Exclusive: Little evidence that phosphate binders improve patient wellbeing, warn experts, while one type may contribute to increased risk of cardiovascular diseaseThe UK’s drug guidelines body is recommending a type of medication to treat chronic kidney disease despite no firm evidence that it benefits patients – and some signs that the drugs may do more harm than good, experts have warned.Phosphate binders are commonly prescribed to lower blood phosphate levels in patients with advanced kidney disease, including those on dialysis. High phosphate has been linked to worse patient outcomes, including bone and muscle problems, a build-up of calcium in the blood vessels causing them to stiffen, and an increased death rate.

With its low-THC and high-CBD products already on sale in Switzerland and France – and soon the UK – Swiss business CBD420 are keen to see clearer regulation around the supply of cannabis

This superb book by Michael Brooks is in part a biography of the mathematician Jerome Cardano. But it delves into the most fundamental questionsWhat, you might ask, is a quantum astrologer? This beautifully written book is a kind of experimental scientific biography that mashes up science with what seems to be non‑science, the better to explore the boundaries of what we still don’t know. If quantum astrology were a thing, after all, it wouldn’t be any more ridiculous than what modern physics asks us to believe.The book’s hero, the alleged quantum astrologer, is one of those Renaissance men for whom the term “Renaissance man” itself seems insufficient. Jerome (or Gerolamo) Cardano was a 16th-century doctor and mathematician from Milan. He produced horoscopes for the great and the good, but he also invented the mathematics of probability to help him win at gambling, so that he could pay his way through medical school. He invented the “cardan joint”, which to this day is used in the power transmission of cars. He was, too, the first to accept the existence of imaginary numbers, which are the square roots of negative numbers. In so doing, Brooks argues, he laid the necessary foundations for modern quantum theory. Continue reading...

Australia investigating allegations that Joan Howard would steal from archaeological sites during her husband’s diplomatic tripsThe Australian government has confirmed it is looking into the case of a 95-year-old Perth woman accused of looting artefacts from countries including Egypt.Monica Hanna of Egypt’s Heritage Taskforce posted an open letter to Australia’s ambassador to Egypt, Neil Hawkins, on Facebook this month, alleging Joan Howard spent most of her time during her husband’s diplomatic trips looting archaeological sites. Continue reading...

Our callout for dialectal words and phrases uncovered two words unknown to British Library researchers working on the Evolving English WordBankIt’s not every day you discover a new word, or at least a new meaning for an old word. But when the Guardian asked its readers to contribute their favourite dialect words, it discovered not one, but two. Continue reading...

Life expectancy is increasing, but the number of years of healthy life in retirement is not keeping up, with dramatic variations seen across the countryAdults are spending an increasing number of their retirement years in poor health, a thinktank on ageing and population has warned.The report, which focuses on the situation facing those approaching retirement, also highlights the growing inequalities in life expectancy around the country.

More than 3,000 ‘citizen-scientists’ have transcribed into digital form the 1.5m observations made at the Ben Nevis weather observatory from 1883 to 1904In 1883 a weather observatory was opened on Britain’s highest peak, Ben Nevis. For the next 21 years the summit observatory was manned continuously by three meteorologists, with detailed measurements taken every hour, day and night, throughout the year. This week around 3,600 “citizen-scientists” finished transcribing the 1.5m observations into digital form. “We will be able to better examine particular storms and unusual weather events during the time the observatory was open,” says Ed Hawkins from the University of Reading. The records will also help scientists to understand how wind strength and sunshine have varied over the past century, which could be useful to renewable energy providers.Related: Weatherwatch: The Victorian who climbed Ben Nevis every day Continue reading...

Museum plans 2018 exhibition, called The Future Starts Here, exploring how groundbreaking technologies could change the worldNew technology could allow us to clean up devastating damage to the environment, charge a phone with our clothes and create vast factories in space. But it appears to have its limits: the tedium of laundry, a new exhibition suggests, will still be down to us.An exhibition next year at the V&A on possibly revolutionary design will include some less successful ideas besides the triumphs – the robot, for instance, programmed to fold towels and taking 15 minutes to do each one. “The robots are coming but they’re not coming that quickly,” admitted the curator, Rory Hyde. Continue reading...

Geneticist who carried out groundbreaking research into the behaviour of diseases including scrapie and CJDThe geneticist Alan Dickinson, who has died aged 87, was aware even as a young man that he might not live to answer the question that dominated his career: what causes mind-rotting diseases such as scrapie in sheep and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in people? Such was the risk faced by a scientist who in the 1950s chose to specialise in a field then known as “slow viruses”.As these disorders, joined in the 1980s by mad cow disease, were reclassified over the years as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and, latterly, “prion” diseases, the research group that Dickinson founded in Edinburgh trod a unique path. Whereas rival labs elsewhere in the UK and abroad attempted to reduce diseased brains until all that was left was the pathogen, and then routinely failed, Dickinson preferred to study clinical symptoms and patterns of brain damage caused by scrapie in generations of specially inbred mice, then gradually deduce what kind of infectious agent might be causing it. Continue reading...

Environment secretary moves to end social media campaign against Conservative MPs who voted against EU withdrawal bill amendmentMichael Gove has promised to make “any necessary changes” to UK law to recognise that animals can feel pain, after a social media campaign accused Conservative MPs of voting down proposals to accept they are sentient beings.The environment secretary issued a statement to the House of Commons insisting that it was a misconception to say Tory MPs voted against the idea that animals are sentient and feel pain. Continue reading...

Criticism of explorer Benedict Allen, rescued in Papua New Guinea, raises an important question: when is it legitimate to travel to remote communities?

An emotive article on the ‘ice apocalypse’ by Eric Holthaus describes a terrifying vision of catastrophic sea level rise this century caused by climate change and the collapse of the Antarctic ice sheet. But how likely is this – and how soon could such a future be here?I’ve been gripped by the story of Antarctic ‘ice cliff instability’ ever since Rob DeConto and Dave Pollard published their controversial predictions last year. They suggested disintegration of ice shelves caused by global warming could leave behind coastal ice cliffs so tall they would be unstable, crumbling endlessly into the ocean and causing rapid, sustained sea level rise.I’m glad Eric Holthaus is writing about an impact of climate change that is both certain (seas will rise around the world, no matter what we do) and incredibly important (we must adapt). I’m sympathetic to his concerns about the future. But I think his article is too pessimistic: that it overstates the possibility of disaster. Too soon, too certain. Continue reading...

Spread of light pollution is bad for the environment, animal life and humans, five-year study concludesThe world’s nights are getting alarmingly brighter – bad news for all sorts of creatures, humans included – as light pollution encroaches on darkness almost everywhere.Satellite observations made by researchers during five consecutive Octobers show Earth’s artificially lit outdoor area grew by 2% a year from 2012 to 2016. So did nighttime brightness. Continue reading...

All bereaved families have had loved ones released back to them and most funerals have taken place, says coronerThe last two of the 70 inquests for victims of the Grenfell Tower fire were opened and adjourned on Wednesday with the coroner paying tribute to bereaved families and the “unrelenting work of dedicated professionals” who recovered and identified remains.The Westminster coroner, Fiona Wilcox, who has presided over 19 hearings in the past five months, said the final inquests marked an important milestone. Continue reading...

The use of dowsing by major water companies shows that the appeal of natural magic needs to be understood – and, where needed, confrontedThe news that many water companies use dowsing to locate underground water has prompted outraged demands from scientists that they desist at once from wasting time and money on “medieval witchcraft”. They are right to call this practice deluded. But it reveals how complicated the relationship is between scientific evidence and public belief.When the science blogger Sally Le Page highlighted the issue after her parents spotted an engineer dowsing for Severn Trent Water, the company responded to her query by claiming that “we’ve found some of the older methods are just as effective than [sic] the new ones” (such as the use of drones and satellite imaging). The engineer concerned told her parents that dowsing works for him eight times in 10. Continue reading...

At the ancient site of Charax Spasinou, military activity has left an indelible mark. Should it be viewed as modern damage – or as an important record of historical events?Modern conflict archaeology, the study of 20th and 21st century conflicts, is a new and slightly uncomfortable discipline in the world of archaeology. It’s problematic in a number of ways. Firstly, very little of it involves what most people would recognise as archaeology – digging up cultural material from the ground for study. Most of the material legacies of modern conflicts remain above ground and embedded in current society, necessitating a more anthropological, interdisciplinary approach. Secondly, the time periods under study are often within living memory, and often remain highly contentious within the affected regions. This means that modern conflict archaeology can be a political minefield – as well as an actual minefield.I’m currently working in Iraq down in Basra province at the two thousand-year-old city of Charax Spasinou, founded by Alexander the Great in 324 BC. Thirty years ago, however, the site was home to thousands of Iraqi soldiers. The Iran-Iraq war was dragging towards its end, both sides exhausted by the waves of offensives which had made 1987 the war’s bloodiest year. That spring the Siege of Basra had cost the lives of at least 60,000 Iranian and 20,000 Iraqi soldiers. Continue reading...

It turns out that water companies have been using dowsing to find damaged pipes, and this is an extremely common practice. But is it a big deal? Yes, it is.OK, so most UK water companies have people who use divining rods to find leaks and burst pipes, although many have since back-pedalled on these admissions since the story broke, thanks to the sterling work of science writer Sally Le Page, who deserves all credit for it. Understandable perhaps; if you were a major utility provider earning millions by providing an essential resource to large populations, you’d probably be a bit embarrassed if people found out your highly-trained and expensive technicians were essentially using witchcraft to fix problems.But, the expense and professionalism aspects aside, is it really that bad? Aren’t people overreacting a bit? It’s not like they’re claiming they can cure cancer or speak to the dead or anything like that, effectively taking money from the grieving and desperate. So some technicians wander around a field waving twigs about in an effort to find a leak? Bit weird, but where’s the harm? There must be something to it, surely? So what’s the harm? Continue reading...

Alcoholism as a term has long expired, so why do common narratives around alcohol problems still rely on it so much?The term alcoholism has long been retired from official alcohol clinical and policy guidance, abandoned as a reductionist and stigmatising label for problem drinking. Instead, alcohol use disorders, some including varying degrees of dependency, reflect the wider continuum nature of alcohol problems. Despite this, inappropriate references to “alcoholics” are ubiquitous in everyday narratives including mainstream media, undermining opportunities to reduce alcohol harms in a number of subtle ways.One reason for over use of the alcoholism concept may be a lack of a common language to describe the nuances of heavy drinking behaviours. Alcoholism may be assumed to be synonymous with alcohol dependence, but it is inherently bound to stereotypes of hitting rock bottom and beliefs in its nature as a lifelong disease. The media rarely offers alternative problem drinking accounts other than the equally flawed spectacle of binge drinking, and in turn perpetuates an overly simplistic framework for the public to reference their own beliefs and attitudes against. Continue reading...

‘Mad’ Mike Hughes, 61, plans to reach an altitude of 1,800ft over California in his home-made steam-powered rocketScience is littered with tales of visionaries who paid for pioneering research to prove their theories, and this weekend “Mad” Mike Hughes is hoping to join them. He plans to launch a homemade rocket in California as part of a bid to eventually prove that the Earth is flat.Hughes has spent $20,000 (£15,000) building the steam-powered rocket in his spare time, and will be livestreaming the launch over the internet. The self-described daredevil says he switched his focus to rockets after twice breaking his back doing stunt jumps in cars. Continue reading...

Chickens and ducks may not fill you with awe. But their early cousins were the largest birds on Earth – and a new study reveals how the bird groups are linkedWe don’t generally think of chickens and ducks as particularly awe-inspiring birds. Kept across the world as pets or as a food source, chickens (Galliformes) and ducks and geese (Anseriformes) are ubiquitous and seen as docile and unintimidating. The comparative anatomist Thomas Huxley noted in 1867 that Galliformes and Anseriformes shared a number of anatomical features, suggesting that the two groups of birds must be related. Later morphological and molecular studies confirmed their close relationship, and all fowl are now grouped in Galloanserae. Galloanserae are considered one of the most primitive groups of modern birds, and their ancestry can be traced back to the time of the dinosaurs. In contrast to their cuddly modern cousins, early fowl were truly giants by avian measures, and included the largest birds on Earth during the Paleogene.There are several groups of enormous, extinct terrestrial birds that are considered part of Galloanserae. One of them is the Dromornithidae, or Thunderbirds, from Australia. These giant flightless birds lived from the Oligocene until the Pleistocene and formed part of Australia’s megafauna (Worthy & Holdaway, 2002). Some dromornithids reached colossal size, such as Bullockornis, nicknamed the Demon Duck of Doom, which likely stood 2.5 metres tall. Continue reading...

Don Draper turned it into an art form, but, for the rest of us, pitching can be a terrifying prospect. An ad man, a Dragons’ Den investor and a TV producer give their top tipsA pitch is often all there is between an individual and their film getting made or their business receiving funding. Having a good idea can be the easy part – selling it to strangers requires nerves of steel and more than a working knowledge of the art of persuasion.Related: Petrified of public speaking? Let your body do the talking Continue reading...

Study finds ‘strong association’ between high levels of fine particulate matter and abnormal sperm shape – but impact on wider fertility remains unclearHigh levels of air pollution are associated with poor sperm quality and could be partly responsible for the sharp drop in male fertility, according to a new study.A team of scientists, led by researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, studied the sperm of nearly 6,500 men and found a “strong association” between high levels of fine particulate air pollution and “abnormal sperm shape.” Continue reading...

What role might the immune system play in mental illness? And how might this challenge long-held beliefs about the divide between body and brain?Subscribe & Review on iTunes, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud & Acast, and join the discussion on Facebook and TwitterEarlier this month, a clinical trial began to test a radical new approach for treating schizophrenia. The trial comes from a team of scientists based in London who have discovered intriguing evidence that schizophrenia could be a disease of the immune system. But how could disruptions in the immune system lead to the kind of symptoms seen in schizophrenia? And might the immune system play a role in other mental disorders? Continue reading...

Spirits are associated with confidence and red wine is linked to relaxation – and researchers hope findings will help people consider alcohol’s emotional effectsWhile indulging in booze can inspire cheerful merrymaking in some, for others it can lead to a tearful journey to the bottom of the glass. Now researchers say the emotions people feel when drinking could be linked to their tipple of choice.An international survey has revealed that spirits are often associated with feelings of energy, confidence and sexiness – but on the flip-side anger and tearfulness – while red wine is the drink most commonly linked to relaxation, but also tiredness. Continue reading...

Data suggests being left-handed is a particular advantage in sports where time pressures are particularly severe, such as baseball, cricket and table tennisFrom cricketer Wasim Akram to baseball pitcher Clayton Kershaw and table tennis star Ding Ning, the world of sport has no shortage of left-handed players. But now researchers say they’ve worked out why lefties are overrepresented in some elite sports but not others.The study, published in the journal Biology Letters, suggests that being left-handed is a particular advantage in interactive sports where time pressures are particularly severe, such as table tennis and cricket – possibly because their moves are less familiar to their mostly right-handed opponents, who do not have time to adjust. Continue reading...

Researchers say negative health impacts of sucrose could have been combated sooner had research been released – but industry bodies dispute the findingsSugar’s demise from childhood staple to public enemy can be seen everywhere. Chocolate bars are shrinking, sugary drinks are set to be taxed and our recommended daily sugar intake has been slashed in half. But the battle against sugar might have begun sooner if the industry hadn’t kept secrets to protect its commercial interests, according to new findings.In 1967, when scientists were arguing over the link between sugar consumption and increased risk of heart disease, researchers now claim that the International Sugar Research Foundation (ISRF) withheld findings that rats that were fed a high-sugar diet had higher levels of triglycerides (a fat found in the blood) than those fed starch. In a move researchers from the University of California at San Francisco have compared to the tobacco industry’s self-preservation tactics, the foundation stopped funding the project. Continue reading...

Alex Orr, Elaine Bagshaw, Peter Lyth and others look at Britian’s future after BrexitIn recent days the UK’s standing in the world has further diminished as the impacts of Brexit become more tangible. Earlier this week the relocation of two EU agencies currently based in London was announced. The European Medicines Agency will move to Amsterdam, while the European Banking Authority will be lost to Paris, which narrowly pipped Dublin to host this prestigious organisation (London loses EU agencies to Paris and Amsterdam in Brexit relocation, 21 November). Between them, the two agencies employ 1,150 people, as well as attracting thousands of visiting researchers and staff members to London. This is despite Brexit secretary David Davis previously voicing his hope that the agencies could remain in London, or at least form part of the negotiations. To add insult to injury, the UK will have to pay for the relocation.In addition, the UK has withdrawn its candidate from election to the UN international court of justice (Report, 21 November). Britain will not have a judge on the UN’s most powerful court for the first time in its 71-year history. Last week, after five rounds of voting by the security council and the general assembly in New York, four judges from Brazil, Lebanon, France and Somalia were chosen for the bench ahead of the UK’s candidate, Christopher Greenwood. The UK’s failure to guarantee a place on the court of an organisation it helped to found is clearly a further sign of its increasing irrelevance on the world stage following the decision to leave the EU. As the UK turns inwards following the Brexit vote, it is hardly a surprise that it is no longer able to command the global influence it once did.

Some of the 1,250 people working at the year-old laboratory say its open plan layout, designed to produce collaboration, makes it hard to focus on workIt is a £700m cathedral to biomedical science, where scientists work together to make breakthroughs in cancer, neuroscience, pandemics and genetics. But the Francis Crick Institute is not proving to be the easiest place to concentrate.A year after opening, some of the 1,250 people working at the Crick Institute, in its central London laboratory, have complained that the open plan design, intended to assist informal collaboration, means some areas set aside for thinking and writing up research are too noisy. Continue reading...

CSIRO is limiting pay rises for Australians whose work supports Nasa despite the fact they are paid out of Nasa’s budget​A group of Australian engineers whose work supports the Nasa deep space network are targeting the space agency with industrial action at a communication centre in Canberra.The employees of the Canberra deep space communication complex in Tidbinbilla are employed by Australia’s science agency the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), which is limiting their pay rises despite the fact they are paid out of Nasa’s budget. Continue reading...

Édouard Philippe issues ban on inclusive writing in official texts after outcry by traditionalists over punctuated ‘aberration’The French prime minister, Édouard Philippe, has clamped down on attempts to make the French language more female-friendly, issuing a ban on “inclusive writing” in official texts.Moves to end the linguistic dominance of the masculine over the feminine have sparked impassioned debate in France, coming as a flurry of revelations about sexual harassment and assault continue to dominate global headlines. Continue reading...

‘Extremely high’ levels of a radioactive isotope were discovered in parts of Russia in September. But where did it come from? And is it dangerous?

TV academic’s Home Lab, a collection of scientific experiments that can be carried out at home, won over jury of young readersTV professor Robert Winston has proved he has the winning formula as a science writer for children by scooping the prestigious Royal Society young people’s book prize for the fourth time with Home Lab, a collection of scientific experiments that can be done at home.Voted for by young readers, the book was described as “really cool” by six-year-old judge Mohammed, and “brilliant” by eight-year-old judge Faith. It was given the ultimate stamp of approval by 10-year-old judge Ella: “I liked it so much that I went out and bought a copy of my own with my pocket money,” she said. Continue reading...

Sónar festival is beaming cutting-edge dance music to an exoplanet 12 light years from Earth. But can such experiments ever be more than hubris?What item would you choose to sum up humanity if you were, like Captain James T Kirk of the Starship Enterprise, seeking out new life and new civilisations? A “five items or less” sign from a supermarket, with a note explaining why it should be “fewer”? Maybe a selection of press cuttings about the Greggs sausage roll Jesus controversy, summing up both humanity’s silliness and its capacity for overreaction?Of course you wouldn’t. You’d do what the Barcelona electronic music festival Sónar has done to mark its 25th anniversary: send out 33 separate 10-second clips of music by electronic artists such as Autechre, Richie Hawtin and Holly Herndon. Continue reading...

The healthcare system faces a crisis of trust; ill-informed doctors and poor research are harming patientsThe healthcare system is facing failure, rooted in an epidemic of misinformed doctors and patients.During a recent keynote lecture at the British Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation annual conference, I gave the example of a man who had had a heart attack and been given statins and whose months of disabling muscle pain resolved within a week of stopping taking them. His elation was cut short when his GP told him he must never stop his statin or he could die. When the audience was asked to guess what his risk of death was from stopping the pill for two weeks, the first response was 25%. There were gasps when I revealed it was actually between zero and one in 10,000. Continue reading...

Construction of a huge Californian reservoir had just begun when bones started to emerge – and turned out to be a vast treasure trove of Pleistocene fossils

Two experts say a significant number of fragments bought in multimillion-dollar trade are suspected fakesA multimillion-dollar trade in fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls fuelled by a surge in interest from wealthy evangelicals in the US includes a significant number of suspected forgeries, two prominent experts have said. Continue reading...

Higher doses may be needed, or possibly new treatment that bypasses or corrects vitamin D insensitivity, authors sayMaintaining sufficient vitamin D levels may help to prevent rheumatoid arthritis, according to researchers.

Study indicates infants as young as six months old may realise certain words are related – and that interaction with adults boosts understandingBabies as young as six months old may have an inkling that certain words and concepts are related to each other, say scientists in research that sheds new light on how infants learn.The study also found that babies who were more often exposed to adults talking to them about items in their vicinity did better at identifying a picture of an object when the item was said out loud. Continue reading...

Astronomers have named interstellar asteroid ’Oumuamua and found it to be rich in organic moleculesAstronomers are now certain that the mysterious object detected hurtling past our sun last month is indeed from another solar system. They have named it 1I/2017 U1(’Oumuamua) and believe it could be one of 10,000 others lurking undetected in our cosmic neighbourhood.The certainty of its extraterrestrial origin comes from an analysis that shows its orbit is almost impossible to achieve from within our solar system. Continue reading...

The solution to today’s puzzleOn my puzzle blog earlier today I set you the following puzzle:You and your two friends Pip and Blossom are captured by an evil gang of logicians. In order to gain your freedom, the gang’s chief, Kurt, sets you this fearsome challenge. The three of you are put in adjacent cells. In each cell is a quantity of apples. Each of you can count the number of apples in your own cell, but not in anyone else’s. You are told that each cell has at least one apple, and at most nine apples, and no two cells have the same number of apples. Continue reading...

Life-size prints of hundreds of plant specimens collected by the British naturalist come together in FlorilegiumThe publishing deadline was missed by more than 200 years, but finally the work of one of the great men of the Enlightenment has been printed and distributed, sharing with the world the detailed botanical work of Joseph Banks on his journey aboard James Cook’s Endeavour.Cook’s mission when he left England in 1768 was ostensibly to chart the transit of Venus – a measurement that would allow the estimation of the distance from the Earth to the sun, which would aid navigation. However, Cook had been instructed to attempt the “discovery of the southern continent so often mentioned”. Continue reading...

As well as polluting our seas with microplastics, the devilish dandruff turns up all over my house and about my person – I applaud those schools banning itWhat will the rocks record about the lives we lead? What might a future palaeontologist, human or otherwise, make of the structures that will come to signify these moments in which you and I live our lives? They will notice extinctions, of course. Fossils of mammals’ tusks and horns will abound in the rocks, only to disappear when we humans turn up. They will come across our mines – enormous trace fossils, perhaps the largest ever to have existed. They will see, by studying fossil pollen, that the climate changed. They will find our discarded KFC bones and they will wonder how the world supported so many chickens. And there, among it all, they will probably find that most awful of human inventions: glitter. Oodles of it – purples, pinks and reds – crushed into rocks the world over. Mineralised madness. Our lowest ebb. What will those future palaeontologists make of it? What will glitter say about us?Perhaps this is our mark in the geological strata. A post-glitter epoch that all started with a handful of nurseries Continue reading...

The logic puzzle that has a peelUPDATE: The solution can be seen hereHi guzzlers,What’s the similarity between a logic puzzle and an apple? Deduce! Sorry ... let’s begin. Continue reading...

Playing Thatcher? Dab on Bluebell. Got a part in Hairspray? Reach for the Madame Rochas. We lift the lid on how actors use smells – from the finest fragrances to cheap tinned mackerel – to nail a roleBefore I go on stage, says Michael Ball, I ask myself a question: “Do I smell nice for all the ladies and gentlemen?” The actor chooses a signature scent for each of his roles, from bay rum for the vengeful barber Sweeney Todd to his mum’s favourite Madame Rochas for Hairspray’s Edna Turnblad.Ball’s not alone in deploying scent to to get beneath a character’s skin. Anne-Marie Duff has a fragrance for each role too. “If ever I smell that perfume on somebody else,” she has said, “it will remind me of a story I’ve told.” Nikki Amuka-Bird, meanwhile, says she “uses aromatherapy oils – lavender for characters with a slow tempo, ylang ylang for sensuous characters”.

Many of the body’s cells regenerate - but not the brain’s, explains Daniel GlaserWe are being treated to a spectacular display of autumn colour this year, but it isn’t only trees that share this pattern for periodic shedding and regrowth. Our own skin cells, for example, are renewed every month or so, but we replenish less than 10% of our bone each year. Certain types of human cells do not seem to regenerate at all and this includes brain cells. With a few exceptions (such as the hippocampus), we are born with all the brain we’ll ever have. Over childhood and into adolescence, extensive pruning of the connections between cells takes place. This neural topiary shapes all the systems of the brain. But once into adulthood, although some new connections are formed, the main structural change is the steady death of our brain cells.Many aspects of life cause our cells to die off, including trauma, drug use, environmental pollutants, strokes… and that’s before we start on age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Yet the quality of our brain function doesn’t decline for most of adulthood. Maybe as our cells decrease we learn to adapt, picking up tricks to help us to make the best of what we’ve got. Continue reading...

The writer, actor and comedian on the joys of cheap restaurants, Otto Dix and that single seat under the stairs on London busesBorn in Anfield, Liverpool, Alexei Sayle studied art before training to be a further-education teacher. When London’s Comedy Store opened in 1979, he became its first MC and, over the following decade, became a central figure in the alternative comedy movement. He has starred in a number of TV shows including The Young Ones (1982-4) and the Emmy-winning Alexei Sayle’s Stuff (1988-1991). His credits also include theatre (The Tempest, Old Vic, 1988), film (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 1989) and radio (the award-winning Alexei Sayle and the Fish People). His book Alexei Sayle’s Imaginary Sandwich Bar is out now, while the second series of his BBC radio programme of the same name is broadcast on weekdays on Radio 4. Continue reading...

Answer our questions to see whether you ‘read’ an awkward situation wellHow good are you at reading other people’s feelings? And does this vary with gender – both theirs and yours? To find out, read the vignette below.Sandra is hosting a dinner party. Cliff arrives first and the two enjoy talking about his recent holiday to Sweden. But then Michael turns up. He dominates the conversation and talks only to Sandra, showing off with a story designed to make himself look good. Sandra is a bit annoyed by this. She looks at Cliff, then asks Michael if he’s ever been to Sweden. Continue reading...

Mapping the genomes of our ancestors has allowed scientists to uncover secrets and discover new mysteries in our evolutionScientists made a remarkable discovery at Trou Al’Wesse in Belgium earlier this year. Inside a cave that overlooks the Hoyoux river they found clear evidence it had been occupied by Neanderthals tens of thousands of years ago. Yet the cave contained no skull fragments, no teeth – nor any other skeletal remains of this extinct species of human being.The team, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, were sure of their ground, however. Their genetic analysis of soil samples, scraped from the cave floor, had pinpointed the presence of Neanderthals through that most definitive of biological markers: their DNA. Continue reading...

Scientists say number of severe quakes is likely to rise strongly next year because of a periodic slowing of the Earth’s rotationScientists have warned there could be a big increase in numbers of devastating earthquakes around the world next year. They believe variations in the speed of Earth’s rotation could trigger intense seismic activity, particularly in heavily populated tropical regions.Although such fluctuations in rotation are small – changing the length of the day by a millisecond – they could still be implicated in the release of vast amounts of underground energy, it is argued. Continue reading...

It’s Evolution Day on 24 November! Feed those brains we’ve been shaping all this time by hitting up an exhibition Continue reading...