Scientists made the discovery by observing the primitive jellyfish Cassiopea, which has no central nervous systemSnoozing jellyfish have confirmed that a brain is not necessary for sleep.Scientists made the discovery after observing a primitive jellyfish called Cassiopea that lives upside down on the sea floor and lacks any kind of central nervous system. Continue reading...

Our climate paper underlined that strong action towards the 1.5C Paris goal is perhaps more valid than ever, but reading some of the media coverage you might think the opposite was trueOn Monday, we published a paper in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience that re-evaluated how much carbon dioxide we can still afford, collectively, to emit into the atmosphere and still retain some hope of achieving the ambitious goals of the Paris climate agreement to “pursue efforts” to keep global temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. The carbon budget we found, to yield a two-in-three chance of meeting this goal, was equivalent to starting CO2 emission reductions immediately and continuing in a straight line to zero in less than 40 years: a formidable challenge.Formidable, but not inconceivable. The distinction matters, because if it were already completely impossible to achieve the Paris ambition, many might argue there was no point in pursuing those efforts in the first place – or that the only option left is immediately starting to cool the planet with artificial volcanoes. Continue reading...

Does a new study really claim that standing at work is as unhealthy as a cigarette a day? Closer inspection suggests probably notA headline in the Independent today has proclaimed that standing at work is “as unhealthy as a cigarette a day”, citing a new study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Illustrated with a picture of a woman bent over her standing desk clutching at her back, we’re instructed to “sit back down”.But a closer look at the research in question reveals very little to do with standing desks. In fact, the study did not look at standing desks at all. The research was conducted on a sample of 7,320 residents of Ontario, Canada, followed up for over a decade. And its findings are striking – people whose job requires them to stand for long periods of time were twice as likely to contract heart disease compared to those who do jobs that predominantly involve being seated. Continue reading...

Mexico’s most recent earthquakes did not directly involve two tectonic plates clashing, as is commonly the case. Seismologist Dr Stephen Hicks explainsWe are often reminded about the force and devastation from earthquakes that occur around the Pacific Ring of Fire. The titanic collision of two tectonic plates, which firmly lock together and accrue strain over tens to hundreds of years, eventually releases this pent-up energy as a large earthquake. We have seen such quakes striking Indonesia, Chile and Japan over the past 15 years. Mexico, too, lies on the Ring of Fire and is no stranger to such quakes: the 1985 8.0 magnitude earthquake that devastated Mexico City was a fairly typical “thrust” earthquake that ruptured the shallow portion of the tectonic plate boundary.The two earthquakes that struck Mexico this month were different. Continue reading...

On average, American teens today are not growing up as fast as previous generations. Is that a good thing?Kids today: they just don’t drink and have sex like they used to. According to a new study, young people are defying the expectations of adults yet again by failing to accelerate themselves towards adulthood with the characteristic speed of their teenage predecessors.A new study published in Child Development, drawing on longitudinal data from millions of American teens between 1976 and 2016, finds that “in terms of adult activities, 18-year-olds now look like 15-year-olds once did”. Continue reading...

Two earthquakes have hit Mexico within two weeks, both occurring on the Cocos tectonic plate. But are they related, and could Mexico face more tremors?Mexico has been hit by its second deadly earthquake in less than two weeks. Are the two seismic events in Mexico related, and could they indicate more tremors are on the way?

Religious beliefs are typically incompatible with scientific evidence and observable reality, but aren’t considered to be delusions. Why not?If someone told you, in all seriousness, that they talk to invisible beings who control the universe, you’d probably back away slowly, nodding and smiling, while desperately looking for the nearest exit or escape route. If this person then said they wanted to be in charge of your life, you’d probably do the same, but more urgently, and with a view to finding the nearest police officer.And yet, this happens all the time. Arch Brexiter, unlikely Tory leadership candidate and human Pez-dispenser Jacob Rees-Mogg recently blamed his extreme and unpleasant views on his Catholicisim, which was seen as a valid excuse by many. Current placeholder prime minister Theresa May has made a big deal about how her Christian upbringing makes her suitable for the role. And despite the lawful separation of church and state, every official and wannabe US president has had to emphasise their religious inclinations. Even Trump, whose enthusiasm for maintaining the noble traditions of the presidency can be described as limited at best. Continue reading...

Rob Vertessy, who retired as the BOM’s director in 2016, has hit back at ‘time wasters’ and ‘amateurs’ who are given a forum by the AustralianFor Rob Vertessy, the attacks on his government agency became tedious and time-consuming and no less irritating because they were coming from a motivated group of “amateurs”.Vertessy spent a decade at Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology. He retired in April 2016 after five years as the agency’s director. Continue reading...

Review of five drugs – including one linked to deaths – says there is no body of reliable evidence behind any of themThere is no magic pill to cure alcoholism, according to a scientific review of the evidence of five drugs being prescribed by doctors.None of the five drugs has a body of reliable evidence behind it, say the scientists, even though one of the drugs, nalmefene, has been approved for use in the NHS by Nice, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Another, baclofen, has generated huge excitement, especially in France, but has been linked to deaths. Continue reading...

Trial unexpectedly shows combination of osteopathy, life coaching and neuro-linguistic programming helps children with CFS/ME get betterA controversial treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) called the Lightning Process can help children get better, a trial has shown, much to the surprise of the doctor who put it to the test.One in every 100 children of secondary school age has CFS, also known as ME, and it can wreck their lives. Those affected miss a year of school on average, many of them getting to classes on just two days a week. Half are bedbound at some stage. Continue reading...

In a first for the UK, genome editing has been used to understand embryo development, and could help uncover the causes of recurrent miscarriagesScientists in Britain have revealed the role of a fertility “master gene” in one of the world’s first demonstrations of DNA editing in human embryos.The study, which marks a first for the UK, could help uncover the cause of recurrent miscarriages and lead to more effective fertility treatments. It also raises ethical questions about the prospect of controversial gene editing techniques being used clinically to correct defects in, or even enhance, human embryos in the future. Continue reading...

Faults in male DNA are a driver for rare childhood diseases, research suggests, with men passing on one new mutation for every eight months of ageChildren inherit four times as many new mutations from their fathers than their mothers, according to research that suggests faults in the men’s DNA are a driver for rare childhood diseases.Researchers studied 14,000 Icelanders and found that men passed on one new mutation for every eight months of age, compared with women who passed on a new mutation for every three years of age. Continue reading...

A porpoise jawbone, discovered in the Shetlands by a 1950s schoolboy as part of an ancient treasure hoard, raises similar questions about the significance these animals held for earlier peopleThe strange discovery of a porpoise skeleton interred in a medieval religious grave in the Channel Islands is evocative of a deep cultural connection between humans and cetaceans which we are only just beginning to understand.

Global study finds girls are considered vulnerable and protected, while boys are set free to roam and explore, with lifelong consequencesAcross the world, from Beijing to Baltimore, children are straitjacketed into gender roles in early adolescence, with the world expanding for boys and closing in for girls, according to new research.The Global Early Adolescent Study breaks new ground by talking to children and their parents in 15 countries around the world and finding a remarkably similar story. Girls approaching adolescence are considered vulnerable and protected, while boys are set free to roam and explore. That has consequences for their behaviour and expectations throughout their life. Continue reading...

Applying spectroscopy techniques to tricky fossil leaves enables researchers to work out their evolutionary relationshipsThe tree of life is almost entirely composed of dead branches. The species which exist on the Earth today are the tips of a very exclusive set of branches – the ones which happen to have representatives alive now, at the same time as human beings with the technology to divine their gene sequence. By comparing how similar their gene sequences are, we can classify living organisms according to their shared ancestry.

Astronomer and astrophysicist who inspired generations of students and discovered the cooling law for white dwarf starsLeon Mestel, who has died aged 90, taught generations of astronomers the importance of magnetic fields inside stars and, on the larger scale, across galaxies. He discovered the cooling law for white dwarf stars, showed how magnetic fields in forming stars allowed them to dispose of excess spin, and how a star such as the sun slows down its rotation through an interaction between the star’s magnetic field and the wind of hot gas blowing from its surface.He was associated with the universities of Cambridge, Manchester and especially Sussex, and played a major role in helping to develop the Astronomy Centre at Sussex. Continue reading...

Nicola Davis speaks with two experts on the frontline of cybercrime to find out how the changing digital landscape is leaving us all vulnerable to cyber attacksSubscribe & Review on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud & Acast, and join the discussion on Facebook and TwitterOn Friday 12 May, a ransomware cyber-attack casued havoc among computer systems in nearly 100 countries. Of the reported 45,000 or so attacks, one of the worst left English hospitals struggling to function, with the malware demanding payment in exchange for unlocking encrypted data on NHS systems. But just how much of a threat does cybercrime pose? What are the hackers after? And, with a society that’s becoming more digital by the day, what can we do to ensure the ‘good’ guys win? Continue reading...

Boardroom bust-ups can put friendships on the line. Business partners reveal why they get professional help to resolve their issuesThere are plenty of good reasons to set up a business with a co-founder rather than go it alone. A co-founder is another committed financial partner and someone who is likely to bring a vitally different skillset and will be a source of support when the going gets tough. Research by the Kauffman Foundation in the US suggests that co-founder teams can attract 30% more investment and can increase their customer base more quickly, improving business survival rates.But there is still a lot to consider before taking on a co-founder. Startup life is stressful and sometimes is it’s all too easy to take it out on the only other person in the same boat as you: your business partner.

As pupils begin their new school year, they will find evolution removed from texts and less time spent on Atatürk’s secular idealsAfter 25 years of teaching, Ayşe Kazancı decided to retire early.The social sciences teacher, who asked that a pseudonym be used to avoid repercussions from the government, had long faced difficulties because of her activism, joining teachers’ union strikes and advocating for leftist and Kurdish causes. After last year’s coup attempt in Turkey, she was put under investigation. Continue reading...

Nowhere near enough new drugs are currently in development says report, which calls for urgent investment and responsible use of existing antibioticsToo few antibiotics are in the pipeline to tackle the global crisis of drug resistance, which is responsible for the rise of almost untreatable infections around the world, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warns.Among the alarming diseases that are increasing and spreading is multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (TB), which requires treatment lasting between nine and 20 months. There are 250,000 deaths a year from drug-resistant TB and only 52% of patients globally are successfully treated. But only two new antibiotics for the disease have reached the market in 70 years. Continue reading...

Hurricane Maria has wrought terrible destruction in the Caribbean, yet OECD guidelines say that the islands are ineligible for assistance

Psychologist Cordelia Fine’s dissection of the myths that sustain assumptions about sexual difference acclaimed by judges as ‘a cracking critique’A book that rubbishes the idea of “fundamental” differences between men and women has become the 30th winner of the prestigious Royal Society prize for science book of the year.Related: Testosterone Rex by Cordelia Fine review – the question of men’s and women’s brains Continue reading...

By blocking a particular protein, unhealthy ‘white’ fat could be transformed into calorie-burning ‘beige’ fat, experiments show“Bad fat” could be made to turn over a new leaf and combat obesity by blocking a specific protein, scientists have discovered.Most fat in the body is unhealthy “white” tissue deposited around the waist, hips and thighs. But smaller amounts of energy-hungry “brown” fat are also found around the neck and shoulders. Brown fat generates heat by burning up excess calories. Continue reading...

Animal may have been placed in carefully cut hole to preserve its meat or have had some sort of religious significanceArchaeologists digging at an island religious retreat have unearthed the remains of a porpoise that, mystifyingly, appears to have been carefully buried in its own medieval grave.The team believe the marine animal found on the island of Chapelle Dom Hue, off the west coast of Guernsey, was buried in the 14th century. Continue reading...

Three people injured after rocket from passing rotorcraft explodes near group of men during Zapad war games in LuzhskyA Russian attack helicopter accidentally fired at least one rocket into a group of people during large-scale military exercises close to Nato’s borders, Russian media has reported.Three people were injured in the incident at the Zapad 2017 drills, a source close to the Russian Ministry of Defence told RBC news agency. “They weren’t civilians,” the source said. Continue reading...

Even the highest achievers, such as Albert Einstein and Maya Angelou, suffer from this corrosive form of low self-esteem. But there are coping strategiesThe philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote: “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.” Whether on a local or global level, the problems we face require the best people to step up. But many hold back because they feel that luck rather than ability lies behind their successes, and dread that sooner or later some person or event will expose them for the fraud that deep down they believe themselves to be. Far from being a realistic self-assessment, the impostor syndrome mind-trap prevents people from believing in themselves, to the detriment of us all.As a life coach, I work with people who sense they have more personal and professional potential but feel blocked from fulfilling it. For some, hearing about impostor syndrome for the first time is a revelation. They realise that, far from it being their own shameful secret, it is a recognised phenomenon, first identified in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes. Continue reading...

Combining expertise from 21 labs in Europe and the US, the International Brain Laboratory will attempt to answer one of the greatest mysteries of all timeWorld-leading neuroscientists have launched an ambitious project to answer one of the greatest mysteries of all time: how the brain decides what to do.The international effort will draw on expertise from 21 labs in the US and Europe to uncover for the first time where, when, and how neurons in the brain take information from the outside world, make sense of it, and work out how to respond.

Yes, the Oxford statue of Rhodes should fall but why not novelist HG Wells, a eugenics enthusiast, and J Marion Sim, the ‘father of gynaecology’ who experimented on slaves, tooScience’s most elite magazine, Nature, published an editorial recently arguing that calling for monuments to figures such as J Marion Sims – often called the “father of gynaecology” – to be removed amounts to “whitewashing” history. Sims is widely praised for developing techniques in gynaecological surgery and founding a women’s hospital in New York in the mid-1800s. But Sims experimented on enslaved black women and infants, operating up to 30 times on one woman to perfect his method. Last month, women wearing bloodied hospital gowns staged a protest by Sims’s statue outside the New York Academy of Medicine.Related: A battle with prejudice: why we overlook the warrior women of ancient times | Natalie Haynes Continue reading...

Conkers, along with wrens and adders, were deemed outdated. What were the editors thinking?It is hazardous to stand in my garden. Thwack. Thud. Every five minutes, the tree above slings a conker to the ground as if by catapult.Some open their spiny cases on impact. Others can be gently crushed to reveal their gleaming treasure: cool to touch, encased in cream memory foam, and decorated with whorls that resemble a chestnut map of the world. Continue reading...

Goal to limit warming to 1.5C to avoid the worst impacts of climate change was seen as unreachable, but updated research suggests it could be met if strong action is takenThe highly ambitious aim of limiting global warming to less than 1.5C remains in reach, a new scientific analysis shows.The 1.5C target was set as an aspiration by the global Paris climate change deal in 2015 to limit the damage wreaked by extreme weather and sea level rise. Continue reading...

The discovery of aquatic architecture has led scientists to compare the behaviour of cephalopods to humans – but octopus city life is no utopiaIf animals are our other, there is nothing quite so other as the octopus. It is the alien with whom we share our planet, a coeval evolutionary life form whose slithery slipperiness and more than the requisite number of limbs (each of which contains its own “brain”) symbolise the dark mystery and fear of the deep.Now comes news that octopuses have been building their own cities down there. In a story straight out of James Cameron’s The Abyss, scientists have discovered that the wonderfully named “gloomy octopus”, octopus tetricus, are not the loners we once thought them to be. Continue reading...

Pioneering physician who played a fundamental role in the development of modern respiratory medicineWhen Margaret Turner-Warwick, who has died aged 92, entered the field of respiratory medicine in the 1950s, it was a time of great change. Effective treatment for tuberculosis had recently been introduced, and the adverse effects of cigarette smoking on the lung were beginning to be appreciated.The focus of academic research had been limited to understanding and measuring lung function, but with her colleagues Jack Pepys and Deborah Doniach, Margaret expanded it to include the immunology of the lung, and particularly of the fibrosing lung diseases. She showed that they were associated with autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis and the severe form of lupus known as systemic lupus erythematosus, and she demonstrated the presence of relevant auto-antibodies in the blood. Continue reading...

Study finds excessive levels of the metal, which can seriously harm unborn children, in women from Alaska to Indonesia, due to gold mining, industrial pollution and fish-rich dietsWomen of childbearing age from around the world have been found to have high levels of mercury, a potent neurotoxin which can seriously harm unborn children.The new study, the largest to date, covered 25 of the countries with the highest risk and found excessive levels of the toxic metal in women from Alaska to Chile and Indonesia to Kenya. Women in the Pacific islands were the most pervasively contaminated. This results from their reliance on eating fish, which concentrate the mercury pollution found across the world’s oceans and much of which originates from coal burning. Continue reading...

Childhood was once perilous and adult lives were often cut short – but life expectancy now tops 80 yearsBenjamin Franklin once wrote that “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”, but just how – and at what age – we are likely to exit the world has changed dramatically over the past 100 years, thanks to changing social structures and advances in medicine and technology.While once childhood was a perilous period and adult lives were often cut short, life expectancy at birth now tops 80 years in the UK.

The recent discovery of female bones in a Viking warrior grave is yet another indication that we’ve only scratched the surface of female historyWarrior women have fascinated us for millennia. In ancient Greece, Amazons were the second most popular characters to feature in vase paintings. Only the exploits of Hercules (one of which involved Hippolyta, an Amazon queen) appeared on more pieces of pottery. In the images that survive, Amazons are always shown racing towards danger, never away from it.Related: Harridans, harlots and heroines: women of the classical world Continue reading...

Fish, which is endemic to Tasmania, was the first Australian marine animal to be listed as critically endangeredScientists have begun a captive breeding program for the spotted handfish, 11 years after it became the first Australian marine animal to be listed as critically endangered.Endemic to Tasmania, the spotted handfish or Brachionichthys hirsutus looks like a tadpole in the late stages of development, with a fin atop its head to lure unsuspecting prey and the sour expression of a British bulldog. Continue reading...

Steven Rose writes: I first met Pat Bateson in the late 60s, as we shared a mutual interest in the brain mechanisms involved in learning and memory. We became firm friends, and it was the start of a decade-long, and I believe unique, collaboration between Pat, a behavioural biologist, Gabriel Horn, an anatomist, and me as a biochemist. Pat’s favoured model was the day-old chick, primed to learn to recognise its mother – imprinting. Together, we identified the brain regions required for such learning to take place, and the cellular and molecular mechanisms that encoded the memory.Years later, we made a memorable trip to the Galápagos (on, appropriately, a boat called Beagle), with Pat and his daughter Melissa, a biologist, impressing us with their capacity to identify birds by the merest flicker of feathers as they flew past. Continue reading...

The relationship between owners and their animals is explored in this enjoyable studyAnthrozoology is a term coined by John Bradshaw and six other academics in the 1980s that describes the study of the “human-animal bond”. This book sees the science applied through history, starting in prehistoric times and ending today. He discusses archaeological evidence that points to the earliest example of an animal being kept as a pet, the status of the pet during the Victorian era and the emergence of pedigree dog breeds. The Animals Among Us is packed with facts that, collectively, form a broad and general history of our (predominantly the west’s; non-western cultures most often take on the role of “other”) relationships with domesticated animals. Bradshaw debunks several myths about pets having traceable benefits for health and other common misconceptions about pet ownership, citing anthropological and biological studies. While clumsily written at times, this is an enjoyable celebration of pets that, through its exploration of the uses, treatment rights and status of pets, shines a light on the behaviour and psychology of not only the animals, but also their owners.• The Animals Among Us by John Bradshaw is published by Allen Lane (£20). To order a copy for £15 go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99 Continue reading...

The truth used to be plain and simple. Just because it’s now complex doesn’t mean it’s false, argues Julian BagginiThe promise of the truth has always been alluring. The most-quoted Gospel verse on evangelical posters and literature is John 14:6, in which Jesus proclaims: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” It resonates because we all have a sense that truth is somehow essential to living well. If your life turns out to have been built on nothing but lies, it is as though it has not been real.Paris is the capital of France, George Washington was the first president of the United States, water is HO… There are innumerable truths like this, which only idiots or obtuse academics (often thought to be the same thing) would deny. Continue reading...

Major survey reveals that it’s atheists who perpetuate the conflict between religious belief and scienceThe biblical account of creation and the fate of Adam and Eve, progenitors of the human race, continues to inspire artists and writers. But according to a groundbreaking new survey, it is also at the heart of a deep misunderstanding between religious and non-religious Britons.A YouGov poll, commissioned by Newman University in Birmingham, has found that 72% of atheists polled believe that someone who is religious would not accept evolutionary science. In fact, only 19% of religious respondents in the poll rejected Darwinian thinking in favour of a literal reading of the Book of Genesis. Continue reading...

At a Nasa site nestled in a valley not far from Australia’s capital city, a lucky few get a closer view of the end of the spacecraft’s 20-year odysseyDeep Space Station 43 is an imposing piece of hardware. It’s a 70-metre diameter radio telescope, the largest in the southern hemisphere, and on this cold Canberra Friday night, red lights were flashing to signify it was sending data to one of the space missions it monitored. It was the Cassini probe – for the final time.DSS43 is located at the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex (CDSCC). It’s a Nasa site run by Australia’s scientific research organisation, the CSIRO, nestled in a valley in Tidbinbilla, a treacherously kangaroo-filled 45-minute drive from the nation’s capital. The public are rarely permitted beyond the cafe and visitor’s centre, but this was a very special night. Continue reading...

And so farewell to Cassini, whose incredibly rewarding mission to Saturn has reached a fiery and dramatic end after 20 years, eight billion miles, a ton of stunning images and masses of extremely intriguing data. The plucky spacecraft has now become one with the planet it so faithfully observed, which is a nice way of saying it’s burned away to nothing – or zero, the expression of which has caused excitement this week. The origin symbol we use today has been traced to the Bakhshali manuscript, dating from the 3rd or 4th century - which makes it about 500 years older than scholars previously believed. And although one is more than none (which will still be too many for some) there’s a good possibility that a new technology breakthrough will allow multiple time-delayed vaccines or drug doses to be delivered in single jab. This could see and end to booster jabs, and allow an improvement in vaccination rates in developing world countries. The practicality of this could be said to stand in sharp contrast to the weird and wonderful pieces of research celebrated by this year’s Ig Nobel prizes. Among the rich variety of winners, the judges rewarded work arguing that cats can be considered both solid and liquid, a study which pinpointed cheese disgust in the brain and another which proved that playing the didgeridoo is a cure for snoring. Hurrah for science. Continue reading...

A study this week concluded HRT does not shorten lives – but it still increases the risk of cancer, leaving those suffering symptoms with a tough choice to makeHormone replacement therapy (HRT), possibly the most controversial medicine ever invented, will not kill you. That was the conclusion this week of a big, respectable study in the United States that was one of the first to flag up the risk of breast cancer. Women who took the tablets to alleviate the hot flushes and night sweats that assail them, prevent them sleeping and can make life intolerable were no more likely to be dead 18 years later than women who did not.That’s good news and it was loudly celebrated. Gynaecologists who have been frustrated and dismayed by the bad press HRT has had, leaving them groping in the dark for something else to give the distressed woman in the consulting room who doesn’t want hormones, said this is proof of its safety. The risks are low. Women must be told about them, but they should not be deterred by any thought that HRT could shorten their life. Continue reading...

Researchers have unearthed 30 expressions that they suggest could be brought back to modern conversation – but they wouldn’t be the first words to experience a revival

After 20 years and a journey of eight billion kilometres, Cassini has fallen silent following its dive towards Saturn

One of the most successful space missions ever launched by Nasa has ended, becoming the first manmade object to pass between Saturn and its ringsNasa’s Cassini spacecraft has met its demise as it plunged into Saturn’s atmosphere this morning where it was vaporised within minutes in a meteoric blaze.The dramatic end of one the space agency’s most successful missions was confirmed at just before 1pm UK time, as the signal from Cassini fell silent for the first time in 13 years. Continue reading...

Cassini revealed Saturn and its moons in stunning detail, but its observations of the moon Enceladus are potential game-changers in the hunt for lifeAnd so Cassini has met its end. One of the most successful space missions ever launched, it revealed Saturn and its moons in glorious detail. Images beamed home from the probe showed raging hurricanes that enveloped the planet, and millions of rings that surround it. The spacecraft dropped a lander on Titan, the largest of Saturn’s 62 known moons, marking the first touchdown on a heavenly body on the other side of the asteroid belt. But it was observations of the tiny, icy moon Enceladus that stunned astronomers most, and transformed their views on the potential for life elsewhere in the solar system.Related: Spectacular Saturn: Cassini's epic pictures using a one megapixel camera Continue reading...

Awe-inspiring views of the universe were celebrated at the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2017 awards ceremony, held at the Royal Greenwich Observatory Continue reading...

Atomic bombs ‘Fat Man’ and ‘Little Boy’ exploded over Nagasaki and Hiroshima 72 years ago creating a lasting nuclear taboo – until now. What has changed?Until recently, a significant taboo has existed around the use of nuclear weapons in war. However, we are now in a position where that taboo is being flagrantly disregarded by the leaders of the most powerful nation in the world, and a totalitarian dictatorship.Taboos offer a way for us to create overarching rules of societal acceptability that transcend our social and cultural norms. Taboos prohibit behaviours that are not appropriate within and beyond the moral or ethical framework of an individual community – scenarios that are so dangerous or perverse that they are almost unspeakable. Traditionally, those who engage in taboo activities, such as incest, are stigmatised and ostracised by their society, as their breach or defiance of taboo could have significant and unacceptable repercussions. We had a taboo surrounding deploying nuclear weapons – out of respect for the devastation they can wreak – but it seems more and more fragile. Continue reading...

What Bj 581, the ‘female Viking warrior’ tells us about assumed gender roles in archaeological inquiryIn the 1880s Scandinavian archaeologists unearthed a grave containing all the implements required for battle, including shields, an axe, a spear, a sword, and a bow with a set of heavy arrows, along with two horses, a mare and a stallion. A set of game pieces has long lead researchers to believe that this person was interested in strategy, and may have used the pieces to plan battle tactics. It was the grave of a Viking warrior and naturally was assumed to be a male. It was designated, and continues to be referred to, as Bj 581.Related: Does new DNA evidence prove that there were female viking warlords? Continue reading...