Study finds substantial numbers of young people at risk of liver cancer, diabetes and heart attacksExperts are warning that high levels of fatty liver disease among young people, caused by being overweight, could signal a potential public health crisis.Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is fairly common among older adults, detectable in about a quarter of the population. But a study has found that substantial numbers of 24-year-olds are also affected, putting them at risk of serious later health problems, such as liver cancer, type-2 diabetes and heart attacks. Continue reading...

Science Weekly teams up with the Chips with Everything podcast to examine the environmental price tag of our throwaway culture and explore how technology could help the clothing industry follow a more sustainable model. Graihagh Jackson and Jordan Erica Webber presentAs the days get lighter, Britons are likely to discard about 680m dresses, trousers, T-shirts and the like during the annual spring clean of our wardrobes. But at what cost?

Language professor in Hawaii comes up with name welcomed by scientists who captured first image of galactic phenomenonThe black hole that was depicted for the first time this week in in an image produced in a landmark experiment has been named by a language professor in Hawaii.University of Hawaii-Hilo Hawaiian professor Larry Kimura named the cosmic object Powehi, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Thursday. Continue reading...

Bouman is a post-doctoral fellow at MIT whose algorithm led to an image of a supermassive black holeThis week, the world laid eyes on an image that previously it was thought was unseeable.Related: Black hole picture captured for first time in space breakthrough Continue reading...

Spacecraft crashes in to lunar surface after engine and communications breakdownAn Israeli spacecraft has crashed into the lunar surface, ending the first privately funded attempt to land on the moon.About the size of a washing machine, the 585kg (1,290lb) robotic lander experienced an engine and communication failure in the last seconds of touchdown. Continue reading...

Investigation on impact of life in space on human body could inform potential missions to MarsWhen Nasa set out to study identical twin astronauts – one orbiting in space for nearly a year, the other left behind on Earth – the outcome was uncertain. Would Scott Kelly return to Earth younger than his brother, Mark, as depicted in the film Interstellar?The answer, outlined in the most comprehensive investigation on the impact of life in space on the human body, is that there were apparently no substantial or lasting health changes. However, the findings reveal subtle biological effects caused by Scott’s 11-month residence in zero gravity at the International Space Station. Scientists say these could provide crucial information about the risks posed by future long distance missions to Mars and beyond. Continue reading...

Psychologist who believed in listening to patients, and could express complex ideas with brilliant simplicityDorothy Rowe, who has died aged 88, was one of the earliest figures in psychology to build a bridge between the sometimes arcane world of clinical practice and the general public. Coming to prominence in the 1980s, particularly with her book Depression: The Way Out of Your Prison, she made a career around the principle of listening to the patient in matters of mental illness rather than simply seeing them as problems to be solved – often by drugs or ECT, what Dorothy called “the equivalent of blood-letting”.Dorothy’s thinking centred on the idea that depression was not so much an illness as a crisis of meaning that could be addressed by rethinking the ideas that underpinned the so-called illness. This crisis was not necessarily to be found in childhood, or trauma – as Freud might have suggested – but simply in the necessity for all of us to build our own subjective mental models, which we then might insist were absolute reality, however high the price might be psychologically. She was highly sceptical of drugs such as Prozac, which she considered little better than placebos. For Dorothy, every case was different, and required careful attention. Continue reading...

Dale Chihuly shipped in 32 installations which go on display across London siteThere are wildly coloured, alien-looking spheres in the brushed gravel of Kew’s Japanese garden while in the Victorian temperate house a 10-metre abstract glass sculpture hangs from the ceiling.Elsewhere, yellow glass spikes poke upwards among the brunfelsia australis, (yesterday, today and tomorrow trees), while red reed-like structures rise up among fuschias and salvia. Continue reading...

This stunning scientific feat shows what humanity can achieve when we’re co-operating not attacking each other“The gates of hell, the end of space and time.” That was how black holes were described at the press conference in Brussels where the first ever photograph of one was revealed to an excited audience. And this black hole, a super-massive object at the centre of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87), really is a monster. Everything unfortunate enough to get too close to it falls in and never emerges again, including light itself. It’s the point at which every physical law of the known universe collapses. Perhaps it is the closest thing there is to hell: it is an abyss, a moment of oblivion.Related: Black hole picture captured for first time in space breakthrough Continue reading...

Experimental IVF, which involves extra egg from female donor, criticised by UK expertsA baby with DNA from three people has been born in Greece following a controversial fertility treatment.The baby boy, weighing 2.9kg (6lb), was born on Tuesday and both he and his mother, who is 32, are said to be in good health. Continue reading...

Millions of people in the UK have trouble sleeping, and Guardian reporter Leah Green is one of them. Like many insomniacs, she has tried all the home remedies, sleep hygiene techniques and gadgets designed to cure her sleep problems. She finds out why it is so difficult to conquer insomnia, and why good treatment is so hard to come byFor more information about treating insomnia:

Hopes of new treatments after research uncovers genes essential to disease’s survivalResearchers working with a revolutionary gene editing tool have discovered thousands of genes that are essential for the survival of cancer cells, holding out the prospect of major advances in treatment.Scientists from the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridgeshire worked with the Crispr/Cas9 system to disrupt every gene within 30 different types of cancer. Continue reading...

Photographs from history that capture humanity’s exploration of the heavens Continue reading...

Scientists working on the Event Horizon Telescope project have produced an image of the "unseeable", capturing the world's first picture of a black hole. It took nearly two years for 200 researchers and a network of eight radio telescopes spanning the globe to make the breakthrough, which was previously thought impossible

Homo luzonensis fossils found in Luzon island cave, dating back up to 67,000 yearsA new species of ancient human, thought to have been under 4ft tall and adapted to climbing trees, has been discovered in the Philippines, providing a twist in the story of human evolution.The specimen, named Homo luzonensis, was excavated from Callao cave on Luzon island in the northern Philippines and has been dated to 50,000-67,000 years ago – when our own ancestors and the Neanderthals were spreading across Europe and into Asia. Continue reading...

Network of eight radio telescopes around the world records revolutionary imageAstronomers have captured the first image of a black hole, heralding a revolution in our understanding of the universe’s most enigmatic objects.The picture shows a halo of dust and gas, tracing the outline of a colossal black hole, at the heart of the Messier 87 galaxy, 55m light years from Earth. Continue reading...

Tommy Cooper’s fez and Paul Daniels’ saw-in-half box part of display at Wellcome CollectionTommy Cooper’s fez, a gorilla mask used by Derren Brown and a wooden box and saw that Paul Daniels used to saw Debbie McGee in half have gone on display at a museum best known for exploring science and medicine.“It is so macabre,” said artist AR Hopwood of the saw-in-half box. “It looks like a torture device. There are no foot holes and no head hole so it would have needed an extraordinary feat of dexterity by the female assistant. Unless they were really sawn in half.” Continue reading...

Ian Paterson scandal prompts call for more oversight of safety in private hospitalsThe leader of the Royal College of Surgeons of England is calling for private hospitals to be encouraged to publish information on their safety to prevent another scandal like the one involving jailed breast cancer surgeon Ian Paterson.“The surgical community was deeply shocked by the case of Ian Paterson, the surgeon convicted of intentionally wounding patients by carrying out unnecessary breast surgery operations,” said Prof Derek Alderson, president of the organisation. Continue reading...

Medical students in Oregon made the discovery only after the death of Rose Marie BentleyRose Marie Bentley was an avid swimmer, raised five children, helped her husband run a feed store and lived to 99. It was only after she died that medical students discovered that all her internal organs, except for her heart, were in the wrong place.The discovery of the rare condition, which was presented this week to a conference of anatomists, was astounding — especially because Bentley had lived so long. People with the condition known as situs inversus with levocardia often have life-threatening cardiac ailments and other abnormalities, according to Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Continue reading...

Michelle Pfeiffer’s new line claims to be free of so-called ‘toxic’ substances. But what are they? Here’s what you need to know about your favourite scentsThe world is, we seem to be warned by so many articles, full of chemicals that may give us cancer, nerve damage and maybe worse. Now perfume is feared as potential poison.And so comes the idea of “clean perfume” – much like clean eating, or clean beauty, certain ingredients are left out because it is purported they are bad for us. The actor Michelle Pfeiffer is leading the charge, launching a perfume line called Henry Rose that, she claims, will be free of “toxic” substances. Continue reading...

Leading Brexiter voice Peter Oborne has done a U-turn, showing that even locked-in beliefs have a tipping point“It’s nearly three years since I, along with 17. 4 million other Britons, voted for Brexit. Today I have to admit that the Brexit project has gone sour.” So began the Daily Mail columnist Peter Oborne’s widely shared piece on why he changed his mind about Brexit. The article stood out because it was a rare example of someone changing their mind and admitting to it in public.All too often we get locked into our beliefs. We seem incapable of changing our mind, no matter how compelling the evidence is that we are wrong. An extreme example of this was uncovered in 1956, by the American social psychologist Leon Festinger and his colleagues. They studied a cult that believed planet Earth would be destroyed by a great flood on 21 December 1954. Its followers also believed a select group of true believers would be saved when an alien spaceship arrived to collect them. At midnight on the allocated date, the members of the cult gathered and prepared to be saved by aliens. When the end of the world didn’t come, and the aliens didn’t arrive, they were stunned. Instead of dropping their precious beliefs they revised them. Their leader told them that the god of Earth had decided to give Earth a second chance. These cult members show us the lengths people will go to preserve their beliefs when faced with overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Continue reading...

If emissions continue to rise at current rate, ice will have all but disappeared from Europe’s Alpine valleys by end of centuryTwo-thirds of the ice in the glaciers of the Alps is doomed to melt by the end of the century as climate change forces up temperatures, a study has found.Half of the ice in the mountain chain’s 4,000 glaciers will be gone by 2050 due to global warming already baked in by past emissions, the research shows. After that, even if carbon emissions have plummeted to zero, two-thirds of the ice will still have melted by 2100. Continue reading...

Women living with crippling pain experience average eight- to nine-year diagnostic delayAfter allocating $4.7m in 2018 towards a national action plan to tackle endometriosis, the health minister on Tuesday announced a further $10m towards researching and raising awareness about the crippling and chronic menstrual condition.Related: Endometriosis action plan follows decades of lobbying – and suffering Continue reading...

The solutions to today’s puzzlesEarlier today I set you four Masyu puzzles from the 24 Hour Puzzle Championship. Click here for a printable sheet of the puzzles.The solutions are: Continue reading...

Debate over whether poem was written by multiple authors or one has raged for yearsBeowulf, the epic poem of derring-do and monsters, was composed by a single author, research suggests, pouring cold water on the idea it was stitched together from two poems.One of the most famous works in Old English, Beowulf tells of the eponymous hero who defeats the monster Grendel and his mother, thereby rescuing the Danes from a reign of terror, before returning to his homeland and later dying in a battle with a dragon. Continue reading...

Superheated gases and rock fragments can reach speeds of up to 400mph by travelling on cushion of air, say scientistsCrouched figures, a child with its mother, a dog writhing on its back – the harrowing plaster casts of the dead of Pompeii reveal that when the end came in AD79, it was as swift as it was final.Caught in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, many died when buildings collapsed under heavy ash and pumice. But for those still alive, another catastrophe was about to hit as deadly currents of superheated gases, ash and rock fragments raced through the streets. Continue reading...

Working memory of older group temporarily improves to match younger group in studyA decline in memory as a result of ageing can be temporarily reversed using a harmless form of electrical brain stimulation, scientists have found.The findings help explain why certain cognitive skills decline significantly with age and raise the prospect of new treatments. Continue reading...

Logic problems to keep you up all nightUPDATE: Click here for the solutions The little-known sport of extreme puzzling held its premier tournament this weekend in Hungary. The annual 24 Hour Puzzle Championship is a physical and intellectual endurance event in which contestants from around the world solve puzzles non-stop from 10am on Saturday to 10am on Sunday.“I have no idea why puzzlers from all over the world like this crazy championship,” said Gyorgy Istvan, one of this year’s organisers. “But it’s been going for 19 years. I guess it is because in each sport the top players like to test their skills in extreme ways.” Continue reading...

Jody Williams and Mary Wareham were leading lights in the campaign to ban landmines. Now they have autonomous weapons in their sightsIt sounds like something from the outer reaches of science fiction: battlefield robots waging constant war, algorithms that determine who to kill, face-recognition fighting machines that can ID a target and take it out before you have time to say “Geneva conventions”.This is no film script, however, but an ominous picture of future warfare that is moving ever closer. “Killer robots” is shorthand for a range of tech that has generals salivating and peace campaigners terrified at the ethical ramifications of warfare waged via digital proxies. Continue reading...

The Beehive star cluster, in Cancer, can be seen with the unaided eye, but you will need a place marker to find itOn 13 April, the moon sits squarely in Cancer, the Crab. The moon will be at first quarter, growing towards full and will be right next to the star cluster known as the Beehive. Cancer itself is one of the fainter zodiacal constellations. From a dark site, the Beehive cluster can be seen with the unaided eye. It looks like a faint smudge. The first written description of it comes from Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD in his astronomical treatise Almagest, and it was also one of the first targets at which Galileo looked with his telescope in 1609. He resolved the nebula into about 40 individual stars. Modern telescopes have shown that it contains more than 1,000 stars and lies around 600 light years from Earth. The chart shows the view on 13 April at 2200 BST. It is unlikely that you will see the star cluster during the evening of the encounter, as the light from the moon will wash away the fainter stars but it will work as a place marker. Memorise the position of the moon at that time in relationship with the fainter stars of the constellation and then return on subsequent nights to look for the cluster. Continue reading...

Scan delays in England leading to ‘stress and anxiety’ for those awaiting their prognosisConcerns have been raised that problems related to the supply of a substance used to screen for cancerous cells is causing delays for NHS patients in England, with many exposed to repeated cancellation of scans at short notice.Choline is a radiotracer injected into patients an hour before PET-CT scans, predominately when patients are feared to have a recurrence of prostate cancer. Without it the scans cannot go ahead. Continue reading...

The scientist behind a website to expose sexual ‘harassholes’ on her campaign and its impact – and who she plans to shame nextNeuroscientist BethAnn McLaughlin is a leading campaigner in the US fight against sexual assault and harassment of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem). Assistant professor of neurology and pharmacology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, she launched the #MeTooSTEM website in 2018 so women had a place to tell their stories. Her work was recently recognised with an MIT Media Lab Disobedience award, which she shared with two other prominent #MeToo activists.You began campaigning against sexual misconduct in science following an incident in 2015 in which you say you witnessed another faculty member at your university issue threats against a student who had filed a lawsuit against him and the institution (though the faculty member has denied any misconduct and was never found guilty of sexual harassment or retaliation). What clicked inside?

The best eco designers at work today

A psychologist recalls having a client who was going through a painful relationship breakup – just as she had experienced a similar lossMany years ago, when I was a newly qualified clinical psychologist, I went through a painful break up with a boyfriend. Seemingly out of the blue, it was over. I hadn’t seen it coming. I was reeling – and in that week, it was sheer force of will that got me out of bed and into work.Then in walked Annie for her first session. I distinctly remember that first sight of her as she strode purposefully into the office. I clocked her knee-length boots, her natty turquoise jacket and stylish silver bracelet. “I was early, so I bought this in the bookshop,” she said, waving a paperback. “I’ve been wanting to read it for ages.” Continue reading...

Scientists in California believe that internal compasses might have enabled our ancestors to navigate as some animals do todayFruit flies do it. Tiny northern wheatears do it. Even salmon in the seas do it. All navigate using Earth’s magnetic field.In fact, hundreds of animals migrate this way, some over long distances. But one species has always been excluded from this electromagnetic orienteering club: Homo sapiens. Men and women show no evidence of possessing internal compasses, researchers have insisted. Continue reading...

There has been a spike in people refusing to vaccinate pets against deadly diseases, including some that can infect humansSam Kovac can’t say for sure what prompted it, but in the past few weeks the Sydney veterinarian has been faced with the same alarming, beguiling question over and over: “Will this vaccination give my dog autism?”“It’s actually ridiculous. I mean you hear chatter over the years, but just in these last few weeks it’s really, really ramped up,” he tells Guardian Australia. Continue reading...

Nobel prize-winning biologist whose research into a tiny nematode worm led to critical insights into human diseaseWhen James Watson and Francis Crick first completed their model of the structure of DNA in April 1953, a group of Oxford scientists drove to the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge to see it. Among them was Sydney Brenner, a short, heavy-browed South African doctoral student in chemistry. The visit marked a watershed in his scientific life. “I just knew that this was the beginning of molecular biology,” he wrote later. “This was it … the curtain had been lifted and everything was now clear as to what to do.”Brenner, who has died aged 92, went on to be a driving force in the molecular biology revolution of the late 20th century. His self-chosen mission to explore the genetics, development and behaviour of a tiny nematode worm led to critical insights into human disease. In 2002 that work brought him a share in the Nobel prize for physiology that many felt was long overdue. Continue reading...

The excavation of the extraordinary fossil Peregocetus pacificus in Peru is a reminder of the wonders still awaiting discoveryWhales used to live on land. This fact never ceases to amaze me. Even though every living species of cetacean – from the immense blue whale to the river dolphins of the Amazon basin – is entirely aquatic, there were times when the word “whale” applied entirely to amphibious, crocodile-like beasts that splashed around at the water’s edge. This week, paleontologists named another.Related: Fossil of ancient four-legged whale with hooves discovered Continue reading...

Scientists hope samples from Hayabusa 2 will provide clues about origins of life on EarthA Japanese spacecraft has “bombed” a speeding asteroid 187m miles (300m km) from Earth in an attempt to retrieve material that could offer scientists new clues about the origins of life on the planet.The Hayabusa 2 probe released the device – called a small carry-on impact – on Friday as it hovered 500 metres above the asteroid Ryugu, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa). Continue reading...

Moderate drinking of one or two glasses a day does not protect against stroke, say researchersA low level of alcohol consumption does not protect against stroke, new research suggests, in the latest blow to the idea that a few drinks can be beneficial to health.At least 100,000 people have strokes in the UK every year, according to recent figures. It had been thought that low levels of alcohol consumption might have a protective effect against stroke, as well as other diseases and conditions. Now researchers say that in the case of stroke, even low levels of alcohol consumption are bad news. Continue reading...

However noble the goal of self-improvement may be, it is not without risks

Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter has a passion for statistics but some argue this type of number crunching is losing its influence and its ability to objectively depict reality. Nicola Davis and Ian Sample investigate how significant statistics are in today’s ‘post-truth’ worldProf Sir David Spiegelhalter has a love of statistics and has done ever since he was inspired by a teacher at university. Today, though, some are arguing that this type of number crunching is losing its power and its ability to depict reality. This, they say, has in part led to increasing levels of distrust in statistics.Nicola Davis and Ian Sample investigate how significant statistics are in today’s world with the author and Cambridge academic David Spiegelhalter. They discuss the golden days of the field and its importance to medical science, as well as the future of statistics.

US plan to return astronauts to moon before end of 2024 will need additional fundsThe US will return astronauts to the moon before the end of 2024, according to the country’s vice-president, Mike Pence.He made the announcement last week at the fifth meeting of the National Space Council, which took place at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Continue reading...

Science communication has lost its sense of empathy and misunderstands how fear can alter a person’s belief systemThe internet, as we are all patently aware by this point, is awash with some incredible nonsense. In recent years, some of that nonsense has managed to gain a disturbing amount of traction: the anti-vaxxer movement, a religious belief in alternative medicine, the flat Earth theory, and even astrology have all experienced a tremendous surge of interest and support in online spheres.Inevitably, this means that these belief systems have become all the more apparent in our real-world social interactions and sometimes it takes the good grace of social intelligence to resignedly agree with co-workers that perhaps a tumultuous month is, in fact, largely due to Pisces Season. Continue reading...

Monster hits by K-pop bands and Spanish-speaking rappers show it’s not necessary to sing in English to conquer the worldA band has attained a certain stature when its “world tour” consists of an imperial sweep through four continents, with just half a dozen concerts in each. The South Korea-based girl group Blackpink are currently midway through just such a jaunt – next month, they arrive in Europe to play six dates (London and Manchester included).Remarkably, this high-visibility procession is the first time the K-pop quartet have toured outside Korea or Japan; more remarkable still, they’ve released just one album and a scant handful of tracks – and while they’ve made English-language videos, most of their material is in Korean or Japanese. Nonetheless, they’re adored by a worldwide fanbase, for whom language is no barrier. Recent industry figures underline the strength of the global music market, with some suggesting the place of the English language at the forefront of pop is diminishing. Continue reading...

Giant 42.6m-year-old fossil was found along coast of Peru and suggests creature could walk on landAn ancient four-legged whale with hooves has been discovered, providing new insights into how the ancestors of the Earth’s largest mammals made the transition from land to sea.The giant 42.6m-year-old fossil, discovered in marine sediments along the coast of Peru, appears to have been adapted for a semi-aquatic lifestyle. Its hoofed feet and the shape of its legs suggest it would have been capable of bearing the weight of its bulky four metre long body and walking on land. Other anatomical features, including a powerful tail and webbed feet similar to an otter suggest it was also a strong swimmer. Continue reading...

Researchers claim domestic cats can pick out their name in string of wordsTibbles and Tiger might not let you know it, but they appear to recognise when their name is being called, research into human-cat relationships has claimed.The researchers said previous studies had shown that other animals, including dogs, dolphins and parrots could show some understanding of human vocalisations, but it was unclear whether felines could too. Continue reading...

Self-taught rocket scientist Steve Bennett is on a mission to make space travel safe and affordable for all – from an industrial estate in Greater ManchesterThe shutters peel back on a workshop tucked away on an industrial estate in Greater Manchester, and a bright spring light breaks in. White cones and tubular structures lie on their sides next to stepladders and buckets of paint. The neighbouring units here house a sports nutrition company, an NHS wheelchair depot and a building contractor, but lot No 7 is where Steve Bennett builds rockets.Long before Richard Branson or Elon Musk entered the new space race, Bennett and a small team, comprised mostly of volunteers, have been working towards making affordable commercial suborbital flights a real possibility. Over the past 20 years, on a fraction of their rivals’ budgets, they have flown about 20 rockets to plot the journey towards their first manned flight. Continue reading...

Pliocene beech fossils in Antarctica when COwas at similar level to today point to planet’s futureTrees growing near the South Pole, sea levels 20 metres higher than now, and global temperatures 3C-4C warmer. That is the world scientists are uncovering as they look back in time to when the planet last had as much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as it does today.Using sedimentary records and plant fossils, researchers have found that temperatures near the South Pole were about 20C higher than now in the Pliocene epoch, from 5.3m to 2.6m years ago. Continue reading...

Edinburgh Science faced protests from activists for taking money from oil firmsThe charity running the Edinburgh international science festival is to ban sponsorship from oil companies including Shell and Total after protests by climate campaigners.Edinburgh Science said on Wednesday it realised its commitment to educating people on climate change was substantially compromised by accepting money from fossil fuel companies. Continue reading...