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...

Mechanical failures ended the most precise phase of Kepler’s observations about five years ago but the craft continued its searchNasa’s Kepler space telescope has run out of fuel and ended its mission to discover planets around other stars.Launched in 2009, Kepler observed 530,506 stars and discovered more than 2600 confirmed planets. Kepler has also identified thousands more possible planets that are pending further investigation. Continue reading...

A huge reduction in meat-eating is called for. No wonder carnivores are feeling defensiveVeganism, once widely seen as an alternative, if not an extreme, lifestyle, is now in the mainstream. Exactly how many people in the UK have eliminated animal products including dairy and honey from their diets is uncertain. One recent survey suggested there could be as many as 3.5 million vegans in the UK. The Vegan Society offers the much lower figure of 600,000 vegans, which still represents a fourfold increase in four years. But either way, and combined with a big increase in vegetarians and occasional meat-eaters (otherwise known as “flexitarians”), a huge shift in eating habits is under way. This week’s annual food and drink report by the supermarket Waitrose says around a third of people have either cut down on or stopped eating meat altogether.There is more than one explanation for this change in behaviour. More than half of those surveyed by Waitrose said animal welfare was their motivation for changing their diet. The intensive farming and slaughter of livestock has long aroused feelings of regret and distaste in many people who do not object on principle to eating meat. Such feelings, along with concerns around health and sustainability, have led to rising demand for organic and free-range products among those who can afford them. The growing trend towards giving up meat altogether suggests either that the moral objections have spread, that other factors than animal welfare are in play – or, most likely, some combination of both. Continue reading...

International sequencing drive will involve reading genomes of 1.5m speciesAn ambitious international project to sequence the DNA of every known animal, plant and fungus in the world over the next 10 years has been launched.Described as “the next moonshot for biology”, the Earth BioGenome Project is expected to cost $4.7bn (£3.6bn) and involve reading the genomes of 1.5m species. Continue reading...

Materials chemist who perfected nanoscientific techniques and enabled important advances in electronicsIn 1995 the leading British materials chemist Paul O’Brien, who has died aged 64 after suffering from brain cancer, began to use chemical synthesis to make quantum dots, which are tiny semiconductor particles, only nanometres across, that can be made to emit light of varying colours according to their size. Up to that point quantum dots had been difficult to produce, requiring the use of hazardous metal alkyl precursors at high temperatures. O’Brien’s new method not only allowed them to be mass-produced; it also required much less energy and generated fewer harmful byproducts.As a consequence, quantum dots are now ubiquitous in modern electronics and are used in any number of applications, from lighting and visual display units to solar energy capture and bio-markers, which help doctors to detect disease in the human body. Continue reading...

Posy Simmonds | Universal credit | Village for sale | Surgical education | Free Telegraph | Amazing wordsYour article (Review, 26 October) says Posy Simmonds “has been delighting readers with her exquisitely drawn comic strips and novels since the 1970s, when she began to lampoon the Guardian-reading bourgeoisie in a long-running comic strip that grew into Mrs Weber’s Diary”. But before that, Simmonds drew Bear for Murdoch’s Sun, starting in 1969. Bear (a teddy) was the Philip Green of the nursery. You can still obtain a book of the cartoons secondhand.

Appendix removal early in life linked to a 19% reduced risk of developing the illnessParkinson’s disease could originate in the appendix, according to one of the largest studies of the neurodegenerative illness.The analysis of health records of more than 1 million individuals in Sweden found that having the appendix removed early in life is linked to a 19% reduced risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. The findings are the latest to implicate the gut and immune system in the genesis of the disease, in which the loss of neurons in a brain area that controls movement lead to a tremor and slurred speech. Continue reading...

Two patients can walk short distances on crutches after having pulses beamed into their spinesTwo men who were paralysed in separate accidents more than six years ago can stand and walk short distances on crutches after their spinal cords were treated with electrical stimulation.David Mzee, 28, and Gert-Jan Oskam, 35, had electrical pulses beamed into their spines to stimulate their leg muscles as they practised walking in a supportive harness on a treadmill. Continue reading...

Lots include A Brief History of Time signed with thumbprint and Simpsons scriptPersonal items belonging to Stephen Hawking, including his medals and one of his wheelchairs, are to be sold at an online auction.The British physicist, best known for his research on black holes, died in March, aged 76. Continue reading...

What do we pass on from generation to generation? This deeply researched book explores the murky past of genetic research as well as its fast-moving presentGenealogy is apparently the second most searched subject on the internet … after the obvious. Now that we can map our genes, we want to know where we come from. But heredity is not as simple as the passing on of traits from parents to offspring: mothers can acquire cells from their own children; race “is not a feature of the natural world beyond our social experience”; we can chop up DNA to replace the bits we don’t like; and a lot of those genealogy sites are nonsense.In this painstakingly researched book, the science writer Carl Zimmer takes a long view of heredity. Stories of how discoveries were made often start with farming and plants (Mendel’s peas) and continue via unusual humans (the Habsburg jaw) before being proved or disproved by DNA sequencing, and then potentially rethought as knowledge increases. Mini-biographies paint powerful pictures. Emma Wolverton, born in 1889, was sent away by her impoverished family to the Vineland training school for “feebleminded children”. Henry Goddard, who ran the institution, traced her family tree and found evidence, he thought, that the mental deficiency was hereditary. His popular book The Kallikak Family inspired a young man called Adolf Hitler. The Nazis’ eugenics programme was based on research that turned out to be completely false. Continue reading...

We’ve all had to deal with the person who starts a friendly chat then just … vanishes. Dating apps, Facebook and Google think they have the answers. But why do they care?This Halloween, ghosts aren’t welcome. Two dating apps have announced plans to use the season to crack down on the rudest of social media villains, the ghoster: the person who enthusiastically replies to your messages, starts a friendly chat and then, one day, just … stops.Earlier this week, Bumble, the woman-friendly dating service, announced it had created the post of “ghosting specialist”, bringing the journalist and author Kate Leaver in to hear confessions, dispense advice and be a shoulder to cry on for those whose attempts to find love ended with messages echoing in the void. Continue reading...

‘Something terribly new’ goes bump in data yet to be confirmed by Atlas detectorScientists at the Cern nuclear physics lab near Geneva are investigating whether a bizarre and unexpected new particle popped into existence during experiments at the Large Hadron Collider.Researchers on the machine’s multipurpose Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector have spotted curious bumps in their data that may be the calling card of an unknown particle that has more than twice the mass of a carbon atom. Continue reading...

Northerners aged 25 to 44 more likely to die from causes such as suicide and smokingThere has been a “profoundly concerning” rise in early deaths from accidents, suicide, alcohol misuse, smoking, cancer and drug addiction in the north of England, deepening the north-south divide, research has found.Socioeconomic deprivation has led to a particularly sharp rise in deaths among 25 to 44-year-olds , according to new data analysis from Manchester university. Continue reading...

Researchers map likeliest route using least-cost calculations, line-of-sight sailing and likely sea levelsThe first people to arrive in Australia are likely to have sailed east from Borneo to Sulawesi and island-hopped to New Guinea, according to research.A study led by Australian National University PhD candidate Shimona Kealy and published in the Journal of Human Evolution has modelled the most likely route from southeast Asia to the Australian mainland based on which pathway would have required the least expenditure of energy and resources. Continue reading...

US research shows four weeks’ abstinence improved memory, but not attention skillsAbstaining from cannabis for a month can boost the memory performance of regular users, according to a study of young people who used the drug at least once a week.Researchers found that four weeks without cannabis led to a “modest but reliable” improvement in users’ memory test scores, which could be sufficient to raise students’ grades at school. Continue reading...

Independent investigation criticises closed culture with few women at senior levelThe director of Britain’s leading genetics laboratory has apologised for failures that prompted allegations of bullying and gender discrimination.Sir Professor Mike Stratton, director of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, said that the investigation into complaints by 10 former and current staff members highlighted ways that his own conduct and that of the institute needed to improve. Continue reading...

In pursuit of a peaceful society, it is important that we record all perspectives of our complex human storyBlack History Month, which runs through October, is trying to address a problem. That problem is, how to move the study of black history away from focusing solely on slavery and colonialism so that we don’t end up with an unbalanced knowledge of the past, and inadvertently confirm rather than fight prejudices about black people and people of African descent. This is why films like Black Panther, with its depiction of the fictional state, Wakanda, captured the imagination of so many: it imagined what a sub-Saharan African kingdom free from colonialism could have become.Related: Cheddar Man changes the way we think about our ancestors Continue reading...

Frequency sharing could jam airways, lowering accuracy of forecasts, meteorologist warnsWe might mock weather forecasts, but in reality they have never been better. Be it an approaching storm, the chances of a sunny day, or the likelihood of flooding, most of us have access to reliable forecasts. And much of this improvement is thanks to satellite data. But weather forecasts could be set to go downhill, if US weather satellites give in to commercial pressure to share their bandwidth.Last year during Hurricane Irma, river gauge readings collected by satellites enabled the Florida Department of Transportation to decide which highways were suitable evacuation routes. These readings came from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new fleet of geostationary satellites, the first of which was launched in 2016. These satellites spot lightning, monitor storms (providing measurements every 30 seconds if needed) and image the entire northern hemisphere every 15 minutes. Continue reading...

Study of nearly 150,000 pregnancies in Canada finds the safest interval between births is 12 to 18 monthsHaving babies less than a year apart poses risks for both mother and child, whatever the woman’s age, according to new research.The authors of a big study of nearly 150,000 pregnancies in Canada say the safest interval between births is 12 to 18 months. They suggest women over the age of 35 who may not want to wait long between one pregnancy and the next should be counselled that waiting 12 to 18 months is safest for both them and their baby. Continue reading...

Virgin Galactic fully recognises its existence and achievements are built on decades of work by thousands of committed individuals and government agencies, writes Virgin Galactic’s commercial director Stephen Attenborough. Plus Margaret Squires expresses reservations about driverless carsMichael Carley (Letters, 22 October) suggests that the private sector is “producing an inferior late substitute for a public achievement”. Virgin Galactic fully recognises its existence and achievements are built on decades of work by thousands of committed individuals and government agencies. The army of talented people now working for the new commercial space companies like Virgin Galactic and its sister satellite launch company, Virgin Orbit, seek to extend that great legacy with new generation space vehicles, creating technology and experiences which will improve our lives on and off this planet.Mr Carley’s reference to the X-15 aircraft is an excellent example of how we’re building on past achievements. Our system design, particularly the “air-launch” concept, took its inspiration in part from that high-risk, experimental flight test programme. By introducing, among other things, 21st-century materials technology and an innovative solution to re-entry, Virgin Galactic will have, for the first time, a privately funded spaceship fit for regular commercial service. Continue reading...

On 12 April 1973 Joan McFarlane, a young mother of 28, arrived at Westminster hospital in London to help save my life. She underwent a procedure to harvest bone marrow and the next day, Friday the 13th, I became the first person in the world to survive a transplant of bone marrow from an unrelated donor. Bone marrow donation was in its infancy then, and agreeing to donate to a stranger was an act of immense courage and compassion.Joan, who has died aged 74, was born in Dublin as one of eight children to William and Elizabeth Stowe. After attending Our Lady’s school in Milltown, Dublin, she worked at Jacob’s cracker factory in the city as a “cracker packer”. She met Bill McFarlane, an RAF serviceman, at a sister’s wedding, and they married in 1971. The couple moved to Cambridge, where Bill was stationed in the RAF, and Sharon, her first child, was born in 1972. Continue reading...

Cacao was in use in South America centuries before its exploitation by civilisations in Mexico and Central America, experts sayThe key ingredient of chocolate was being used in South America centuries before it was exploited by civilisations in Mexico and Central America, according to new research.The cacao tree, and in particular the drinks made from its dried seeds, has long been linked to the Maya and other ancient civilisations in Mesoamerica – a heritage embraced by chocolate companies that produce goods with monikers like Maya Gold. Continue reading...

Study says the animals appear able to identify people infected with the disease even if they are not showing symptomsDogs’ noses could become a powerful weapon in the battle against malaria, according to research suggesting the animals can tell from a sniff of a sock whether someone has the disease.Dogs have previously proved highly accurate at detecting a range of human diseases, including prostate cancer and thyroid cancer, as well as at alerting people with diabetes that they have low blood sugar. Continue reading...

Unless researchers can persuade the public of the importance of their work, academia will never be an investment priorityToday’s budget will set a clear direction for next year’s important comprehensive spending review, in which the chancellor will unveil spending plans for 2020 and beyond. Over the coming months, different sectors will be battling it out for their share of the pie. For the UK’s academic community, our push will be for increased investment in research and development.We have a compelling case. Academic research drives prosperity and can help build a much more resilient and entrepreneurial UK economy, squarely rooted in incubating ideas which we turn into commercial success and skilled jobs. Continue reading...