For more than 20 years Robin Callard, who has died of motor neurone disease aged 73, was professor of immunobiology at University College London, attached to the Institute of Child Health (ICH), clinical partner of Great Ormond Street hospital.Born and raised in Hamilton, New Zealand, Robin was the eldest child of Eddie Callard, an entrepreneurial Australian photographer, and Vivienne (nee Wilson), who ran a fashion shop. A fourth generation Kiwi, Vivienne was also a descendant of Joseph Priestley, the eighteenth-century radical polymath and scientist widely credited with the discovery of oxygen. Continue reading...

Installation will transform cathedral floor to mark 50 years since Apollo 11 moon landingIt’s hard to imagine anything less like a lunar landscape than the medieval glories of Lichfield Cathedral. But this summer, an artist will transform its magnificent tiled floor into a representation of the moon’s surface to mark half a century since Neil Armstrong took “one small step for [a] man and one giant leap for mankind”.The three-spired cathedral in Staffordshire has commissioned the art installation as part of its annual summer show, which this year is called Space, God, the Universe and Everything. Peter Walker, the cathedral’s artist-in-residence, will also use light and sound installations inspired by space and the planets. Continue reading...

Yes, some people use the term vagina, but getting it right is vital to female sexual agencyWhen you find yourself mansplaining the term “mansplaining” to a worked-up faction of Twitter on a Sunday evening, you can assume you’re not getting the best out of your leisure time. And that’s not even the most foolish thing a man called Paul Bullen did over the weekend.On Saturday, the Guardian published an extract from an upcoming book, Womanhood: The Bare Reality by the photographer and writer Laura Dodsworth. Alongside photographs of external genitalia was first-person testimony from the subjects pictured. Titled “Me and my vulva: 100 women reveal all”, it was an arresting story. Bullen spotted the article on Sunday, and responded with a tweet that he probably (well, hopefully) now regrets: “The correct word is vagina.” Continue reading...

If you’re taking part in this week’s YouthStrike4Climate event in the UK, we’d like to hear from youOn 15 February students around the UK will be striking to protest against the government’s lack of action on the climate crisis. It’s the first YouthStrike4Climate event in the UK, following successful school strikes in Australia, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany.Related: Pupils’ climate change strike threat poses dilemma for heads Continue reading...

Kelly, 54, bids for Democratic nomination in election to determine who fills the last two years of John McCain’s termThe retired astronaut Mark Kelly announced on Tuesday he is running to finish John McCain’s final term in the Senate.Related: 'Inhuman' wall of razor wire on Arizona-Mexico border sparks outcry Continue reading...

New photos give fresh perspective on the cosmic body and raise questions about how it was formedThe faraway space snowman visited by Nasa last month has a surprisingly flat — not round — behind.New photos from the New Horizons spacecraft offer a new perspective on the small cosmic body 4bn miles (6.4bn km) away. The two-lobed object, nicknamed Ultima Thule, is actually flatter on the backside than originally thought, according to scientists. Continue reading...

Scientists say 2.1bn-year-old fossils may show evidence of self-propelled motion

Global warming and industrialised farming are damaging vital ecosystemsOne of the classic science-fiction treatments of the end of civilisation was The Death of Grass, by John Christopher, in which a mysterious sickness struck down all the grasses on which most of the world’s agriculture is based, from rice to wheat. In the end, politics among the survivors of plague, war and famine was reduced to a bitter fratricidal struggle over a defensible potato patch. Like most of the so-called “cosy catastrophe” novels, this could be criticised for optimism. Grim though a future of famine and the war of all against all might seem, the consequences were largely confined to humans.The threatened extinction of insect populations around the world raises the prospect of a much more general catastrophe, which would implicate plants, birds, fish, small mammals, and everything else that depends on insects. That’s just the start. Other species, and we ourselves, depend on the animals and plants that need insects. When they go, we go. This is not just a greater catastrophe. It’s a much more plausible one. The most recent study concluded that insect biomass is decreasing around the world at a rate of 2.5% a year. At that rate, half the insects in the world will be gone in 50 years’ time, and all of them in a century – although no one will be keeping track of centuries then. Continue reading...

The solutions to today’s puzzlesEarlier today I set you the following puzzles.The challenge is to divide each of the following outlines into the number of pieces indicated. In the first two rows, the pieces in each image have the same shape, size and orientation. In the third and fourth rows, the pieces have the same shape and size but one may be flipped over. Click here for a printable version. Continue reading...

Puzzles that will leave you in (identical) piecesUPDATE: Read the solutions hereToday’s puzzles come from Alain Nicolas, a Frenchman who has been called the world’s finest artist of Escher-style tilings. (That’s to say, tilings with no gaps or overlaps in which each tile is in the shape of a living creature, as pioneered in the 1930s and 1940s by the Dutch artist MC Escher).In each puzzle, you will be presented with an outline, such as the one below left. The challenge is to draw a line that divides it into a certain number of pieces of identical size and shape. In this case, the solution, with two pieces, is below right. Continue reading...

Project aims to boost pupils’ confidence and tackle gender imbalance in Stem professions“I used to think boys were just better at maths,” said Linah. “But now, it’s like, we go to the same school, we do the same subjects – so if you can do it, I can do it.”There’s a reason for the renewed confidence in the 15-year-old from Dagenham and it’s sitting next to her in a swanky office in the City of London. Elaine McLoughlin is a business control manager for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. She is also a volunteer tutor on a programme to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds and get more girls studying sciences at top universities. Continue reading...

It’s not easy to find the asterism containing some of the brightest stars in the sky, but this week the moon is acting as a guideBack in the summer, we looked out for the summer triangle. Now it is time to locate the winter hexagon. This week the moon helps as, on the nights of 14-16 February, it travels through the body of this large star pattern. Like its summer counterpart, the winter hexagon is not a recognised constellation but rather it is an asterism – a pattern of bright stars from other constellations. Begin the search on 13 February, when the moon is just outside the circle, near Aldebaran, the red giant star that marks the eye of Taurus. Three nights later, the moon will be approaching Pollux, the bright yellow star in Gemini, on the other side of the circle. To trace the circle’s circumference, start from Aldebaran, and look downwards to Rigel, the brilliant blue star in Orion; then across to Sirius in Canis Major, the brightest star in the sky. Turn diagonally upwards to locate Procyon in Canis Minor, and then almost vertically upwards to Pollux in Gemini. It is a short hop to Castor, also in Gemini; and then over to yellow-tinged Capella in Auriga, which represents the top of the circle. From there, look back down to the starting point of Aldebaran. Continue reading...

Raise a glass, though only one, to the selfless German students and Swedish sailors who have offered up their livers to scienceAs a recent scientific paper points out, “acute alcohol-induced hangover constitutes a significant, yet understudied, global hazard and a large burden to society”. There can be few readers wholly unaware of this, yet the authors go on to point out that acute hangover-associated symptoms give rise to “reduced productivity, impaired professional performance (eg falling asleep at work), workplace absenteeism, and academic underperformance”. Never on Mondays, of course.So it is naturally a proper subject for research, especially as there are folk traditions claiming that the order in which one mixes drinks has a bearing on the subsequent hangover. Perhaps these might yield a cure that could be refined in the laboratory, much as the folk wisdom of indigenous peoples is mined by multinational drug companies for pharmacologically active compounds. So research into hangovers turns out to be a thriving subfield of medical science. A trawl through the literature shows that Swedish sailors, Swiss mice, Dutch students and, of course, uncounted American college students have all offered up their livers to bring back knowledge of this scourge. And how they have suffered! The list of symptoms measured by one of the recognised hangover severity scales includes “fatigue, clumsiness, dizziness, apathy, sweating, shivering, nausea, heart pounding, confusion, stomach pain, concentration problems, and thirst”. This is all very much more scientific than the traditional measures employed by such researchers as Chandler (1943), whose PI found a subject explaining that he has “a hangover like seven Swedes”. Continue reading...

The campaign to legalise LSD in Britain is gathering pace. The force behind the movement is an English countess for whom lobbying – and experimenting – has been a life’s workIf you were to close your eyes and conjure the headquarters of a 50-year campaign to legalise and license psychedelic drugs, you might well see “Brainblood Hall”. A Tudor hunting lodge, surrounded by three concentric moats and formal boxwood topiary, it appears, as you approach along its winding drive on a wintry afternoon, to be ready to whisper all kinds of curious stories. There are plenty from which to choose. The Black Prince used to hunt from a house on this site. Lewis Carroll based the chessboard landscape of Alice Through the Looking-Glass on the watery Oxfordshire moorland that extends in all directions. And Aldous Huxley set his first novel, Crome Yellow, here after visiting for tea with Lady Ottoline Morrell in 1921.Amanda Feilding, who grew up here and returned to live in the manor after the death of her parents, is the natural heir to all of those associations. She is an eye-bright woman of 76, a spirited talker and an attentive listener, with that ingrained aristocratic habit of passing off wild and whirling eccentricity as mundane routine. For the past half century, she has led an indefatigable – and mostly frustrated – campaign to relax the prohibition on research into psychedelic compounds, particularly LSD. What long seemed a hopeless quest, a one-woman battle against the massed artillery of the “war on drugs”, has recently begun to turn in her favour. Feilding has lately been dubbed the “Queen of Consciousness” by the New Scientist. I have arranged to meet her to talk about the ways in which her half century of lobbying seems finally to be paying off. Continue reading...

Salad plants are already being grown in old bomb shelters but floating dairy farms and 16-storey food towers could be nextOnly the Northern line tube trains rumbling through tunnels overhead provide any clue that Growing Underground is not a standard farm.The rows of fennel, purple radish and wasabi shoots could be in almost any polytunnel, but these plants are 100 feet below Clapham High Street and show that urban agriculture is, in some cases at least, not a fad. Continue reading...

Ranting about what’s wrong in the world can be cathartic – and an antidote to pressure to be upbeatLotta Sonninen was working on her third book in quick succession on positivity, when she suddenly realised her own positivity had drained clean away. “All those invitations to perk up, smile, find the happiness in everything were getting on my nerves,” she says. “I thought, hang on a minute. I’m sick and tired of finding the good in everything. What if we started to play with the opposite of all this – our negative emotions, the feelings we all have inside us that we’re not being encouraged to share? I thought, I wonder what’s happening to these emotions – and could we do something with them more useful than burying them?”She started making lists that were the antidote to the mindfulness and positivity books she was translating: so instead of listing what she had to be grateful for, or what was lucky in her life, she turned to all the negative stuff in her life. All the angst and agony; all the silent anger and pent-up frustrations. How about a list of all those acquaintances and celebrities who’d obviously had it far too easy? And next, what about naming all those arrogant folk who thought oh-so-much of themselves? And those people who seemed not to have clocked that you really need to think before you open your mouth? And how about writing down the names of all those infuriating people who were clearly far less talented than her, but somehow way more successful? Continue reading...

The brand that championed coffee colonics and jade vagina eggs is coming to our TV screens. Is there no escaping Gwyneth Paltrow’s woo?Are you wary of experts? Do you enjoy a fact-free lifestyle? Are you itching to splurge on non-toxic skin creams and 24-carat-gold sex toys? Well, I’ve got brilliant news. Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow’s controversial lifestyle brand, has signed a deal with Netflix. Soon we will all be able to stream Paltrow’s glamorous strain of woo on demand.Keeping with the general theme of Goop, facts about the new Netflix project are hard to come by. All we know so far is that the docuseries’ 30-minute episodes will be hosted by Paltrow and Elise Loehnen, Goop’s chief content officer. Loehnen has also said the series “seeks to dial up the aesthetics and quality of storytelling surrounding issues like mental, physical and sexual health”. Which, again keeping with the general theme of Goop, sounds lovely but means little. Continue reading...

Earth’s north magnetic pole wandering so quickly in recent decades that this week, scientists decided to update the World Magnetic Model, which underlies navigation for ships and planes today. Ian Sample looks at our relationship with the magnetic north.The north magnetic pole is moving, fast. So quickly in fact, that scientists decided to release an update of where magnetic north really is, nearly a year ahead of their usual five-year schedule.This week, Ian Sample talks to Dr Ciaran Beggan of the British Geological Survey about why he and a team of scientists track the north magnetic pole and what its rapidly changing trajectory is telling us. He then welcomes Dr John Blake to talk us through the history of how humans through the ages navigated on the seas. Continue reading...

University to assess how much its staff knew about Chinese scientist’s plans to use Crispr to modify genesStanford University has begun an investigation following claims some of its staff knew long ago of Chinese scientist He Jiankui’s plans to create the world’s first gene-edited babies.A university official said a review was under way of interactions some faculty members had with He, who was educated at Stanford. Several professors including He’s former research adviser have said they knew or strongly suspected He wanted to try gene editing on embryos intended for pregnancy. Continue reading...

Research into old saying about alcohol consumption shows you get a hangover either wayBeer before wine, or wine before beer; whatever the order, you’ll feel queer. That, at least, is the updated aphorism drinkers will have to embrace now scientists have proved that drink order has no effect on the magnitude of one’s hangover.Under carefully-controlled lab conditions, British and German researchers plied 90 volunteers with beer and wine to find out once and for all whether hangovers are worsened by the order in which drinks are necked. Continue reading...

Gender bias concern as analysis shows differences in how sexes respond to drugs overlookedNearly three-quarters of biomedical studies fail to report whether outcomes differ for men and women, according to a study which raises concerns about gender bias.Analysis of more than 11.5m medical research papers published between 1980 and 2016 found a majority overlooked the role of sex differences in genetics, physiology and the way the body responds to drugs. Continue reading...

Dome will protect instrument from temperature fluctuations of up to 94C over Martian dayNasa’s InSight Mars lander has placed a domed shield over its seismometer, completing that instrument’s deployment.The seismometer will look for evidence of ongoing seismic activity on the red planet to provide data about the deep interior of Mars. Continue reading...

Wrasse passes intelligence test in disputed study, challenging ‘vacant’ reputation of fishThey are often said to have a three-second memory, but the brain power of fish has been considerably underestimated, according to scientists who found some fish can recognise themselves in the mirror.Related: Talking animals: we aren’t the only species capable of speech … Continue reading...

Capsule shape based on domed shell ensures insulin needle within aims at stomach wallScientists have developed a “needle pill” that could allow diabetics to take insulin without the need for daily injections.The pea-sized capsule contains a small needle made of solid, compressed insulin, which is injected into the stomach wall after the capsule has been swallowed. Continue reading...

A Belgian minister has resigned after falsely claiming that demonstrators were directed by hidden forces. She should have focused on their messageWhen confronted by child protesters, politicians and other adults often reach for the age-based putdown, rather than engage with the substance of whatever it is they are protesting about. Often, the suggestion is that someone older has put them up to it. Flemish environment minister Joke Schauvliege took the patronising tactic much too far when she said that recent school strikes across Belgium were a “set-up”, and that security services knew who was really “behind this movement”. On Tuesday, after Belgian security services issued a rare denial, Ms Schauvliege resigned. On Thursday, the youth-led demonstrations spread to the Netherlands, as thousands of people marched in The Hague. Similar protests are scheduled to take place across the world in the coming weeks.They show that, in fact, young people are able to influence their elders. When a journalist asked Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg who was pulling the strings behind her school strike last summer, she replied: “Some people claim that my parents have brainwashed me, but it was the opposite: I brainwashed my parents. I convinced them not to fly and to stop eating meat.” Continue reading...

Ignoring all concerns, the health service seems determined to jump on the dubious ‘personalised medicine’ bandwagonGenomics England’s plans to move into paid-for genome sequencing of healthy people has done more than raise eyebrows in the scientific world. Last week a parade of the genomics great and good – who had clearly not been informed of the plans announced last week by Matt Hancock, the health secretary – wrote to the Times saying this would “create two-tier access to services, where people who can pay are able to access services that are denied to those who cannot”.Others have pointed out that the plans will create extra pressure on GPs, who will have to deal with a flood of “worried well” patients coming to them with DNA test results. Continue reading...

Study says honeybees can learn to carry out exact numerical calculationsHoneybees can learn to add and subtract, according to research showing that while the insects have tiny brains, they are still surprisingly clever.Researchers behind the study have previously found that honeybees can apparently understand the concept of zero, and learn to correctly indicate which of two groups of objects is the smaller. Continue reading...

Intentional and unintentional trapping, poaching and slaughter of megafauna is the single biggest factor in their declineThe vast majority of the world’s largest species are being pushed towards extinction, with the killing of the heftiest animals for meat and body parts the leading cause of decline, according to a new study.While habitat loss, pollution and other threats pose a significant menace to large species, also known as megafauna, intentional and unintentional trapping, poaching and slaughter is the single biggest factor in their decline, researchers found. Continue reading...

Strain data shows a magnitude 5.8 quake in summer 2016 – but nobody felt it, scientists sayIt was a magnitude 5.8 earthquake, but nobody felt it. That’s because this quake took about 50 days to shake itself out. Occurring a few kilometres south of Istanbul, this “slow earthquake”, which took place during summer 2016, could be a sign that the dangerous North Anatolian fault is reawakening.Geologists know that strain is travelling from east to west across Turkey (caused by Asia ploughing into Europe). Large earthquakes have sequentially released strain along the east-west trending North Anatolian fault, with the most recent being the devastating magnitude 7.6 Izmit quake in 1999, which killed more than 17,000 people. Istanbul and the surrounding area are next in line, posing a severe threat to the 15 million inhabitants. Continue reading...

Study finds failure of English language medical journals to comply with international ethical standardsA world-first study has called for the mass retraction of more than 400 scientific papers on organ transplantation, amid fears the organs were obtained unethically from Chinese prisoners.The Australian-led study exposes a mass failure of English language medical journals to comply with international ethical standards in place to ensure organ donors provide consent for transplantation. Continue reading...

Books in contention range from a transgender man’s boxing story to a memoir of recovering from psychosis and a novel about narcotic hibernationThomas Page McBee’s memoir about being the first transgender man to box at Madison Square Garden, Amateur, and Tara Westover’s account of her survivalist upbringing preparing for the End of Days, Educated, are both competing for the £30,000 Wellcome book prize.Related: ‘I started dry retching’: the harrowing world of a trauma cleaner Continue reading...

Though not a new phenomenon, flat Earth theory has enjoyed a huge resurgence recently. A YouGov poll indicated that a third of Americans aged 18 to 24 were unsure of the shape of our planet, in spite of scientific proofs from Pythagoras to Nasa. Why has this happened now, and what does it tell us about society today?

Island sprang up near Tonga three years ago, giving researchers a glimpse of how flora and fauna colonise itNasa scientists have landed for the first time on one of the world’s newest islands, and discovered the three-year-old land mass is now covered in a sticky, mysterious mud, as well as vegetation and bird life.The volcanic island sprang up in the ocean surrounding Tonga three years ago, one of only three new islands to emerge in the last 150 years that have survived more than a few months. Continue reading...

Surge affects navigation and is believed to be caused by a ‘jet’ stream in Earth’s liquid outer coreSomething’s up in the Arctic: the north magnetic pole is on the move. But rather than drifting around aimlessly as it has for centuries, the pole has picked up speed and is heading fast for Siberia.The curious shift has caught scientists’ attention and forced them to take rare action. Concerned for those who navigate in the Arctic regions, they have updated the official map of the world’s magnetic field to pinpoint the pole’s location. Continue reading...

Analysis of metabolic brain age may explain differences in cognitive decline rate

Scientists in Australia and China create 3D map revealing the true shape of the galaxyThe Milky Way is warped and twisted rather than flat like a celestial pancake, according to the most accurate 3D map of the galaxy yet.Related: Nearby galaxy set to collide with Milky Way, say scientists Continue reading...

Research opens door to possible treatments for depression based on probiotics

The government could make the drug Orkambi affordable for the NHS. Until then, people will suffer undulyLuis was three weeks old when we found out he had cystic fibrosis. Neither my husband nor I had heard of the condition before, but we knew very quickly our lives were about to change for ever from that moment. Of all of the stats thrown at you when you hear the diagnosis, one sticks out more than any other: Luis’s life expectancy was 38, my age at the time. We would most likely outlive our baby boy.Luis is eight years old now and, though parts of our routine will be recognisable to every parent, he has a life of many challenges. It starts in the morning with a medical regime that takes up to two and half hours. Every day he takes 22 tablets, three nebulisers, two inhalers, nasal sprays and lots of supplements. The condition means he struggles to put on any weight, so we need to keep a constant eye on his eating – to ensure he gets much more than the recommended calorie intake for children of his age. He’ll have physio sessions, too, and be surrounded constantly by adults worrying if he’s OK. Then, before bed, he’ll have another hour and a half of his medical regime. Those are the good days. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Ministers urged to consider revoking patent on life-extending Orkambi, which NHS cannot afford

The newborn moon will be hard to spot at first, but getting clearer by the dayHaving chased the waning crescent moon in the morning sky last week, it is now time to look for the similarly slender crescent of the waxing moon this week. The search begins on 6 February in the evening sky, as the moon has now passed between the earth and the sun. Be warned, however, that the search will be a challenging one. The moon will only have 3% of its surface illuminated on the 6th. To stand a chance of seeing it, find somewhere with a good western horizon and note the position at which the sun sets. Then as the sky darkens keep a look out just above that position for an extremely thin crescent moon. About an hour after sunset is the optimum time. Binoculars can be used in your search but NEVER use them while the sun is above the horizon: permanent blindness can occur if you look at the sun. A day later, the chances of spotting the moon rise considerably. Our nearest celestial neighbour will now be 7% illuminated and further from the sun. The chart shows the view at 17:30 GMT on 7 February 2019. On the 8th, the moon should be unmistakable. Continue reading...

The row over the cost of a cystic fibrosis treatment has prevented its use in the UK. These patients, many of them children, deserve betterMedical advances come at a cost, and that cost is increasingly steep. We rely on pharmaceutical companies, as well as public and philanthropic investment, to develop the medicines that can transform and even save lives. New drugs emerge not according to need, but when companies know they can make sizable profits from them. The problem with this, beyond our intuitive sense of wrongness when people reap lavish rewards thanks to products others cannot live without, is twofold. Some diseases or conditions – particularly those prevalent in poorer countries – are ignored, while treatment for other health problems may come at a heavy price.Governments and patients around the world are struggling to cope with escalating costs. Last year a report suggested that the average annual price of new cancer drugs had almost doubled in the US between 2013 and 2017 – and would double again by 2022. Companies blame the cost of development and say they need to recoup their investment before rivals are able to pile in with generic competitors. They are less keen to acknowledge their often sky-high profits, the fact that some put more into share buy-backs than research and development, and the reality that many new offerings are “me-too” variations rather than game-changing innovations. Patients and shareholders are likely to draw the line that distinguishes a fair reward from greedy profiteering in very different places. Continue reading...

Readers respond to a recent article and letter published in the GuardianI would like to clarify that, contrary to your article (The microbes are fighting back, and if anyone thinks there is a simple solution, they are wrong, 25 January), a few decades ago precisely no one in drug discovery thought that the war against infectious diseases had been won. Sir Alexander Fleming, who first discovered antibiotics, warned of microbial resistance and it has been known about ever since.The reason drug companies have shied away from antibiotic research is, as mentioned in the article, that it is extremely difficult to discover new ones. Unfortunately, a proposal to alter the way new drugs are rewarded will not change this. Every drug company knows that any new, effective antibiotic will be an instant “blockbuster”. The problem is that, even with the best minds in the world, most efforts at discovering new antibiotics will fail. Hopefully some will not, but there is no way to pick a winner until they have gone through the long, exacting, expensive process of clinical trials. We must therefore be willing to pay for research. The “winners” will pay for themselves many times over. But to find out which is the winner, we must pay for the “losers” too.

Recent polls have found the number of people who believe climate change is real has jumped. What convinced them?For some people, the awakening comes in science class.In the Reddit thread titled “Former climate change deniers, what changed your mind?” the most popular comment comes from chucklesthe2nd (probably not his real name). Chuck, as we’ll call him, essentially inherited his dad’s views on climate change. Continue reading...

A new play recalls the battle in the scientific establishment that denied a cobbler’s son credit for a major discoveryHe was the scientist who made one of the planet’s most significant discoveries: the existence of dinosaurs. Yet Gideon Mantell’s place in history has for two centuries been overshadowed by a rival who stole his thunder. Now, Mantell is finally set to get his moment in the spotlight, in a new play that charts the little-known story of a man that science left behind.Mantell’s discovery, in 1822, of an enormous fossil during a dig in a Sussex quarry would later be classified as the first known Iguanodon tooth. Mantell, the son of a cobbler, had a eureka moment, realising the items he was unearthing belonged to a previously unknown creature. Continue reading...

Deviant behaviour might be seen as evil – but it’s also a force for goodA few years ago I found myself teaching a university class on evil. It was for third-year criminology students to help them contextualise theory and research within controversial current topics. It was a huge success. The debates were heated and interesting. I could see people’s views change within the course of a single lecture.Over the past 13 years, as a student, lecturer and researcher, I’ve enjoyed discussing the science of evil with anyone willing to listen. What I relish most is destroying the lazy clichés of good and evil, and replacing them with nuance and scientific insight. We need a more informed way of discussing behaviour that at first we cannot, or should not, begin to understand. Continue reading...

The reaction to the polar vortex reminds us it is important to have a citizenry who can distinguish between scientific fact and fictionThe winters of the early 1970s were very cold and snowy in the northeastern United States where I grew up – as elsewhere around the US and Europe. I remember snowfalls that came up to my chin (though, of course, I was only a few feet tall back then). We now call those “old-fashioned winters”, precisely because they have grown so rare as a consequence of – yes – global warming.If you’re younger than I am (I became a demi-centenarian three years ago), those winters are likely to be outside the range of your experience. And so it may seem plausible to you that cold snaps, that in reality simply reflect the sort of weather that was commonplace just decades ago, might constitute “record” or “unprecedented” cold. Continue reading...

Mendeleev’s chemical grid system defined our world – and the rarer elements it classifies are vital to modern lifeThis year marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of the first periodic table. This grid-like arrangement of the elements is probably only familiar to most of us from the tatty poster hanging on the wall of the chemistry classroom at school – only slightly less memorable than the faint background of weird smells in the lab. But when the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev laid out his vision for ordering the chemical world in 1869, it was revolutionary.This is because the periodic table is far more than just a list of the elements we know. It’s a way of categorising and sorting them: finding the order in the mess of chemical reactions. The startling realisation was that there is a repeating pattern – a periodicity – in the properties of the elements, such as how they react with each other. (We know now that fundamentally this comes down to how the electrons in an atom, which determine how it behaves, fit into successive shells around the nucleus.) The known elements can be laid out into rows and columns, with those lining up in the same column sharing characteristics, like a chemical family. Neon, argon and xenon, for example, all have similar properties: they are the noble gases and are exceedingly reluctant to be cajoled into any reactions. And when electricity is passed through a tubeful, they emit garish colours; the lights that became synonymous with Las Vegas and other urban centres. Continue reading...

In a world so full of uncertainty it’s little wonder so many of us feel stressed. But understanding it can change how you feelWhy do so many people these days seem so stressed out and anxious? It’s a common question, among mental health professionals and laypeople alike, but there’s a case to be made that it’s exactly upside down. How come there’s anyone who isn’t paralysed by anxiety, every hour of every day? After all, anxiety thrives in conditions of uncertainty – and nowadays the world is full of potential threats we don’t fully understand and can’t control.Most of us just have to take it on trust that planes won’t fall out of the sky, or that the milk in our fridge won’t give us listeria. Sudden, unpredictable movements in the global financial system threaten to ruin anyone’s livelihood at any moment; plus now we have all the many unknowns around Brexit, an unstable liar in charge of America’s nuclear codes, and the omnipresent spectre of climate change. And as if all that weren’t enough, we spend our days marinating in an online environment designed to stoke panic about any remaining threats we might have been managing to ignore. Continue reading...

Participants will observe then record their findings to tackle environmental concernsThousands of people across England will be gazing hopefully up at the stars this weekend – not in an attempt to forecast the next twist of Brexit, but to map out areas of light pollution and genuine darkness.Clear skies are expected over much of the country for the start of the Star Count, which kicks off on Saturday and will run for three weeks, to 23 February. Participants are being asked to concentrate on the constellation of Orion, which graces the UK’s skies in winter and is easily identifiable. Continue reading...