Science | The Guardian

The news media is society’s alarm clock – it needs to wake us upThis past Saturday, I was among hundreds of activists with the group Extinction Rebellion NYC who protested outside the New York Times headquarters in midtown Manhattan to demand better coverage of the climate crisis. Protesters lay down on Eighth Avenue, staging a “die-in” to block traffic. We draped a banner the length of the Times building that declared, “Climate Emergency = Mass Murder”. Sixty-seven of us got arrested.Somewhat to our surprise, our protest received a good deal of news coverage. CBS, CNN, the Guardian, and the Associated Press ran stories. The Times even published one, a Reuters dispatch that quoted a Times spokesperson defending the newspaper’s coverage. “There is no national news organization that devotes more time, staff or resources to producing deeply reported coverage to help readers understand climate change than the New York Times,” the spokesperson said. Continue reading...

Results suggest environmental factors could play a role in female reproductive healthAir pollution has been linked to a drop in activity of a woman’s ovaries, researchers have revealed.Experts say the findings suggest the female reproductive system is affected by environmental factors, although the study does not look specifically at the impact of air pollution on fertility. Continue reading...

The discovery that frozen sperm can survive space flight opens up tantalising possibilities. But there’s no guarantee of utopiaIf you’re a woman who has despaired over the past week, as you’ve observed the questionable conduct of jowly white men in positions of power and subsequently seen it defended by both men and women – take heart. The good news is that when our species eventually abandons this burned-out, used-up planet for a brave new world elsewhere in the universe, we can leave the men behind too. According to new research by scientists in Barcelona, frozen sperm can survive zero gravity conditions without deterioration, meaning that it will be far more economical to transport only women and sperm banks to populate our new intergalactic home, just as soon as we find a viable alternative planet.Related: Political violence against women tracked for first time as attacks soar Continue reading...

Arcola, London

Simple therapies such as CBT can be only partly effective. We need to rein in an industry that unscrupulously targets vulnerable young peopleAlmost half a million children in England and Wales are gambling regularly, with about 55,000 estimated to have a serious problem. Suicide rates for gambling addicts are high, and gambling-related problems cause stress for individuals and families. In response, the NHS has opened its first children’s gambling clinic, offering face-to-face treatment – mostly cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).Out-of-control gambling is linked to complex individual and social problems – including stress, anxiety and other mental health issues such as bipolar disorder. CBT attempts to tackle the behaviour by dismantling some of the common beliefs and attitudes around it. Gamblers may be encouraged to set themselves realistic limits, fulfil their financial obligations before spending on betting, and to think of gambling as a form of entertainment as opposed to a means of making money. Continue reading...

Animal charities say it’s teaching the wrong lessons – but schools argue it inspires children to learn about the natural worldWatching duck eggs hatch in a classroom was a “wow” experience that brought the topic to life, says Sarah Holmes, teacher in Derby High School’s primary department. “It was a fantastic opportunity for the children to learn about the life cycle, see the ducklings grow and learn to swim. They also learned to take responsibility for looking after them.”Classrooms across the UK house a wide range of school pets: hamsters, fish, guinea pigs and even tortoises. But though they teach children about nature it is not always a happy story, animal charities say, and it might be teaching children the wrong lessons. Continue reading...

Housing, immigration, health – there’s no policy area that won’t be touched by the climate crisis. The Democratic candidates should embrace the challenge

Every stage of the plastic lifecycle releases harmful carbon emissions into the atmosphere, contributing to global heating

It’s a myth that environmental regulations stifle economic productivity. Harmful chemicals cost the US $340bn a yearThe Trump administration has argued that environmental regulations hold back economic productivity. Yet history suggests that the opposite is the case.Look at phasing out lead in gasoline. To this day, the US receives a $200bn annual economic stimulus package each year because lead levels in children plummeted when the US Environmental Protection Agency moved to protect children. Continue reading...

Royal Society for Public Health says need to expose children to germs is ‘dangerous myth’The notion that too much cleanliness can be bad for your health and that children need to be exposed to germs is a dangerous myth, according to a public health body.The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) said the hygiene hypothesis – that allergies are caused by too much cleanliness, by killing off the bugs we need to challenge our immune systems – has entered the public imagination and is being misinterpreted. Continue reading...

Curiosity’s record-breaking measurement fuels speculation it is from microbial MartiansNasa’s Curiosity rover has detected its largest belch of methane on Mars so far, fuelling speculation that the robot may have trundled through a cloud of waste gas released by microbial Martians buried deep under the surface.Mission scientists announced on Monday that Curiosity had measured a record-breaking 21 parts per billion (ppb) of methane in the air in Gale crater, the rover’s landing site and area of exploration. The level is substantially more than the 5.8ppb it sensed on 16 June 2013. Continue reading...

Research has found that frozen sperm can survive in microgravity, paving the way for man-free missionsName: Interplanetary matriarchy.Appearance: Highly efficient. Continue reading...

Scientists say certain species are more abundant in marathon runners after raceFrom go-faster stripes to energy gels, athletes have long sought ways to boost their performance. Now researchers say bacteria might also offer a helping hand.Scientists say they have found that certain species of bacteria in the gut appear to be more abundant in marathon runners after a race. They also claim that when such bacteria were transferred into mice, the creatures showed an enhanced athletic performance. Continue reading...

Archaeological dig will be first at building where thousands of Wellington’s men were treated

US researchers planted ‘lost’ wallets around the world to see what would happen. I’m conducting my own honesty studyStatistically, people are quite kind. The University of Michigan just spent £472,000 proving this by planting 17,303 “lost” wallets in public places in 40 countries around the world and asking strangers to help return them to their owner. If the wallet contained a small amount of money, 51% of people returned it, with the figure rising to 72% if the wallet contained a substantial amount of money.Which is all well and good, but how honest are you? Obviously I don’t trust you with actual money – I’ve read some of your comments – so here’s an entirely hypothetical Choose Your Own Adventure-stye simulation instead. Continue reading...

The pilot broke astronaut training records in the 1960s before being told a woman’s place is not in orbit. Sixty years on, she is still pursuing her dreamWhen Wally Funk was barely a year old, she discovered aeroplanes. Her parents took her to an airport near where they lived in New Mexico and she got up close to a Douglas DC-3, an early airliner. “I go right to the wheel and I try to turn the nut,” she says. “Mother said: ‘She’s going to fly.’” Just over 20 years later, in 1961, Funk’s mother dropped her off at a clinic in Albuquerque, where she became the youngest participant in a programme to test whether the US’s best female pilots could become astronauts. She didn’t make it into space, but, nearly six decades on, she is still trying.We meet at the home of Funk’s friend, the journalist Sue Nelson, who has written a wonderful book about her. Funk is 80, straight-backed and sparkling. She is dressed in a black shirt embroidered with “Wally” on one side and the logo from the organisation Women in Aviation International on the other, neatly tucked into black trousers on which she has sewn a patch for SpaceShipTwo – Virgin Galactic’s suborbital plane. Funk spent $200,000 on a ticket in 2010 and is still waiting for the opportunity to use it. She talks energetically and loudly, and you have to speak up if you want her to hear you, thanks to a lifetime spent near plane engines. She is unlike anyone I have ever met. Continue reading...

Scientists find frozen sperm exposed to zero-g could go where no man has gone beforeAll-female astronaut crews could reproduce in space without the help of accompanying men, new research suggests.The study found that frozen samples of sperm exposed to microgravity retained similar characteristics to sperm samples kept on the ground, raising hopes that a sperm bank could one day be set up in space to help populate new worlds. Continue reading...

Draco is one of the fainter constellations, but can be seen this week in the eastern skyAnother fainter constellation that rides high in the summer sky for northern observers is Draco, the dragon. Like so many of the northern constellations, it is one of the original 48 star patterns listed by astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century. In myth, Draco was killed by the goddess Minerva, who then threw the body away into the sky. The constellation’s meandering shape is said to be because the body twisted as it was flung into the heavens. The two most obvious stars of the constellation are Rastaban and Eltanin in the head of the dragon. The chart shows the view at midnight BST on 25 June. The easiest way to find the head of the dragon is to locate the bright white star of Vega in the constellation Lyra. It will lie in the south-east. Look upwards and slightly east, and Rastaban and Eltanin should stand out as the brightest pair of stars in an otherwise undistinguished star field. Then see if you can trace the sinuous body of even fainter stars. Continue reading...

Babies were once not uncommon at the festival, and some couples perhaps planned a summer solstice birth, writes Dr Chris Howes, while Hugh Levinson poins out that the earliest sunrise and latest sunset do not occur on the solsticeI was interested to read the piece about Heidi Wesson, whose baby was delivered in our medical centre at the 2013 Glastonbury festival and was delighted to see the picture of her with her beautiful daughter Emelia (I gave birth at Glastonbury festival, Weekend, 22 June). Heidi is mistaken, however, in her belief that nobody else has had a baby on site.We have provided medical services at Glastonbury for 40 years and in our early days festival babies were not uncommon. In total, there must have been 10 or a dozen babies born on the site. It used to be said that some couples deliberately planned conception with a solstice birth in mind. One birth I particularly remember took place in a caravan one misty morning before dawn; I think the baby may have been named Worthy. Continue reading...

When Tim Halliday joined us in the biology department (as it was then called) at the Open University in 1977, he brought with him not only his love of all things amphibian but also a passionate commitment to teaching. His courses introduced thousands of OU students, many tackling science for the first time, to current thinking in evolution, animal behaviour and ecology, combining rigorous thinking with accessibility – a rare skill. Continue reading...

Turning 63, the writer looks back over highs and lows and asks, how can I sum it up?Ever since I read John Updike’s Rabbit tetralogy, I have felt that the ultimate test of a writer is to capture a single life from beginning to end in the pages of a novel.The idea of a single life captured through different points in time was behind the TV documentary series 63 Up (I am also 63). Partly for research into my next novel and partly out of curiosity, I find myself asking, who was I at 7, at 14, at 21, and so on? Does looking back on an entire life help us shape who we want to be from now on? Am I still the same person – or someone entirely different? After all, every life has two distinct aspects: the external and the internal. Continue reading...

More than half of outsourced case work disrupted due to Eurofins security breach

Aliens are unlikely to be impressed by the likes of Annunziata Rees-Mogg and the Conservative partyAfter three years of training telescopes on 1,327 stars within 160 light years of Earth as part of the Breakthrough Listen project, astronomers have been met with silence, having failed to detect any signals that resemble intelligent life elsewhere. And yet many scientists still believe such life must exist. Even if they don’t accept the premise of the 1961 Drake equation, written by the US astrophysicist Frank Drake, that there are 100m worlds where life has been created through evolution, they still reckon the probability of extraterrestrial civilisations has to be above zero. So what are we doing wrong? The most likely explanation is that either we are looking in the wrong places or we are looking for the wrong things and that our equipment is not quite up to the job. But is it also possible that other civilisations are rather more sophisticated than our own and deliberately maintain radio silence to stop us getting in contact with them? That they’ve known about us for hundreds – if not thousands – of years and there is an international extraterrestrial alliance hellbent on blanking us out. They’ve taken a good look at us and concluded we are not intelligent enough to be worth bothering with. Just give us a couple of hundred years more and we’ll have probably destroyed the entire planet and ceased to exist, so why make the effort of trying to get to know us? Continue reading...

Nicola Davis invites Prof Brigitte Van Tiggelen and Dr Peter Wothers on to the podcast to look at how the periodic table took shape and asks whether it might now be in jeopardy Continue reading...

The prehistoric peoples who built this amazing monument could teach us a lesson about connecting with the universeWhen was the last time you stepped outside and looked up? It’s hard to find the time to do it, and even when we do, high-rise cityscapes, light pollution and – the bane of all astronomy – “cloud” often limit the view of what lies beyond. But perhaps it is something we are fundamentally drawn to do. Throughout time, people across the world have looked up and wondered what was out there. Cultures around the globe have built structures to augment their views of the cosmos, and one of the most important sites for contemplating the heavens is undoubtedly Stonehenge.I recently visited this prehistoric monument and as I stood within the ancient stone circle, I felt, perhaps unsurprisingly, a strong connection to the past. Yet at the same time I felt strongly rooted in the present, and yet again, even under cloudy skies, I had a feeling of being part of the expansive universe that lay beyond. It was easy to imagine that our Neolithic ancestors would have gazed at the same skies. It made me think about our connection with the natural world – or our increasing disconnection from it – and the importance of conservation and protection, not just of this monument and others like it but of the world that has been rapidly changing around it since those enormous stones were raised 4,500 years ago. Continue reading...

Taronga Conservation Society Australia has announced the birth of a Western Lowland gorilla. The female, yet to be named, was born on Thursday 6 June to Frala, an experienced mother, and was sired by Kibali• ‘Gorilla selfie’: DRC park ranger explains photo that went viral Continue reading...

Public more likely to return wallet containing larger sum of money, global study findsHere’s a moral dilemma: if you find a wallet stuffed with bank notes, do you pocket the cash or track down the owner to return it? We can each speak for ourselves, but now a team of economists have put the unsuspecting public to the test in a mass social experiment involving 17,000 “lost” wallets in 40 countries.They found that a majority of people returned the wallets and – contrary to classic economic logic – they were more likely to do so the more money the wallet contained. Continue reading...

Plan to halt academic work at Harwell Institute threatens research including on diabetesBritain’s leading centre for mouse genetics is facing closure in a move that critics say will undermine crucial research on serious diseases and threaten the standing of UK science.The Medical Research Council has told staff at its Harwell Institute in Oxfordshire that an internal strategy board recommended the closure of all academic work at the site, threatening research on diabetes, neurodegenerative disease, child deafness and other conditions. Continue reading...

Geneticist who unlocked the secrets of hereditary cancersIn 1962 a medical intern sat with a man recovering from alcohol poisoning in a veterans’ hospital in the US state of Nebraska. Henry Lynch, who has died aged 91, listened as the young farm worker told him that he liked to drown his sorrows because, as with everyone else in his family, he was pretty much guaranteed to die young of cancer.Lynch, with a background in genetics and psychology, wanted to know more about this family and its high prevalence of cancer. His investigations into this and other such families led to the discovery of hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer, which in 1984 was renamed Lynch syndrome. They also resulted in the discovery of breast-ovarian cancer syndrome, which in turn led to the identification of the BRCA genes. Continue reading...

Our report shows that lower vaccination rates are linked to a lack of trust in institutions in general, not just in science

Human activities could be affecting reproduction and even normal social behaviourBirds are even more disrupted by their noisy neighbours than had been thought previously, researchers have found. And human activities could be preventing birds from reproducing and even developing normal social behaviour and keeping the peace.A study by Queen’s University Belfast found that when European robins were subjected to human produced noises their behaviour changed. Background noise appeared to mask the communication of crucial information between birds. Continue reading...

Brain imaging may indicate people at risk of condition, researchers sayChanges in the brain that can be spotted years before physical symptoms of Parkinson’s disease occur might act as an early warning sign for the condition, researchers say.It is thought that about 145,000 people in the UK are living with Parkinson’s disease, a neurological condition that can lead to mobility problems, including slowness and tremors, as well as other symptoms such as memory difficulties. There are treatments to help manage symptoms but as yet the disease cannot be slowed or cured. Continue reading...

Indian medics say children falling ill after filling up on fruit and going to bed with no dinner

DNA tests might identify ‘invisible population’ who are not currently seen as in dangerHundreds of thousands more adults in the UK could benefit from taking statins because their genes put them at high risk of heart disease, research suggests.Speaking on Wednesday at the UK Biobank conference in London, Prof Sir Peter Donnelly, the founder of the company Genomics Plc, warned of an “invisible population” who are not identified as at risk by current screening programmes because their blood pressure and cholesterol do not raise red flags. Continue reading...

The Milky Way over a Bavarian mountain, a colourful explosion of the Southern Lights in Tasmania, and the Horsehead and Flame nebulas, all featured in the Royal Observatory’s Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2019 shortlist.The competition, now in its 11th year, has broken the record of entries, receiving more than 4,600 photographs from amateurs and professionals. The winners will be announced at a ceremony at the National Maritime Museum on 12 September, with an exhibition of the winning and shortlisted images starting on 13 September. Continue reading...

Just half of people in eastern Europe think vaccines are safe, compared with 79% worldwideA global survey of attitudes towards science has revealed the scale of the crisis of confidence in vaccines in Europe, showing that only 59% of people in western Europe and 50% in the east think vaccines are safe, compared with 79% worldwide.Around the globe, 84% of people acknowledge that vaccines are effective and 92% say their child has received a vaccine. But in spite of good healthcare and education systems, in parts of Europe there is low trust in vaccines. France has the highest levels of distrust, at 33%. Continue reading...

Oil firms are said to have known for decades of the link between burning fossil fuels and climate breakdown. Author Bill McKibben describes how industry lobbying created a 30-year barrier to tackling the crisis. Plus: John Stewart on his campaign to stop the third runway at HeathrowBefore 1988, climate change was a subject confined to the realm of academic journals. That all changed when the scientist James Hansen told Congress that global heating was caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as a result of the burning of fossil fuels.That moment caught the imagination of the journalist Bill McKibben, who has written and campaigned on climate breakdown ever since. And it has been reported that fossil fuel companies, such as ExxonMobil, were making links between the burning of oil and rising sea levels as early as the 1970s. But instead of making their findings public, the industry colluded to cast doubt over the science. Continue reading...

US billionaire Stephen Schwarzman is donating £150m to fund humanities researchThe University of Oxford has said it is to receive its biggest single direct donation “since the Renaissance”, after it unveiled a £150m gift from the US billionaire Stephen Schwarzman to fund humanities research and tackle looming social issues linked to artificial intelligence.The money will be used to create the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, bringing together disciplines including English, philosophy, music and history in a single hub with performing spaces and a library, alongside a new Institute for Ethics in AI to collaborate. Continue reading...

Breakthrough Listen project found no evidence of alien civilisations on 1,327 starsThe close encounter will have to wait. Astronomers have come up empty-handed after scanning the heavens for signs of intelligent life in the most extensive search ever performed.Researchers used ground-based telescopes to eavesdrop on 1,327 stars within 160 light years of Earth. During three years of observations they found no evidence of signals that could plausibly come from an alien civilisation. Continue reading...

Prof David King says would-be PM oversaw ‘devastating’ cuts in efforts to tackle crisisProf David King, the former chief scientist, has expressed alarm at the prospect of Boris Johnson becoming prime minister because the Tory MP oversaw “devastating” cuts in efforts to tackle the climate crisis when he was foreign secretary and then wanted to hush them up.Related: UK climate plan unclear, says European commission Continue reading...

Research teams traversing partially melted fjord to retrieve weather equipment release startling picture

Study finds animals developed a facial muscle to wield emotional power over humansIn a project that has all the makings of a Roald Dahl classic, scientists have hit on an answer to the mystery of how man’s best friend got its puppy dog eyes.The sad, imploring expression held such power over humans during 33,000 years of canine domestication that the preference for dogs that could pull off the look steered the evolution of their facial muscles, researchers have said. Continue reading...

Snail slime-like substance appears to solve problem of weak and reversible or strong and irreversible adhesiveA reversible superglue that mimics the under-appreciated properties of dried snail mucus has proved strong enough to bear the weight of an average man.Scientists who tested the slime-inspired product found that two sticky squares the size of postage stamps were sufficient to hold an 87kg (192lb) weight in the form of a volunteer engineering student. Continue reading...

The solutions to today’s problemsEarlier today I set you the following puzzles:1. In this word-sum, each letter stands for one of the digits 0–9, and stands for the same digit each time it appears. Different letters stand for different digits. No number starts with 0. Continue reading...

The activist on her manifesto to empower older people, how to challenge age prejudice – and why she dyes her hair grey

The test given to the UK’s maths prodigiesUPDATE: The solutions are now up here.Today you are pitting yourselves against the best 13-year-old mathematicians in the UK.The questions below are taken from last week’s Junior Mathematical Olympiad, a competition aimed at children up to Year 8 (in England) who score in roughly the top half per cent of mathematical ability. Continue reading...

Mercury will be as far to the east of the sun as it ever gets, and can be found low in the western sky just after sunsetThe summer solstice for northern observers occurs on 21 June at 16:54 BST. This is the moment at which the sun will be at its highest position in the sky, giving the longest period of daylight. In the southern hemisphere, the opposite will be true. The sun will reach its lowest altitude and give the shortest period of daylight. Also this week, keep an eye open for inner-planet Mercury. The latter half of June offers a good chance of seeing this tricky-to-spot planet because it is as far to the east of the sun as it can get. It is visible for about 90 minutes following sunset. The chart shows the situation looking west at 22:00 BST on 23 June. You will need a very good horizon. A pair of binoculars might also help locate the planet, and may show you faint Mars too, but remember never use binoculars if the sun is still visible above the horizon. Permanent eye damage can occur. Continue reading...

Readers debate Robin Purser’s dismissal of ‘a tool of self-discipline, disguised as self-help’Ronald Purser’s article on mindfulness (Tune out, 14 June) weaves a sensational point by alleging that this ancient practice is impotent beyond an individual’s relaxation because there is no call to higher ethics. While he acknowledges one half of the Buddha’s teaching of meditation – to alleviate suffering – he overlooks the second half, meditation as a path to enlightenment. That comes naturally with a dedicated practice, and that’s where ethics come in. If the author’s point is about why meditation is not marketed as being about ethics and making this world a finer place, the chances are that would be rejected by the mainstream. People must find their own ways to the truth and make their own choices.The website of the New Kadampa Tradition–International Kadampa Buddhist Union, kadampa.org, puts it eloquently: “If we integrate Buddha’s teachings into our daily life we will be able to solve all our inner problems and attain a truly peaceful mind. Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible. If we first establish peace within our minds by training in spiritual paths, outer peace will come naturally; but if we do not, world peace will never be achieved, no matter how many people campaign for it.”

New UK research predicts extremes of weather will hit food productionGlobal heating could bring many more bouts of severe drought as well as increased flooding to Africa than previously forecast, scientists have warned.New research says the continent will experience many extreme outbreaks of intense rainfall over the next 80 years. These could trigger devastating floods, storms and disruption of farming. In addition, these events are likely to be interspersed with more crippling droughts during the growing season and these could also damage crop and food production. Continue reading...