Science | The Guardian

Scientists reach conclusion after trial in which pints were scrapped in a dozen pubs, bars and restaurantsFancy a quick two-thirds? It may lack the appeal of the more familiar after work social, but abandoning the British pint for a smaller measure could boost the nation's health, researchers say.Scientists reached the conclusion after a trial in a dozen pubs, bars and restaurants in England during which pints were scrapped and two-thirds of a pint became the largest draught beer available. Continue reading...

Hampstead theatre, London

They were developed as diabetes drugs, then their potential for promoting significant weight loss became apparent. And now study after study seems to suggest that drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy could have all sorts of health benefits, leading some scientists to hail them a breakthrough that could transform many chronic diseases of ageing. But what's the mechanism for these effects and is it caused by more than weight loss? The Guardian's science correspondent Nicola Davis tells Madeleine Finlay what is known so farClips: ABC News, Vox, BBC Continue reading...

Child deaths from infections see remarkable' decline but AMR fatalities of over-70s likely to rise by 146%, study findsAnalysis: Drug-resistant infections are on the rise - so why aren't we getting any new antibiotics?Superbugs will kill more than 39 million people before 2050 with older people particularly at risk, according to a new global analysis.While deaths linked to drug resistance are declining among very young children, driven by improvements in vaccination and hygiene, the study found the opposite trend for their grandparents. Continue reading...

World leaders will meet in New York this month to discuss growing antimicrobial resistance as researchers warn the development of replacement drugs is stallingSuperbugs could kill 39m people by 2050' amid rising drug resistanceAlmost a century on from the groundbreaking discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming, his scientific successors are racing to save modern medicine.Infections that were once easy to cure with antibiotics are becoming untreatable, and a novel treatment for bacterial infection is the holy grail for teams of researchers around the world. Continue reading...

The answers to today's counter-intuitive conundrumsEarlier today I set you these two puzzles, which are extracts from my new book Think Twice: Solve the Simple Puzzles (Almost) Everyone Gets Wrong. Here they are again with solutions.1) Pint-sized problem Continue reading...

Health officials say jabs needed to bolster UK's resilience after WHO declares clade Ib outbreak a global emergencyThe UK has ordered more than 150,000 doses of vaccine against mpox to bolster its preparedness after the World Health Organization declared a surge in cases in Africa to be a global emergency.No cases of clade Ib mpox, the new strain that has spread rapidly in Africa after an initial outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), have yet been detected in the UK. Continue reading...

MRIs taken from before conception until two years after birth show some short-lived changes and some lasting yearsProfound changes that sweep across the human brain during pregnancy have been captured for the first time, after researchers performed precision scans on a woman carrying her child.MRI scans taken every few weeks from before conception until two years after childbirth revealed widespread reorganisation in the mother's brain, with some changes short-lived and others lasting years. Continue reading...

Comes with a free pintUPDATE: Solutions up hereToday's two puzzles are from my new book Think Twice: Solve the Simple Puzzles That (Almost) Everyone Gets Wrong.As readers of this column will know, I love a counter-intuitive puzzle, i.e. when the obvious answer is not the correct one. Continue reading...

An especially modest eclipse, covering just 3.5% of the moon's surface, is still a wonderful sight to beholdOn 18 September, a partial lunar eclipse will occur. Nowhere near as dramatic as a total eclipse of the sun, it can still be a fascinating sight.Lunar eclipses are caused by the Earth passing between the sun and the moon. This casts the Earth's shadow on to the moon's surface. This week, the shadow does not entirely cover the moon, hence it is called a partial eclipse not a total one. Continue reading...

Rewiring your sexual patterns can help you surf the urge' and reconnect with your partner

The billionaire tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman returned to Earth with his crew on Sunday, ending a five-day trip that lifted the team higher than anyone has travelled since Nasa's moonwalkers. The crew, whose SpaceX capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, pulled off the first private spacewalk while orbiting nearly 460 miles (740km) above Earth, higher than the International Space Station and Hubble space telescope

Jared Isaacman and crew splash down in SpaceX capsule in the Gulf of Mexico after first ever private spacewalkThe civilian crew on SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission returned to Earth on Sunday after a historic five days in orbit that took them higher than anyone since Nasa's moon trips more than half a century ago.The Dragon capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida's Dry Tortugas shortly after 3.37am local time (8.37am BST), carrying onboard the billionaire tech entrepreneur and mission funder Jared Isaacman, two SpaceX engineers and a former air force Thunderbird pilot. Continue reading...

Experts hail remarkable' trial results for treatment of a form of skin cancer that once had grim prognosisMore than half of people diagnosed with advanced melanoma now survive for at least 10 years when they receive a double hit of immunotherapy drugs, a trial has found.The combined treatment has transformed survival rates for a form of skin cancer that once had a grim prognosis, with some patients now living long enough that they die from other causes. Continue reading...

As I have learnt to shape the timber, I've shaped my ideas, my characterAlone with my thoughts at the workbench, with the sanding machine's insistently buzzing bass note singing up through my palm, I find myself trying to figure out just how long I have actually spent sanding pieces of wood. Softening their edges, making their surfaces gleam like polished marble. Carefully climbing through the grades - from the brutally coarse low-grit" stuff to such improbably fine high-grit" paper that the business side feels smoother than the backing. Or just how long I have spent working with wood all told, come to that.Professionally, I've been at it in some form or another for more than two decades now; and, before that, from almost the moment I was old enough to sweep up the shavings, I've been helping my father. The man who taught me the trick of folding and sticking the sandpaper together the better to grip it; of dampening the timber to bring up those last few stubbornly crushed fibres like blades of grass after rain. Sums on this scale are rather too grand for my sawdust-and-whisky-addled brain to compute, though, so, pulling off my ear defenders, I ferret out a calculator - and rather wish I hadn't. Continue reading...

Researchers find two sites with fossils including saber-toothed salmon and megalodon, the huge prehistoric sharkMarine fossils dating back to as early as 8.7m years ago have been uncovered beneath a south Los Angeles high school.On Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported that researchers had discovered two sites on the campus of San Pedro high school under which fossils including those of a saber-toothed salmon and a megalodon, the gigantic prehistoric shark, were buried. Continue reading...

The 42m Transform project aims to find the best way to catch the disease in men in its early stagesA 42m screening trial aimed at revolutionising the treatment of prostate cancer has been launched in the UK.Thousands of men will be involved in its initial phase, which will begin in a few months. Several hundred thousand volunteers could be recruited as the programme progresses in coming years, say the trial's organisers. Continue reading...

Scientists say an epilepsy drug could reduce sleep apnoea symptoms, but how else can snoring be tackled?It has blighted many a relationship, but at least one group of snorers has been offered fresh hope this week as researchers announced that taking an epilepsy medication was associated with a marked reduction in sleep apnoea symptoms. What causes snoring? And how can it be tackled? Continue reading...

The factoid about biodiversity and Indigenous peoples spread around the world, but scientists say bad data can undermine the very causes it claims to supportThe statistic seemed to crop up everywhere. Versions were cited at UN negotiations, on protest banners, in 186 peer-reviewed scientific papers - even by the film-maker James Cameron, while promoting his Avatar films. Exact wording varied, but the claim was this: that 80% of the world's remaining biodiversity is protected by Indigenous peoples.When scientists investigated its origins, however, they found nothing. In September, the scientific journal Nature reported that the much-cited claim was a baseless statistic", not supported by any real data, and could jeopardise the very Indigenous-led conservation efforts it was cited in support of. Indigenous communities play essential roles" in conserving biodiversity, the comment says, but the 80% claim is simply wrong" and risks undermining their credibility. Continue reading...

Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England had best views, with sightings as far south as KentSkies across the UK have been lit up again by the northern lights, with the possibility of another view on Friday night.Also known as aurora borealis, the phenomenon could be seen most clearly in Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England on Thursday night. Fainter sightings were recorded as far south as Kent. Continue reading...

The winners of Royal Observatory Greenwich's annual competition have been announced. The images will be on display in the accompanying exhibition, opening at the National Maritime Museum in London on Friday Continue reading...

Six out of 10 aged care residents in Australia are prescribed the drugs, despite weak evidence and side-effects such as dizziness and falls

Scientific research on pigeon missiles and dead trout also win at awards for amusing studies with serious implicationsIn a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses.After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. Continue reading...

Landslide in Greenland caused unprecedented seismic event that shows impact of global heating, say scientistsA landslide and mega-tsunami in Greenland in September 2023, triggered by the climate crisis, caused the entire Earth to vibrate for nine days, a scientific investigation has found.The seismic event was detected by earthquake sensors around the world but was so completely unprecedented that the researchers initially had no idea what had caused it. Having now solved the mystery, the scientists said it showed how global heating was already having planetary-scale impacts and that major landslides were possible in places previously believed to be stable as temperatures rapidly rose. Continue reading...

Research challenges conventional wisdom that evidence and arguments rarely help to change believers' mindsWhether it is the mistaken idea that the moon landings never happened or the false claim that Covid jabs contain microchips, conspiracy theories abound, sometimes with dangerous consequences.Now researchers have found that such beliefs can be altered by a chat with artificial intelligence (AI). Continue reading...

Four galleries to be overhauled and two more spaces to reopen, including Fixing Our Broken Planet exhibitionThe Natural History Museum in London has announced a major programme of transformation it says will mark a step-change from being a catalogue of natural history to a catalyst for change" in response to the climate emergency.The scheme to renovate the museum's celebrated Victorian building and develop a new research and storage facility will build on its aim to turn visitors into advocates for the planet", it said on Thursday. Continue reading...

Study suggests hydrogel microparticles increase survival by 30% in bumblebees exposed to lethal doses of neonicotinoidsScientists have developed a vaccine" for bees against pesticides - and it appears to work, according to an initial study.According to the findings, published in Nature Sustainability, hydrogel microparticles fed to bumblebees in sugar water caused a 30% higher survival rate in individuals exposed to lethal doses of neonicotinoids, and significantly milder symptoms in those exposed to lower doses that would not usually be lethal but can cause harm. Continue reading...

My father, Mike Robins, who has died aged 86, was a physiologist and cancer biologist whose research focus was on the growth of cells. He wrote many academic papers and, with Benjamin King, revised the standard undergraduate book Cancer Biology (2006).He also loved marine biology and, with diving friends and colleagues at the University of London Sub Aqua Club, contributed in the 1960s and 70s to early descriptions of the marine ecology of Swanage Bay in Dorset, the Scilly Isles and Lundy. His particular interest was marine hydroids and the ecology of Dead Man's Fingers (Alcyoniums). During a summer diving season in Antarctica with the British Antarctic Survey in 1970 he found and named a new hydroid species - Monobrachium antarcticum. Continue reading...

Billionaire Jared Isaacman and SpaceX's Sarah Gillis exit capsule in slimmed-down spacesuits hundreds of miles upTwo astronauts have completed the first commercial spacewalk and tested slimmed-down spacesuits designed by SpaceX, in one of the boldest attempts yet to push the boundaries of privately funded spaceflight.Hundreds of miles above Earth and orbiting at close to 30,000km/h (18,600mph), the billionaire Jared Isaacman, 41, who chartered the Polaris Dawn mission, exited the space capsule at 11.52am BST on Thursday. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed, you can read our report of the spacewalk hereMy colleague points out that the elbows of the new SpaceX suit looks like a tumble drier pipe".This will take about 8 minutes as they empty the cabin of air. Continue reading...

The billionaire Jared Isaacman and his fellow crew members completed the first privately funded spacewalk as a livestream of the mission showed Isaacman manually opening the hatch to enter space. Upon seeing Earth, he said: 'Back at home we all have a lot of work to do but from here, the Earth sure looks like a perfect world'

Ian Sample and science correspondent Hannah Devlin discuss some of the science stories that have made headlines this week, from a new technique that uses food colouring to make skin transparent, to the first case of bird flu in a person with no known contact with sick animals, and a study looking at premature brain ageing in young people during CovidClips: NBC News, KVUECommon food dye found to make skin and muscle temporarily transparent Continue reading...

What does the feud between Elon Musk and Brazil's supreme court mean for X and Starlink users in the country? Tom Phillips reportsOne Saturday morning at the end of August, I wake up here in Rio, look at my phone, and for the first time since I lived in China, where I was correspondent before I came here, I look at my phone and Twitter doesn't work."The Guardian's Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, tells Michael Safi how Elon Musk ended up in a feud with Brazil's government. Continue reading...

Move follows London museum's links to Adani Group, which has partnership with Israeli arms manufacturerSave the Children has pulled out of an event at the Science Museum in London after coming under pressure from its supporters over the institution's sponsors.The charity said it had decided to withdraw from an evening event called Journey of Life Lates on 11 September following concerns from supporters about one of the museum's sponsors, in the context of current public campaigns". Continue reading...

Cases have risen 80% in the last five years, and the US now has the highest syphilis rates since 1950Syphilis was until recently an anachronism to medical professionals.The sexually transmitted infection (STI) was so common in the 19th century that it earned its own specialism - syphilology - but the advent of penicillin in the 20th century meant the disease could be easily treated, and by the 1990s syphilis had been nearly eliminated from the US. Continue reading...

Albanese government says people have been reluctant to get life-saving early testing because of the risk of being refused insurance

Sulthiame may help prevent patients' breathing from temporarily stopping, international research suggestsAn epilepsy drug could help prevent the breathing of patients with sleep apnoea from temporarily stopping, according to research.Obstructive sleep apnoea is a common breathing problem that affects about one in 20 people, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in England. Patients often snore loudly, their breathing starts and stops during the night and they may wake up several times. Not only does this cause tiredness but it can also increase the risk of high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Continue reading...

Privately funded five-day mission by four astronauts led by US billionaire launches on SpaceX rocket from FloridaFour astronauts have blasted out of the atmosphere as part of a privately funded five-day mission that aims to carry out the first commercial spacewalk.Jared Isaacman, the American billionaire founder of the electronic payment company Shift4, is bankrolling the Polaris Dawn mission and acting as commander of the crew. Continue reading...

Environment editor Damian Carrington tells Madeleine Finlay about his recent trip to Greenland on board a ship with a group of intrepid scientists. They were on a mission to explore the maelstrom beneath Greenland's glaciers, an area that has never been studied before, and were hoping to find answers to one of the world's most pressing questions - how quickly will sea levels rise?Oh my God, what is that?': how the maelstrom under Greenland's glaciers could slow future sea level rise Continue reading...

Living microbes that cause disease in humans and host antibiotic-resistance genes carried 1,200 milesMicrobes that cause disease in humans can travel thousands of miles on high-level winds, scientists have revealed for the first time.The winds studied carried a surprising diversity of bacteria and fungi, including known pathogens and, some with genes for resistance to multiple antibiotics. Some of the microbes were shown to be alive - in other words, they had survived the long journey and were able to replicate. Continue reading...

MRI scans found girls' brains appeared 4.2 years older than expected, compared with 1.4 years for boysAdolescent girls who lived through Covid lockdowns experienced more rapid brain ageing than boys, according to data that suggests the social restrictions had a disproportionate impact on them.MRI scans found evidence of premature brain ageing in both boys and girls, but girls' brains appeared on average 4.2 years older than expected after lockdowns, compared with 1.4 years older for boys. Continue reading...

After completing preventive chemotherapy, Catherine would appear to be free of the disease though will probably need future check-upsThe Princess of Wales has announced that she has completed the preventive chemotherapy she began when her doctors discovered she had cancer after major abdominal surgery in January. We take a look at what this might mean for Catherine going forwards. Continue reading...

Eels use tail-first technique to back up digestive tract of fish towards oesophagus before coming out of gillsIt sounds like the plot of a horror movie - a predator swallows its prey only for the creature to burst out of its captor's body. But it seems Japanese eels do just that.Scientists in Japan have discovered that when swallowed by a dark sleeper fish, the eels can escape. Continue reading...

Footage captured by scientists in Japan shows the moment an eel escapes tail-first from the digestive tract of a predatory fish Continue reading...

Obstetric physician who collaborated on the development of life-saving software to interpret foetal heart tracesPre-eclampsia is a dangerous pregnancy complication, once so mysterious it was dubbed the disease of theories", but the obstetric physician Christopher Redman greatly improved the understanding of how to treat it and why it develops. Redman, who has died aged 82, spent his career at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford, where he set up the world-class Silver Star Unit to care for women with pre-eclampsia and other complex pregnancies. He was an early pioneer of computer technology, creating a sonicaid monitoring device that bears his name, and which is used today in about 130 countries to analyse unborn babies' health and has saved countless lives.Redman initially intended to become a paediatrician, but his career path changed in 1970. Then a junior lecturer in Oxford University's department of medicine, he was asked to run a trial on women with high blood pressure as a result of pre-eclampsia. Continue reading...

In some fish species, couples lose all independence when they mate, even sharing one pair of eyes. Is that really something to aspire to?I have just discovered how the deep-sea anglerfish mates. My apologies if this is old ichthyological news to you, but it is new news to me, and it is very definitely going to be the hook for this week's column.The female deep-sea anglerfish is very large compared with the male deep-sea anglerfish. In some species, he sniffs her out (using his giant nostrils) and upon finding his mate, he bites into her, his teeth and lips then dissolving into her flesh. His little fishy body dangling off hers like a limp appendage, he loses himself utterly, including the use of his eyes - what is the point of them, when he has hers? Some males become little more than blobs or skin tags", says James Maclaine, senior curator of fish at the Natural History Museum. The two fuse together so completely as to become one physiological entity, with one combined bloodstream, living one life and, eventually, dying one death. Continue reading...

Large constellation of bright stars can be easily identified, especially as nights get longer in northern hemisphereThe days might be growing shorter for those in the northern hemisphere, but that means the nights will be longer and better for stargazing. This week, seek out one of the most striking constellations in the night sky: Cygnus, the swan.The chart shows the view looking into the south-eastern sky at 20:30 BST. Cygnus is a large constellation containing bright stars, and so it can be easily identified, even from suburban areas where light pollution interferes with seeing fainter celestial objects. Continue reading...

For children with ADHD, getting the help they need depends on being correctly diagnosed. As a doctor, I have seen how tricky and frustrating a process that can be. By Jack Goulder Continue reading...

Wheat also raised risk of type 1 diabetes in study of Finnish children, while berries and some green vegetables lowered itChildren who are susceptible to type 1 diabetes and eat bananas, oats and yoghurt are more likely to contract the disease, while consuming strawberries and blueberries lowers the risk, research has found.Wheat also emerged from the study as a risk factor for the autoimmune form of diabetes, while vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage have a protective effect. Continue reading...

Experts call for more research into off-label' medications, and supply chain alternatives not driven by profit motive