But our processed foods are full of highly engineered additives. Let’s call them drugs. And these really are addictiveMany of my colleagues – researchers who study overeating – now routinely use the term food addiction, and advocate for its recognition as a psychiatric diagnosis.It’s true that rats, monkeys and humans show addiction-like behaviour when exposed to highly palatable, calorie-dense foods, sometimes even preferring them to drugs such as cocaine. But I’ve come to see that nearly all the foods that elicit addictive behaviour share one thing in common: they have been significantly altered or enhanced through manufactured flavour chemicals and ingredients – also known as drugs. Continue reading...
The painkiller and anaesthetic is 50 times more potent than morphine, is powerfully addictive, fatal even in tiny amounts, and has become a huge part of America’s opioid crisis
New research reveals daily dose of just 375g of fruit, vegetables and beans are sufficient to reduce risk of stroke, heart disease or premature death, and could help low-income consumers
The answers to today’s puzzlesOn my puzzle blog earlier today I set the following three riddles, here reprinted with the answers.The ideas all come from card tricks. In the comments section you might want to suggest the best way to perform card tricks that are based on these mathematical patterns. Continue reading...
Riffle shuffle your brain cells with three of a kindUPDATE: The solutions are now up hereLadies and gentlemen,Today, three magic tricks. I mean three riddles. Continue reading...
US researchers find heart attack survivors given anti-inflammatory injections have fewer future episodes and lower cancer riskAnti-inflammatory injections could lower the risk of heart attacks and may slow the progression of cancer, a study has found, in what researchers say is the biggest breakthrough since the discovery of statins.Heart attack survivors given injections of a targeted anti-inflammatory drug called canakinumab had fewer attacks in the future, scientists found. Cancer deaths were also halved in those treated with the drug, which is normally used only for rare inflammatory conditions. Continue reading...
The event of the month will take place at Saturn on 15 September, when Cassini is due to plunge to its destruction in the planet’s atmosphereIn a month when half the entries in our Diary concern planets that stand low in our E pre-dawn sky, the highlight is the dramatic conclusion to the Cassini mission at Saturn. Almost twenty years since its launch and thirteen since it arrived at its target world, the spacecraft is due to plunge to its destruction in the Saturnian atmosphere on the 15th.
by Josh Halliday North of England correspondent on (#30DNC)
The correspondence, dating from 1949 to 1954, was found by an academic in a storeroom at the University of ManchesterA lost collection of nearly 150 letters from the codebreaker Alan Turing has been uncovered in an old filing cabinet at the University of Manchester.The correspondence, which has not seen the light of day for at least 30 years, contains very little about Turing’s tortured personal life. It does, however, give an intriguing insight into his views on America. Continue reading...
The eyeless subterranean salamanders that live in the watery depths of Postojna Cave are under threat – but there’s hope in sightPostojna Cave in Slovenia is one of Europe’s longest cave networks and one of the world’s most spectacular subterranean tourist sites. Hundreds of thousands of visitors come here every year to gaze at its wonders: its huge stalactites and stalagmites, its curtains of coloured rock and bridges that have been carved out of the local limestone by the river Pivka over millions of years.Given such glories, it is not surprising that few tourists take note of the two concrete huts draped with black polythene that have been erected in a shadowy alcove in one obscure part of the 24km-long labyrinth. But the huts contain wonders of their own. In racks of trays of water, scientists have placed specimens of one of the world’s strangest creatures: the blind aquatic salamander Proteus anguinus – or olm, as it is known locally. It constitutes a project that could have profound implications for the future of these remarkable creatures. Continue reading...
A critical decision in a life or death situation could determine the fate of you and your group. Consider this scenario and discover what it says about youHow utilitarian are you, and what does this predict about your personality? What would you do when faced with the following dilemma…You and three other people are trapped in a mine. One of the other three is bleeding and will die within the hour without medical attention. The rescue team says it will take 36 hours to reach you, and also that given the size of the space you are trapped in there is only enough oxygen for three people to survive for 36 hours, but definitely not four. Is it morally appropriate for you to withdraw medical attention and allow the bleeding crew member to die, in order to save yourself and the rest of the crew? Continue reading...
by Robin McKie, Eva Wiseman, Toby Helm, Julian Borger on (#30CMM)
From Joe Root’s bid to retain the Ashes to the last days of Cassini’s mission to Saturn, our specialist writers pick the season’s best in arts, sports, politics, science and trends Continue reading...
Companies have been told to accept moral responsibility and provide counselling for people who inadvertently discover health risksPeople who use genetic tests to trace their ancestry only to discover that they are at risk of succumbing to an incurable illness are being left to suffer serious psychological problems. Dementia researchers say the problem is particularly acute for those found to be at risk of Alzheimer’s disease, which has no cure or effective treatment. Yet these people are stumbling upon their status inadvertently after trying to find their Viking, Asian or ancient Greek roots.“These tests have the potential to cause great distress,†said Anna Middleton, head of society and ethics research at the Wellcome Genome Campus in Cambridge. “Companies should make counselling available, before and after people take tests.†The issue is raised in a paper by Middleton and others in the journal Future Medicine. Continue reading...
There are a million heroin users in the US, and the UK has Europe’s highest rate of use. It is a huge problem. But can there be a chemical answer to a social issue?The effect of heroin has been described as “a warm blanket on the brainâ€. Within seconds of the drug entering the bloodstream, it hits receptor molecules in the brain’s neurons that induce a surge of euphoria, followed by a prolonged sense of tranquillity. Yes, it feels good – and that’s the problem.But what if you took heroin and felt nothing? What if there was a treatment that cancelled its effects on the brain? Who then would bother to take it? Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#309E1)
If an acoustic weapon is responsible for the ‘attacks’ on US diplomats it is likely to be ultrasonic, but chemical causes must first be ruled out, say experts
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#30952)
Exclusive: Prof Sophie Scott will give the 2017 Royal Institution Christmas lectures on the evolution of language - and explain why gifs and emojis aren’t stupidEmojis enhance human interaction by putting “emotional, non-verbal information back inâ€, argues Prof Sophie Scott, who has been named as the 2017 Royal Institution Christmas lecturer.Rather than marking a dismal low-point for communication, Scott believes that social media is allowing us to become increasingly sophisticated in our use of some of the most potent, but least studied, aspects of communication. Continue reading...
Let your house get dirty enough and you really might get a nasty illness. The same can’t be said for a non-alphabetised bookshelfRecently, thanks to multiple studies, the old consensus that “a tidy desk equals a tidy mind†has been shouldered aside by its opposite. These days, mess is a sign of creativity. Frankly, as a neat-freak, I consider this offensive, though I confess there’s a solid argument for it, stated most cogently in Tim Harford’s 2016 book Messy. Learning to embrace disarray, he argues, helps disrupt our tendency to think along the same pre-ploughed furrows, and permits the fresh associations that allow new ideas to form. Fair enough. But don’t expect me to stop arranging my notebooks and pens in a perfect line on my desktop. And don’t give me all that stuff about how this is an external manifestation of a desperate quest to retain a sense of control in the face of a meaningless cosmos. I’m just not a slob. OK?Except I’ve realised, over the last few years, that this slob versus neatnik dichotomy – subject of a thousand slanging matches between spouses – is an oversimplification. I’m a tidy person, but decidedly average when it comes to cleanliness; whereas my partner values cleanliness enormously, while being somewhat untidy. I’m baffled that she thinks it’s OK to leave books strewn across the coffee table, when they could be nicely stacked. She’s baffled that I care so much about arranging the rug so it’s perpendicular to the floorboards, while apparently not seeing the crumbs and bits of pasta accumulating along its edge. Continue reading...
The Babylonians weren’t just eye-catching gardeners, they were also ace mathematicians, it seems. Dating from 1,000 years before Pythagoras expounded his theorem, a Babylonian clay tablet is a trigonometric table more accurate than any today, say researchers. This was my favourite story of the week, as although it contains my personal downfall, maths, it also includes some interesting inside gen on Indiana Jones. Less directly useful to pyramid building, but nevertheless interesting, a new bone analysis has unpicked the life cycle of the long-extinct dodo. Scientists also think they can explain how the horse became the only living animal with a single toe. What they’re still arguing about, however, is whether or not sugar is as addictive as cocaine. It’s a pretty heated debate, which is why it might be a good plan to step back and wonder at the universe instead. You can start with this new view of Antares. The red supergiant is 550 light years from Earth and remarkably, astronomers have managed to capture images of it - the best images, in fact, ever taken of any star’s surface and atmosphere apart from the sun. If that isn’t exciting enough, how about some space sparkle? In a bling-tastic move, scientists have recreated the diamond rain of Neptune and Uranus using, er, polystyrene. And lasers. All very Blue Peter, I’m sure but it doesn’t quite beat this recycling excitement: astronaut urine, faeces and breath could be used to produce food supplements and plastics for 3D printing, freeing up space on long journeys, say researchers. Puts my half-hearted compost bin use to shame. Continue reading...
Don’t wait for astronauts to show us how to recycle bodily waste into useful products. Here’s how you can extract value from your own liquid assets nowScientists in South Carolina have this week described how astronauts of the future could recycle their own urine, breath and other forms of waste into useful products, such as fuel, nutrients, clean drinking water, and even polymer plastics.Related: Space savers: astronaut urine could make supplies from nutrients to tools Continue reading...
Heated debate has greeted an article in a medical journal suggesting sugar should be considered an addictive drug, as experts deride the claims as ‘absurd’An article suggesting that sugar should be considered an addictive substance, and could even be on a par with abusive drugs such as cocaine, has sparked a furious backlash with experts describing the claims as “absurdâ€.In a narrative review published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine the authors write that sugar could act as a gateway to alcohol and other addictive substances, adding that like sugar, like cocaine and opium, is refined from plants to yield pure white crystals – a process they say “significantly adds to its addictive properties.†Continue reading...
Scientists have discovered that higher levels of the hormone cause aggression and impaired decision-making. It’s all good news for older menAs a man – the sort of thoughtful, Fawcett Society-supporting man who lowers the toilet seat after peeing, even when he has the house to himself – it’s hard to talk about women and their hormones. There’s no doubt that they affect minds and bodies, through puberty, pregnancy and premenstrual syndrome (PMS). The National Association for Premenstrual Syndrome’s list of “common†symptoms includes mood swings, depression, tiredness, anxiety, feeling out of control, irritability, aggression, headaches, sleep disorder, food cravings, breast tenderness, bloating, weight gain and clumsiness.Related: More middle-aged men taking steroids to look younger Continue reading...
The NHS is facing severe crises, from staffing to funding. Hunt misquoting me and misrepresenting research doesn’t helpThe secretary of state for health, Jeremy Hunt, has challenged me on Twitter and in an article for the Sunday Telegraph over a talk I gave recently to the Royal Society of Medicine in defence of the NHS. Having been accused by Hunt of spreading “pernicious falsehoodsâ€, I feel the need to respond.Related: Jeremy Hunt’s dismissal of Stephen Hawking on the NHS | Letters Continue reading...
West Knoyle, Wiltshire It skitters up the fabric to the pinnacle, dropping down several feet then looping back up again, and again, and againTaking respite from the hubbub of milling outdoor and bushcraft enthusiasts attending the Wilderness Gathering, I lie back under the shade of a conical bell tent. Gazing upwards into the canvas peak I watch a wasp skittering up the ivory fabric to the pinnacle, dropping down several feet then looping back up again, and again, and again.Related: Conservationists slam 'hateful' survey promoting wasp killing Continue reading...
Agency’s Proba-3 mission plans pair of formation-flying spacecraft to form eclipses in space for corona researchA mission by the European Space Agency to create artificial eclipses in space is nearing a crucial milestone in development. The critical design review will take place this autumn and determine whether the spacecraft can proceed to fabrication, test and finally launch.The launch date scheduled for Proba-3 is 2020. The venture will help solar research by providing scientists with long, uninterrupted, views of the sun’s tenuous outer atmosphere, the corona. Continue reading...
My father, Martin Aitken, who has died aged 95, was a scientist who pioneered the application of physics to archaeology. He coined, with the archaeologist Christopher Hawkes, the term archaeometry, helping to make huge advances in dating finds from as early as the Lower Palaeolithic period.He was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, the younger son of Percy Aitken, an engineer draughtsman, and his wife, Ethel (nee Brittain), who farmed with her mother until her marriage. Martin was educated at Stamford school and studied physics at Wadham College, Oxford, before becoming a fellow of Linacre College and later a member of the Royal Society. He became Oxford professor of archaeometry in 1985 before retiring in 1989. Continue reading...
My father Roy Bentley, who has died aged 87, was a medical physicist whose career spanned almost the entire history of the speciality.The son of Frank, a chartered accountant, and his wife, Stella (nee Barker), who helped out in the family hosiery and glove business, Roy was educated at West Bridgford grammar school, Nottingham, and Birmingham University. His PhD, awarded in 1955, focused on the uptake of radioisotopes in fats and laid significant ground for the use of markers in medical imaging. Continue reading...
Relying on exact DNA science to identify the fire’s victims could lead to years of cruel uncertainty. We should learn from other disasters, trying new approachesTen weeks on from the Grenfell fire, 58 victims of its victims have been formally identified. But the number who died is thought to number at least 80, and could be many more. Some families who lost their loved ones face a wait of months, perhaps even years, to know with absolute certainty what happened to them.As someone who has studied the implications of DNA technology on a community’s ability to recover from disasters such as explosive forces and fires, I’ve seen first-hand how the science can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it enables the reliable identification of victims in a tragedy like Grenfell. On the other, the long wait for certainty can leave families in limbo for years. Continue reading...
From egg-laying to moulting, a new bone analysis has unpicked the biology of the long-extinct birdBulbous-beaked, plump and puny-winged, the dodo has been immortalised by humans in art, literature and song.But while the peculiar animals have inspired a panoply of research, not least as to whether they were really bird-brained or as corpulent as portraits implied, much about the dodo’s life has remained a mystery until now. Continue reading...
With a crewed version of its Dragon cargo capsule in development, the SpaceX chief executive reveals the suits set to be worn by the company’s astronautsSpaceX has unveiled a sleek white spacesuit for astronauts on its crewed flights expected to take off next year.Chief executive Elon Musk revealed the suit on Instagram on Wednesday. He said it was not him pictured in the new suit, but a SpaceX engineer. Continue reading...
With the stakes in clinical research so high, today sees the launch of a new and much-needed way of reporting clinical trialsIn tumultuous times, it is easy to miss the fact that science is undergoing a quiet revolution. For several years now, concerns have been peaking in biomedicine about the reliability of published research – that the results of too many studies cannot be reproduced when the methods are repeated. Alongside growing discontent, the scientific community has answered by driving forward a raft of open science reforms. From initiatives to making research data publicly available, to ensuring that all published research can be read by the public, the aim of these reforms is simple: to make science more credible and accessible, for the benefit of other scientists and the public who fund scientific research.Today one of these reforms takes hold for the first time in clinical medicine: a new type of journal article called a Registered Report in which the journal commits to publishing clinical trials regardless of their outcome. This might sound like common sense – because that’s exactly what it is – but in the competitive world of science and academia it represents a significant departure from the status quo. Continue reading...
The fossil record for flowering plants has been a hot topic since Darwin’s day and despite recent breakthroughs remains ‘an abominable mystery’A recent study proposed a hypothetical “first flowerâ€: a prediction of what the flower of the shared ancestor of all flowering plants (or angiosperms) would have looked like. This prediction was based on evolutionary trees constructed from molecular data from 792 modern angiosperms, coupled with physical floral traits for each species, such as number and arrangement of petals and sepals (collectively known as tepals), and whether there were separate male and female, or bisexual, flowers.
Scientists at Oxford University develop non-invasive technique to measure amount of cholesterol in carotid plaquesA new type of MRI scan can predict the risk of having a stroke, researchers have said in a study.The non-invasive technique, developed by scientists at the University of Oxford, predicts whether plaques in the carotid arteries are rich in cholesterol and therefore more likely to cause a stroke. Continue reading...
The term ‘climate change’ was changed to simply ‘climate’ on website of the National Institutes of Health, the world’s leading public health research bodyThe National Institutes of Health deleted multiple references to climate change on its website over the summer, continuing a trend that began when the Trump administration took charge of the dot.gov domain.The changes were first outlined in a report by the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI), which has been using volunteers to track changes to roughly 25,000 pages across multiple government agencies since Trump took office. EDGI counted five instances in which the term “climate change†was changed to simply “climate†on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) site. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#302NZ)
Pictures of red supergiant Antares, 550 light years from Earth, are the most detailed images even taken of a star other than the sunAstronomers have produced the most detailed ever images of a star other than the sun.The red supergiant, called Antares, is known as the heart of the Scorpius constellation because of its rosy hue, discernible to the naked eye, and location in the body of the astronomical beast. The new images, produced using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile, are the most detailed yet of the surface and atmosphere of a star beyond our solar system. Continue reading...
Big Wasp Survey encourages volunteers to build homemade traps and send dead wasps to entomologists to monitor populationsDrowning wasps in beer in the name of science may seem a socially acceptable way to exterminate a seasonal pest. But a citizen science survey “harnessing the public’s dislike of wasps†has been criticised for its “hateful language†and for unnecessarily killing rare insects.The Big Wasp Survey is encouraging 2,000 volunteers to build homemade bottle traps before posting the dead wasps to entomologists to produce a clearer picture of the much-maligned insect’s decline. Continue reading...
The ancient ancestors of horses had four toes on their front feet and three on their back – but modern horses have just one. A new study could explain whyThey can reach speeds of more than 40km an hour, clear hurdles more than eight feet high and even pirouette – and they manage it all with just one toe on each foot. Now researchers say they have unpicked how and why horses ended up with their unusual extremities.The only living animals with a single toe, equines (such as horses and zebras) had ancestors with multiple digits on their feet, with early relatives having four on their front feet and three on their back. Continue reading...
Some parents are embracing the emerging process of replenishing newborns with lost bacteria – but doctors are warning against itThere has been an emerging trend among mothers who have a caesarean section for “vaginal seedingâ€, a process that exposes newborn babies to the micro-organisms they would normally encounter during vaginal birth. This week, though, Danish obstetricians writing in the international journal BJOG said that it “could do more harm than goodâ€. Doctors at the UK’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists also warned against it.Although the research is new and untested, experts in award-winning documentary Microbirth suggest a link between the health of our microbiome and the “epidemic†of non-communicable diseases (such as asthma, eczema and cardiovascular disease) that the World Health Organization fears could bankrupt our health systems. Continue reading...
Prehistorian and expert in South Asian archaeology who blazed a trail for women in the field and whose publications stretched from Afghanistan to Sri LankaThe prehistorian Bridget Allchin, who has died aged 90, was one of the first women to establish herself as a field expert in the male-dominated discipline of South Asian archaeology. She played a leading role in launching the intensive field-walking surveys and excavations that discovered the oldest known stone artefacts in South Asia.In the 1950s, a time when few women excavated in India, Bridget initially assisted her husband, the archaeologist Raymond Allchin, before raising funds and organising her own projects focused on later prehistory. She was an advocate of interdisciplinarity, and this included a survey of the Thar desert which investigated claims that this arid landform, straddling the border between India and Pakistan and larger in size than the British Isles, had been formed as a result of cultivation. It also reviewed its history of human occupation. Continue reading...
Self-help can be brilliant for those who are at least part of the way there, but we should be wary of any suggestion that it could replace therapyFeeling that you are not coping is horrible, like trying to untangle shackles around you that instead pull tighter with every movement. We are supposed to be able to look after ourselves. Our culture lionises fighters; decision takers; people who know their own mind. We are comfortable in the hands of specialists such as hairdressers or driving instructors, yet many of us find the idea of using a therapist, a specialist in distress, to be strange and uncomfortable – an admission that we can’t sort out our own problems. People experiencing mental distress are often desperate for some kind of talking therapy, yet we still maintain a deep cultural ambivalence toward the concept.This ambivalence is often reflected in research. Does therapy work? Do other cheaper things work better? The website Quartz recently published an article headlined “Researchers say you might as well be your own therapistâ€, summarising a paper that contrasts self-help therapy with therapist-delivered therapy. The paper, a meta-analysis of 15 studies, contrasted cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) delivered by a therapist with CBT delivered through self-help activities, such as activities and exercises. CBT is defined by NHS Choices as “a talking therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behaveâ€. It is provided as part of England’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme, which began in 2007 and was recently written up with besotted love by the New York Times. The authors of the paper “found no difference in treatment completion rate and broad equivalence of treatment outcomes for participants treated through self-help and participants treated through a therapistâ€. Continue reading...
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific conceptsWhy are we constantly thinking? Why is it so difficult to stop?Anthony Davies, Burton upon Trent Continue reading...
by Presented by Ian Sample and produced by Max Sander on (#3014H)
Ian Sample speaks with Prof Max Tegmark about the advance of AI, the future of life on Earth, and what happens if and when a ‘superintelligence’ arrivesSubscribe & Review on iTunes, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud & Acast, and join the discussion on Facebook and TwitterIn 2014, a new research and outreach organisation was born in Boston. Calling itself The Future of Life Institute, its founders included Jaan Tallinn - who helped create Skype - and a physicist from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That physicist was Professor Max Tegmark. Continue reading...
By 2020, the number of over-50s receiving treatment for substance misuse problems is expected to double in Europe and treble in the US, say researchersUrgent action is needed to tackle drink and drug misuse among baby boomers, experts have warned, with a growing body of data from around the world suggesting that substance misuse is increasing among those in their mid-50s and older.The call follows the release of recent figures which revealed that in 2015/16 more than half a million adults aged between 55 and 74 were admitted to English hospitals with alcohol-related injuries, diseases or conditions – more than for any other age group.
Urine, faeces and breath could be recycled to produce food supplements and plastics for 3D printing, freeing up space on long journeys, say researchersAstronauts could find themselves eating nutrients and using plastics produced by yeast fed with their own urine, according to researchers exploring ways to harness human waste in space.Urine is already recycled on board the International Space Station to provide clean drinking water for US astronauts – although the system hasn’t been embraced by the Russian side of the station. Continue reading...
Telling international arms traders they can’t make killer robots is like telling soft-drinks makers that they can’t make orangeadeOne response to the call by experts in robotics and artificial intelligence for an ban on “killer robots†(“lethal autonomous weapons systems†or Laws in the language of international treaties) is to say: shouldn’t you have thought about that sooner?Figures such as Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, are among the 116 specialists calling for the ban. “We do not have long to act,†they say. “Once this Pandora’s box is opened, it will be hard to close.†But such systems are arguably already here, such as the “unmanned combat air vehicle†Taranis developed by BAE and others, or the autonomous SGR-A1 sentry gun made by Samsung and deployed along the South Korean border. Autonomous tanks are in the works, while human control of lethal drones is becoming just a matter of degree. Continue reading...
For years, mothers-to-be have been told to cut back on exercise and take it easy despite the positive effects on body and mind. So how much is OK – and what workouts are recommended?‘Stop running, kill the wild swimming and be careful about cycling.†I like my GP – he is a funny, hardworking man, practising in a diverse community with stretched resources. But when I walked into his office, six weeks pregnant, his advice on exercise during pregnancy felt a little like being wrapped in a vacuum bag. I didn’t want to stop exercising. I can’t really afford to stop cycling (thank you Transport for London) and I would genuinely fear for my mental health if I gave up running overnight.Exercise during pregnancy is controversial. Serena Williams, winner of 23 tennis grand slams, made headlines worldwide on Monday, simply for declaring her plans “to keep exercising for as long as possible while pregnantâ€. For much of recent history, write the authors of Exercise During the Childbearing Year, “pregnant women were treated as if they had an illness and were subjected to a state of confinement. They were advised to relax, avoid strenuous exertion, and minimise stretching and bending for fear of strangling or squashing the babyâ€. Even in the first few months, when your body remains bumpless, some people will knit their brow and take a sceptical breath if you say you intend to remain active. You will be warned off lying on your back, swimming anywhere but a pool, lifting anything heavier than a feather and putting any sort of pressure on your joints. But is this advice based on evidence? Continue reading...