In the Guardian’s new VR 360 film, inspired by solar physics, contemporary dancers from the Alexander Whitley Dance Company explore movement across human and astronomical scalesCelestial Motion uses a combination of contemporary dance and motion-capture technology to explore the human relationship with the Sun. The VR piece was made by the Guardian’s in-house VR studio with Alexander Whitley Dance Company, and in association with Sadler’s Wells. Continue reading...

Pigs have been rendered immune to a disease that has cost billions. Hannah Devlin questions whether this could be the future of eliminating debilitating and costly viruses in livestockSubscribe and review on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom and Mixcloud. Join the discussion on Facebook and TwitterPorcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome is the most significant disease affecting pigs worldwide. In the United States, it costs around $644m (£486m) every year, and for Europe, it’s believed that figure is almost €1.5bn (£1.3bn). There is no cure, and vaccines have proven ineffective. However, hope is on the horizon. Scientists at the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh have found that deleting a section of pigs’ DNA has rendered them immune to the virus. Continue reading...

Researchers say World Health Organisation’s warnings over ‘gaming disorder’ are premature and say other factors affect child wellbeing

Tests show drug causes eels to become hyperactive and damages their muscles, possibly hindering their ability to migrateTiny amounts of cocaine flushed into rivers cause eels to become not only hyperactive but to suffer from muscle wastage, impaired gills and hormonal changes, a study has found.The impact of traces of cocaine on the physiology of European eels could be hindering their epic migrations through the oceans to reproduce, according to researchers who examined the impact of the drug. Continue reading...

Research reveals strains of virus more abundant in brains with early stage of disease, though uncertainly whether virus is a trigger or a symptom

Neuroscientists have studied treadmill runners, ultramarathon athletes – and a number of lab animals – to investigate the effects of running on grey matterIt may seem obvious – as you push on through a long run, veering wildly between sensations of agony and elation – that running can have a huge effect on your state of mind. It is an intuitive idea that a growing number of neuroscientists have begun to take seriously, and in recent years they have started to show us what actually plays out on the hills and valleys of your grey matter as you run.Their findings confirm what many runners know from their own experience: we can use running as a tool to improve the way we think and feel. And we are now learning precisely why running can return focus, vanquish stress and improve mood. Plus we know why – if you’re lucky – you might get a brief glimpse of nirvana.

Research in Maasai Mara linked areas with high density of vehicles to lower numbers of cubs raised to independenceHigh levels of tourism can lead to a dramatic reduction in the number of cheetahs able to raise their young to independence, new research has found.A study in Kenya’s Maasai Mara savannah found that in areas with a high density of tourist vehicles, the average number of cubs a mother cheetah raised to independence was just 0.2 cubs per litter – less than a tenth of the 2.3 cubs per litter expected in areas with low tourism. Continue reading...

UCL study backed by Audible finds unconscious responses to the same book scenes, witnessed in adaptations across different media, are strongest in the auditory formatAs Arya Stark watches from the crowd, tears streaming, King Joffrey toys with her father Ned Stark before executing him in front of a baying crowd. This scene from Game of Thrones is harrowing in any medium – but a new University College London study has found that audiobooks are more “emotionally engaging” than film and television adaptations.Related: We’re all ears for audiobooks – and here are some of the best Continue reading...

Findings raise hopes many patients could benefit in the near future, given it is already approved for other cancersAn existing cancer treatment could be used for a common form of lung cancer for which there is currently no specific treatment available, new research suggests. Scientists found the treatment blocked cell growth in a subtype of lung cancer.The new findings, led by the University of Glasgow, have raised hopes a large number of patients could benefit from the treatment if used in combination with additional therapies. Continue reading...

Researchers say many dinosaurs’ tongues were anchored to the floors of their mouths and unable to waggleThe fearsome creatures of Jurassic World might chase you, kill you and rip you limb from limb, but there is one thing a T rex couldn’t do: stick out its tongue.

But beneficial bacteria do appear to reduce anxiety in rodents with various problemsThere is no clear sign that taking probiotics can help dampen feelings of anxiety in humans, according to new research, despite evidence that it works for rodents.A wide range of conditions, from obesity to asthma, have been linked to the microbes living in our guts, with a number of studies suggesting a link to mood and behaviour. As a result, there is a burgeoning interest in psychobiotics: using beneficial bacteria known as probiotics to tinker with the gut’s microbes to affect brain health. Continue reading...

Gene-editing technology could be propelled into commercial farms within five yearsScientists have genetically engineered pigs to be immune to one of the world’s most costly animal diseases, in an advance that could propel gene-editing technology into commercial farms within five years.The trial, led by the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute, showed that the pigs were completely immune to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), a disease that is endemic across the globe and costs the European pig industry nearly £1.5bn in pig deaths and decreased productivity each year. Continue reading...

New research into pterosaur diets is overturning assumptions based on qualitative assertions made decades agoWhat did it eat? This is one of the first questions the general public – and especially kids – ask about extinct animals. It may surprise you to know that palaeontologists sometimes struggle to work out the answer. They may look at living relatives for clues, but for long-gone animals with no living descendants, like pterosaurs, the job is much trickier. What can you sensibly compare them to? Even if you make a hypothesis on their diet, how can you test it?Pterosaurs are a group of extinct flying reptiles that include the famous Pteranodon and Pterodactylus. They are not dinosaurs, but a separate branch of reptiles that lived alongside them in the Mesozoic. They were the first group of backboned animals to evolve true flight, beating the avian dinosaurs to aerial domination by at least 60 million years. They came in many shapes and sizes, from kitty-sized cuties to giant stalkers that would have stood eye-to-eye with a giraffe – had giraffes been available in the Cretaceous. In their 140m-year span of existence, pterosaurs were a vital component of the many rich ecosystems of the Mesozoic. And yet we know almost nothing definitive about what they ate. Continue reading...

Trial at music festival found many of those tested didn’t know what drug they were taking• Sign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noonThe pill-testing trial at a music festival in the Australian Capital Territory was an “overwhelming success” and the federal government should help roll out a scheme nationwide, the organisers have said.In a report on the trial at the Groovin’ the Moo festival in April, released on Wednesday, the Sta-safe consortium said the government should support a “mixed-model” with pill-testing offered permanently at drug, alcohol and syringe services – not just at festivals and special events. Continue reading...

Like Billy Caldwell’s mother, I want to try anything that might help stop my child’s seizures. At the moment, I can’tBilly Caldwell is a 12-year-old boy with severe epilepsy. Last week, British airport officials confiscated the cannabis oil his mother was using to treat his condition, because the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) it contains is illegal in the UK. He ended up in hospital after his seizures intensified. After the intervention of Billy’s doctors, the home secretary, Sajid Javid, has allowed the return of the drug on the grounds that this situation was a “medical emergency”. Today William Hague, who advocated a “zero-tolerance” approach to cannabis when he was Tory leader, says he has changed his mind, and that Billy’s case “provides one of those illuminating moments when a longstanding policy is revealed to be inappropriate”. And, in a statement to the Commons, Javid proposed a government review of the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes.I’m pleased about this – and feel particular sympathy for the Caldwell family. My daughter Sia is 17 years old and, like Billy, experiences severe seizures. Sia had her first when she was a little over two years old. Initially we were told it was a febrile seizure resulting from a high temperature; then that she’d probably grow out of it, or that the right medication would provide seizure control. In the beginning, her seizures came occasionally, out of the blue. Then they were monthly. Now they happen daily. They knock her over, throw her off her chair, make her unable to sleep, and keep her permanently exhausted. Continue reading...

Obsessive hygiene, antibiotics and car exhausts are blamed for hay fever now affecting 20% of Britain’s populationThis has been the worst month for hay fever for 12 years. Grasses had perfect growing conditions over late April and in May with warm sunshine and showers. That was followed in June by hot dry conditions when the grass flowers matured and shed clouds of pollen on light breezes and up people’s noses.The strange thing is that hay fever was incredibly rare when it was first reported by John Bostoc, a London doctor, nearly 200 years ago. Yet in those days far more people lived and worked in the countryside, where grasses grew everywhere. Continue reading...

Report warns that swift progress in our ability to manufacture viruses is making us vulnerable to biological attacksThe rapid rise of synthetic biology, a futuristic field of science that seeks to master the machinery of life, has raised the risk of a new generation of bioweapons, according a major US report into the state of the art.Advances in the area mean that scientists now have the capability to recreate dangerous viruses from scratch; make harmful bacteria more deadly; and modify common microbes so that they churn out lethal toxins once they enter the body. Continue reading...

Scientists have developed an implant which releases diabetes medication when it senses caffeine in the bloodThe days of the insulin pen may be numbered. According to researchers in Switzerland, the future of diabetes treatment will not be a shot in the arm after a meal, but a shot of espresso instead.The scientists hope to transform the lives of diabetics who need regular jabs with an implant that contains hundreds of thousands of designer cells which churn out medicine when they sense caffeine in the bloodstream. Continue reading...

Your questions about the medical use of cannabis oil answeredCannabis oils are extracts from cannabis plants. Unprocessed, they contain the same 100 or so active ingredients as the plants, but the balance of compounds depends on the specific plants the oil comes from. The two main active substances in cannabis plants are cannabidiol, or CBD, and delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. Oil extracted from hemp plants can contain a lot of CBD, while oil from skunk plants will contain far more THC. THC produces the high that recreational cannabis users seek, while oils for medical use contain mostly CBD. Continue reading...

Ex-Conservative leader says policy is ‘inappropriate, ineffective and out of date’William Hague, the former leader of the Conservative party, has urged Theresa May to legalise cannabis, saying the UK’s drug policy is “inappropriate, ineffective and utterly out of date” and that the “battle is effectively over”.Lord Hague said issuing orders to the police to stop people smoking cannabis were “about as up to date and relevant as asking the army to recover the empire”. Continue reading...

Trump claims plan will keep US ahead in space race, prompting fears over militarisation of spaceDonald Trump said on Monday he would direct the Pentagon to create a “space force” as a new branch of the US military to shore up American dominance in space.Trump claimed that the plan will ensure that America, which plans a return to the moon and a mission to Mars, stays ahead of China and Russia in any new space race. But it is likely to raise fears over the militarisation of space and prompted a slew of Twitter parodies featuring Star Trek and Star Wars. Continue reading...

An annual conference on consciousness in the Arizona desert takes an anything-goes approach to some seriously wacky theoriesBy Tom BartlettStart with Noam Chomsky, Deepak Chopra and a robot that loves you no matter what. Add a knighted British physicist, a renowned French neuroscientist and a prominent Australian philosopher/occasional blues singer. Toss in a bunch of psychologists, mathematicians, anaesthetists, artists, meditators, a computer programmer or two and several busloads of amateur theorists waving self-published manuscripts and touting grand unified solutions. Send them all to a swanky resort in the desert for a week, supply them with lots of free coffee and beer and ask them to unpack a riddle so confounding that it’s unclear how to make progress, or where you’d even begin. Then just, like, see what happens.The cover of the programme for the Science of Consciousness conference, which was held in Tucson in April, shows a human brain getting sucked into (or perhaps rising from?) a black hole. That seems about right: after a week of listening to eye-crossingly detailed descriptions of teeny, tiny cell structures known as microtubules, along with a lecture about building a soundproof booth in order to chat with the whispery spirit world, you too would feel as if your neurons had been siphoned from your skull and launched deep into space. Continue reading...

A woman with cystic fibrosis and lung transplants suffered chronic pain for three years after she had a tattoo on her thighGetting a tattoo if you have a weakened immune system could put you at risk of complications, doctors have warned. The caution comes after a woman with cystic fibrosis and lung transplants developed thigh and knee pain after having body art inked on her leg.Doctors say those taking immunosuppressant drugs should take precautions if considering body art. These medicines are often given after an organ transplant or to treat autoimmune conditions such as Crohn’s disease, lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. Others who may have weak immune systems include those with chronic long-term conditions such as diabetes. Continue reading...

PM appears to be at odds with health secretary, who says government has not got law right on medicinal use of substanceTheresa May appears at odds with senior cabinet ministers after playing down the prospect of a full-scale review into the medical use of cannabis oil, despite Jeremy Hunt admitting that the government had not got the law right.The health secretary said he backed the use of the substance and called for a swift legal review after an emergency licence was provided to Billy Caldwell, a boy with severe epilepsy whose medication had been confiscated. Continue reading...

Exclusive: men believed to be from late Roman or early Saxon period were found in pit being used as rubbish dumpThe graves of two men whose legs were chopped off at the knees and placed carefully by their shoulders before burial have been discovered by archaeologists working on a huge linear site in advance of roadworks in Cambridgeshire.The best scenario the archaeologists can hope for is that the unfortunate men were dead when their legs were mutilated. It also appears their skulls were smashed in, although that could be later damage. Continue reading...

The solution to today’s puzzleEarlier today I set you a puzzle about a mirror:A man is facing a mirror hanging on a wall 1m in front of him.

Children with over-controlling parents aged two struggled to manage their emotions later in life, study findsChildren whose parents are over-controlling “helicopter parents” when they are toddlers, are less able to control their emotions and impulses as they get older apparently leading to more problems with school, new research suggests.The study looked at to what degree mothers of toddlers dominated playtime and showed their child what to do, and then studied how their children behaved over the following eight years, revealing that controlling parenting is linked to a number of problems as a child grows up. Continue reading...

Ari Aster’s horror triumph feeds off suppressed fear that we cannot escape our biological fate – leaving audiences unnerved

How can Sajid Javid deny long-term access to the cannabis oil that would control this boy’s epilepsy? This cruelty must endWhat kind of country gets a politician rather than a doctor to prescribe medicine for a sick child? When the home secretary, Sajid Javid, decided at the weekend to allow 12-year-old Billy Caldwell “one bottle” of cannabis oil, his spokeswoman said it was an exceptional case to meet “a short-term emergency”. The only emergency was to the home secretary’s reputation. Britain is like a banana republic, in which politicians, not judges, decide who goes to jail.Related: Legalising cannabis ‘could earn Treasury £3.5bn’ Continue reading...

A puzzle to reflect onUPDATE: The solution to the puzzle can be read hereHi guzzlersHere’s a puzzle about something we do every day: gaze at ourselves in the mirror. Who says maths is not relevant to the real world? In fact, You may have often pondered this question without realising it when trying on clothes. Continue reading...

Forensic science regulator launches investigation into a number of expert witnessesThe “smoke and mirror” tactics of defence lawyers in drink-driving cases have been criticised by the government’s forensic science regulator, who has launched an investigation into the work of a number of expert witnesses.The review was triggered by a recent high court judgment that raised concerns about defence teams requesting the disclosure of vast amounts of “irrelevant” technical information in order to challenge the reliability of breathalyser and blood alcohol test results. Continue reading...

The highest known clouds in Earth’s atmosphere can be seen soon after sunset in late spring and early summerThe late spring/early summer is a good time to look for noctilucent clouds. These are the highest known clouds that form in Earth’s atmosphere. They exist at a height of about 80km; to all intents and purposes this is the edge of space. The clouds glow as white or pale blue tendrils across a dark sky. This allows you to distinguish them from cirrus clouds, which are visible only in daytime because they do not glow.Related: Weatherwatch: beyond the ordinary – noctilucent or 'night' clouds Continue reading...

Head of Syngenta, world’s biggest pesticide maker, says rejecting farming tech could have serious consequences within 20 yearsThe world is likely to face food shortages within 20 years if pesticides and genetically modified crops are shunned, according to the head of the world’s biggest pesticide manufacturer.

Scientists still believe it possible that extraterrestrial life could flourish in our own neighbourhoodThis week, Nasa’s veteran Curiosity rover discovered complex organic matter that had been buried and preserved for more than 3bn years in sediments forming a lake bed. This means that if microbial life did land on Mars, it would be nourished. Continue reading...

A ‘dream team’ of international scientists scaled Mozambique’s Mount Lico and found a wealth of new species.Allianceearth.org Continue reading...

Scores are falling across the world, provoking headlines of ‘dumbing down’. But what does it measure anyway?IQ tests have a troubled history. Although their inventor, the intellectually cautious Frenchman Alfred Binet, understood and acknowledged their limitations, many of those who went on to deploy and develop his ideas did not. Within years of their emergence, IQ tests were being used by US eugenicists to weed out the “feebleminded”, and by politicians keen to cloak their calls for greater racial segregation and changes to American immigration laws with a degree of scientific legitimacy.From the start, Binet’s tests were also drawn into the debate over whether human intelligence is predominantly hereditary or better understood as a reflection of environmental factors such as education – one part of the sprawling nature v nurture debate. Continue reading...

Team of researchers changes microbes in koalas’ guts in order to improve type of food they consumeScientists believe they have found a new weapon in the battle to save endangered species: faecal transplants. They say that by transferring faeces from the gut of one animal to another they could boost the health and viability of endangered creatures. In particular, they believe the prospects of saving the koala could be boosted this way.The idea of using faecal transplants as conservation weapons was highlighted this month at the American Society for Microbiology meeting in Atlanta, where scientists outlined experiments in which they used the technique to change microbes in the guts of koalas. Continue reading...

Our era of relentless social media and soundbites has caused us to lose sight of the past, and futureIt is hard to imagine a time more completely presentist than our own, more tethered to the immediate; and is hard to imagine a person more exemplary of our presentism than the current president of the United States.Donald Trump is a creature of the instant, responsive only and wholly to immediate stimulus – which is why Twitter is his exclusive medium of written communication, and why when he speaks he cannot stick to a script. In this respect he differs little from anyone who spends a lot of time on social media; the social media ecosystem is designed to generate constant, instantaneous responses to the provocations of Now.

Prescriptions consideration comes after Billy Caldwell, 12, has ‘life-threatening’ seizuresThe Home Office has said it will “carefully consider” allowing a 12-year-old boy to be prescribed cannabis oil after he was admitted to hospital with “life-threatening” seizures following the confiscation of his supply.Billy Caldwell had his anti-epileptic medicine confiscated at Heathrow airport on Monday. If the decision is made to permit him to have the treatment, it would be the first time that cannabis oil containing THC was legally prescribed in the UK since it was made illegal in 1971. Continue reading...

Luminaries from academia and science pay tribute to the late physicist’s incredible legacy“We remember Isaac Newton for answers,” said Prof Kip Thorne. “We remember Hawking for questions.”For 40 years, physicists have pondered the questions raised by Prof Stephen Hawking’s work, and perhaps his greatest legacy is not his remarkable discoveries, but the impact of his work on future theories of physics. Thorne, a Nobel prize-winning physicist, paid tribute to his friend Hawking by saying that future scientists would not stand on the shoulders of giants, as Newton had it, but “on the shoulders of Hawking”.

Palaeontologists studying the evolution of dinosaurs’ skin and feathers think they didAs a regular reader of this blog, you are well aware that dinosaurs had feathers (unless you are a certain film franchise). Dinosaurs were covered in patches of fuzz, proto-floof, shook their tail feathers, and in some cases displayed full-fledged plumage. Over the last decade, exceptionally preserved fossils and intense genetic study have taught us a lot about feather evolution. But what do we know about the evolution of the skin of dinosaurs and early birds?Vertebrate skin consists of several layers of cells making up the epidermis (the outer skin), the dermis (containing connective tissues, hair follicles and sweat glands) and the hypodermis (consisting of fat and connective tissues). As we grow, our skin continually renews itself. The inner layers generate new cells, which then slowly migrate to the outer layers to replace those tired, worn-out outer skin cells. This is called desquamation. Continue reading...

Jordan Erica Webber looks at what is currently happening in the world of space technology, including the burgeoning issue of space pollutionSubscribe and review: Acast, Apple, Spotify, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud. Join the discussion on Facebook, Twitter or email us at chipspodcast@theguardian.com.Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the moon, but, of course, this was not the first time we had sent something to space. In fact, we’ve been sending stuff up there since 1957, when the former Soviet Union launched Sputnik. And those 60 years have left their mark. Continue reading...

Collider will be far more sensitive to anomalies that could lead to entirely new theories of the universeA massive project to supercharge the world’s largest particle collider launched on Friday in the hope that the beefed-up machine will reveal fresh insights into the nature of the universe.The 950m Swiss franc (£720m) mission will see heavy equipment, new buildings, access shafts and service tunnels installed, constructed and excavated at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Cern, the particle physics laboratory on the edge of Geneva. Continue reading...

Message of peace will be broadcast into nearest black hole as physicist is laid to restThe voice of Stephen Hawking will be beamed into space in a message of peace and hope, his daughter said, as the British physicist is laid to rest on Friday during a service at Westminster Abbey.The scientist died in March, aged 76, after a lifetime spent investigating the origins of the universe, the mysteries of black holes and the nature of time itself. Continue reading...

When a colleague with shaky data raced a competitor to be first to publish, I saw how the perverse incentives in research workThere’s an oft-repeated phrase in the scientific world that “competition drives innovation”. This can definitely sometimes be true, but in my experience the reality most of the time is that competition can be hugely wasteful and damaging to research.Take our lab, where we work in several high-profile areas. We’re aware that we have several major competitors around the world. We want to be first, we need to be first and we must keep it secret. Doing this can make or break a career, or decide a grant application outcome. It can even shape the future direction of the field. Continue reading...

Do you know what noise a hungry sea anemone makes? Soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause does. Armed with over 5,000 hours of recordings, he takes Ian Sample on a journey through the natural world and demonstrates why sound is such a powerful tool for conservationSubscribe and review on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom and Mixcloud. Join the discussion on Facebook and TwitterDo you know what noise a hungry sea anemone makes? This is one of the 15,000 species that soundscape ecologist Dr Bernie Krause has recorded. For half a century, Bernie has travelled the world, recording the noise of nature. His collection is now one of the oldest we have and as a result, it is a hugely valuable tool in documenting how we’ve changed our planet. For example, when Bernie returned to some sites, the environment has changed so dramatically, it is now silent. Continue reading...

Find adds to view that Cornish site was home to thriving trade port in early middle agesA seventh-century slate window ledge inscribed with an intriguing mix of Latin, Greek and Celtic words, names and symbols has been unearthed at Tintagel Castle in north Cornwall.The discovery adds weight to the view that the rugged coastal site, which is most often associated with the legend of King Arthur, was home in the early middle ages to a sophisticated and multicultural port community. Continue reading...

Tanegashima space centre sends into orbit all-weather IGS radar satellite in 16th mission to keep eye on the neighboursThis month Japan launched the 16th mission in its spy satellites programme, using the IGS Radar 6 spacecraft, part of the information gathering satellite scheme run by the country’s intelligence agency.This programme consists of optical and radar spacecraft, and supports civilian disaster management services as well as supplying information to the Japanese military. The radar aspect allows surveillance images to be taken through clouds. Continue reading...

Removal of enhancer 13 DNA strands caused males to grow ovaries and female genitalia, helping research on human sexual development disordersScientists have turned male mice into females by snipping out strands of their DNA in work that could shed light on sexual development disorders which arise in humans.The male mice grew ovaries and female genitalia instead of the more conventional male anatomy after researchers removed small chunks of DNA from the animals’ genetic code. Continue reading...