The social psychologist’s new book tackles the tricky subject of how oral contraceptives may affect women’s mindsAt a time when women’s reproductive freedoms are under attack, any suggestion that the birth control pill could be problematic feels explosive. But Sarah E Hill, a professor of social psychology at the Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas argues we need to talk about how oral contraceptives are affecting women’s thinking, emotions and behaviour. How the Pill Changes Everything: Your Brain on Birth Control is her new book about the science behind a delicate subject.Some US states have recently made it harder to get an abortion and the Trump administration is doing its best to chisel away at access to birth control. Is your book trying to dissuade women from using the pill?

Brain seems to categorise death as something that only befalls other peopleWarning: this story is about death. You might want to click away now.That’s because, researchers say, our brains do their best to keep us from dwelling on our inevitable demise. A study found that the brain shields us from existential fear by categorising death as an unfortunate event that only befalls other people. Continue reading...

Christina Koch and Jessica Meir, tasked with replacing faulty device at International Space Station, embarked on ‘historic’ effortTwo Nasa astronauts have embarked on the first all-female space walk in a historic first.Christina Koch and Jessica Meir floated feet-first out of the International Space Station’s (ISS) Quest airlock on Friday lunchtime UK time, tasked with replacing a failed power control unit. Continue reading...

After almost 24 years in the welfare sector, I believe the group we hate more than any other is the poorIn August, Tanya Gersh, represented by the Southern Poverty Law Centre, was awarded $14m in a lawsuit against Andrew Anglin, the publisher of the neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer, for encouraging “an online anti-Semitic harassment and intimidation campaign” against Gersh and her family.Anglin has been here before; there are two other judgments against him for hate speech. In one case, the presiding judge ruled that Anglin “acted with actual malice when they published false statements, with knowledge of the falsity of those statements or with reckless disregard for the truth”. Continue reading...

Imagination should infuse teaching of science as well as the arts. Children are not pitchers to be filled with factsYou can’t see it, smell it, hear it. People disagree on how, precisely, to define it, or where, exactly, it comes from. It isn’t a school subject or an academic discipline, but it can be learned. It is a quality that is required by artists. But it is also present in the lives of scientists and entrepreneurs. All of us benefit from it: we thrive mentally and spiritually when we are able to harness it. It is a delicate thing, easily stamped out; in fact, it flourishes most fully when people are playful and childlike. At the same time, it works best in tandem with deep knowledge and expertise.This mysterious – but teachable – quality is creativity, the subject of a report published this week by Durham Commission on Creativity and Education, a body chaired by Sir Nicholas Serota, the chair of Arts Council England, with input from figures including film director Beeban Kidron, architect Sir David Adjaye and choreographer Akram Khan. The report, put together in collaboration with academics from Durham University, concludes that creativity is not something that should inhabit the school curriculum only as it relates to drama, music, art and other obviously creative subjects, but that creative thinking ought to run through all of school life, infusing the way human and natural sciences are learned. Continue reading...

A project using rTMS, a form of brain stimulation therapy, has shown encouraging early results

Prof Stuart Russell wrote the book on artificial intelligence. Literally. But that was back in 1995, when the next few decades of AI were uncertain, and, according to him, distinctly less threatening. Sitting down with Ian Sample, Russell talks about his latest book, Human Compatible, which warns of a dystopian future in which humans are outsmarted by machines. But how did we get here? And what can we do to make sure these machines benefit humankind? Continue reading...

Consumer testing kits fail to pick up majority of DNA mutations, say researchersConsumer genetic tests could be giving false reassurance to those at heightened risk of cancers, according to findings presented at an international conference this week.The study, by clinical genetic testing company Invitae, revealed that tests for breast and bowel cancer risk by direct-to-consumer companies such as 23andMe give negative results to the vast majority of those carrying DNA mutations in the genes under investigation. Continue reading...

Space exploration vehicle designed to be Britain’s first lunar payload to reach lunar surfaceThe UK is preparing to send its first rover to the moon, courtesy of the private company Spacebit.The space exploration vehicle, which resembles a four-legged robot spider, will walk rather than roll across the lunar surface. Continue reading...

My teens were ruined by wearing terrible glasses. And now bad eyesight has crept up on me againMy Mum has got a blurred photograph of me crying. I’m 13 years old and wearing an England tracksuit of the Ron Greenwood at the 1982 World Cup in Spain vintage. I am crying because I have just been told that I am going to have to wear glasses. The photo was taken by my little brother, because he found my distress amusing and wanted to savour it for ever.It had been a long road to this point. A couple of years earlier we had gone to see the World Table Tennis championships at the brand new National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. I was mesmerised by the sight of the young Chinese chaps slugging it out miles away from the table, stringing out incredibly long rallies. But when I looked at the score being flipped over next to the referee, I realised to my horror I couldn’t read it. I squinted until my eyeballs ached. I looked around to see if anyone else was squinting; they weren’t. With surprising resourcefulness I found that if I looked through a little pinhole I made by putting my thumbs and forefingers together, I could read the numbers quite nicely. “What on earth are you doing?” asked Dad. Continue reading...

Film-makers Joe Egender and Leeor Kaufman talk about their revealing four-part series about major advances in genetics“Today, we are learning the language in which God created life,” said then-president Bill Clinton, alongside the British prime minister, Tony Blair, in 2000. In the grainy archival clip, scientists and dignitaries had just mapped out the human genome, dissecting the complex science of biological being to code sequences of A, C, G and T in a style similar to binary computer code. But almost 20 years later, science has surpassed this once-unimaginable feat with the discovery of technology which can alter that genetic code. This zeitgeist-y innovation is the subject of a new Netflix series, Unnatural Selection, from film-makers Joe Egender and Leeor Kaufman, and explores the various forms of genetic engineering, as well as the societal and environmental implications of its research and use.Related: 'A defining story of our time': the film-maker giving a face to family separation Continue reading...

New video footage reveals the world's fastest ants galloping across the scorching sand of the Sahara at speeds approaching one metre per second, which is the equivalent of a house cat tearing about at 120mph.

Silver ants travel 108 times their body length per second and have stride rate 10 times that of Usain BoltThe sand dunes of the northern Sahara are home to the fastest ants in the world, according to researchers who clocked the insects foraging for food in the blistering midday sun.Video footage reveals the ants galloping across the scorching sand at speeds approaching one metre per second, the equivalent of a house cat tearing about at 120mph. Continue reading...

Christina Koch and Jessica Meir to make history after delay over suit sizes available at stationNasa is planning the first ever all-female spacewalk as early as Thursday, the space agency has announced.The walk, or float, will be conducted from the International Space Station by the astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir, who have been living in space since March and September respectively. The news was communicated by the Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine, via Twitter. Continue reading...

Mathematician Cheryl Praeger takes top gong and is praised for ‘outstanding contribution to mathematics’A record number of women have received prime minister’s science awards, with mathematician Cheryl Praeger taking out the top gong.On Wednesday evening Praeger, whose expertise in group theory and combinatorial mathematics has underpinned advances in algebra research and computer cryptography, was awarded the prime minister’s prize for science. Continue reading...

Monitoring trip returns from ‘stronghold’ for species without finding a single sawfishNumbers of endangered sawfish in one of their most globally important strongholds are dropping, with conservationists calling for rules that will cut the numbers of animals being caught in commercial fishing nets in north Queensland.In September, a two-week private expedition to monitor and tag sawfish in the Norman River, Queensland, returned without finding a single sawfish. Continue reading...

From gigantic rippling mounds of grass inspired by space to thrilling modern henge-scapes, we celebrate the visions of the great landscape artist

Nasa engineers Kristine Davis and Dustin Gohmert demonstrate new spacesuits designed to fit a more diverse crew, after plans for the first all-female spacewalk had to be scrapped this year because there were not enough medium-size spacesuits. The next-generation suits – the xEMU and the Orion crew survival system – were made for the Artemis programme, which aims to land the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024

The Nasa spacesuit engineers Kristine Davis and Dustin Gohmert demonstrate new spacesuits designed to fit a more diverse crew, after plans for the first all-female spacewalk had to be scrapped this year because there were not enough medium-size spacesuits.The next-generation suits, the xEMU and the Orion crew survival system, were made for the Artemis programme, which aims to land the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024

Next-generation garments for Artemis programme will be used during 2024 lunar missionNasa has unveiled two spacesuits designed to be worn by the first woman to walk on the moon.The next-generation suits were made for the Artemis programme, which aims to land the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024. Continue reading...

Hunger and the climate crisis are inextricably linked - the challenge is how to solve one while not exacerbating the otherHunger is the most awful and profound expression of poverty. It exists in every country. It is something that most people can identify with on some perhaps primordial level. The fear of hunger is etched into our DNA, passed down the generations from hungry, scared ancestors. It is in our bones. It is in my Irish bones.First, the good news. For several decades global hunger has been decreasing. This is mostly thanks to the sweat and ingenuity of the 500 million smallholders who produce 80% of the food consumed in the developing world. It is also thanks to the work of exceptional NGOs, to economic growth and to the innovation of businesses all along the supply chain. It’s thanks, too, to the support of governments and international organisations. And to increased political stability in some places. Continue reading...

Dirk Obbink allegedly sold artefacts to US chain Hobby Lobby without permissionAn Oxford University professor has been accused of selling ancient Bible fragments to a controversial US company that has been involved in several high-profile scandals related to its aggressive purchases of biblical artefacts.Dirk Obbink, one of the world’s most celebrated classics professors, has been named after an investigation by staff associated with Oxford’s Oxyrhynchus Papyri project. Continue reading...

By putting our bodies on the line and risking our liberty, we make this great neglected issue impossible to ignore

Researchers notice whales’ unusual feeding behaviour in south-east AlaskaHumpback whales have been captured on film herding shoals of fish into their cavernous mouths with their oversized pectoral fins.Marine biologists recorded the extraordinary feeding behaviour for the first time off the coast of Alaska, where the whales lurk around salmon hatcheries that release juvenile fish into the sea. Continue reading...

New footage shows humpback whales herding shoals of fish into their mouths using their pectoral fins.

Research confirms increase in endurance as IAAF imposes upper limit on trans female athletesBoosting testosterone levels significantly improves female athletic performance, according to one of the first randomised controlled trials.The findings come as the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) announced on Monday it would impose an upper limit for testosterone levels on trans female athletes competing in middle-distance events. Continue reading...

Satellite launch site would be next to blanket bog that plays vital role in climate fight by storing carbonA new rocket launch site has been proposed in the far north of Scotland to send small satellites into space. The plan is for a £17.3m spaceport on the A’Mhòine peninsula in Sutherland, a site chosen because it is so remote and surrounded by water and open countryside in case a rocket launch goes wrong.But the proposed site is next to protected peatland, part of the Flow Country of northern Scotland, the largest blanket bog in Europe, estimated to store 400 million tonnes of carbon, which is vital in the fight against climate breakdown. A report this year by a team of researchers was critical of the development, saying: “The damage caused by the construction and operation of the spaceport will lead to the further destruction of this Highland ‘wild land’.” Continue reading...

Shocking footage shows conditions ‘clearly breach’ EU standards on animal welfare, say campaignersAn animal testing laboratory in Germany that subjected monkeys to “barbaric” treatment and kept unwell dogs in squalid conditions is under investigation amid calls for its closure.Undercover footage at the Laboratory of Pharmacology and Toxicology (LPT) near Hamburg published by Cruelty Free International and Soko Tierschutz shows technicians with metal prongs grabbing macaque monkeys by the neck. The monkeys are restrained by braces during testing. The footage also shows primates being handled “violently” by technicians: in one incident a monkey has its head smacked against a door frame. Continue reading...

By analysing books and newspapers going back to 1825, researchers have concluded that we were happier back thenName: The Good Old Days.Age: Old. But good. Continue reading...

Clinical scientist and academic who pioneered groundbreaking cooling techniques for use in organ transplantationIn the early days of organ transplantation one of the thorniest problems facing medical science was how to keep an organ functional in the period between harvesting it from a donor and inserting it into a grateful recipient. David Pegg, who has died aged 86, did much towards solving that conundrum, and so enabled us to take for granted our capacity to stop the clock of life by freezing or cooling an organ before restarting its normal function.One of the pioneers in the field of low temperature biology – building on the work of Audrey Smith, Christopher Polge and Peter Mazur – David made perhaps his greatest contribution through research into the preservation of human kidneys, which he began in 1965. Continue reading...

The Geological Society has announced the winners of this year’s competition, which for the first time allowed in images taken from around the world. According to the society, the photographs showcase the rich diversity of environments in which scientists, live, work and travel.

Researchers say tranexamic acid treatment has potential to save tens of thousands of livesA cheap and widely available drug could reduce the risk of death from common head injuries and save tens of thousands of lives each year, researchers say.Tranexamic acid slows down the breakdown of blood clots, and is already used to control heavy bleeding in people who have experienced trauma elsewhere in the body – for example from being shot or stabbed. Continue reading...

A study of more than 6,000 rabbits treated by vets has found that many lead sad lives. Here’s how to make sure they stay healthy and avoid lonelinessThere are thought to be more than 1.5m pet rabbits in the UK, and a large proportion of them could be leading very sad lives. A study of more than 6,000 rabbits treated by vets found alarming health conditions such as overgrown nails and teeth, digestive problems and skin issues.Thanks to generations of stories featuring rabbits, and their sweet, cuddly appearance, they have long been a popular children’s pet but, says Dan O’Neill, senior lecturer in companion animal epidemiology at the Royal Veterinary College, and co-author of the study, “they are not a good child’s pet at all.” They are a prey animal – constantly alert to danger – so being handled by a noisy child can be stressful, especially if they are not used to it (if a child, say, only plays with the rabbit at the weekend). Continue reading...

Scientists tracking 2I/Borisov say some formation processes may be common between starsThe first interstellar comet to be tracked by astronomers as it hurtles through the solar system is unremarkable in every way apart from where it comes from, researchers have said.Scientists reached the conclusion after observing 2I/Borisov with two of the most powerful telescopes on Earth. They decided that it looked like any other comet except that it came from beyond the solar system and would soon leave for good. Continue reading...

From people becoming a proper noun to woke’s use as an insult, we pick our key words of the yearThe year 2019 might still have some surprises in store for us – Donald Trump is yet to ask the Queen if she has any dirt on Joe Biden – but we know the general shape of it: global chaos, lies and Love Island. We also know many of its words. We are approaching the moment when the great dictionaries pick those that sum up our times, following on from last year’s “toxic” (Oxford English Dictionary), “justice” (Merriam Webster) “single use” (Collins) and “me too” (Macquarie). The words might not have been coined in 2019, but will have acquired new meaning, risen to prominence, or somehow distil our preoccupations. In advance of the lexicographers’ big reveal, here are my top 10 candidates. Continue reading...

Culturally, we’re moving away from phone conversations – but they’re often the best part of my dayI’ve taken to switching my phone’s ringer on between 8.30pm and 10.30pm on a week night. It feels like a dangerous act, for someone who used to be part of the “no phone calls allowed” brigade.There are lots of things to panic about with a phone call, chief among them being: what if we run out of things to say, and there’s, God forbid, silence? Continue reading...

How to find the faint stars of the water bearer, identified by the Babylonians with their water god EaAquarius, the water bearer, is one of the northern hemisphere’s autumnal constellations. It is a faint grouping of stars, found between Capricornus and Pisces, and must be viewed from a dark site. The chart shows the view looking south-south-west at midnight BST on 14 October. Fomalhaut (in Piscis Austrinus) is the brightest star in this section of the sky. Find it low down on the horizon and then, looking above it, begin to trace out the body of Aquarius, hopping from one faint star to the other. The constellation is one of the oldest to be identified. It appeared as GU.LA, meaning the great one, in Babylonian star catalogues dating to around 1,000 BC and was identified with their water god Ea. Aquarius took on its currently recognised western form in the classical Greek depiction of the heavens. He was shown up-ending a large jar, out of which water flowed down to form a river, in which Piscis Austrinus, the southern fish was swimming. Continue reading...

On 15 October, the European Investment Bank meets to decide its policy on fossil fuels. The hand of history is on its shoulderMillions of people marched against climate crisis over the past two weeks, in some of the largest demonstrations of the millennium. Most people cheered the students who led the rallies – call them the Greta Generation. But now we’ll start to find out if all their earnest protest actually matters.Related: EIB plans to cut all funding for fossil fuel projects by 2020 Continue reading...

Neurological insights into how the brain processes stress, and how it can develop into depression, have led to new interventionsIt’s a damp, midweek afternoon. Even so, Cardiff’s walk-in stress management course has pulled in more than 50 people. There are teenagers, white-haired older people with walking aids, people from Caucasian, Asian and Middle Eastern backgrounds. There is at least one pair who look like a parent and child – I’m unsure who is there to support whom.The course instructor makes it clear that she is not going to ask people to speak out about their own stress levels in this first class: “We know speaking in public is stressful in itself.” She tells us a bit about previous attendees: a police officer whose inexplicable and constant worrying prevented him from functioning; a retired 71-year-old unable to shake the incomprehensible but constant fatigue and sadness that blighted his life; a single mother unable to attend her daughter’s school concert, despite the disappointment it would cause. Continue reading...

Activists block trade at Billingsgate fish market and target headquarters of energy company Shell to ‘raise awareness’Climate protesters on Saturday intensified efforts to disrupt life in London, and targeted sites including Billingsgate fish market and Shell’s headquarters. They said police took at least 28 of their supporters into custody. That number means that more than 1,200 Extinction Rebellion activists have been arrested in London since their protests, over the government’s “failure” to act over climate change, were launched last Monday.And those detained include Belgian Princess Esméralda who was taken into a police van for questioning and held for about five hours after she joined a sit-in at Trafalgar Square on Thursday. “The more people from all sections of society protest, the greater the impact will be,” the 63-year-old said. Other protests launched on Saturday included one by more than 50 healthcare professionals – wearing scrubs and singing the Extinction Rebellion anthem – who gathered outside Shell’s headquarters before they marched to Parliament Square. “We are meeting outside Shell because they are one of the biggest companies involved in the oil and energy industry, and they have real power to decarbonise that industry,” said Alex Turner, 36, a paediatric and emergency doctor from Bristol. “We are protesting illegal levels of air pollution.” Continue reading...

I burnt out as a GP but in mental health I could take time with patients and, at last, make a difference“If you’re going to reject me, then reject me,” I said. I was deep in the bowels of Leicester University, being interviewed for a place at medical school. I was 35, a fact the learned professor interviewing me returned to again and again. How would I cope with the workload? Would the four hours’ driving each day prove too much? How would I support myself through my studies? Concerns that travelled through my own mind. Unlike the questions I asked myself, though, the queries in that interview room were all prefixed with “at your age”. I didn’t see my age as a problem, and eventually I told him so.“Reject me for the hundreds of reasons you reject people,” I continued, “but don’t reject me because of my date of birth. Your date of birth should be a bit like your National Insurance number. You need it occasionally, to fill in a form, but otherwise why not keep it at the back of a drawer and forget about it?” Continue reading...

Isotope found in seabed sediment points to clash of solar bodies near Mars, study suggestsAstronomers have discovered intriguing evidence that an asteroid break-up blanketed Earth with dust millions of years ago. The event dramatically cooled the planet and triggered an ice age that was followed by major increases in numbers of new animal species.The work, led by Birger Schmitz of Lund University in Sweden, was recently published in Science Advances and provides new insight into the impact of interplanetary events on our planet’s evolution. “We know about the 10km asteroid that crashed on Earth 67 million years ago and killed off the dinosaurs, but this event was very different,” Schmitz told the Observer. “It occurred about 470 million years ago when an asteroid 3,000 times bigger than the dinosaurs-killer was destroyed during a collision with another asteroid beyond the orbit of Mars. It filled the solar system with dust and caused a major dimming of sunlight falling on Earth.” Continue reading...

At rally in Denver, Swedish activist again scolds leaders for ignoring scienceYoung people must be prepared to strike for a long time for action on climate change and not back down, the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has told a rally in Denver.Thunberg said she and fellow youth activists would not beg those in power to act because she expected leaders to keep ignoring them. Continue reading...

Three cases of disease have emerged south of its usual catchment area in far-north QueenslandThe spread of a severe tissue-destroying ulcer once rare in Australia to a new geographic area in Queensland has infectious disease experts worried.The Buruli ulcer, also known as the Bairnsdale ulcer or Daintree ulcer, is an infection that eventually leads to an eruption of painful skin ulcers that fail to heal. There have been no reported cases in New South Wales, South Australia or Tasmania, with the disease so far confined to the Douglas Shire in far north Queensland between Mossman and just beyond the Daintree River, and to Victoria’s Bellarine and Mornington peninsulas. Continue reading...

The Soviet cosmonaut almost didn’t make it back into his capsule in 1965, when his suit inflated in the space vacuumAlexei Leonov, the legendary Soviet cosmonaut who became the first human to walk in space 54 years ago, has died in Moscow at 85.The Russian space agency Roscosmos announced the news on its website on Friday, but gave no cause of death. Leonov had health issues for several years, according to Russia media. Continue reading...

Fossil fuel companies have worked for decades to shape attitudes and undermine science. The crisis dictates that they must now be confrontedThe huge differences in the voting records of MPs on climate issues, revealed in the Guardian’s rankings today, should immediately disabuse anyone of the notion that Britain’s elected politicians are united – apart from a handful of contrarians – in their efforts to limit global heating.True, a consensus exists in the UK and most of Europe with regard to the necessity of cutting emissions. That is in stark contrast to countries such as the US and Australia, where leading politicians deny climate science and promote fossil fuel extraction. But acceptance of the evidence that shows the next decade will be crucial for efforts to restrict global temperature rises to 1.5C is the basis for action, not a substitute for it. Politicians should be judged on what they do. And our research shows that the voting record of most Conservative MPs over the past decade, on 16 parliamentary divisions ranging from fracking to renewable energy subsidies and vehicle emissions, is abysmal. They are five times more likely to vote against climate measures than MPs from other parties, with the prime minister, Boris Johnson, among several dozen MPs to get the lowest possible score of zero. Continue reading...

Having a few ‘green policies’ is no longer enough. Ask yourself: what will your next MP do to save the world?The government that wins the next election stands to govern for half of the decade that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says we have left to tackle the climate emergency. It will also oversee next year’s international conference on the climate crisis (COP 26) – the most important since the Paris Accord of 2015. We owe it to ourselves and to the world to make sure that climate is not a marginal issue at the election, whenever it comes.Yet maybe we don’t need to worry. We have largely enjoyed a broad “climate consensus” in this country: we believe in the science, most of us don’t indulge climate change deniers and there is agreement on the need to act. Not for us on this issue – at least so far – the culture wars of the US. Continue reading...

Whether for ancestry or health, millions of us are choosing to have our genetic fingerprints analysed by using direct-to-consumer kits from private companies. But can the results of these tests be trusted in a clinical setting? Senior doctors have called for a crackdown on home genetic-testing kits and this week, Hannah Devlin finds out why Continue reading...

Eysenck’s ‘cancer-prone’ personality theory had come under criticism for decades

The DNA test had found a man who had the same percentage match as me. I got a text: ‘You’re not going to believe this. He lives in Calgary, too’Having your hair cut is such an intimate thing, it’s almost like therapy. So, when I moved from Saskatchewan to Calgary in 2012, finding a good stylist was high on my to-do list. A friend recommended Troy and I liked him right away. After a quick consultation I said: “Just do whatever you like.” I know that’s unusual, but for some reason I trusted him instantly.Every six weeks I was back, and soon we were friends. When you’re talking about hair, ethnicity often comes up. I told Troy about my Jewish and First Nations heritage, but that I couldn’t be sure of the exact details because my dad had been adopted. Troy had questions about his background, too. He had discovered, aged six, that the man he believed to be his birth father wasn’t. Over the next six years it was a subject that we talked about often. Continue reading...