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...

Jo Dunkley is a professor of physics and astrophysical sciences at Princeton University. Hannah Devlin talks to her about what it’s like to work on the Atacama Cosmology Telescope in Chile, where they need to bring oxygen tanks for safety.Astrophysicist Jo Dunkley just published a book titled Our Universe: An Astronomer’s Guide. In it, she reveals the history of our universe, as well as some of the remarkable – and sometimes overlooked – contributions of pioneering female astronomers.Hannah Devlin talks to Dunkley about her career which has seen her join the team looking after Nasa’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, and head to Chile to work on the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. Continue reading...

Offering statins to all over-75s could prevent 8,000 deaths from heart failure and stroke, researchers sayThousands of deaths and the wrecking of many lives by disability could be averted if doctors routinely offered a daily statin pill to older people, scientists say.They blame misinformation about the side-effects of statins, together with society’s ageism, for the low uptake among older people, who are at highest risk of heart attacks, heart failure and stroke. Continue reading...

Researchers in the US create detailed objects using video images and light-sensitive polymerIt is no rival for the replicator that whips up meals on demand on the USS Enterprise, but it can transform gloop into useful objects and even works of art, such as miniature versions of Rodin’s Thinker.The real-world version of the replicator, nicknamed after the handy 24th-century appliance, churns out detailed 3D shapes and components by beaming images of them on to a rotating container filled with a gooey liquid that reacts to light. Continue reading...

Signs of iron age brew, from as far back as 400BC, found during £1.5bn upgrade of A14Evidence of the first beer believed to have been brewed in the UK, dating back more than 2,000 years, has been uncovered by road workers.Signs of the iron age brew from about 400BC were identified in fragments of charred residues from the beer-making process found during the £1.5bn upgrade of the A14 in Cambridgeshire. Continue reading...

MIT researchers develop machine with physical skills needed to master children’s gameThe humble game of Jenga has become the latest human pursuit to fall to machines, scientists have announced.In what marks significant progress for robotic manipulation of real-world objects, a Jenga-playing machine can learn the complex physics involved in withdrawing wooden blocks from a tower through physical trial and error. Continue reading...

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report shows a troubling health divide between rich and poorAustralians living in disadvantaged parts of the country are twice as likely to die from diabetes factors as those in the wealthiest areas, according to new research that also suggests health inequality among men suffering heart attacks has worsened over the past decade.A study by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, released on Thursday, examined how a person’s socioeconomic position impacted their chances of developing or dying from diabetes, chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. Continue reading...

A farmer recently took his lambs to a sanctuary instead of the slaughter – and these sudden turnarounds are not uncommonA farmer was recently on the road to the abattoir when he changed direction and drove his trailer full of lambs 200 miles to an animal sanctuary instead. Sivalingam Vasanthakumar, 60, from Devon, now plans to grow vegetables.Vasanthakumar is not the only farmer to perform this kind of reversal. In 2017, Jay Wilde, of Bradley Nook farm in Derbyshire, took his cattle to a sanctuary and decided to become a vegan farmer (the film telling this story, 73 Cows, has been nominated for a Bafta). In the US, the Illinois-based charity Free From Harm has gathered tales of many farmers who have had epiphanies and switched to veganism. Continue reading...

An infographic endorsed by the Davos set presents the story of coerced global proletarianisation as a neoliberal triumphLast week, as world leaders and business elites arrived in Davos for the World Economic Forum, Bill Gates tweeted an infographic to his 46 million followers showing that the world has been getting better and better. “This is one of my favourite infographics,” he wrote. “A lot of people underestimate just how much life has improved over the past two centuries.”Of the six graphs – developed by Max Roser of Our World in Data – the first has attracted the most attention by far. It shows that the proportion of people living in poverty has declined from 94% in 1820 to only 10% today. The claim is simple and compelling. And it’s not just Gates who’s grabbed on to it. These figures have been trotted out in the past year by everyone from Steven Pinker to Nick Kristof and much of the rest of the Davos set to argue that the global extension of free-market capitalism has been great for everyone. Pinker and Gates have gone even further, saying we shouldn’t complain about rising inequality when the very forces that deliver such immense wealth to the richest are also eradicating poverty before our very eyes. Continue reading...

Review also finds high dropout rates in scholarship programs designed to attract maths and science teachersA lack of accurate data about the subjects teachers are qualified for is contributing to a shortage of maths and science teachers in New South Wales, a new report has found.On Tuesday the NSW auditor general published a review of the supply of secondary science, technology, engineering and maths – or Stem – teachers in the state. Continue reading...

Scans of volunteers who took acid shows it disrupts information pathways in brainA group of volunteers who took a trip in the name of science have helped researchers uncover how LSD messes with activity in the brain to induce an altered state of consciousness.Brain scans of individuals high on the drug revealed that the chemical allows parts of the cortex to become flooded with signals that are normally filtered out to prevent information overload. Continue reading...

Letters from Nick Duffell, author of Wounded Leaders and The Making of Them, and Francis Green and David Kynaston, authors of Engines of Privilege: Britain’s Private School ProblemKate Clanchy’s polished review of David Kynaston and Francis Green’s Engines of Privilege: Britain’s Private School Problem (The unfairness of fee-paying schools affects all our lives. And they are much cannier than this book allows, Review, 26 January) smartly points out the battle-hardened resilience of Britain’s private schools and how difficult they are to budge from their entrenched position in our poor, divided society.Kynaston, Clanchy, and (not to forget) Melissa Benn clearly do good work promoting rational debate on the issue, but all of them consistently ignore the body of work that my colleagues and I have been presenting for the past three decades, highlighting the psychological problems of our private education. Continue reading...

Information on low-dose aspirin as an additional treatment of cancer should be made widely available to patients, write Professor Peter Elwood, Janet Pickering and Dr Gareth Morgan of Cardiff UniversityA recent review of the medical literature shows that low-dose aspirin taken by patients with cancer (Bitter pill: is aspirin really a wonder drug?, G2, 24 January) is associated with a reduction in cancer deaths, and a reduction in cancer spread (metastases). Over 70 studies have been published, together including 120,000 cancer patients taking aspirin and over 400,000 cancer patients not taking aspirin. A meta-analysis shows a 24% reduction in cancer deaths and a 19% reduction in deaths from all causes in patients taking aspirin. That is: at any time after a diagnosis of cancer, about 19% more patients taking aspirin are alive, compared with patients not taking aspirin.An author of each report was contacted and asked about bleeding in their patients: 31 replies were received and only one author reported an excess (11%) in the number of patients taking aspirin who had had a bleed, compared with patients not taking aspirin. Continue reading...

The answers to today’s puzzlesEarlier today I set you the following three problems. Continue reading...

Breakthrough means large sheets of energy-harvesting material can be producedWe have all been there. In a rush to leave the house we grab our phones and head out the door, realising all too late that the battery is dead because we forgot to plug it into the tablecloth.Or perhaps we have not. But this could be the future that scientists hope to usher in with electronic sheets that charge our mobile phones, laptops and other gadgets by harvesting energy from the world around us. Continue reading...

Researchers say children who used screens more did worse in tests, but findings are disputedA study has linked high levels of screen time with delayed development in children, reigniting the row over the extent to which parents should limit how long their offspring spend with electronic devices.Researchers in Canada say children who spent more time with screens at two years of age did worse on tests of development at age three than children who had spent little time with devices. A similar result was found when children’s screen time at three years old was compared with their development at five years. Continue reading...

The artist who once sent a meteorite back into orbit is now looking for the heavenly in Turner’s paintings, in a show that explodes with moonlight and gamma ray confettiThe confetti cannon is set to go off every two weeks, firing out 3,216 pieces of paper, each colour-coded to match the gamma ray bursts that destroy entire galaxies. Nearby, a spinning wheel contains all the colours of the universe – today’s is “cosmic latte”. Elsewhere in Katie Paterson’s new show, there’s a lightbulb that emits “moonlight”, an LP that turns at the speed of the Earth (one rotation a day), and letters of condolence sent to an astronomer mourning for dead stars.Critics have marvelled at Paterson’s ability to blend “the galactic and the mundane”. They have also coined a term for the feeling you get when contemplating her work: ontological vertigo. “I love that expression,” laughs the artist, who is busy installing what will be her largest ever British exhibition, at the Turner Contemporary in Margate. “That’s what I get if I’m thinking about billions of years. It is sometimes dizzy-making, especially if you’ve got that colour wheel spinning.” Continue reading...

The triangle, the ants and the mystery numberUPDATE: Solutions can be read hereToday, three puzzles from Mathigon, a remarkable maths website (about which more later).An easy one to start. Count the number of triangles in the image below. Continue reading...

The three brightest objects in the night sky will line up in the pre-dawn sky later this weekThis week, a beautiful sight awaits those out and about before sunrise. The waning crescent moon slips between the bright red star Antares in Scorpius, before cruising between the two brightest planets in the sky, Venus and Jupiter. The moon and the two planets are the three brightest objects in the night sky, outshone only during the day by the sun. Although considerably less bright, Antares will add a touch of beauty because of its distinctly red colour. Continue reading...

Tony Blair, George Osborne and royals all use ‘estuary English, says Barnaby LenonFormer private school pupils often speak in a mockney accent in adulthood in an effort not to seem posh, the former head of Harrow has said.Many people who went to elite fee-paying schools do not want to seem upper-class because “being posh these days is not a good thing”, according to Barnaby Lenon. Continue reading...

The Endurance sank in the Weddell Sea in 1915, after 10 months trapped by iceAntarctic explorers are to break their way through 75 miles of sea ice in an effort to reach the final resting place of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance, which sank to the bottom of the Weddell Sea in November 1915.Expedition leaders believe they have the best chance yet to find the wreckage of the lost vessel, which became trapped in sea ice for 10 months and eventually went down in two miles of water after the crushing forces of the surrounding ice breached its hull. Continue reading...

Antarctic scientists, avalanche specialists, Alaskan farmers and an industrial deep-freeze manager… Candice Pires talks to five people who have to endure extreme cold to do their jobMadi Rosevear, 27, PhD student, works in Antarctica and lives in Hobart, Tasmania Continue reading...

Heat, cold, vacuum… the microscopic creatures, found recently in a lake in Antarctica, show remarkable resilience to a wide range of normally lethal physical conditionsRemains of the minuscule organisms known as tardigrades have been discovered in a subglacial Antarctic lake. The creatures, ranging in size from 0.1mm to 1.5mm, are often called water bears or moss piglets. The remains were found when scientists drilled a kilometre under the ice; previously, only microbes have been found in these extreme conditions. Continue reading...

Dubai pair plan to blast beans into space in their quest for a flawless roastAs a rival to the Millennium Falcon or the Starship Enterprise, a proposed spacecraft from entrepreneurs Anders Cavallini and Hatem Alkhafaji is low on sophistication and rocket thrust. In fact, it would be built to carry out only one task: to produce perfectly roasted coffee beans – in outer space. Hence the craft’s name: the Coffee Roasting Capsule.The capsule – which could be launched next year – would use the heat of re-entry to roast coffee beans as they float inside it in a pressurised tank. The effect would be to roast the beans all over and produce perfect coffee, Cavallini and Alkhafaji claim in a recent issue of the space journal Room. They say that on Earth, beans tumble around, break apart and are scorched by contact with the hot surfaces of the roaster. “But if gravity is removed, the beans float around in a heated oven, giving them 360 degrees of evenly distributed heat and roasting to near perfection.” Continue reading...

The author of Everything Bad Is Good for You on his new book, and why decision-making is a creative processSteven Johnson is a popular science author of 11 books, including the bestseller Everything Bad Is Good for You. Now 50, he divides his time between California and New York, the decision of where to live being at the heart of his latest book, Farsighted: How We Make the Decisions That Matter the Most. It focuses on long-term and complex decision-making – both political and personal.What made you decide to write about decision-making?

As Brexit debates become ever more fractious, we are trapped in a cycle of anger, disbelief and impotence. Can psychotherapy help us find a way out?Divorce, which is what Brexit is, takes a long time because it is serious. For divorce to work within a family, mediation is recommended. When a family breaks up with this much hostility its members rarely emerge unscathed.The escaping partner may be buoyed up by the hope of new adventures but the remaining partner is bequeathed with anxiety, insecurity and uncertainty.On both sides of what we might term our national trauma, there is fury and hurt. It hasn’t gone away. In many ways it has heightened in the last fortnight, as the clock ticks down. There is fear and a sense of fragility, often masked by aggression and even bullying. It is easy for both parties in this traumatic break to exclude or ridicule the legitimacy of the other’s position. Continue reading...

Paul Davies thinks combining physics and biology will reveal a pattern of information managementAll the brain cells of life on Earth still cannot explain life on Earth. Its most intelligent species has uncovered the building blocks of matter, read countless genomes and watched spacetime quiver as black holes collide. It understands much of how living creatures work, but not how they came to be. There is no agreement, even, on what life is.The conundrum of life is so fundamental that to solve it would rank among the most important achievements of the human mind. But for all scientists’ efforts – and there have been plenty – the big questions remain. If biology is defined as the study of life, on this it has failed to deliver. Continue reading...

Service will be free for patients with serious genetic conditions as health service in England aims to recruit 5 million volunteers