Scientists studying the tissue bequeathed to the Sydney Brain Bank hope it will lead them to an eventual cure for neurodegenerative diseasesIt’s a rainy Wednesday morning and Dr Andrew Affleck is driving more carefully than usual on his way to the Neuroscience Research Australia building in Randwick.It’s not just the slick, crowded roads putting the edge on his caution; in the boot of his car, cocooned in several layers of protective container and nestled in ice, is the brain of a human being who was alive only a few hours earlier. Continue reading...

Study of beetles could explain global decline – and also be a warning to humankindHeatwaves severely damage the fertility of male beetles and consecutive hot spells leave them virtually sterilised, according to research.Global warming is making heatwaves more common and wildlife is being annihilated, and the study may reveal a way in which these two trends are linked. The scientists behind the findings said there could also be some relevance for humans: the sperm counts of western men have halved in the last 40 years. Continue reading...

With Google taking the place of memory, many worry that a vital faculty is eroding. Can memory athletes – who can retain hundreds of numbers in seconds – show us how to get it back?Alex Mullen has an extraordinary talent: after just 16 seconds of flicking through a pack of cards, he can recall their exact order. The 26-year-old medical student began using memory techniques to help with his university degree, but he picked them up so quickly that soon he was entering competitions, eventually becoming the International Association of Memory world champion in 2015. At the championships, which take place again this December, “memory athletes” compete to remember the most in the shortest time, in categories that include card sequences, names, faces and dates of historic events.“My first world championships win was very surreal. I was training hard, but winning was never really on my radar,” Mullen says. “When I won by literally one second, on the tenth and final event, I didn’t really process it.” Yet he went on to win the championships again in 2017, is ranked No 1 in the world and holds multiple records for his recall skills. Continue reading...

Having genetic variants linked to high BMI can lead to mental health issues, study findsBeing overweight can cause depression, researchers say, with the effects thought to be largely psychological.While previous studies have found that people who are obese are more likely to have depression, it has been unclear whether that is down to depression driving weight changes or the reverse. Continue reading...

German chancellor makes speech in Berlin on 100th anniversary of female suffrageThe German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said that her role as the most powerful woman in Germany should not let society off the hook for the small proportion of women in politics.As Germany marked the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, Merkel said in a speech in Berlin that there was a lot still to do to achieve gender equality, notably in the worlds of politics, business, science and culture. Continue reading...

UK resident infected with disease after being bitten by cat, says Public Health EnglandA Briton has died after contracting rabies while visiting Morocco, public health officials have said.The UK resident was infected with the disease after being bitten by a cat, Public Health England (PHE) said on Monday. Continue reading...

Ethologist, broadcaster and expert on the evolutionary genetics of animal behaviour who was a natural communicator on televisionAubrey Manning’s hugely popular 1998 BBC series Earth Story, about the evolution and shaping of the planet Earth, inspired a generation and led to a noticeable increase in students applying to read earth sciences. Yet, Aubrey, who has died aged 88, was not a geologist, but an ethologist, whose work made an important contribution to the understanding of how animal behaviour plays a role in the evolution of new species.In a series of experiments at Oxford and Edinburgh universities – he was professor of natural history (1973-97) at the latter – Aubrey showed how mutations in genes that affect the behaviour of fruit flies could lead to reproductive isolation, a key mechanism in the creation of new species. This work laid the foundation for the modern study of the evolutionary genetics of behaviour. Continue reading...

We all have an innate ability to pick a face out of a crowd. But some can memorise thousands of people – often seen only fleetingly on CCTV. Alex Moshakis meets the ‘super recognisers’Earlier this year, a softly-spoken community support officer named Andy Pope received the Chief Constable’s Award, an honour bestowed on police force employees who’ve shown extraordinary bravery, or remarkable dedication, or both. In Pope’s case, the award related to a peculiar knack. Between 2012 and 2017, he identified 1,000 criminal suspects, sometimes by connecting images taken from CCTV footage to mugshots available on the police database, which he does nearly every morning, but more often while riding the West Midlands train, bus and tram network, which falls under his beat. (He calls at least one Birmingham bus route “my baby”.) By any measurement, Pope’s achievement was staggering. During the same period, most of his colleagues had struggled to make even a 10th of his tally, and some had made no identifications at all. When I mentioned Pope’s stats to one chief superintendent, he was shocked. “Unbelievable,” he said. “In 20 years I’ve only identified about 30 people.”Pope has recognised suspects wanted for all manner of serious crimes, from assault and exposure to theft. And, on the strength of his identifications, many of those perpetrators have been arrested, convicted and sent to prison. Continue reading...

An extraordinary new documentary about identical triplets who were separated at birth has reignited the debate over the dominance of DNA in controlling our behaviour and the way we live our livesRobert Shafran’s first inkling that his life would soon be turned on its head occurred on his first day at college in upstate New York in 1980. His fellow students greeted him like a long-lost friend. “Guys slapped me on the back, girls hugged and kissed me,” he recalls. Yet Robert had never set foot inside Sullivan County Community College until that day.Another student, Eddy Galland, who had studied at the college the previous year, was the cause of the confusion, it transpired. Eddy was his spitting image, said classmates. Robert was intrigued and went to Eddy’s home to confront him. Continue reading...

An ancient unopened tomb and rare mummified scarab beetles were also unearthed at the site south of Cairo

Anthropologist and presenter takes over as figurehead of campaign group next yearThe scientist and television presenter Alice Roberts is to be the next president of Humanists UK, championing campaigns against state funding of faith schools and in favour of removing bishops from the House of Lords and the legalisation of assisted dying.Roberts, the author of nine popular science books and the host of TV programmes such as The Incredible Human Journey and Digging for Britain, will take on the figurehead role on 1 January 2019. From September next year, she will also be the president of the British Science Association. Continue reading...

A team of former civil servants specialising in behavioural psychology now pulls in revenues of £14m a yearDavid Halpern pauses at the mention of a quote from one of the government’s senior Brexiters – that “people in this country have had enough of experts” – and briefly gazes out of a window in the Westminster offices of the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT).“Empirically, it doesn’t appear to be true,” replies the chief executive of the business that was once the Cabinet Office team nicknamed the “nudge unit”. It was spun off in 2014 as a “social purpose company” and is now co-owned by its employees, the Cabinet Office and the innovation charity Nesta. Continue reading...

Prison letters are a treasure trove of stories – filled with both honesty and humourEight years ago, I saw a job ad on a local website. A small charity was looking for a PR officer. The ad was brief, but it struck me as sweet. In it, they said that through yoga and meditation, they offered hope and healing to prisoners. I liked the sound of that. Unfortunately, I had no experience at all in the criminal justice sector, and I had also never done yoga and meditation. When they asked me why I wanted the job I said that I wanted to leave work each day feeling as if I’d made the world a little bit better rather than a little bit worse. I still work there today.On my first day I was sent to the filing cabinet room and told to have a look through some of the old correspondence to get an idea of how the letter-writing element of the charity worked. It was a treasure trove of stories – conversations between a prisoner and a letter-writing volunteer stretching over years, occasionally decades in some cases. The things that the prisoners wrote really jumped off the page – they were sad or angry, or despairing, or filled with excitement and hope about the future. They were often very funny. And they were honest. I had never encountered that level of honesty in conversation before – and I haven’t since. Continue reading...

Lamar Smith, retiring chair of the House science committee, has vehemently denied that climate change is man madeSeven scientists are entering the US congress next year, from engineers and health professionals to an energy businessman and a computer programmer. Five of them are women, including a new senator for Nevada. All are Democrats.Dr Rush Holt, a physicist who represented New Jersey in congress and is now CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, said the newcomers will likely never use their specific expertise but will contribute a much-needed way of thinking. Continue reading...

The weight is defined by a lump of metal in a Paris vault - which could make Earth ‘laughing stock of universe’For the band of specialists in the much-overlooked arena of metrology, it will be the most profound moment in more than a century. Since 1889, one of the pillars of the science, the kilogram, has been defined by a lump of metal held in a triple-locked vault in a lab on the outskirts of Paris. It is the one true kilogram in the world.Related: The future of the kilo: a weighty matter Continue reading...

Nicola Davis sits down with Nobel prize-winning scientist Sir Venki Ramakrishnan to discuss the competition he faced in the race to discover the ribosome – AKA the gene machine. Is competition good for science, or would a collaborative approach be better?Competition, as defined by the Oxford living dictionary, is ‘the activity or condition of striving to gain or win something by defeating or establishing superiority over others’. Organisms, including humans, compete all the time – for food, for water, for a mate, for space. But should science also operate in this way?In his new book The Gene Machine, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sir Venki Ramakrishnan from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology writes about the competition he faced in the race to understand the ribosome – a fundamental part of how DNA is encoded into the stuff that all organisms need to develop, live and reproduce. Nicola Davis sits down with Venki to discuss the idea of competition in science – could it be driving innovation or is it damaging research? Continue reading...

The Guardian has obtained an audio recording of a presentation by Craig Kelly at the right-aligned Mosman branch of the Liberal party in September that outlines in detail his climate scepticism Continue reading...

Christie’s sale also includes items belonging to Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Albert EinsteinStephen Hawking’s wheelchair and a set of his medals and awards have been sold for a combined total of nearly £600,000, while a copy of his PhD thesis raised almost that amount on its own, at an auction of items belonging to him and other celebrated scientists.The sale, run online by Christie’s and including 52 lots, raised more than £1.8m on Thursday. It included items belonging to Hawking, as well as others linked to Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein. Continue reading...

DNA testing discredits theory Nevada’s ‘Spirit Cave mummy’ is of Paleoamerican heritageScientists attempting to map out the historical migrations of North and South America by analysing ancient bones have revealed that a 10,000-year-old skeleton unearthed in a cave in Nevada is the ancestor of a Native American tribe.The iconic skeleton, known as the “Spirit Cave mummy”, was reburied this summer by the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone people in Nevada, bringing closure to a decades-long legal dispute with anthropologists who fought for it to remain on display in a museum. Continue reading...

Research finds 27.6% of people say they feel lonely at least three days every weekMore than one-fifth of Australians rarely or never feel they have someone to talk to or turn to for help, and more than one quarter feel lonely for at least three days every week, according to a comprehensive study of loneliness and wellbeing.Swinburne University in Melbourne and the Australian Psychological Society are conducting the country’s first research project on the impact of loneliness on physical and mental health, and released their preliminary findings on Friday. Continue reading...

This engaging documentary explores controversial research into the treatment of depression with magic mushroomsAn intriguing, inconclusive film about an intriguing, inconclusive drug trial. Monty Yates’s documentary shows the work of Dr Robin Carhart-Harris at Imperial College London: after years of bureaucratic wrangling, he got permission to conduct research into the possibility that psilocybin – the psycho-active ingredient of magic mushrooms – could be used to treat depression. Could it be that society’s taboo disapproval is needlessly holding back our understanding of this issue?We see three long-term sufferers of depression, sensitively interviewed about their lives. They are each shown into a room that has been tricked out like an aromatherapy suite with low lighting and gentle music; they lie down on a couch, and doctors reassuringly hold their hand. They are given a low, introductory dose of shroom-essence at the first session, and at the second the amount is stepped up. The results are startling. Continue reading...

Investigation reveals 25 of 195 CCGs in England have not issued glucose monitoring devicesTens of thousands of people living with type 1 diabetes in England are being refused access to devices that could improve lives, an investigation has revealed, with experts claiming that the situation amounts to a “postcode lottery”.About 400,000 people in the UK have type 1 diabetes – an autoimmune condition where the body does not produce insulin, leading to glucose not being taken up by cells and potentially reaching dangerously high levels in the blood. Continue reading...

Mary Somerville and Caroline Herschel would both be fitting choices, writes Gerard GilliganWith regard to the suggestion of who should appear on the new £50 note (Editorial, 6 November), may I suggest Mary Somerville (1780-1872), a self-taught mathematician and polymath, an early campaigner for women’s rights and the vote. Her book On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences became one of the bestselling science books of the 19th century. The word scientist was first used in a review of her book.There is also Caroline Herschel (1750-1848), who was with her better known brother William when he discovered the planet Uranus in 1781. She became the world’s first professional astronomer, with her salary being provided by King George III. Following the production of a catalogue of astronomical nebulae, she became the first woman to be awarded the Royal Astronomical Society’s gold medal in 1828. She was also an accomplished comet hunter.

OECD says superbugs could kill 1.3m people in Europe unless more is done to tackle issueMore than 90,000 people in Britain will die over the next three decades unless action is taken to halt the rise in antibiotic-resistant superbug infections, a report has warned.The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates resistant infections could kill about 2.4 million people in Europe, North America and Australia by 2050 unless more is done to tackle the problem, which it describes as “one of the biggest threats to modern medicine”. Continue reading...

New analysis suggests the animal drawings are at least 40,000 years old, say scientistsA patchy, weathered painting of a beast daubed on the wall of a limestone cave in Borneo may be the oldest known example of figurative rock art, say researchers who dated the work.Faded and fractured, the reddish-orange image depicts a plump but slender-legged animal, probably a species of wild cattle that still lives on the island, or simply dinner in the eyes of the artist, if one streak of ochre that resembles a spear protruding from its flank is any guide. Continue reading...

An epithet for angry old white men has been named one of the words of 2018. That doesn’t say much for our political discourseGammon has been named one of the Collins dictionary’s words of the year. Not because we’re finally celebrating the underdog of all Christmas meats, but because of its place in the politically charged debate around Brexit, in which it is used to describe angry, middle-aged, white Brexiteers – presumably made red in the face by all their fury, bigotry and nationalism.It’s been greeted by some as a natural bedfellow for other words on the surprisingly “woke” list – which also includes gaslighting, #MeToo and single-use. When “identity politics” is dismissed to belittle minorities for caring about who they are, I can see why people are happy to have a word that mocks the majority for being passionate about their identities too. Continue reading...

Harvard professors suggest the cigar-shaped interstellar object that whizzed past the sun last year could be an alien probeName: 1I/2017 U1 ‘Oumuamua.Meaning: “A messenger that reaches out from the distant past” (in Hawaiian). Continue reading...

New chemical analysis of iron age skulls confirms the grisly practice, referred to in ancient textsThey were fearsome warriors who cut off the heads of their enemies and displayed them for all to see, bringing them back from battle hanging around their horses’ necks. But now research has confirmed that the Gauls did not merely sever the heads of their foes, they appear to have embalmed them to boot.Experts say they have found traces of conifer resins on the remains of skulls discovered at the iron age settlement of Le Cailar in the south of France – a discovery they say backs up ancient reports that the Celtic Gauls preserved their grisly trophies. Continue reading...

Research reveals link between environmental factors and rising cases of myopia

Insects near waste water could give a platypus or trout half a human dose of antidepressantsA platypus living in a creek or stream with waste water could be exposed to 50% of a human daily dose of antidepressants just by eating its normal diet of insects, according to new research.A team of scientists, led by researchers at Monash University, has analysed insects and riparian spiders found in six Melbourne streams for traces of 98 different types of pharmaceuticals. Continue reading...

In exposing audiences to people who didn’t look, sound or behave like them, the show had a positive effect on societyIn the film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo asks Frodo: “Any chance of seeing that old ring of mine again? I should like to have held it one last time.” Like the ring, Big Brother – which had its final episode last night – was a drug. Who wouldn’t want more? But the adoration you get from being in the show isn’t real; the safety and isolation of the House (it’s always capitalised when I write about it) isn’t permanent; free food and accommodation can’t be provided forever. Eventually Stockholm syndrome must be left behind and one must return to reality.Related: Farewell Big Brother, the show that changed the face of television | Philip Edgar-Jones Continue reading...

Most of those undergoing procedure in England did not appear to need it, report showsMore than 88% of surgeries to remove children’s tonsils are unnecessary, according to new research, with experts warning the procedure could do more harm than good.According to researchers, about 37,000 tonsillectomies were performed on children in England by the NHS between April 2016 and March 2017, carrying a bill of £42m. Continue reading...

The solution to today’s puzzleIn my puzzle column earlier today I set you the following conundrum, concerning an incident in which six men were arrested during the 1605 Gunpowder Plot. Each of the men were questioned in private about who was a traitor and who was loyal. They made the following remarks.Augustine: Felix is loyal, Erasmus is a traitor.Bartholomew: Augustine is loyal. Continue reading...

A puzzling episode from the early seventeenth centuryUPDATE: To read the solution click hereHi guzzlers,Today’s puzzle concerns the Gunpowder Plot, in which Guy Fawkes and pals attempted to burn down the Houses of Parliament on this day in 1605. In an incident as yet unreported by historians, six men were rounded up by the authorities on suspicion of being traitors. Continue reading...

Hilbre Islands, Wirral: Visitors hoping to glimpse grey seals will find only a few stragglers. The rest are off to their breeding groundsThe Hilbre Islands may be small but they demand attention. The diminutive archipelago encompassing Little Eye, Middle Eye and Hilbre (pronounced locally like a mound of soft French cheese) sits a mile or so from the shore of West Kirby and Red Rocks. But anyone wishing to visit must pay attention to the tide and the route. The islands are accessible when the tide is out, but you must take care to avoid the treacherous mud and follow the trail to stop at each island in turn.Plenty of visitors are ahead of me on the walk today, the rippled sienna sands are covered in myriad boot marks and pawprints. I get a face full of drizzle on the way out – Talacre across the Dee estuary is obscured by cloud. Fortunately, it’s easing off by the time I reach Middle Eye and, curled in close to the layers of red Bunter sandstone, I get my binoculars out for a glimpse of the grey seals. Continue reading...

It’s bizarre to think that doctors make good parents – in fact, the opposite may well be trueI was standing in the check-in queue, sunburned, exhausted and very late for a seven-hour flight from Toronto to London. My wife had, sensibly, returned from the holiday a day earlier. In one arm I held my screaming one-year-old daughter, Lyra. Her folded pram was slung over the other shoulder. I was clutching passports and a nappy bag and surrounding me on the floor were my suitcases and an assortment of carrier bags overflowing with food, nappies, books and toys. Lyra went silent, I felt her abdomen tense, her face turned deep crimson and she forced out a long and resonant fart which sounded far more like it came from me than from her. A little area cleared around me in the airport. For some reason, probably fatigue, I put a finger into the nappy gusset to check that it was just a fart. It wasn’t. Now my finger was coated in baby poo and pretty soon so were our passports, luggage, Lyra and me. She was unfed, unwatered, covered in shit, and we were about to miss our flight.In truth, I knew I would be this kind of parent, even if other people had higher hopes. There is a widespread idea that being a doctor must give you a leg up in the parenting game. My wife, a journalist, is often told: “It must be nice to have a doctor as a husband.” Continue reading...

Industrial pits led to waterproofed ships for epic pillaging raidsVikings conquered Europe thanks to an unexpected technological innovation. They learned how to make tar on an industrial scale and used it to waterproof their longships so that they could undertake large-scale, lengthy pillaging trips around Europe – and across the Atlantic, say archaeologists. Norse raiders were the original Boys from the Blackstuff, it transpires.The discovery is the work of Andreas Hennius, of Uppsala University. In Antiquity, he reports finding critical evidence that shows output from tar pits in Scandinavia increased dramatically just as Vikings began raiding other parts of Europe. These pits could have made up to 300 litres in a single production cycle, enough to waterproof large numbers of ships. “Tar production … developed from a small-scale activity … into large-scale production that relocated to forested outlands during the Viking period,” says Hennius. “This change … resulted from the increasing demand for tar driven by an evolving maritime culture.” Continue reading...

Fluorescent marker accumulates in the fastest-growing cells, helping surgeons pinpoint tumours and leave healthy tissue aloneSurgeons have tested the use of a fluorescent marker that can help them remove dangerous brain tumour cells from patients more accurately.The research was carried out on people who had suspected glioblastoma, the disease that killed British politician Dame Tessa Jowell in May, and the most common form of brain cancer. Continue reading...

An ex-Observer journalist on her battle with depression, and the creation of a celebration of women with complicated livesNot long after my 30th birthday – which I spent cry-dancing in a random club with baffled strangers – I went to my GP and was diagnosed with depression. In some ways it was a relief. The feelings of hopelessness, inadequacy, unworthiness and loneliness with which I’d struggled since my teenage years finally had an explanation. It was caused by dodgy brain chemistry, serotonin deficiencies. Even better, there was a treatment and it was simple and easy to swallow.For the next five years I took Prozac for depression and propranolol for anxiety. They helped. Work was also a crutch. After a brief and improbable career as a teacher in a private school, where the pupils were as self-confident as I was self-conscious, I quit for the glamour of journalism – well, the Oban Times. I then, via the Glasgow Herald, joined the Observer, technically as Scotland editor, though a more accurate description could have been the panicker in the north. Continue reading...

A lump of metal in a building near Paris has long served as the global standard for the kilogram. That’s about to change…In a vault inside the elegant Louis XIV Pavillon de Breteuil, outside Paris, a small metal cylinder rests on a shelf beneath a double set of bell jars. It has lain there for more than a century, its repose only occasionally disturbed when the vault’s three key holders perform a co-ordinated opening ceremony to let technicians enter and clean the ingot.First, the platinum-iridium cylinder is rubbed with a chamois that has been soaked in alcohol and ether. Then it is steam rinsed using boiling, double-distilled water. Finally, the 1kg cylinder is returned, carefully, to its resting place. Continue reading...

Sauropod that lived 110 million years ago is found in area that would have been desertA team of Spanish and Argentinian paleontologists have discovered the remains of dinosaurs that lived 110m years ago in the centre of the country, the National University of La Matanza has revealed.The remains came from three separate dinosaurs from the herbivorous group of sauropods, the best known of which are the Diplodocus and Brontosaurus. This new species has been named Lavocatisaurus agrioensis. Continue reading...

Exclusive: much-loved technology show returns, updated for modern viewersThe BBC is reviving its science and technology show Tomorrow’s World, 15 years after it was axed.The popular series is making a comeback, with two of its original presenters Maggie Philbin and Howard Stableford, for a live special this month, which Philbin said was timely given “technology is moving faster than ever”. Continue reading...

Prescriptions for short periods are considered safe, but there is little research into the long-term effectsIn daylight hours there is so little melatonin in the bloodstream that it is barely detectable. But when the sun goes down, the eyes sense the failing light, and part of the hippocampus signals the pineal gland, a pea-sized lump of tissue near the centre of the brain, to ramp up production of the sleep-promoting hormone. Levels of melatonin rise sharply from 9pm, inducing feelings of sleepiness, and remain high until the following morning.Much of the research on prescribing melatonin for children with sleep problems has focused on those with disorders such as autism, ADHD and intellectual disability (ID). For good reason too: sleeping difficulties are far more common and pronounced in children with neurodevelopmental or psychiatric disorders. For them, small doses of melatonin can be safe and effective. In one recent study, researchers from Southampton University monitored the sleep patterns of 45 children with autism, ADHD, or ID, and found that a third fell asleep faster, slept longer, and woke less frequently at night on low dose (2.5-3mg) melatonin. Above 6mg per night there was little extra benefit. Continue reading...

Readers discuss the scientists they would like to see on a new £50 note after the Bank of England asked for nominations

Technology that analyses facial expressions being trialled in Hungary, Greece and LatviaThe EU has been accused of promoting pseudoscience after announcing plans for a “smart lie-detection system” at its busiest borders in an attempt to identify illegal migrants.The “lie detector”, to be trialled in Hungary, Greece and Latvia, involves the use of a computer animation of a border guard, personalised to the traveller’s gender, ethnicity and language, asking questions via a webcam. Continue reading...

Scientist has to be British – and dead – with 19-century mathematician known as ‘grandmother of computing’ as early frontrunnerThe Bank of England is to ask the public to nominate a scientist as the face of the new plastic £50 note, with Ada Lovelace, a 19th-century mathematician known as the “grandmother of computing”, an early frontrunner alongside Stephen Hawking and Nobel prizewinner Dorothy Hodgkin.Related: Turing, Lovelace or Franklin? Your choices for the new £50 note Continue reading...

Sutton Bank, North Yorkshire: The ground is hummocky with moss and splotched with scarlet. I’ve never seen so many fly agarics in one placeI’ve just walked past a fingerpost directing walkers to “The Finest View in England”. This was the opinion of the writer and local vet James Herriot, and round here, that’s as good as gospel. On this blue dome morning, though, it’s a reasonable claim. I’m on the craggy rim of the North York Moors plateau, where the vast wall of Whitestone Cliff towers over the wooded escarpment of Sutton Bank, fiery with autumn colour. There’s blue in the looking-glass of Gormire lake, and far away, beyond the Vale of Mowbray and the eastern Dales, I can see the great knobbly whalebacks of the Pennines. Continue reading...

Tropical nights starting to be recorded and ice days becoming less frequentHeatwaves in the UK are lasting twice as long as they did 50 years ago, ice days are disappearing and tropical nights are starting to occur as far north as Middlesbrough, according to a Met Office report.The first study of climate extremes in the UK by the government agency shows the longer-term trend behind this summer’s prolonged spell of high temperatures and the weakening of winter frosts. Continue reading...