Tim Lott dances, roars and talks intimately at a masculinity workshop which ends in tears, praise and profound insightsDespite spending 62 years as a man, I have never quite worked out what the possession of my defining Y chromosome implies. I doubt, in truth, that much of the damn thing survives anyway. I was brought up in a generation when nearly all the parenting was done by mothers and I have now helped to bring up four daughters as well as having been through the crucible of two marriages. In short, I have lived most of my life in the penumbra of women.Lately, in the tremors of #MeToo, #TimesUp, the Jordan Peterson phenomenon and the emergence of “incels” (involuntary celibates) and Mgtow (men going their own way), I find myself puzzling over the question: what is masculinity anyway? To try to answer the question, I signed up for a weekend intensive course run by the media platform and transformational workshop company Rebel Wisdom, titled The New Masculinity, at a retreat in a converted barn in Buckinghamshire. Continue reading...

Struggles remain on enacting 2015 Paris accord despite more clarity on emissionsThe UN met on Saturday in Poland to discuss a draft agreement on climate change, which sources said was likely to pass, as exhausted delegates made compromises on some key issues but left other contentious problems to be resolved next year.The result will not be the breakthrough campaigners and some countries were hoping for, but will keep discussions alive on formulating key aspects of the implementation rules for the 2015 Paris accord. Continue reading...

Solving the RSS’s fiendishly tricky festive quiz will require general knowledge, logic and lateral thinkingFor the last quarter-century, the Royal Statistical Society has published a fiendishly difficult Christmas quiz to entertain puzzle fans over the festive break – and this year’s special 25th anniversary edition, devised by Dr Tim Paulden, is sure to get the cogs spinning after a glass or two of mulled wine. Cracking the 15 problems below will require a potent mix of general knowledge, logic, and lateral thinking – but, as usual, no specialist mathematical knowledge is needed.Two helpful tips for budding solvers: Continue reading...

Slow progress on 2015 Paris agreement comes as scientists warn of need to get on trackNegotiators at the climate conference in Poland have inched closer to an outcome, as the official deadline for finishing a deal ran out.The conference was meant to approve a rulebook which would govern how nations put into action the goals set in the landmark Paris agreement of 2015, when the world resolved to hold global warming to no more than 2C above pre-industrial levels, with an aspiration to limit temperature rises to no more than 1.5C. Continue reading...

At the COP24 conference, leaders lack the urgency felt by communities on the frontlines of a global threatAs wildfires burn, as temperatures rise, as the last remaining old-growth forests in Poland are logged, world leaders are in Katowice to negotiate the implementation of the Paris climate agreement. To outsiders, UN climate talks may seem like a positive step. Unfortunately, this is COP24.For 24 years, world leaders have annually talked at each other instead of to one another in hopes of reaching an agreement on how to mitigate the climate crisis. In all that time, they have barely scratched the surface of an issue that the world’s top climate scientists say we now have 12 years to stop – and that is an optimistic estimate. Continue reading...

Nasa's Juno craft has captured the chaotic weather systems on Jupiter as well as taken new measurements that will help to build a map of the planet's interior. The $1.1bn probe entered into an orbit pattern in July 2016 on a mission to peer through the clouds that shroud Jupiter and learn how the planet, and ultimately all the planets in our solar system were formed around the nascent sun 4.5bn years ago Continue reading...

The unhealthy narcissist’s secret fear is that if he’s not God, he’s nothing. The healthy narcissist knows the middle wayIn what undoubtedly qualifies as one of the sickest burns in modern politics, Denmark’s finance minister, Kristian Jensen, observed last year, “There are two kinds of European nations: there are small nations and there are countries that have not yet realised they are small nations.” Jensen’s not-so-veiled swipe at Britain was more accurate than he knew. In a recent study, people from 35 nations were asked “What contribution do you think the country you are living in has made to world history?”: 0% meant none, 100% meant they were responsible for all of it. The average British answer was 55% – a level of self-importance exceeded only by Russia, at 61%. The Swiss came bottom at 11%; the Americans, despite a reputation for national egomania, at a relatively modest 30%. Of course, there’s no way to measure a country’s true “percentage of history-making”, as Jesse Singal put it on the Research Digest blog. But we can be sure that people wildly overestimate their own: added up, the averages from each country came to 1156%.Look around and you might conclude we could do with much less “national narcissism”, as the study labels it, and less of the individual variety, too. But the fact that it’s so universal (let’s face it, even that Swiss percentage is surely far too high) suggests a caveat. While too much narcissism is unhealthy, for nations and individuals alike, a certain degree of inflated self-regard may be natural, even necessary. Wouldn’t it be psychologically crushing to go through life with an absolutely objective understanding of how little you and your country matter today, let alone in the context of history? National narcissism may be a bit like the (admittedly controversial) idea of “depressive realism”, which suggests that depressed people have a more accurate sense of their ability to influence events than the non-depressed. With a genuine idea of your own importance, it might be hard to get out of bed in the morning. Continue reading...

University grows 60 plants on coco peat and rock wool, avoiding soil-borne diseaseA Dutch university has grown the Netherlands’ first crop of bananas as part of a research programme that could help protect the fruit from a deadly fungus that threatens production worldwide.Wageningen University grew 60 banana plants in its greenhouses on coco peat and rock wool, avoiding the threat of a soil-borne fungal disease that could destroy hundreds of thousands of hectares of banana plants around the world, local media reported. The crop will be offered to local hospitals and restaurants. Continue reading...

Trial seeks further proof that tuning into our internal organs’ activity can reduce anxiety

Nascent industry aims to reduce environmental impact of beef productionThe first steak grown from cells in the lab and not requiring the slaughter of a cow has been produced in Israel.The meat is not the finished article: the prototype costs $50 for a small strip, and the taste needs perfecting, according to its makers. But it is the first meat grown outside an animal that has a muscle-like texture similar to conventional meat. Continue reading...

Author of LSE research says findings show scope for ‘changing attitude later in life’Being the father of a school-aged daughter makes men less sexist, according to a new study.The team behind the work say the findings support the idea that men become more aware of the challenges facing women when they see the female experience of life up close through their offspring – something dubbed the “mighty girl” effect. Continue reading...

Nicola Davis asks what’s behind one of humanity’s most powerful and possibly evolutionarily important emotionsWhen it comes to emotions, words such as joy, anger and disgust immediately spring to mind. But in recent years, psychologists have been turning their attention to a lesser-studied emotion: awe. Whether it’s a breathtaking landscape or a glorious sunset, this research is painting awe, and the effects it has on us, as potentially one of the most important in our emotional repertoire. But what might be going on psychologically? How might these effects have helped our ancestors? And could we all do with more awe?To help answer all this and more, Nicola Davis talks to University of California, Berkeley’s Professor Dacher Keltner, who, in 2003, co-authored one of the field’s most important theoretical papers. And to see how this theory is backed up by the experimental evidence, we hear from the University of Houston’s Dr Melanie Rudd, whose work has found links between time perception, wellbeing and awe. Continue reading...

Chang’e-4 is second spacecraft in Chinese mission to land on far side of the moonChina’s lunar lander Chang’e-4 has successfully entered orbit around the moon.After a voyage of 240,000 miles (385,000km) that lasted 110 hours, the spacecraft fired its retrorockets on 12 December while just 80 miles above the lunar surface. This placed it in a stable elliptical orbit, where it will stay until the landing attempt, which is expected next month. Continue reading...

Key sticking point at UN negotiations is how countries should account for their greenhouse gas emissionsChina called on rich countries to “pay their debts” on climate change at global talks on Thursday, criticising developed countries for not doing enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide finance to help poor countries do the same.The trenchant intervention by Xie Zhenhua, the minister who leads the Chinese delegation and a veteran of the UN climate negotiations, came as China faced increasing pressure to shift its stance on some of the key rules required to implement the 2015 Paris agreement. Continue reading...

Doctors should decontaminate tools more thoroughly as a precaution, say researchersSurgical instruments used in brain operations should be treated to ensure they are not contaminated with proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease, according to scientists who found evidence that they may be spread by certain medical procedures.The researchers urged doctors to decontaminate neurosurgical tools more thoroughly as a precautionary measure to reduce the potential risk of spreading abnormal proteins known to build up in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. Continue reading...

Spacecraft launched on Thursday in test mission became first commercial US flight beyond the atmosphere since 2011A Virgin Galactic rocket plane blasted to the edge of space on Thursday, capping off years of difficult testing to become the first US commercial human flight to reach space since America’s shuttle program ended in 2011.The test flight foreshadows a civilian space race that could kick off as soon as next year, with the British billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic battling other billionaire-backed ventures to be the first to offer suborbital flights to tourists who pony up the hefty fares. Continue reading...

Study suggests standard test, widely used since 1950s, does not work for chronic sufferers

Researchers think differences in hair follicle shape may increase risk of conditionThe world’s first genetic study of people with acne has raised the prospect of new treatments for those with severe cases of the skin condition.The study of almost 27,000 people, including 5,602 with severe acne, identified genetic differences that were more common in people with the skin condition. Scientists found that many of the genetic variants influenced the formation of hair follicles, which was previously an unknown risk factor for the condition. The researchers think that differences in the shape of hair follicles may make some people’s skin more prone to harbour bacteria, creating the conditions for acne. Continue reading...

Infants often find comfort in ‘transitional objects’ that help them on the path to independence. Guardian readers discuss the security blankets and teddies they have held closeWhen he was four years old, Chris had a piece of blue cloth he took everywhere with him, which he called Boo-Boo. Now 60, a retired teacher, husband and father of three adult children, he still remembers the feeling of safety he found when he gently rubbed the soft fabric against his face or between his fingers. “My Boo-Boo provided me with the comfort and security I craved. I wanted it with me, a bit like I wanted my mum with me all the time when I was little,” he says.Shortly before Chris’s first day at school, his mother told him that he could not take his Boo-Boo with him and that he should throw it into their fire. “I can see it now, the lounge and the open fire, my mum telling me that I had to throw this Boo-Boo in. I couldn’t have it any more, I had to grow up. I can’t remember whether I cried or not, I can just feel the anguish. I had a sense of loss, an emptiness, without understanding.” Continue reading...

Cosmonauts to collect samples for analysis after suspicions foreign sabotage caused leakSpacewalking astronauts have ripped through thick insulation on a capsule docked to the International Space Station looking for clues about a mysterious drilled hole that caused a leak four months ago.Russians cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Oleg Kononenko located the tiny hole in the external hull of the Soyuz capsule, more than five hours into their gruelling spacewalk. Continue reading...

The national health impact could be substantial, preventing more than 190,000 cases of diabetes and 16,000 cases of cancerWe don’t often equate the kilojoules we drink in our glass of wine or pint of beer with the weight that accumulates around our middle. But our new study shows increasing the price of alcohol is the foremost value-for-money policy option to prevent obesity in Australia.The study, released today, shows if we increase alcohol taxes by standardising them across different types of alcohol, overall alcohol consumption would go down. This would lead to substantial reductions in the kilojoules Australians consume each day. Continue reading...

Tropical insect uses lethal speed of its spring-loaded mandibles to stun or kill preyMove aside cheetah and peregrine falcon, there is a new contender for the title of fastest animal on Earth: the Dracula ant. Scientists have discovered that the small tropical insect can snap its mandibles at up to 90 metres a second (more than 200mph), the fastest animal movement on record.The ants use the explosive motion to attack, stun and kill prey, which is then fed to their larvae. Continue reading...

Agency aims to boost commercial ties with the global aerospace industryAdelaide has been chosen as the location of Australia’s new national space agency.The federal government has set aside $41m for the new agency, which aims to boost commercial ties with the global aerospace industry worth billions. Continue reading...

Former chess world champion Garry Kasparov likes what he sees of computer that could be used to find cures for diseasesGarry Kasparov is not only humanity’s greatest ever chess player but its highest-profile victim of artificial intelligence. His loss to IBM’s super computer Deep Blue in 1997 made global headlines and left him feeling bitter and, well, blue. Yet there is a warm glint in his eye when he talks about AlphaZero, the game-changing chess programme that took just four hours to teach itself to become the strongest in history.Related: Magnus Carlsen beats Caruana in tie-breakers to retain World Chess crown Continue reading...

Nasa detects ice retreat probably linked to ocean changes in region once thought stableA group of glaciers spanning an eighth of the East Antarctica coastline are being melted by the warming seas, scientists have discovered.This Antarctic region stores a vast amount of ice, which, if lost, would in the long-term raise global sea level by tens of metres and drown coastal settlements around the world. Continue reading...

Silver-eyed Minerva found by a farmer 10 years ago dates back to first or second centuryA 2,000-year-old Roman statuette of a silver-eyed goddess Minerva that for more than a decade was kept in a plastic margarine tub is among a record number of treasure discoveries made by the nation’s army of metal detectorists.The British Museum on Tuesday revealed the details of 1,267 finds across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, more than there has ever been since the Treasure Act was passed in 1996. Continue reading...

The human race needs all the love and hope it can get. So I will not face the dying of my light with rage, but with graceMy crumbly crew are having coffee at the community centre after its annual carol concert and Charlie hits his usual glass-half-empty note. Trouble is, he’s right. Goodwill seems pretty thin on the ground nowadays, wherever you look. Wars and rumours of wars, famine, drought, fires, floods, plagues among the people, pestilence among the beasts, it’s all beginning to sound a tad apocalyptic. An end time has begun, or so it seems.Related: At 80, I’m on the last lap of life’s circuit and I don’t want to get off | Stewart Dakers Continue reading...

Research reveals females deemed intellectually inferior, with prejudice present in children as well as adultsWomen and girls are less likely to be seen as suited to brainy tasks, researchers have found, in the latest study to shed light on gender biases.Female students do better at school and are more likely to go to university than their male peers. However, the latest study reveals that females are deemed intellectually inferior, and that such prejudices are present not only in adults of both sexes but in children too. Continue reading...

Spacecraft becomes second human-made object to reach space between starsNasa’s Voyager 2 has become only the second human-made object to reach the space between stars.Nasa said that the spacecraft left the region of the sun’s influence last month and is now beyond the outer boundary of the heliosphere, about 11 billion miles from Earth. It is trailing Voyager 1, which reached interstellar space – the vast, mostly empty area between star systems – in 2012. Continue reading...

Researchers discover urban male túngara frogs call more, and with more complex vocalisations, than rural peersLiving in a forest might sound romantic, but city life makes males more attractive to the opposite sex – at least if you are a túngara frog.Researchers have discovered that urban males of the species have more attractive calls than their rural peers. Continue reading...

‘Ecological memory’ shows cumulative impact of climate change, say scientistsGreat Barrier Reef corals that survived bleaching in 2016 were more resistant to a second marine heatwave the following year, “astonished” scientists have observed.A study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, outlines how a process called “ecological memory” emerged in the northernmost reefs during back-to-back heatwaves in 2016 and 2017. Continue reading...

Global team of scientists find ecosystem below earth that is twice the size of world’s oceans

The Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak this week, with up to 75 streaks an hour – which can be multicolouredThe Geminids are one of the most reliable meteor showers of the year, with some 75 bright streaks an hour predicted to be visible from a dark site. They will radiate in all directions from the constellation Gemini, from which the shower takes its name. They are distinguished from other meteor showers in that the bright trails can be multicoloured. Although mostly white, yellow is quite common and green, red and blue have been known. It is thought that the colours come from traces of metals in the dust grains that burn up to produce the meteors. Unlike most meteor showers, which come from comets, the Geminids originate from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. They are also a comparatively young shower, having first been seen in 1862, and there is some evidence that the shower is getting stronger each year. Meteors from the shower are visible between 4–16 December, but the peak occurs this week on the night of 13-14 December. To see them, wrap up warm and head outside. In the northern hemisphere, any time after dark will be good but in the southern hemisphere, Gemini rises later so aim to start looking around midnight. Continue reading...

Harmonies in the boom of a gong are transporting busy brains into a meditative stateLeo Cosendai used to be an acutely anxious young man. “I couldn’t cope with taking the train,” he says. “I never felt safe.” So when he moved to London from Switzerland in 2008 to study music, he tried yoga to calm him down. But it was when he discovered gong meditation sessions, otherwise known as sound baths, that he started transforming into the smiley, serene person he is today. He was so deeply affected by the practice that he ditched his singing and composing career, invested in some gongs of his own and embarked on a mission to pass on his newfound contentment to others. “I’m not saying I’m happy all the time,” he qualifies, “but I’m comfortable with life even when it’s really uncomfortable.”To find out exactly why banging a loud gong can have such a transformational effect on mind and body, I try out one of his sessions along with 20 other sound-bath novices. We gather on the top floor of a building near London Bridge with panoramic views of a sunset so dazzling it’s impossible not to sneak a phone snap, even though this feels unmindful and decidedly not in-the-moment. However, Cosendai remains characteristically nonjudgmental as he checks his three beautiful gongs are in order. Yoga mats are laid out with eye pillows placed at one end. Once we’re all reclined and quiet, the bright lights, noisy air conditioning and squeaky floor all feel amplified. Cosendai begins by listing these as things to simply notice and acknowledge, along with how our bodies feel on our mats, as he directs our awareness to the present moment. Continue reading...

The American scientist, whose new book explains why vaccines didn’t cause his daughter’s autism, on why conspiracy theorists need to be challengedPeter Hotez is dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He has worked on developing vaccines for hookworm and schistosomiasis, and is a vocal opponent of the anti-vaccine movement. His daughter Rachel is autistic and he has written a book, Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism, in which he describes her condition and tackles the newly resurgent anti-vaccine movement.Why did you decide to write this book through the prism of your own child?

Scientists celebrate recording low-frequency rumblings – ‘an unplanned treat’The sound of the wind on Mars has been captured for the first time by Nasa’s InSight lander, which touched down on the red planet 10 days ago.The agency’s jet propulsion laboratory (JPL) released audio clips of the alien wind on Friday evening. InSight collected the low-frequency rumblings during its first week of operations. Continue reading...

Winners of chemistry prize say excessive concerns could limit scientific progressWinners of this year’s Nobel prize for chemistry say overblown fears about genetically modified foods risk preventing society benefiting from the technology.Prof Frances Arnold, from the US, and Sir Gregory Winter, from Britain, made the comments on Friday ahead of Monday’s presentation of the prize. Continue reading...

Witton-le-Wear, County Durham: This tangle of gnarled trees has a hint of the Florida Everglades about it, with mossy, fallen trunks sinking back into the oozeOn an overcast, drizzly afternoon at Durham Wildlife Trust’s Low Barns nature reserve, alder (Alnus glutinosa) provided the brightest splash of colour in the landscape.A tree had been felled and sawn into logs. Chainsaw wounds on this species can look like a massacre, because soon after the timber is cut, it turns a lurid shade of red, almost like blood, in stark contrast to the battleship-grey bark. Eventually those wounds, which briefly resemble raw meat, fade to orange and finally to chestnut brown. Continue reading...

This week’s Upside digest looks at the ways to tackle climate change and rediscover our natural spacesAs the world’s leaders converged on Katowice, Poland, for this year’s UN climate change conference, the mood was sombre. How could it be anything other, when in the opening keynote one of the world’s foremost naturalists said we were all pretty much doomed?While the numbers do not make for happy reading, there are plenty of people trying to do something about them. Our reporter Leyland Cecco writes this week from the Canadian west, where the province of British Columbia has come up with an innovative response to the global carbon splurge. Continue reading...

When I gave evidence showing that an environmental toxin had caused deaths, the authorities hired a rogue scientistMost of my job as an academic researcher is spent at my desk or in meetings, so it was with some surprise that I ended up working on a legal case. I felt like a scientist in a TV thriller. I had been contacted by someone who asked me to analyse some simple data, and the results were clear: they revealed deaths and emergency admissions to hospital caused by a known environmental toxin.Related: Performance-driven culture is ruining science | Anonymous Academic Continue reading...

Chang’e 4 mission aims to drop a rover into a vast and unexplored impact craterThe first spacecraft to attempt a landing on the far side of the moon is due to blast off from a launch facility in China, a historic step in lunar exploration.The Chinese space agency’s Chang’e 4 mission aims to drop a robotic lander and rover into the moon’s vast and unexplored South Pole-Aitken basin. Continue reading...

Last week Dr He Jiankui announced he had created the world’s first gene-edited babies. Hundreds of Chinese scientists have signed a letter condemning the research. Hannah Devlin delves into why He’s research has caused such uproarLast week the Chinese scientist Dr He Jiankui announced he had created the first gene-edited babies. Many scientists have expressed concern about He’s work: hundreds of Chinese scientists signed a letter condemning the research, and others have called it ‘unethical’ and ‘monstrous’. Hannah Devlin delves into why He’s research has caused such uproar, along with Güneş Taylor from the Francis Crick Institute, Dr Helen O’Neill from UCL and Dr Gaetan Burgio from the Australian National University.Thank you to the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing for allowing Science Weekly to feature their audio of Dr He Jiankui’s talk. Continue reading...

Better drugs, vaccination and genomics will help to make some operations obsoleteThousands of people every year could be spared surgery for cancer and worn-out joints thanks to better drugs, vaccination and advances in genomics, a report by medical experts predicts.Developments in surgery could also make many operations less invasive and more effective, while more patients would have preventive procedures to stop an illness worsening. Continue reading...

Up to 96% of all marine species and more than two-thirds of terrestrial species perished 252m years agoRapid global warming caused the largest extinction event in the Earth’s history, which wiped out the vast majority of marine and terrestrial animals on the planet, scientists have found.Related: Save millions of lives by tackling climate change, says WHO Continue reading...

Pandemic could explain crash in European population 5,500 years ago and influx of people from Eurasian steppeAn ancient strain of the plague found in a woman buried in Sweden may be the fatal signature of a devastating pandemic that swept through stone age farmers and set the stage for a massive migration into Europe from the east.Evidence for the grim scenario came to light when scientists ran genetic tests on a 20-year-old woman from a rural farming community who was among 78 people buried in a passage grave in Gökhem in western Sweden. Continue reading...

Total of 41 cases overturned and further 50 investigations dropped after Randox lab data ‘manipulation’The criminal convictions of 41 people have been quashed following an investigation into alleged data tampering at a forensics lab, the National Police Chiefs’ Council has said.The NPCC’s forensics lead, chief constable James Vaughan, said the 41 convictions or guilty pleas, all relating to drug driving offences, had been reopened and overturned. Continue reading...

The live birth of a baby girl in São Paulo is a medical advance that may change the definition of motherhoodA year ago, a baby girl was born by caesarean section in a hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, after being conceived by IVF. What made the birth unique was that the child had been gestated in a womb transplanted from a 45-year-old woman who had died.Births resulting from uterus transplants have been happening since 2014, but for all previous children conceived this way, the donor was alive. That, understandably, places severe limits on the availability of the organs. This demonstration, reported in the Lancet – that a uterus can be successfully preserved and transplanted from a deceased person – could relax the supply bottleneck for women otherwise unable to conceive because of uterine problems. Continue reading...

Staff and students want UCL to remove name of ‘father of eugenics’ Francis Galton from university buildingsUniversity College London has launched an inquiry into its historical links with eugenics, following pressure from students and staff.It emerged in January that conferences on eugenics and intelligence had been run secretly at the university for at least three years by James Thompson, an honorary senior lecturer at UCL. Speakers included white supremacists and a researcher who has previously advocated child rape. Continue reading...

Academics say university’s inquiry must address wider issue of racial equality on campusUniversity College London has launched an inquiry into its historical links with eugenics, following pressure from students and staff.It emerged in January that conferences on eugenics and intelligence had been run secretly at the university for at least three years by James Thompson, an honorary senior lecturer at UCL. Speakers included white supremacists and a researcher who has previously advocated child rape. Continue reading...

Global warming is harming people’s lives and humanity will not be able to cope, say scientistsThe sweltering heat that hit the UK this summer was made 30 times more likely by human-caused climate change, a Met Office analysis has found.Scientists said the research showed global warming was already harming people’s lives and was not only a future threat. Continue reading...