A new method of distinguishing viral from bacterial infections will help control the misuse of antibioticsYou have a rasping cough. Your speech is reduced to a whisper and your throat is raw and aching. You cannot sleep. So you tell your sad story to your doctor, who faces a simple issue: do you have a viral infection, or is a bacterium responsible for your illness?It sounds a trivial issue. In fact, the problem goes beyond your immediate health and has implications for the general wellbeing of society. If your doctor makes a misdiagnosis and – thinking your condition is caused by a bacterium – prescribes a course of antibiotics, the decision could have harmful side-effects. Continue reading...

If you’re brutish and promiscuous it could be your ancestors’ fault, says Ben AmbridgeYou’ve heard of your IQ (Intelligence Quotient) and your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient) but what about your NQ (Neanderthal Quotient)? A new study from the State University of New York analysed 200 Homo sapiens to see which personality traits they shared with our distant cousins Homo neanderthalensis. So, what about you? How often (never/occasionally/often) do you…(a) Fantasise about sex with someone other than your partner? (b) Avoid talking to people you don’t know very well? (c) Feel so nervous that nothing could calm you down? (d) Show a lack of imaginativeness in new situations? Continue reading...

There are ways to ward off dementia and the ill effects of brain ageing, say Alexis Willett and Jennifer Barnett

Three nations blame social media for fall in number of girls given cervical cancer jabsHealth officials have become increasingly alarmed at campaigns aimed at blocking the take-up of the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, which protects women against cervical cancer.Three leading nations have now seen major reductions in the take-up of the vaccine and a growing number of doctors fear its use could be blocked elsewhere, despite its capacity to provide protection against a condition that kills hundreds of thousands of women a year. Continue reading...

The world’s oldest mummy has been a boon to scientists, the Tyrolean tourist trade and now to filmmakersNo corpse has ever been examined so thoroughly, attracted so many admirers, or spawned such an array of relics and souvenirs. The mummified Neolithic male known as Ötzi, whose shrivelled body was discovered with his tools and clothing in a glacier 26 years ago, is now set to experience a further wave of popularity with the release of a biopic offering a fictional account of his life.Ötzi’s remains were stumbled across by a German couple, Erika and Helmut Simon, during a summer hike in 1991 in the Ötztal Alps in southern Tyrol. So well preserved was the partially thawed body, the couple initially thought the corpse, nicknamed Ötzi after the valley where it was found, to be relatively new. But forensic tests soon established it to be around 5,300-years-old, making Ötzi the oldest known human mummy. The corpse’s organs, even its skin – covered in 60 tattoos – were intact, making it a unique find and one of the most prized archaeological discoveries of all time.Ötzi has long since become a cause célèbre in the scientific world, with thousands of specialists examining everything from the contents of his stomach to how he died. Continue reading...

Sunday’s full moon will be the first and last supermoon of the year, appearing 7% larger and 15% brighter than average – and may have a reddish hueThe first and last supermoon of the year will rise above the horizon in the east on Sunday and loom larger and brighter than normal as it climbs in the night sky until it sets the next morning.Known in the Farmer’s Almanac as the cold moon, the long night moon, and the moon before yule, the event comes as the December full moon coincides with the body’s close approach to Earth, making it appear 7% larger and 15% brighter than average. Continue reading...

A full moon coincides with its closest stage of orbit for the only time in 2017 this weekend. We’d like your help documenting the astronomical phenomenonThe one and only supermoon appearance of 2017 occurs on 3 December, and we’d like to see your pictures as well as read stories about how you captured them.Related: Supermoon: search Sunday's skies for December's 'moon before yule' Continue reading...

Diet alone is not usually enough to reduce chemicals like potassium or phosphate that can build up in your body, so medicines to help do this are important, writes Fiona Loud, director of policy at Kidney Care UKWe are concerned that the headline on your article (Kidney drug ‘may do more harm than good’, say experts, 25 November) is misleading and could result in kidney patients stopping taking their medicines. When your kidneys do not work properly, dangerous levels of chemicals like potassium or phosphate can build up in your body. People who have kidney disease are usually given dietary advice as to how to help restrict their intake alongside medicines that bind these chemicals so that they can be excreted; and there is clear evidence that phosphate binders reduce levels of phosphate. Diet alone is not usually enough to reduce these levels, so medicines to help do this are important as without them levels could become too high and result in an increased chance of death.Nobody should stop taking their medicines after reading this article. If any of your readers are concerned then they need to speak to their doctor about the best ways to reduce phosphate in their diet in combination with taking the right phosphate binder for them and if they should swap to a calcium-free version. Undoubtedly more research is required because evidence in this area is changing all the time and what patients need is clear, simple guidance that they know they can trust – not misleading and potentially dangerous headlines.

Muslim populations | Brexit incompetence | Fortnum & Mason | Trump’s tweets | Thanet invadedForecasts that the Muslim population of the UK and other European countries could increase substantially by 2050 (Report, 30 November) presuppose that all children of Muslims will grow up to be Muslims. While many children inherit their religious beliefs from their parents, others read widely and reason for themselves. Some of those children will follow other religions, or no religion. How many people of Christian heritage in the UK are Christians? How many Britons of Muslim heritage will be Muslims in the year 2050?

Not yeti: that was the disappointing message for those hoping DNA analysis of nine ‘yeti’ specimens would at last prove the existence of the abominable snowman. Instead, the samples were shown to belong to eight bears and a dog. Still, scientists say the testing has shed light on the evolutionary “family tree” of bears, so that’s something at least. Much cheerier is the fascinating news that prehistoric women’s arms were stronger than those of today’s elite rowers. A bone analysis and comparison with modern women has revealed profound effect of manual agricultural labour on the human body – and shed new light on the role of women in ancient communities. Further archaeological excitement surrounded the news that experts believe they have pinpointed the place where Julius Caesar’s fleet landed to begin their invasion of Britain in 54BC – Pegwell Bay, on the eastern tip of Kent. Nearby excavations have revealed the remains of an ancient defensive base, bones and iron weapons, which point to the bay as the most likely landing spot for a Roman fleet. And finally, a new generation cancer drug offers tantalising hope for an HIV cure after boosting the immune system and reducing the reservoir of dormant HIV cells in a patient. However, as this is a single case, much more research will be needed – but it’s a glimmer of hope. Continue reading...

Sex tech isn’t all just ‘realistic’ robots and wifi-enabled marital aids. Girl on the Net reports from the innovative and surreal Goldsmith’s sex tech hack showcaseIn an old church somewhere in South London, senior computing lecturer Dr Kate Devlin lies down on top of a sleeping bag and submits to a hug from a robot. But it doesn’t look how you’d imagine a robot to look: it has no face, no hands, and none of the porny characteristics common to sex robots we see in the mainstream media. It’s a pile of plastic inflatable tubes on top of a sleeping bag, which wrap around you and pulse with air – squeezing and hugging whoever has been brave enough to lie down and try it. In my opinion it’s one of the sexiest things to come out of the Goldsmith’s sex tech hack.Although only in its second year, the sex tech hack has already managed to throw out ideas that radically challenge the way we think about sex and tech. Broadly, the products we’re used to seeing on sale offer a recognisable upgrade to our current sex toys – vibrators that connect over the internet to allow long-distance play, or sex robots which are basically sex dolls plus a simple Siri-style AI. But at the sex tech hack, the participants’ vision of the future is altogether more unusual: exploring the edges of sensual pleasure, and taking a new look at how we communicate intimately.

Walton on the Naze, Essex The iron-rich, sandy layer of the Red Crag, laid down by a cool sea, is rich in marine fossils.I walk past the arcades and beach cafes. The smell of vinegar on chips is sharp in my nose and makes my mouth water but I haven’t come to Walton on the Naze for seaside snacks. Higher ground is visible beyond the beach, partly shrouded in mist, and I strike out towards it. Continue reading...

Scientists unearth 215 eggs with preserved embryos of the fish-eating Hamipterus tianshanensis, providing fresh understanding of dinosaur’s cousinA discovery in northwestern China of hundreds of fossilized pterosaur eggs is providing fresh understanding of the flying reptiles that lived alongside the dinosaurs, including evidence that their babies were born flightless and needed parental care.Scientists said on Thursday they unearthed 215 eggs of the fish-eating Hamipterus tianshanensis – a species whose adults had a crest atop an elongated skull, pointy teeth and a wingspan of more than 11ft (3.5m) – including 16 eggs containing partial embryonic remains. Continue reading...

Patient given nivolumab, a new generation cancer drug, shown to have a reduced reservoir of dormant HIV cells and a boosted immune responseA new generation cancer drug has raised hopes for those living with HIV after it was found to reduce the reservoir of dormant HIV cells in the body and boost the immune response of a patient.Doctors say the effect the cancer drug nivolumab appeared to have on the patient offers a tantalising hope that it might provide a way to eradicate the virus from patients. Continue reading...

Nearly 50% of cases occur in adulthood, but many doctors assume adults with diabetes symptoms have type 2, leading to potentially dangerous misdiagnosisDoctors are wrong to assume that type 1 diabetes mainly affects children, according to a new study that shows it is equally prevalent in adults.The findings, published in the journal Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, overturn previous thinking that the form of diabetes, an auto-immune condition, is primarily a childhood illness. Scientists from Exeter University found that in a lot of cases it was actually misdiagnosed among adults. Continue reading...

We are shielded from most of the neutrons by the atmosphere, but radiation is more intense the higher you goSpace weather, determined mainly by solar activity, rarely troubles us on Earth. We are not bothered if satellites are buffeted by solar winds, unless they stop working. However, extreme solar events may cause real problems down here. Giant, once-a-century solar storms are a known threat to power grids, but aircraft may be at risk from far more frequent events according to a new study of data from a neutron storm in February 1956.There is a steady background drizzle of neutrons, but when a large solar flare strikes the Earth’s atmosphere it can produce a cloudburst of them. We are shielded from most of the neutrons by the atmosphere, but radiation is more intense the higher you go. During the event in 1956, monitors showed 50 times the base level of neutrons at sea level. Airliners at the time mainly flew below 20,000 feet and were at little risk. Continue reading...

Chores and bones | Sallie Thornberry | Mating signals | Doorstep scamsFollowing this research (Pounding grain gave Neolithic women bones to beat athletes, it would be interesting to study the difference, if any, between the bones of women before, say, the 1970s and today. Before most households possessed automatic washing machines, washing clothes, scrubbing floors etc must have contributed to healthier bones; even if, before rubber gloves, knuckles, hands and knees became sore.

Riko Muranaka awarded prize for efforts to explain jabs’s safety amid scare campaigns which have seen Japanese vaccination rate fall from over 70% to 1%A Japanese doctor who has stood up to a campaign of misinformation around a common anti-cancer vaccine has won a prestigious prize for championing evidence in the face of hostility and personal threats.Riko Muranaka at Kyoto University was awarded the 2017 John Maddox prize on Thursday for her efforts to explain the safety of the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine amid strong opposition from anti-vaccine activists and a small group of academics. Continue reading...

Longstanding question of whether sponges or comb jellies were first to branch off the evolutionary tree from the common ancestor of all animals may be settledA longstanding row in animal evolution has come to a head, with a team of scientists claiming they have ended the debate over which type of creature is the sister of all other animals.Researchers have been torn for years over whether sponges or marine invertebrates known as comb jellies were the first type of creature to branch off the evolutionary tree from the common ancestor of all animals.

Researchers say erenumab is ‘incredibly important step forward’ for condition that affects 8.5 million people in UKA new migraine drug that can halve the length of attacks has been hailed as “the start of real change” in how the condition is treated.Erenumab, a laboratory-made antibody that blocks a neural brain pathway called CGRP, is the first drug in 20 years proven to prevent migraine attacks. Continue reading...

Are you 100% sure that you’re a mammal? Do you ever worry that you might be a moth or something? Well, fret no more, we’re here to helpYou likely know that you’re a mammal. You have neither feathers nor a shell, you cannot breathe underwater and you only have to look at an ant to feel the vast spans of evolutionary time that lie between you and insects. But are you absolutely sure? Are you 100% confident that you’re a mammal, and not some exotic form of mollusc? Well, now you can be, with this easy-to-use guide! Continue reading...

MPs as private landlords | Dowsing | Coming out | Picture captions | Rodney BewesStephanie Lovett asks why “crippling private rent” is not being addressed by politicians (Letters, 28 November). The answer could lie in reports following the Grenfell Tower disaster which showed that 123 MPs – almost one in five – are private landlords. They include the chancellor of the exchequer, the foreign secretary, the shadow foreign secretary and the Speaker. Eighty-seven of them are Tories and 28 Labour.

New light shed on role of women in ancient communities, as bone analysis reveals profound effect of manual agricultural labour on the human bodyPrehistoric women had stronger arms than elite female rowing teams do today thanks to the daily grind of farming life, researchers have revealed, shedding light on their role in early communities.

My father, Alan Eddy, who has died aged 90, was the founding professor of biochemistry at Umist - the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology – where he carried out groundbreaking work with yeast. He was appointed professor and head of the department of biochemistry in 1959, and was in the vanguard of Umist’s transformation into a leading university.Born in St Just, Cornwall, Alan was the son of Ellen (nee Berryman) and Alfred Eddy. His mother was a teacher; his father worked as an assayer (working out how much metal there was in rocks) in the local tin mines and later, after qualifying as an accountant, as a salesman for the Burroughs Adding Machine company. Alan showed early academic promise, winning a scholarship to Devonport high school and then an open scholarship to Exeter College, Oxford, to study chemistry. At Oxford he rowed for the college and, as a member of the athletics club, trained with Roger Bannister. Continue reading...

Whether they were introduced to you by family or friends, we want to hear about the distinctive American words in your vocabularyIf you live or work in America, what do you call a fizzy drink you buy during your lunch break? Is it soda? Maybe it’s pop? Or perhaps it’s a soft drink, or a coke (even if it’s not actually Coca Cola)?Related: British Library project discovers two new words – thanks to Guardian readers Continue reading...

Where did human language come from? What role does it serve? And how might emojis and GIFs enhance human interaction?Subscribe & Review on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud & Acast, and join the discussion on Facebook and TwitterSince beginning in 1825, the Royal Institution Christmas lectures have seen the likes of Michael Faraday, David Attenborough, and Monica Grady take centre stage. Continuing this string of science’s brightest stars, this year’s lectures will be given by Professor Sophie Scott, a cognitive neuroscientist from University College London. Continue reading...

Every day millions of internet users ask Google life’s most difficult questions, big and small. Our writers answer some of the commonest queriesWhy do good people suffer? Five words to take you into a dense maze of ideas philosophical, psychological and theological. Where to start? What suffering looks or feels like is probably one of the most subjective notions we can ponder. Even the way we usually categorise suffering – “physical” or “mental” – is blurry, because rarely does one come without the other. Our minds hurt when our bodies hurt, and vice versa.If we put aside the “good” or “bad” ranking – for now – and ask why any person suffers, we can start at the beginning: when our body, pulled apart from the one we grew inside, is suspended in the world on its own for the first time. Birth. Continue reading...

A study shows that tweaking the genes of alligators can produce feather-like structures – we could be on our way to understanding how birds became birds

Although it has not revealed the existence of the abominable snowman, DNA analysis has shed light on the evolutionary ‘family tree’ of bears, scientists sayHuge, ape-like and hairy, the yeti has roamed its way into legend, tantalising explorers, mountaineers and locals with curious footprints and fleeting appearances. Now researchers say the elusive inhabitant of the Himalayas and Tibetan plateau has been unmasked.Scientists studying nine samples – including hair and teeth – supposedly from yetis, say the samples are not from a huge hominin but in fact mostly belonged to bears. Continue reading...

Nearby excavations reveal remains of an ancient defensive base, bones and iron weapons, which suggest bay as most likely landing spot for Roman fleetJulius Caesar’s invasion of Britain was launched from the sandy shores of Pegwell Bay on the most easterly tip of Kent, according to fresh evidence unearthed by archaeologists.Researchers named the wide, shallow bay the most likely landing spot for the Roman fleet after excavators found the remains of a defensive base dating to the first century BC in the nearby hamlet of Ebbsfleet, near Ramsgate.

Compared with married couples, single people have a 42% elevated risk of dementia, and those who have been widowed a 20% increase, researchers findBeing married could help stave off dementia, a new study has suggested.Levels of social interaction could explain the finding, experts have said, after the research showed that people who are single or widowed are more likely to develop the disease. Continue reading...

Whether they were introduced to you by family or friends, we want to hear about the distinctive Australian words in your vocabularyIf you live or work in Australia you may have heard people use different words to describe what women wear when they go swimming. If you’re in Queensland women might be wearing togs; if you’re in the Victoria area they’re bathers, and if you’re in New South Wales they’re cozzies.

Boys are more likely to have asthma than girls, but the situation reverses with adolescence, prompting researchers to examine role sex hormones might play

From writing to flushing the toilet, we have to struggle. Left-handers may excel at elite sports, but the playing field that is life needs to be levelled upThe news that left-handers excel at some sports but not others confirmed my thoughts that the 10% of people that make up us southpaws are used to punching above our weight. A study published in the journal Biology Letters concludes that being left-handed is an advantage in sports where time pressures are particularly severe – such as table tennis, or cricket, or squash.I am the exception to the rule – I manage to be equally rubbish at any sport regardless of whether it be fast or slow. My PE teacher told me at least I had one good tennis shot in me, but I felt that was a backhanded compliment. But if we left-handers lead at sports such as cricket or tennis, it is yet to make up for the inequality we face in everyday life. Continue reading...

Worst possible scenario involves pyroclastic flows – currents of hot gas and rock moving at 70 miles per hourMount Agung, a volcano on the Indonesian island of Bali, has been in a state of unrest for several weeks and is now emitting smoke and ash. Mudflows, known as lahars, are running down the mountainside and loud booms have been heard. Experts say a large eruption could happen imminently. Continue reading...

The recent mass review of 10,000 criminal case samples shows what can happen when commercial demands get in the way of vital public servicesThe mass review of 10,000 criminal cases because of concerns over forensic evidence is shocking – it’s the biggest recall of samples in British criminal justice history. But it comes as little surprise to our union.Forensic data handled by Randox Testing’s laboratory in Manchester is being questioned as it may have been manipulated. Continue reading...

What to look out for in the coming month, including the Geminid meteor shower, more prolific than October’s Orionids and November’s LeonidsThe Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb and Altair is dominating the high SW sky as our long December nights begin, while the smaller and less impressive Square of Pegasus is just as high in the SE. By our map times, the Square has shifted to the SW and the striking form of Orion is climbing in the ESE. Continue reading...

My colleague and friend Geoffrey Oldham, who has died aged 88, was one of the founders in 1966 of the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex. He dedicated his life’s work to building pioneering institutions that advocated the intelligent and innovative use of science and technology for a sustainable and equitable world. His influence came to span the globe, and his kindness and enthusiasm were felt by a vast network of colleagues and friends.Son of Evelyn (nee Brooke) and Herbert Oldham, Geoff was born in Harden, West Yorkshire, where his father was a manager with the NatWest bank. He went to Bingley grammar and studied geology at the University of Reading. He was accepted for further studies at both Cambridge and Toronto universities; 10 days after his wedding in September 1951 to Brenda Raven, they sailed for Canada. Continue reading...

Henry Marsh is a celebrated neurosurgeon who travels the world teaching his exacting craft. Robert McCrum joins him in Ukraine as he tries to save the life of 11-year-old ViktoriaWe joined the green-gowned brain surgery team soon after daybreak. The chill of the operating theatre was filled with the inevitable frisson of nerves before a big op. Inside the Orlika Street children’s hospital in the suburbs of Lviv, on the western edge of Ukraine, the patient was waiting for us, under halogen lights, anaesthetised upon the table.She was corpse-like in unconsciousness. Her chilled cerise fingernails offered a poignant reminder she is a young girl. Viktoria, who is just 11, has a malignant brain tumour. The day before, in the ICU, she had been weepy, fretful and disoriented with brain sickness. She had come with her mother to this 10- storey late-Soviet paediatric facility for a high-risk, potentially life-saving operation. Continue reading...

Communities which design their own buildings are more likely to be happy and healthy“We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us,” said Winston Churchill. He was right; our surroundings can make us healthier and less likely to drop litter, enhance our beauty, decrease our perception of pain and enable us to solve puzzles more quickly.

Project, which could help restore damaged coral populations, has seen success in the PhilippinesScientists have stepped in as environmental matchmakers by breeding baby coral on the Great Barrier Reef in a move that could have worldwide significance.

The artist tells how his work provides a map of the digital world’s hidden landscapes and forbidden placesTrevor Paglen describes himself as a landscape artist, but he is no John Constable. The landscapes Paglen frames extend to the bottom of the ocean and beyond the blurred edges of the Earth’s atmosphere. For the last two decades, the artist, a cheerful and fervent man of 43, has been on a mission to photograph the unseen political geography of our times. His art tries to capture places that are not on any map – the secret air bases and offshore prisons from which the war on terror has been fought – as well as the networks of data collection and surveillance that now shape our democracies, the cables, spy satellites and artificial intelligences of the digital world.There is little abstract about this effort. Paglen has spent a good deal of his artistic career camped out in deserts with only suspicious drones for company, his special astro-telescopic lenses trained on the heavens or distant military bases. (“For me, seeing the drone in the 21st century is a little bit like Turner seeing the train in the 19th century.”) He trained as a scuba diver to get 100ft beneath the waves in search of the cables carrying all of human knowledge. He recognises few limits to his art. In April, he will launch his own satellite and, with it, the world’s first “space sculpture”, a manmade star that should be visible from most places on the Earth for a few months, “as bright as one of the stars in the Big Dipper”. Continue reading...

The British astronaut, 45, on how vulnerable our planet looks from space, strange floating dreams and whether we’ll find life out thereI’m not a huge fan of heights, which sounds strange for an astronaut. My most terrifying moment was doing a parachute jump. That first leap of faith out of the aircraft at 14,000ft was far more terrifying than going into space.Sandhurst is not posh at all. It’s a completely level playing field, everybody is treated the same… and that’s abysmally! The first few weeks is all about breaking you and then they rebuild you into the mould they want you to be. It was an incredibly positive experience for me. Continue reading...

Guardian supporter Matt Bowden explains why an article by the author Robert Macfarlane helped him understand the ‘Anthropocene generation’Matt Bowden, 34, works in the textiles industry. He is from Durham, UK and currently living in Taipei, TaiwanI came across Robert Macfarlane’s article Generation Anthropocene: how humans have altered the planet forever, as part of my MA course last year. It was recommended reading and ignited a deep interest in humans’ impact on the planet, and an impetus to reimagine my relationship with the environment. Continue reading...

As robots slash the time it takes to complete an order at companies like Amazon and Ocado, what does that mean for their human colleagues?Next to the M56, on the outskirts of Manchester, the future has landed. A cluster of huge distribution centres sits at the heart of Airport City, a new development part-funded by the Beijing Construction Engineering Group (two years ago, it was visited by president Xi Jinping of China). Among the biggest buildings is one of Amazon’s self-styled “fulfilment centres”. Known within the company as MAN1, it opened in September last year, but everything inside, from the chairs to the wall-mounted screens, looks as if it has just come out of a box. Deeper within the centre, beyond the reception area and meeting rooms, there is something else just as new: a great expanse of space behind a metal cage, where dozens of robots, finished in Amazon orange and each emblazoned with its own number, glide across the floor, gracefully avoiding collisions and sprinting to their next task.Amazon employees call them “drives”, but to all intents and purposes these are droids, summoned from the dreams of science fiction and put to work. In some Amazon warehouses, workers – or, in the company’s parlance, “associates” – still pace up and down huge aisles, picking out goods and preparing them for shipment; these shifts are said sometimes to involve hikes of 11 miles. But here everything moves much more quickly. The humans in charge of the process known as “picking” now remain in closed workstations, built around a screen that tells them what they need to get next, while the robots bring the shelves – reinvented as four-sided fabric towers, full of pouches that contain everything from DVDs to dolls – to them. Continue reading...

It was humane to pursue the hope of rehabilitation. And it’s right to act decisively now that Jon Venables is judged to present new risksThey were Child A and Child B. The public weren’t told the names of the boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, until they had been found guilty of the murder of two-year-old James Bulger in 1993. The decision by the judge to reveal the identities of the pair was controversial, causing complications and difficulties that were outlined by Sir David Omand in his 2010 review of the probation service’s handling of the case.Related: James Bulger killer back in jail after being caught with abuse images again Continue reading...

I have been told that no research is being done in Britain to establish whether there is a causal factor between eating chicken and declining male sperm counts, writes Baroness Jean CorstonLetters and articles on the apparent decline in male fertility, and its probable causes, have been in our newspapers for years, with the cause variously ascribed to diet, exercise or the environment. Nearly 20 years ago, as a member of the House of Commons select committee on agriculture, we held an inquiry into the poultry industry. Some of us were appalled by the industrialisation of poultry production, with birds crowded together and given diets to ensure that they were ready for slaughter as soon as possible, and very often so quickly that their immature legs broke under the strain of the burgeoning muscle. We were told that the rapid increase in body weight was partly owing to “growth promoters”. They are oestrogens, and oestrogen is a female hormone. On a parliamentary visit to the US in 1999, I asked whether they had conducted any research into the use of oestrogens in poultry production, and its possible effect on male fertility. The question was met with silence. Since then, I have been told via parliamentary questions that no research is being done in this country to establish whether there is a causal factor between eating chicken and declining male sperm counts. We deserve to know.

It was exciting when first detected hurtling past the sun last month, and it’s even more exciting now. Astronomers have named the visitor ’Oumuamua and have confirmed that it hails from another star system. Even more intriguingly, its red colour suggests it carries organic molecules that are building blocks of life. Another big hit this week was research revealing why left-handers excel at certain elite sports but not others. Leaving a bitter taste in the mouth, however, was a paper claiming that 50 years ago, the sugar industry withheld research into the effects of sucrose. The paper’s authors say the negative health impacts of sucrose could have been combated sooner had the research been released, although industry bodies dispute their findings. Also worrying is a new study linking poor sperm quality to air pollution. Scientists found a strong association between high levels of fine particulate matter and abnormal sperm shape, though the wider impact on fertility remains unclear. And finally, heading into the festive season here is the research you’ve all been waiting for: a study has concluded that the type of alcohol you’re drinking determines whether you become merry or maudlin. Researchers hope understanding a bit more about the emotional impact of alcohol will help people think more carefully about their booze intake. Continue reading...

A London pub’s offer of a free dinner for anyone who’s alone at Christmas is a heartwarming reminder of a social ill that exists all year roundTo say that somebody is a “product of their environment” is to suggest that their actions or behaviour can be explained by where they’ve grown up, where they’ve worked and, in particular, who they’ve had around them.For example, a child isn’t born with a certain view on race, gender or a favourite football team. I have a school friend who earned a work placement at a bank in the City and he wasn’t even a little bit of a tosser when he merrily travelled off to Liverpool Street in 2002. However, I’m almost certain that the 15 years he’s spent within that environment has possibly helped chisel out the man who stood before me at a recent reunion said he was “more than happy to spunk his latest bonus up the wall”. Continue reading...

Christie’s expects volume, which shows the author refining his theory in light of new research, to fetch between £300,000 and £500,000After eluding scholars for decades, a copy of On the Origin of Species with handwritten revisions by Charles Darwin has come to light and is due to be auctioned next month.Christie’s has put an estimate of £300,000 to £500,000 on the annotated book, which it said will allow “for the first time a precise reading of Darwin’s exact revisions without the veil of reconstruction and translation … [it] provides an insight into his working method, and documents the further development of his ideas for his ‘big book’.” Continue reading...