Stream of sarcasm and parodies about scale of bust to plinth leads to it being dismantledIn 1961, Yuri Gagarin’s legendary space flight lasted just 108 minutes. A monument in Belgrade to the first person in space did not last much longer, being swiftly dismantled after causing online hilarity owing to its curiously small head.On Sunday, a number of Serbian websites noticed that a monument to the cosmonaut had appeared on a street in the Serbian capital that beared his name. The large plinth and the small bust of Gagarin’s head prompted the website Noizz to quip: “The only way you can see it clearly is to launch yourself into the sky.” Continue reading...

Carolina Reaper appears to have narrowed the arteries in the competitive eater’s brain, causing a series of thunderclap headachesA man who took part in a chilli pepper eating contest ended up with more than he bargained for when he took on the hottest pepper in the world.After eating a Carolina Reaper pepper, the 34-year-old started dry heaving before developing a pain in his neck that turned into a series of thunderclap headaches: sudden and severe episodes of excruciating pain that peak within a minute. Continue reading...

Being beautiful mainly seems a blessing. But it can be a curse – and the main problem is that you are just not allowed to complain about it

Many ‘American’ phrases are actually British but a new book argues why we say what we say reveals a lot about our culturesTo those dedicated warriors hunched over their keyboards or gripping their pens, ready to fire off an angry salvo about the Americanization of British English to their favorite newspaper, television channel or book publisher, linguist Lynne Murphy has a solemn warning: check a good dictionary first.Or consider her new book, The Prodigal Tongue: The Love-Hate Relationship Between American and British English, which assaults the British obsession of attacking US English with cold, hard facts. Continue reading...

Inspired by everything from The Shining to the aubergine-coloured bathroom suite of his childhood, artist Tom Hammick’s Lunar Voyage is a beautiful, mesmerising depiction of a lonely traveller’s journey to the moon and back Continue reading...

Publication will highlight pioneering work of scientists searching for cures to diseases like HIV and malaria and solutions to climate changeA new journal to showcase Africa’s often-overlooked scientific research has been launched to give the continent’s scientists better global recognition.Scientific African will be the first “mega-journal” in Africa. It was unveiled in Kigali last week at Africa’s biggest science conference, the Next Einstein Forum (NEF) conference, and the first issue is scheduled to be published at the end of the summer. Continue reading...

Project will see 40,000 men recruited for research into the disease, which kills more than 11,000 a yearThe prime minister is to launch a new drive against prostate cancer, which kills more than 11,000 men every year in the UK and causes great anxiety and sometimes suffering for the 47,000 men who get a diagnosis.Theresa May will announce £75m for research that will recruit 40,000 men into trials for better diagnosis and treatments for the disease, which recently overtook breast cancer to become the third biggest cancer killer in the UK. That is partly down to earlier detection and better treatment of breast cancer, and to men living to an older age. But campaigners have long argued that prostate cancer has not had the attention and funding it needs.

Distinguished mathematician who won the Fields medal for his contribution to number theoryIn 1966 the start of a new era in number theory was marked by Alan Baker, who has died aged 78, joining the department of pure mathematics at Cambridge University. With a cascade of papers, he had published solutions to a series of problems from a line of inquiry that went back to the third-century mathematician Diophantus of Alexandria. On the basis of this exceptional work, in 1970 Alan was awarded the Fields medal, one of the discipline’s highest distinctions.The interest of Diophantus’s approach to equations lies in whether they can be solved in ways that produce only whole numbers, or integers. From school, we know Pythagoras’s theorem for right-angled triangles: if the sides are 3, 4 and 5 units long, then 3 + 4 = 5, (9 + 16 = 25), and there are other whole-number solutions, or Pythagorean triples, that can be found with squared numbers (5,12,13; 7, 24, 25; and infinitely many more). But can the equivalent be done with cubed numbers, or numbers at higher powers? Continue reading...

The solutions to today’s puzzlesOn my puzzle blog earlier today I set the following questions:1) Two hipsters, Atticus and Abe, were arguing about whose electronic bicycle was the slowest. They decided to race them along a 100m track. They agreed that the bike reaching the finish line last would be the winner. The guys got on their bikes on the start line. But, predictably, they just stood there, since no one wanted to start first and risk being the first to finish. They had been immobile for hours when their pal Daisy showed up. She asked if anything was the matter, so they put down their bikes and walked over to her to explain. She said a few words, at which point they ran back, jumped on the bikes and sped to the finish line as fast as possible. What was her advice?

Humans lost their strong brow ridges as social communication became more important, researchers sayModern humans might never have raised a quizzical eyebrow had Homo sapiens not lost the thick, bony brows of its ancient ancestors in favour of smoother facial features, a new study suggests.Researchers at the University of York believe early humans bore prominent brow ridges as a mark of physical dominance, and as the human face evolved to become smaller and flatter, it became a canvas on which the eyebrows could portray a much richer range of emotions. Continue reading...

Bone found in Arabian desert dates back 90,000 years, challenging view that we migrated into Eurasia 60,000 years agoA fossilised human finger bone dating to almost 90,000 years ago has been discovered in the Saudi Arabian desert, a find researchers say points to the possibility that our species ventured towards the east far earlier than previously thought.Until recently, evidence including genetic studies suggested that Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa and into Eurasia in a single, rapid wave about 60,000 years ago. But a number of finds have challenged this “single wave” view, including the discovery of a jawbone in Israel apparently from about 180,000 years ago and fossils from other sites in Israel dating from 90,000-130,000 years ago. Continue reading...

Ofcom says controversial claims, including on the frequency of extreme weather events, went unchallengedBBC Radio 4 broke accuracy rules by failing to sufficiently challenge the climate change denier Nigel Lawson’s controversial claims in an interview, the broadcasting watchdog has ruled.Lord Lawson appeared on a Radio 4 programme last summer denying the concept of climate change, which prompted complaints from the Green party and the prominent scientists Brian Cox and Jim Al-Khalili, who said it was “irresponsible and highly misleading” to imply there was still a debate around the science supporting it. Continue reading...

The author and activist’s sharp critique of what she calls an ‘epidemic of overdiagnosis’ is a joyous celebration of lifeYou may view your body as a temple – particularly if you exercise ferociously, detox regularly, desist from alcohol, tobacco, sugar and all processed foods and positivity seeps out of every pore – but the indefatigable Barbara Ehrenreich has news for you. No amount of mindfulness, self-discipline and denial can spare you from your macrophages, the large white blood cells in your tissues that are found especially at the site of infection. They are out to get you. If they so choose, you will depart this world early and possibly painfully; control is an illusion.Ehrenreich is a socialist, activist and fighter for universal healthcare, women’s rights and economic justice; she is a multi-award-winning investigative journalist and author of more than 20 books, including the seminal bestseller Nickel and Dimed: Undercover in Low-Wage USA (2001). She also has a surgically precise way with words, a sense of humour and a PhD in cellular immunology. So when, in Natural Causes: Life, Death and the Illusion of Control, she describes the civil war within our bodies that macrophages may wage – encouraging cancer cells to spread, apparently for no reason other than they can – it may persuade you to rip up your gym membership and eat nothing but cream buns for what’s left of your time on Earth. But that’s not Ehrenreich’s intention. Continue reading...

Testing for high blood pressure can save lives – but experts say that unnecessary tests, such as whole body scans, may just find problems that probably don’t need treatment. So what should you be tested for?Most health checks are designed to look for risk factors or early signs of diseases – the two most common being heart disease or cancer. A quarter of premature deaths are caused by cardiovascular disease (heart attacks and strokes) and an estimated 50-80% of them are preventable. So any checks that could help early detection are surely a good thing.Dr Matt Kearney, a GP and the national clinical director for cardiovascular disease prevention, welcomes the growing trend for people to take control of their own health, but he says that the challenge is judging which tests are likely to do more harm than good. “We should democratise health information so everyone has access to it; doctors need to welcome people knowing more and help them to navigate options. Screening is attractive to individuals who look for reassurance that they’re healthy.” Continue reading...

Five moustache-twiddling riddlesUPDATE: The solutions can be read hereHi guzzlers,Today, a spring selection of bite-sized brain food. Continue reading...

For our final episode of this series, Daniel Glaser (with a little misguided help from his producer Max) attempts to unpick what the brain does – and doesn’t do – when we readSubscribe and review on iTunes and Acast, and join the discussion on Facebook and TwitterA Neuroscientist Explains is back for its second season. In each episode, Daniel Glaser and series’ producer Max revisit a column from Daniel’s hugely successful weekly column in the Observer Magazine and explore the neuroscience within it. One subject, one interview and many, many interesting questions. Continue reading...

Sunspots come and go in 11-year cycles with fluctuations in solar magnetic activityThe sun is our nearest star. Now that the spring equinox has passed, back on 20 March, it will increasingly dominate the sky in the northern hemisphere. Days will get longer, and nights shorter until summer finally arrives. The sun’s bright surface usually displays transitory dark blemishes known as sunspots. Every 11 years or so, the sunspots become much rarer. Between 2011 and 2015, there were only 3 sunspot-free days. In 2017, 104 days were free. Already this year, spots have been absent for more than 50 days. This clearly shows we are heading for solar minimum, expected to arrive next year. Sunspots are produced by solar magnetic activity. This is the same force that creates space weather, which can short-circuit spacecraft and interfere with communications and power lines on Earth. Never look directly at the sun through any optical instrument or with the naked eye. The fearsome light can cause permanent blindness. Continue reading...

From thinking on your feet in job interviews to negotiating with children, here are some top tips to up your conversational gameWhether it’s Michel Barnier and David Davis talking themselves to a standstill in Brexit negotiations, or the impending face-off between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, the vexed topic of good – and bad – communication is on our minds. But is there a way to make your conversations and interactions better? As communication theorists, we examined how to make friends, influence people and reach agreements. Here are some tips: Continue reading...

The US researcher on exploring the bond between dogs and humans and why animal testing needs to be questionedGregory Berns is a distinguished professor of neuroeconomics at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. His current work involves taking brain scans of dogs to probe what goes on between canine ears, as well as using scanning techniques to probe the connections within brains of dead animals, including the extinct Tasmanian tiger, the thylacine.In your new book, you say a dog’s brain is about the size of a lemon…

Geologists aim to tap reservoir in tunnels under GlasgowScientists are finalising plans to exploit the vast reservoir of warm water that fills a labyrinth of disused mines and porous rock layers underneath Glasgow. They believe this subterranean store of naturally heated water could be used to warm homes in the city. If the system proves successful, such water could then be exploited in other cities and towns across Britain, they say.The £9m project will initially involve drilling narrow boreholes filled with instruments to survey temperature, seismic activity, water flow, acidity and other variables to establish the state of the water in the rocks below the city. The aim will be to establish whether this warm water can be extracted for long periods to heat Glaswegian homes. Continue reading...

Self-described ‘serial entrepreneur’ behind the Aurora Station says it is selling the astronaut experience and plans to open in 2021

In recent years, genome sequencing has changed everything we thought about our origins and how we relate to early human speciesFor David Reich, research can be a harrowing experience. The 44-year-old Harvard University geneticist says he now goes to bed terrified he will wake up to find his team’s recent, stunning discoveries about human ancestry have been proved wrong. “We are now making so many startling insights I sometimes fear it must all be incorrect,” he says.To be fair to Reich, no one has yet found any hint his results are invalid. “That still doesn’t stop me worrying,” he insists. Continue reading...

Researchers and scientists say new discoveries and drug creation could be beneficial to future astronauts on deep space missions

A widely reported crack in the Rift Valley was not formed by tectonic movement, but by erosion of soil from recent heavy rainsGlobal media outlets have been abuzz recently about a large “crack” which appeared in the Kenyan Rift Valley. Many of these news pieces have tried to get to the bottom of what caused this feature, with many reports concluding that it was evidence for the African continent actively splitting into two. However, many articles cited limited expert comment, much of which was taken out of context and was based on minimal hard evidence. Other articles fed directly off previous reports, propagating unsubstantiated rumours and losing sight of original sources.

Fossils collected by Darwin on his global voyages on the Beagle will be digitally scanned and made available onlineOn 23 September 1832 a young naturalist, thousands of miles from home and frequently seasick and homesick, found the fossil of an enormous skull embedded in soft rock. It took Charles Darwin three hours to chip it out of the cliff face at Punta Alta in Argentina, and hours more to lug it back to base. He arrived with it long after dark at the ship which became the most famous in the history of natural science, the Beagle.Darwin was only 24, a college dropout from his medical degree who had done a crash course in geology in order to join the voyage. He was wild with excitement about the chase, writing in a letter to a friend: “I have just got scent of some fossil bones of a Mammoth, what they may be I do not know, but if gold or galloping will get them, they shall be mine”.

Immortalised for its beauty by Henry David Thoreau, the Massachusetts pond is under threat from increased human activity and climate change according to a new studyThe water of Walden Pond, which Henry David Thoreau described in 1854 as “so transparent that the bottom can easily be discerned at the depth of 25 or 30 feet”, is no longer quite so clear according to a new study.The Massachusetts pond was made famous in Walden, the transcendentalist writer’s account of the years he spent next to it in order to “live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life”. The pond has been greatly affected by human activity. Everything from forest fires in the 19th century, to wood-cutting operations, the use of pesticides in the 1960s and increasing tourism have affected the water quality, according to the paper. Over half of the phosphorus in the lake in the summer “may now be attributable to urine released by swimmers”, while a footpath to Thoreau’s cabin “caused large amounts of soil to wash into the lake”. Continue reading...

This week, Nicola Davis asks: what clues do our teeth hold about our species? And what can they tell us about our past?Subscribe and review on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom and Mixcloud. Join the discussion on Facebook and TwitterScientists have been digging up clues about the origins of humans for centuries, and remains of human species continue to come to light. But while fossilised skulls and bones are exciting, one of the greatest clues is right under our noses. Continue reading...

We need to show the public the high welfare standards and care all research animals receive to help build trust in scientistsIf you have ever taken a medicine, you have benefited from the humane use of animals in medical research. My research at the University of Bath focuses on understanding how the brain responds to stress and how we can use that knowledge to develop new and better antidepressants. We use mice to study how their behaviour changes in response to stress, or potential new drug treatments, and then we analyse their brains to identify affected brain circuits and the molecules involved in those behaviours.Over four million UK adults experience depression at any one time, and only around half of those will respond to the existing medications. There is a vital need to understand more about the brain mechanisms that cause depression in order to develop new and better antidepressants. Animal research plays a key role in this. Continue reading...

GSAT 6A, primed for a 10-year mission showed no signs of malfunctioning before going silentAn Indian communications satellite has stopped talking to ground controllers. The spacecraft went silent so suddenly that an unnamed official was quoted by the Times of India as saying that it was like the satellite had suffered a “cardiac arrest.”Normally ground controllers see things start to go wrong before a spacecraft stops communicating. This time, however, according to the quoted official, there were no signs at all. This is making it difficult to diagnose the error and try to bring the spacecraft back online. Continue reading...

The only thing more frightening than an advancing glacier may be one that is shrinking and raising sea levels round the worldBoth the north pole and the south pole are situated in the middle of huge ice deserts which are melting around the edges under the influence of human activity. The difference that matters between them is that the ice of the Arctic floats: if it melted nothing much would happen to aggregate sea levels. The ice of Antarctica, like that of Greenland, rests on land. If it all were to melt, as it has done in the far distant past, sea levels could rise by as much as 60 metres. That is most unlikely to happen. What is possible, though, is that the smaller portion of the continent, west Antarctica, which is divided from the rest by a mountain range, could lose much of its ice. Even that would be catastrophic. A significant retreat in west Antarctica, as seems to be already under way, could raise sea levels by between one and three metres by the end of this century. Children now alive will see that happen across their lifetimes. That is what is meant by the urgency of global warming.This week saw the publication of fresh research showing that the glaciers of west Antarctica are retreating faster than they were at the end of the last ice age, when water levels also rose significantly. The ice sheet is not one homogeneous mass, but a collection of glaciers all moving slowly but inexorably towards the sea. Their retreat is happening underwater, and invisibly, as the ocean erodes the foot of the glacier, known as the “ground line”, where its contact with the sea floor ends. Beyond that point, long tongues of ice stick out into the ocean, providing the coastline that we can see and map. But the capacity of the ice sheet to lock up water depends on the position of the ground line. As that retreats, invisibly, the sea level rises and the whole of the ice sheet grows less stable, something which makes further sea rise still more likely. Continue reading...

Findings could help hunt for treatment for degenerative conditions such as Alzheimers, and psychiatric problemsHumans continue to produce new neurons in a part of their brain involved in learning, memory and emotion throughout adulthood, scientists have revealed, countering previous theories that production stopped after adolescence. The findings could help in developing treatments for neurological conditions such as dementia.

Researchers find that warmer temperatures are upsetting the seasonal relationship between the early spider orchid and pollinating beesIt is one of the most cunning and elaborate reproductive deceits: the early spider orchid (Ophrys sphegodes) wafts a floral bouquet into the air that mimics the irresistible scent of a virgin female solitary mining bee, tricking gullible male bees into attempting intercourse with several flowers, thereby ensuring the plant’s pollination.But the sexual success of this rare and declining orchid in Britain is imperilled by climate change, researchers have found.

Yes, our genes affect everything we do, from educational attainment to health, but they are only a contributing factorThe cost of DNA sequencing continues to fall, and the scale and reach of genetic research continues to grow with it. We can use genetics to study not just health and fundamental biology but many things humans do – education, behaviours, parenting skills – leading to interesting scientific papers and sometimes breathless headlines in the mainstream press. But what can DNA really tell us about our potential and our behaviours? Is the science sound? How should society use this knowledge?Broadly speaking, yes, the science is sound. The human genome varies slightly between all of us. Once you study enough people – often more than 10,000 – genetic variation will have some kind of impact on nearly anything we do. There are many factors that contribute to complex measurements or behaviours, such as performance in school, so lots of weak effects can add up to a substantial impact. However, the degree to which this variation affects individuals can be quite different depending on what you are looking at. For example, up to 80% of what determines height lies in our genetic code, but only 30% of the causes of multiple sclerosis are genetic. Reasonably complex outcomes, such as the score in an IQ test, or whether you stay in education beyond the age of 16, also have quite substantial genetic components – between 50 to 60%. Continue reading...

Scholars from developing countries call for greater say in solar geoengineering research, arguing poor nations have most at stakeIt sounds like the stuff of science fiction: the creation, using balloons or jets, of a manmade atmospheric sunshade to shield the most vulnerable countries in the global south against the worst effects of global warming.But amid mounting interest in “solar geoengineering” – not least among western universities – a group of scientists from developing countries has issued a forceful call to have a greater say in the direction of research into climate change, arguing that their countries are the ones with most at stake. Continue reading...

Scientists from the Natural History Museum have revisited the spot where Scott and his team took samples to make a comparisonThey look like shrivelled pieces of leather – in fact they are dried communities of microbes scooped up by Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s team of polar explorers. And they could help scientists keep tabs on how Antarctica is changing.While perhaps most famous for the ill-fated Terra Nova expedition from 1910-13, Scott also led the 1901-4 Discovery Expedition to Antarctica that was proclaimed a success, largely due to the pioneering scientific studies carried out on the trip. Among the research carried out during this earlier mission, the team collected a host of specimens including samples of microbial mats – layered, sheet-like structures that can grow in lakes and ponds. Continue reading...

On the eve of the UK introduction of a sugary drinks levy, experts urge global adoption of ‘sin taxes’ to deter unhealthy habits and check the spread of diseaseSo called “sin taxes” on sugary drinks, alcohol and tobacco not only work, but will help rather than unduly penalise the poor, according to a major new international analysis.Just a day before the UK brings in a levy on sugary drinks, experts are urging every country in the world to use taxes to deter people from the eating, drinking and smoking habits that will damage their health. They warn of the urgent need to check the spread of cancers, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and other conditions caused or exacerbated by our lifestyles which have overtaken infectious diseases as the biggest killers of the modern age. Continue reading...

Scottish-born John Giannandrea joined search firm in 2010 and helped it become market leaderApple has poached Google’s AI chief, John Giannandrea, to run its machine learning and AI operations, in the clearest sign yet that the iPhone creator is attempting to fix the problems that saw its early lead in the field crumble.Scottish-born Giannandrea, who joined Google in 2010 after his startup, Metaweb, was acquired, has led the search firm’s push to become market leader in AI and machine learning. Under his command, Google Brain, the company’s main AI research team, has rebuilt the technology that underpins some of Google’s landmark products, including search, translation and voice recognition. Continue reading...

Scientists are comparing the songs sung by bowhead whales to the music of Thelonious Monk. But from cicada techno to bonobo gabber, they have competition for who’s top of the pops

Every day millions of people ask Google life’s most difficult questions. Our writers answer some of the commonest queries

Advanced DNA techniques shows the critical role extinct birds played in New Zealand’s ecosystem.Extinction is a sad process, as it means the irreversible loss of a species. However, as species do not exist in a vacuum, the effects of extinction do not simply extend only to the loss of species X or Y, but ripple through a whole ecosystem. Particularly for island ecosystems, which have a limited number of species, the loss of one species can lead to ecosystem collapse.For instance, the Hawaiian Islands suffered dramatic extinctions of bird species with the arrival of Europeans. Microscopic studies showed pollen grains adhering to the head feathers on preserved specimens of these extinct birds. Not only did we lose a large number of unique bird species, the Hawaiian ecosystem also lost many of its pollinators (Cox, 1983). The result? Dwindling numbers of many native plants. Continue reading...

Bowheads serenade each other off Greenland with a vast repertoire of improvised jazz-like song, study saysHow do bowhead whales in the unbroken darkness of the Arctic’s polar winter keep busy during breeding season?They sing, of course. Continue reading...

Study appears to rule out theory that Neanderthals’ facial shape was adapted for a powerful biteWith their prominent noses, protruding faces and swept-back cheekbones, Neanderthals were nothing if not striking. Now researchers say they have unpicked why our big-browed cousins had such distinctive features.Previous research has suggested a number of possible explanations for Neanderthals’ facial shape, including that it enabled a forceful bite with the front teeth – a theory based on their relatively large incisors and signs of tooth wear.

In Germany, scientists are using drones equipped with sensors to locate metals needed for wind turbines and solar panelsWe know that renewable energy can help the world to wean itself off fossil fuels, but keeping up with green-energy demand is creating another problem. Countries such as Germany, which has committed itself to a low-carbon future, are finding themselves short of the raw materials required to manufacture wind turbines and solar panels. In particular, metals such as copper, cobalt, platinum-group metals and rare-earth elements such as indium and germanium are in short supply. Continue reading...

Expats are often shaky in their mother tongue. But fear not: the fight in the brain known as language attrition can be stopped

Tracks of meat-eating dinosaurs found on Scottish island, shedding light on behaviours during Middle Jurassic period

Icarus is a blue supergiant, a rare type of star that is larger than the Sun and far more luminous

A new breed of robotic bees co-created by Japanese scientists could be dispatched to the red planet to look for signs of life, or rather flatulenceName: MarsbeesAge: Embryonic. Continue reading...

When it comes to perceiving the world around us, how much of it is due to ‘bottom-up’ sensory data and how much comes from the ‘top-down’ predictions we make? Most importantly; how can the delicate dance between the two lead to hallucinations?Subscribe and review on iTunes and Acast, and join the discussion on Facebook and TwitterA Neuroscientist Explains is back for its second season. In each episode, Dr Daniel Glaser and producer Max Sanderson revisit a column from Daniel’s hugely successful weekly column in the Observer Magazine and explore the neuroscience within it. One subject, one interview and many, many interesting questions. Continue reading...

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific conceptsIs there a law of physics to explain why I always end up with odd socks after I have done the washing?Jonathan East Continue reading...

Tributes on Weibo as officials say craft, which had been out of control since 2016, mostly burnt up on re-entryAs China’s Tiangong-1 space station hurtled toward Earth on Monday, burning up as it entered the atmosphere, Chinese residents wished the spacecraft a final farewell.“Goodbye Tiangong-1. You are our hero,” one user wrote on the Chinese microblog Weibo, under the hashtag “Goodbye Tiangong”. Chinese news outlets posted photos and tributes to the 10.4-metre-long space station as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the south Pacific. Continue reading...