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...

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...