a $500,000 pledge by another Australian actor, Nicole Kidman, emerged on the same day). But the evening’s most consequential remarks were those, including Mr Crowe’s and Ms Blanchett’s, that firmly linked the fires to global heating – directly challenging the denialism of the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, who, even in the face of record temperatures and unthinkable devastation, refuses to commit his government to stronger decarbonisation measures, or withdraw his support for coal production and exports.In an ideal world, it would probably not fall to film stars to advocate for evidence-based policies to protect the planet from catastrophe, particularly when such policies are supported by the UN and scientific institutions around the world. But while speeches and social media posts expressing sympathy for victims of this and other disasters, or promoting fundraisers and campaigns on other issues, are often and easily mocked, it makes more sense to focus on the policy failures that give rise to such efforts than to criticise pop or sports stars for their philanthropic activities, even when these appear clumsy or self-serving. Continue reading...

Leading ophthalmologists call on the new government to develop a national plan to fight blindness and address the critical lack of fundingAs leading ophthalmologists and researchers we are joining the eye research charity Fight for Sight to call for urgent action on blindness in 2020 to address the research funding gap.We know that serious sight loss doesn’t discriminate – it can affect anyone at any time and it is on the increase. Science can already do so much and with the advent of new gene therapies and stem cell treatments we are so close to outcomes that were not possible a decade ago. Yet so much more needs to be done to develop new universal treatments. Continue reading...

Unfortunately there aren’t Nobel prizes for good apologies – but Dr Frances Arnold’s words should be an example to all of usA Nobel prize winner has issued a humble apology when a recent paper of hers was retracted.In a remarkable display of humility, Dr Frances Arnold, who won the Nobel prize in chemistry in 2018, came forward herself to let her followers know that a 2019 paper of hers had been retracted. Continue reading...

This inquiry into a 1970s experiment that shook the world of psychiatry makes for a compelling readThere are precious few biological tests for mental disorders, so diagnosis still rests on the observation of symptoms. Susannah Cahalan’s first book, Brain on Fire, described her first-hand experience of how catastrophically wayward such diagnosis can be.Cahalan was working as a reporter at the New York Post in 2009 when, aged 24, she developed what appeared to be a kind of paranoid schizophrenia. She believed bedbugs were invading her apartment, that her father had tried to abduct and kill his second wife, she heard voices, spoke gibberish, was unable to sleep and descended into catatonia. It was only the persistence of her parents, and an extra series of tests, that discovered an extremely rare autoimmune disease that was attacking her brain. The diagnosis saved her from the psychiatric ward, where, left unchecked, her illness would have left her cognitive functions irreparably damaged. Continue reading...

The unmistakeable W-shaped constellation represents a queen punished for claiming that her daughter was more beautiful than the NereidsThe constellation of Cassiopeia, the Queen, was one of the 48 constellations detailed by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD. The constellation is most notable because of its W shape, which is said to represent the Queen sitting on her throne. She was placed in the stars as a punishment for believing that her daughter Andromeda was more beautiful than the sea nymphs. Continue reading...

Fears of new epidemic after people taken to hospital in Wuhan with viral pneumoniaA mysterious respiratory illness that has infected dozens of people in a central Chinese city is not Sars, local authorities have said.The 2002-03 epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome started in southern China and killed more than 700 people. Fears of a recurrence arose this month after a number of people were taken to hospital with unexplained viral pneumonia in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson’s adviser wants more maths geniuses in the civil service. But real life is too messy to be boiled down to equationsAbout 10 years ago I had a conversation with a civil servant about Britain’s chemical decontamination units. He was in charge of calculating where in the country the government should keep them. These giant trucks had specialist equipment that could respond quickly if there was an anthrax attack or similar on our shores. But at the time there was only a small number of them, so they needed careful positioning to ensure they could reach as much of the country as quickly as possible in an emergency.It’s a decision that boils down to maths. It’s not an easy thing to work out either. It was a problem that I, as a mathematician, imagined had a number of top minds working to solve. Picture my astonishment, then, when I discovered that rather than some beautifully crafted numerical model, or some sophisticated custom-built software, the British government had left a question of such magnitude to one poor guy, working it out on his own. He was using an Excel spreadsheet. And we were having the conversation because his spreadsheet kept crashing. Continue reading...