Cavernous 18th-century store reveals link to lost trade in ice blocks from Norwegian fjordFor the well to-do residents of Georgian London, serving chilled drinks at a festive party was a more complicated process than today. In the absence of electricity to make ice cubes and keep them frozen, they had to source their ice from elsewhere.For the most discerning hosts, that meant using blocks of purest frozen Norwegian fjord, which was shipped to London’s docks and then carefully stored until required to be chipped into glasses and clinked. Continue reading...

Psychedelic fungi may still be in bloom on New Year’s Day due to climate changeAn unnaturally late first frost across the UK means magic mushroom hunters could be in line for a remarkable natural high this year.Psychedelic mushrooms may still be in bloom on New Year’s Day, as the subzero temperatures that would normally have appeared by this time of year are yet to arrive. Continue reading...

As scepticism rises, PHE says e-cigarettes could help more people quit smokingThe government is launching a new campaign to try to convince the UK’s smokers that vaping is not as harmful as smoking and a good way to quit, in a bid to counter the scepticism generated by some scientific studies and media headlines.Public Health England (PHE), which maintains that vaping is 95% less harmful than tobacco, is releasing a short video of an experiment which reveals the amount of sticky black tar that accumulates in the lungs of a heavy smoker, collected in a bell jar. By contrast, the same nicotine intake through vaping releases only a trace of residue. Continue reading...

Dr Hannah Fry won the Christopher Zeeman medal in August for her contributions to the public understanding of the mathematical sciences. Ian Sample has invited her on the podcast to discuss her love of numbers. Plus, he asks, can we really use this discipline to predict human behaviour?Maths probably isn’t something you’re thinking about in the build-up to the new year. If anything, it’s the nth thing on your mind, where n equals a centillion. But for UCL’s Dr Hannah Fry, mathematics is often at the forefront of her thinking. For instance, she’s worked out whether Santa would get fatter from eating all the mince pies, or thinner, from having to shimmy up and down chimneys all night long. She’s thought about how game theory could help you beat your uncle at monopoly, and even the optimal length of tinsel you should have used on your Christmas tree.Increasingly, though, Fry’s research focuses on whether we can use maths, coding and modelling to predict human behaviour. This year, she won the Christopher Zeeman medal for her contributions to the public understanding of the mathematical sciences, so Ian Sample invited her on the podcast to discuss her love of numbers. Plus, he asks, can we really use this discipline to model and predict human behaviour?

GPS III satellites to provide more precise locations and be more resilient against jammingThe first of a new generation of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites was launched on Sunday.A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral air force station in Florida at 1351 GMT (05.51am PST) and the satellite was deployed into its intended orbit almost two hours later. Continue reading...

Psychiatry professor Brendan Kelly, Peter Wilson, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, and Dr Ian Flintoff debate Suzanne Moore’s enthusiasm for the ideas of the father of psychoanalysisSuzanne Moore describes Sigmund Freud as “revolutionary” and says that he is now more relevant than Marx (Forget Marx. Freud is the radical we need, 26 December). Moore is right: Freud was right and so, for that matter, was Marx, at least on certain points. But Freud really was “properly radical”, not only reclaiming dreams as “psychical phenomena of complete validity” but also, as Moore points out, hearing the voice of Dora, a patient who “refused to be an object of exchange between powerful men” (most notably, perhaps, by terminating her treatment with Freud after just 11 weeks).Freud also decoded “the psychopathology of everyday life”, illuminating the meaning beneath apparent errors and describing such essential human habits as “motivated forgetting”. Today, when public life can seem like an infinite vortex of collective pathology and endless dysfunction, Freud is, perhaps, our surest guide, reassuring us that – at some deeper level – all of this makes sense. Here’s hoping he is right.

The US Office of Technology Assessment should be revived – in 2019 the world will need its expertise more than everMany agree that one of the most pressing problems the world faces today is climate change. The question of what to do about it, however, has become highly politicised. Scepticism about climate change is typically a conservative position and trust in the conclusions of the scientific community a more progressive one. While this politicisation is perhaps most evident in the United States, it is well known in many other countries.But this wasn’t always the case. Between 1972 and 1995, a US agency named the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) existed to provide the practical means to help overcome such politicisation. During its 23-year existence, the OTA was in a unique position to assist members of Congress in understanding complex issues in science and technology. Continue reading...

Sports stars as varied as Stephen Curry and Andrew Flintoff have flirted with conspiracy theories. But they are guided by very human emotionsWith Christmas Day just gone, it seems fitting that Steph Curry already has something he’d probably like to take back. Two weeks ago, the Golden State Warriors star gave the 24-hour news cycle an incredible gift during an appearance on The Ringer’s Winging It podcast. The show, which features the Atlanta Hawks’ Vince Carter and Kent Bazemore as hosts, styles itself as more of a hang session than a proper interview; the point is to give listeners a sense of conversations that players actually have when scoop-hungry reporters aren’t parsing their every word.For 70 minutes the Warriors sharpshooter played along as Carter recalled his experience playing with Curry’s father, Dell. Had you zoned out around the 45-minute mark, you may have missed the playful digression about dinosaurs sounds (“A bone don’t tell you what a sound is,” one player quips) that prompted Curry to suggest that the 1969 moon landing (and the five others that followed) never happened. Clearly, CNN’s forthcoming Apollo 11 documentary can’t get here fast enough for them. Continue reading...

Psychologist, psychotherapist, academic and community worker who founded the Refugee Therapy Centre in LondonThe psychologist and psychotherapist Josephine Klein, who has died aged 92, had a passionate concern for social justice. It underpinned a variety of her initiatives as a researcher, writer and practitioner.Two books came out of a period in the research section of the National Association of Boys’ Clubs in the late 1940s and a subsequent doctorate: The Study of Groups (1956) and Working With Groups: The Social Psychology of Discussion and Decision (1961). They pioneered a theoretical foundation by drawing critically on what was being done elsewhere in sociology, psychology and psychoanalysis, and offered guidance on interventions in a variety of settings – therapeutic, youth and community work. Continue reading...

Marx is all very well, but to effect real change Sigmund Freud’s modern tools of self-examination hold the answers“If anything is certain, it is that I myself am not a Marxist.” I love that Karl Marx said that. I love his self-knowledge. I love the poetry of The Communist Manifesto. I love that he was a seer, a prophet of what we now call globalisation. I love that he understood that there is no sphere of our lives, public or private, into which capital does not weave its way, that there can be no compromises. He is the great thinker of our times, but over the past couple of years I have changed my mind about whether he is the most important one.If I want to read someone whose work truly explains what is happening now, and who is unsettling and properly radical, it is Sigmund Freud I turn to. It is his work that often explains things I would rather not know but recognise happening around me. I haven’t given up on Karl but Siggy strikes me as the man of the hour, the thinker who underpins how we see ourselves. You don’t read Freud for reassurance, but if you want something profound and dazzling, he’s the man. Continue reading...

Many of us have forgotten how to truly unwind. We ask the experts for ways to switch off in an always-on worldHow do you like to kick back, chill out and really relax? This sounds as if it should be a simple question. But I can’t be alone in having spent several evenings over the past couple of weeks slumped on the sofa, “watching TV” while my eyes flicker across Twitter and Facebook, as well as five different WhatsApp groups on my phone.Relaxing is increasingly difficult in our always-on digital world. This first struck me a couple of years ago when I had to stop exercising after an injury. Exercise had always been my go-to “me-time” activity, and without it I felt totally lost. I recently started again, but having only one means to de-stress now feels very limited and I am not even sure it counts as relaxing – it is quite hard work, and inherently competitive. When I find myself at home with a free evening, I often have no idea what to do and inevitably end up staring emptily at one screen or another for hours, before stumbling off to bed, wondering where the time has gone. Continue reading...

Scientists head to Weddell Sea to model changes to the shelf since the calving, in 2017, of the massive iceberg A68In the comings days, a team of scientists, technicians and other specialists will gather onboard the SA Agulhas II, a 13,500-tonne ice-breaker moored off the coast of Antarctica, and make final preparations for one of the most ambitious polar expeditions in decades.Guided by satellite imagery and drones flown from the research ship, the vessel will set off on New Year’s day through the pack ice of the Weddell Sea, part of the Southern Ocean in the Antarctic. The ship’s destination is the Larsen C ice shelf where a trillion tonne iceberg, four times the size of Greater London, calved away in July 2017. Continue reading...

Booming sector received nearly £1.6bn from investors in first eight months of 2018Biotech is one of the most promising parts of the British drug industry, not least according to the investors who continue to pump vast sums into the sector despite the looming shadow of Brexit. In the first eight months of 2018 alone it received nearly £1.6bn, compared with £1.2bn for the entirety of 2017.An unassuming building in a science park near the Hertfordshire town of Stevenage is hosting four biotech firms that hope to achieve a major breakthrough for the field – and go some way to justifying that faith from investors. Continue reading...

IARC’s outgoing director attacks vested interests of critics but admits it could have communicated betterThe head of the UN agency that provoked a massive outcry and some ridicule when it declared that bacon, red meat and glyphosate weedkiller caused cancer has defended its work, denying the announcements were mishandled and insisting on its independence.Its outgoing director, Christopher Wild, fiercely defended the decisions and transparency of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), attacking the vested interests of its critics, many of whom are from multinational corporations. Continue reading...

Researchers explore whether genes and early eating habits may trigger disordered eatingResearchers are trying to identify the role genetics and early eating habits play in conditions such as bulimia and anorexia.Eating disorders, which often arise before adulthood, have been increasing in recent years and about a quarter of young people report having symptoms, according to MQ: Transforming Mental Health, a research charity. Continue reading...

Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders talks about Nasa’s orbit 50 years ago when he photographed Earth as it had never been seen beforeNo one told them to look for the Earth. It was Christmas Eve 1968 and the first manned mission to the moon had reached its destination. As Apollo 8 slipped into lunar orbit the crew prepared to read passages of Genesis for a TV broadcast to the world. But as the command module came around on its fourth lap, there it was visible through the window – a bright blue and white bauble suspended in the black above the relentless grey of the moon.Before that moment 50 years ago, no one had seen an earthrise. The sight sent Bill Anders, the mission photographer, scrambling for his camera. He slapped a 70mm colour roll into the Hasselblad, set the focus to infinity, and started shooting though the telephoto lens. Continue reading...

Jupiter and Venus still dominate the early morning sky as Mercury becomes more challenging to findThroughout this week, the cold mornings will provide a beautiful sight to warm the heart about an hour before sunrise. In the days immediately surrounding Christmas, the three bright planets Mercury, Venus and Jupiter all line up in the south-eastern sky. Looking south-east around 07:00am, Venus and Jupiter will be unmistakable bright beacons that will instantly capture the attention. Mercury is more of a challenge. It will have risen about 15 minutes earlier and so a very clear south-eastern horizon will be needed to see it. Those with such a view, will see the planet appear in the brightening twilight sky. On Christmas Day, sunrise is at 08:05 GMT from London; 08:24 GMT from Manchester; 08:59 from Inverness. The chart shows the view later in the week, looking south at 07:00 GMT on 30 December. On this day, Mercury will have disappeared from view but the waning moon will be near the bright star Spica, and heading towards the planetary alignment. Watch the moon over the succeeding days to see it become a crescent as it heads towards the sun, reaching new moon on 6 January. Continue reading...

Military officer’s stable preserved under ash from eruption of Mount VesuviusArchaeologists have unearthed the petrified remains of a harnessed horse and saddle in the stable of an ancient villa in a Pompeii suburb.The Pompeii archaeological park’s head, Massimo Osanna, told the Italian news agency Ansa that the villa belonged to a high-ranking military officer, perhaps a general, in ancient Roman times. Continue reading...

Rocket science | Crosswords | Gravy on the border | Egypt, Bucks | Hollywood, BirminghamTerence Hall is incorrect regarding the lack of success of Blue Streak (Letters, 20 December). It was the grandfather of Black Arrow which launched the British satellite, Prospero, in 1971. We are the only country in the world to put a satellite into orbit and cancel the programme when a politician stated there was no market for small satellites.

The rocket launch marked the space transportation company’s first national security space mission for the USA SpaceX rocket carrying a military navigation satellite blasted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Sunday, marking the space transportation company’s first national security space mission for the US.The Falcon 9 rocket carrying a roughly $500m GPS satellite built by Lockheed Martin lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 8.51am local time. Four scheduled launches in the last week, including one on Saturday, were canceled due to weather and technical issues. Continue reading...

Our guest scientists pick the breakthroughs and discoveries that defined their year, from insights into human evolution to our first trip aboard an asteroidTake a deep breath. Dive into the emerald water. It’s 13 minutes and 70 metres down to lunch. Are you dead yet? Not if you are one of the Bajau “sea nomads” of south-east Asia, who have been free-diving like this for more than 1,000 years, relying on their remarkable physiology, and, as we learned in April, their genes. Humans left Africa 50 millennia ago, encountering new environments that required adaptation to survive. Adaptation is mostly cultural – building shelters, using fire, deciding what to eat, and transmitting instructions from generation to generation. But alongside this are advantageous genetic mutations grasped by natural selection. Continue reading...

Yuletide ghost stories have shaped my life – as well as my understanding of what happens next…Scrooge was famously haunted by three spectral visitors at Christmas time, but the tradition of telling ghost stories at midwinter goes back much further than Dickens. People have been gathering around the fire to tell stories at Yule, the pagan festival to mark the winter solstice, for centuries. As the year comes to a close, it’s natural to think about loved ones no longer with us – and what better time for ghosts to draw near than deepest, darkest winter?Thinking about the dead and remembering the past go hand in hand, especially at Christmas. Perhaps it’s no surprise the most wonderful time of the year promises scary ghost stories. Reminiscing, it seems, is as compulsory as turkey and tinsel – whether that’s talking about old times with family, re-watching comedy classics, or remembering our childhood days. When I look back at my childhood, few memories are more vivid than the time I saw a ghost. I appreciate that what I’m about to say sounds like fiction, but whether or not it was real or imagined, the experience undeniably shaped my life and the person I am today. Continue reading...

When Bill Anders took this photograph from the Apollo spacecraft on Christmas Eve in 1968, our relationship with the world changed foreverThis photograph is now half a century old. It was taken by the astronaut Bill Anders on Christmas Eve 1968 as the Apollo 8 spacecraft rounded the dark side of the moon for a fourth time. When Earth came up over the horizon, Anders scrabbled for his Hasselblad camera and started clicking.In that pre-digital age, five days passed. The astronauts returned to Earth; the film was retrieved and developed. In its new year edition, Life magazine printed the photo on a double-page spread alongside a poem by US poet laureate James Dickey: “And behold / The blue planet steeped in its dream / Of reality, its calculated vision shaking with the only love.” Continue reading...

Picture taken by the Apollo 8 mission at the height of the space race gave a new perspective on Earth’s place in the universe

From the response to Windrush to scientific wonders – at times like this we need to remind ourselves what we are capable ofLord knows, there are reasons to be cheerless this Christmas. If you’re British, you have your pick of sources of misery. You could be anxious that we are less than 100 days away from a car-crash, no-deal Brexit that will see us short of medicine and food, the public advised to “vary their diet” to cope with diminished supplies, our ports jammed and the army on standby. Or you might despair at the poverty that sees children going to school hungry in one of the world’s richest countries, as a homeless man dies on the very doorstep of parliament.Related: News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier Continue reading...

Forget haikus, epigrams, proverbs, maxims, adages and riddles. If you’re needing a sliver of wisdom, try an aphorism. There are certainly plenty around …“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Trapped layer of cold air keeps water frozen in 50-mile-wide impact craterThe stunning Korolev crater in the northern lowlands of Mars is filled with ice all year round owing to a trapped layer of cold Martian air that keeps the water frozen.The 50-mile-wide crater contains 530 cubic miles of water ice, as much as Great Bear Lake in northern Canada, and in the centre of the crater the ice is more than a mile thick. Continue reading...

Around the world, species hunters unearth 128 vascular plants and 44 species of fungi, many already facing extinctionA spectacular orchid sold from a barrow in a Laos market, a flower which may contain cancer-fighting chemicals, and a tall tree found beside an African highway, are among more than 100 plants that were newly discovered by science in 2018. But experts warn it is a “race against time” to discover many new species before they become extinct.Species hunters scouring the globe for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and its partners, this year found about 128 vascular plants and 44 species of fungi. Continue reading...

Prof Dame Jane Francis knows Antarctica better than most: she’s spent the majority of her career researching this icy landscape. Ian Sample talks to her about what it’s like to camp in Antarctica and what her findings can tell us about our future on this planetProf Jane Francis was made a dame in 2017 for services to diplomacy and polar science. As you might expect, Francis has spent much of her career in Antarctica. What you might not expect is that she did so in the hope of finding fossilised plants. Millions of years ago, Antarctica was covered in luscious forests and had very little snow. Francis’s work has shed light on some of the reasons for this Antarctic paradox.Ian Sample invited Francis, the director of British Antarctic Survey, on to the podcast to talk about what it’s like to camp in Antarctica and how her findings there should make us all think about our future on this planet. Continue reading...

Scientists warn policymakers not to ignore links, and stress that ‘every action counts’Policymakers have severely underestimated the risks of ecological tipping points, according to a study that shows 45% of all potential environmental collapses are interrelated and could amplify one another.The authors said their paper, published in the journal Science, highlights how overstressed and overlapping natural systems are combining to throw up a growing number of unwelcome surprises. Continue reading...

A bucolic community was reduced to ash by a new kind of wildfire – the deadliest in California’s history. Survivors recall that horrible day

SpaceX first halted the launch of Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday because of the same technical warning with its sensorElon Musk’s SpaceX has cancelled the long-delayed launch of a navigation satellite for the US military, failing to complete its first designated national security mission for the United States because of technical issue with its rocket.SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, carrying a roughly $500m global positioning system (GPS) satellite built by Lockheed Martin Corp, was slated to take off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral shortly after 9am local time (14.00GMT) on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Devil’s ivy with synthetic animal gene inserted helped reduce benzene and chloroform levelsA humble houseplant with a dash of rabbit DNA could help lower our exposure to indoor air pollution, research suggests.Scientists have revealed that by inserting a rabbit gene into devil’s ivy (Epipremnum aureum) the plant is able to clean the surrounding air by breaking down chemicals such as benzene and chloroform, which in certain concentrations can harm health. Continue reading...

Therapeutic Goods Administration takes on Peptides Clinics Australia for alleged advertising breachesFor the first time in almost a decade Australia’s drugs regulator has begun court action against a supplements seller, after the online company claimed its products could help people build muscle while also treating anxiety, depression, heart damage, joint diseases, bone diseases and other ailments.The Therapeutics Goods Administration (TGA) alleges Peptide Clinics Australia advertised prescription-only therapeutic goods including peptides on its website and other social media platforms. The online seller did not have TGA approval to state its products could treat diseases. Continue reading...

Amphibian’s behaviour compared to US president’s approach to global warmingA newly discovered blind and burrowing amphibian is to be officially named Dermophis donaldtrumpi, in recognition of the US president’s climate change denial.The name was chosen by the boss of EnviroBuild, a sustainable building materials company, who paid $25,000 (£19,800) at an auction for the right. The small legless creature was found in Panama and EnviroBuild’s Aidan Bell said its ability to bury its head in the ground matched Donald Trump’s approach to global warming. Continue reading...

Australian astronaut Andy Thomas says space tourism bid is ‘really just a high-altitude aeroplane flight’Sir Richard Branson’s bid to take passengers into orbit is dead-end and dangerous technology, Australian astronaut Andy Thomas says.Branson’s Virgin Galactic organisation was celebrating last week after successfully launching a rocket plane into space for the first time. Continue reading...

Provisionally named 2018 VG18, it is 120 times further away from the sun than Earth is

Salley Vickers is another enthusiast for the ideas of child psychologist Donald Winnicott (and so is her granddaughter)I, too, am a great fan of Donald Winnicott (Bear necessities, G2, 12 December; Letters, 17 December), whose greatest contribution was celebrating play as the source of creativity, and my sons, especially the younger (now a children’s writer), had a lively relationship with their toys.This has filtered down to my grandchildren – with the result that each year when my eldest grandchild (14 this week) and I take our annual caravan holiday, I bring with me the 56 toys who lodge in my tiny London flat. They each have a very distinct personality and soothe, amuse, quarrel, act up, boast, swan about and put on excellent plays each year, which I feel sure has led to their mistress becoming rather a good actor in her own right and a promising playwright.

Researchers say tired people are likely to view unhealthy snacks more favourablyHaving even one night without sleep leads people to view junk food more favourably, research suggests.Scientists attribute the effect to the way food rewards are processed by the brain. Previous studies have found that a lack of shuteye is linked to expanding waistlines, with some suggesting disrupted sleep might affect hormone levels, resulting in changes in how hungry or full people feel. Continue reading...

Results of research into 2012 mass deaths offer insights into reef health and throw up further questionsConservationists want major bays and estuaries along the Great Barrier Reef tested for contaminants after a five-year study found “alarming” levels of some chemicals in unhealthy turtles on the reef.Scientists working on the research have also recommended expanded monitoring of turtle-population health on the Great Barrier Reef “as an indicator of the health of the reef itself”. Continue reading...

The solutions to today’s quiz and puzzleEarlier today I set you a quiz about Twitter slang, and a maths puzzle. Here are the answers, with discussion and workings!The following ten words and phrases emerged in Twitter communities, and are beginning to cross over to general users. Under each word or phrase are two possible definitions. Which is the correct one? Continue reading...

Are you sitting comfortably? Many people are not – and they insist that the way we’ve been going to the toilet is all wrong• Read the text version here Continue reading...

Test your knowledge of Tweet-speak, plus a social media maths puzzleUPDATE: to read the answers and solution click here.This week, two puzzles about social media. The first is something new for this column, a language quiz, and below it is the usual fare, a mathematical conundrum.In the 1990s, I used to write a weekly column in the Guardian about language. Were I to write the column today, one of my first subjects would be Twitter slang. Tweet-speak is a form of constrained writing: necessarily brief, and with a distinctive holler. Continue reading...

Research suggests body’s response to infection may be responsible for onset of CFSAn overactive immune response appears to be a trigger for persistent fatigue, say researchers in a study that could shed light on the causes of chronic fatigue syndrome.Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating long-term condition in which individuals experience exhaustion that is not helped by rest, as well as pain, mental fogginess and trouble with memory and sleep. It is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). Continue reading...

The smallest planet can be seen before sunrise this week together with the largest and the brightestThe elusive inner planet Mercury is making an appearance in the morning sky, just before sunrise this week. Two days ago it reached its greatest separation to the west of the sun, a configuration known as greatest western elongation, and hence it rises before the sun. To see it you will need a good eastern horizon. Start looking about an hour before sunrise. On 18 December the sun will rise at 08:02 GMT from London, 08:21 GMT from Manchester and 08:55 GMT from Inverness. The chart shows the view at 07:15 GMT on 18 December from London. That particular morning, Mercury will be joined in the sky by Jupiter. The largest of all the solar system’s planets, Jupiter has just emerged from conjunction, when its orbit carries it behind the sun from Earth’s perspective. Also in the morning sky this week, but much higher in altitude, will be the dazzling “morning star” of Venus. It will be a radiant beacon of white light, outshining everything in the sky except the sun and the moon. Venus will rise at around 4am and stay be visible until the sun peeps above the horizon. Continue reading...

Physician, scientist and medical researcher who focused on thalassaemia, a group of inherited blood conditionsThe physician, scientist and teacher David Weatherall, who has died aged 85, discovered most of what we know about thalassaemia, a group of inherited blood conditions that affect 1-2% of the world’s population.Thanks to genetic techniques developed by Weatherall, the incidence has been reduced in many countries. Continue reading...

Navigation skills tested through headsets may identify patients far earlierScientists have found an unexpected use for virtual reality headsets: to help pinpoint people who may later develop Alzheimer’s disease.The devices, widely used by computer gamers, display images that can be used to test the navigational skills of people thought to be at risk of dementia. Those who do worse in the tests will be the ones most likely to succumb to Alzheimer’s later in life, scientists now believe. Continue reading...

It’s now become a public ritual for a successful woman to out herself for having self-doubtsAt around the same, distant time that I was meant to be studying comparative – animal – psychology, a couple of US psychologists, Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes, came up with something never yet observed in a herring gull, but frequently – they concluded – afflicting successful women: the Impostor Phenomenon.It designated, they wrote, “an internal experience of intellectual phoniness, which appears to be particularly prevalent and intense among a select sample of high-achieving women”. Continue reading...

8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018

On 1 January 2019 the New Horizons probe will begin transmitting data from Ultima Thule, 4bn miles from Earth in the Kuiper belt. What will it find?Four billion miles from Earth, a swarm of little worlds circles the dark edge of our solar system. The sun is so remote from this place that it appears no brighter than a star. This is the Kuiper belt, a doughnut-shaped ring of icy objects that is one of the most mysterious – and one of the most scientifically intriguing – regions of space around our sun.The belt is made up of rubble left over from the formation of the sun’s planets billions of years ago, fragments that are a fossil record of the solar system’s birth. For decades, researchers have dreamed of getting a close-up look at one but have been thwarted by the utter remoteness of the Kuiper belt. Continue reading...