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...

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 seeding”, 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 good”. 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 therapist”, 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 behave”. 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 therapist”. 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...

If the Bayer-Monsanto merger is approved, the concentration of agricultural control could have major consequences for farming families and communities

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...

Viewers along the path of totality were treated to two minutes of nighttime in the day and the otherwise unimaginable sight of a 360-degree sunset

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 pregnant”. 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 baby”. 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...

Sky-gazers stood transfixed across North America on Monday as the sun vanished behind the moon in total eclipse for the first time in nearly a century Continue reading...

While millions across America looked skyward during the eclipse, others looked down to see the event projected onto the ground and other surfaces Continue reading...

Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson has described Donald Trump’s actions during Monday’s eclipse – when he watched the sun without protective glasses, prompting a reminder from an aide – as ‘perhaps the most impressive thing any president’s ever done’. Sarcasm or genuine praise? You decide.

The internet has had fun with images of the US president looking up at the sky during the eclipse without glasses, in defiance of repeated health warningsThe internet has made hay with images of the US president looking up at the sky during the solar eclipse without glasses, despite repeated warnings that doing so can lead to permanent eye damage.Donald Trump was filmed on the balcony of the White House, standing with his wife Melania Trump and his son Barron. Before donning special eclipse glasses he squinted up at the sky and pointed. An aide was apparently heard off camera shouting “Don’t look!”. Continue reading...

We asked Guardian readers to submit photos of the total solar eclipse that streaked across American on Monday. As you can see, eclipse photography is tricky but we’re grateful for their efforts Continue reading...

Use this simple test to find out if viewing the eclipse through a kitchen colander has blinded you

A chartered Alaska Airlines flight offered eclipse enthusiasts a chance at a unique view of the phenomenon: ‘A dream come true’

Using lasers and polystyrene, researchers say they have mimicked the high temperatures and pressures thought to cause diamond rain within ice giantsDiamond rain might sound like the stuff of poetry, but deep within the ice giants of our solar system it is thought to be reality – and now scientists say they have recreated the phenomenon.

UK stargazers in the south-west, Wales and Shetland have the best chance of glimpsing a partial eclipse. Here’s a guide to getting a good view

Want to see the total eclipse but overwhelmed by advice? Here’s all you need to know, including maps of the route and how to watch safely

A total solar eclipse will streak across the continental US on 21 August. If you’re along its path, we’d love to see your pictures and videos

A total solar eclipse has always had the power to fascinate humans and affect the actions, purses, thoughts and knowledge of humans all over the world

US scientific advances are making the premise of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind more of a reality – goodbye bad and sad timesNew research shows that weakening the connections between specific groups of brain cells can prevent the recall of fear memories in mice. The study, published earlier this week in the journal Neuron, has led some – including the study authors themselves – to speculate that this will eventually lead to treatments for conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and, inevitably, to news stories mentioning the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, in which an estranged couple undergo a procedure to erase memories of each other from their brains.Related: Mind-control device lets people alter genes in mice through power of thought Continue reading...

As millions watch the total eclipse sweep across America on Monday, an army of ‘citizen scientists’ will provide a trove of information

Here’s just a small selection of the 100 images shortlisted for the Royal Photographic Society’s International Images for Science competition. The competition is supported by Siemens as part of the Curiosity Project, which aims to engage young people with science and engineering. The five winners will be announced in an award ceremony in London on 12 September. Continue reading...

Turning the rejection of scientific expertise into a pathology mistakenly presents individual ignorance as the bottleneck in political disagreements

A study at the University of Sussex found that the most insect-friendly plants aren’t the ones recommended by garden centresThere’s lots of publicity urging gardeners to grow flowers that attract bees and butterflies, but are we being led up the garden path? Even though many garden flowers are advertised as bee-friendly, a recent study reveals that most of them are fairly useless at attracting insect pollinators.It’s easy to assume that a flower that is big and beautiful to our eyes will be just as attractive to bees, butterflies and other flower-visiting insects. Researchers at the University of Sussex studied dozens of garden varieties of flowers marketed as bee-friendly. After counting the numbers of insects visiting the flowers in garden centres, gardens and parks, the scientists came to the startling conclusion that most flowers had few visits from bees or any other pollinating insects. Even those flowers endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society as bee-friendly were actually not very good at the job, and only a small number of the plants were really attractive to insects. Continue reading...

The path of the eclipse is 70 miles wide – meaning most of the US will see a partial eclipse. Mona Chalabi’s visualization will give you a sense of what you should prepare yourself forA total solar eclipse will take place on Monday, the first in 38 years. As the moon passes in front of the sun, a shadow will be cast across all of North America. But the way that will look depends on where you are in the country.The path of the total eclipse (when none of the sun is visible) is only 70 miles wide, so unless you’re an eclipse chaser and willing to travel, you’re more likely to see a partial eclipse. Continue reading...

What’s good, what’s bad and why – five food questions answered by consultant cardiologist Ali Khavandi and science writer Dara MohammadiWhether you’re a dolloper or a Jackson Pollocker, a plate of chips just isn’t the same without a good squirt of ketchup. But why does it make chips taste so much better? It’s the same reason Iberico ham is more moreish than the boiled stuff and why a sprinkle of parmesan makes a bowl of pasta that much fresher. The answer is the Japanese word for “savoury” or “deliciousness”, the fifth and most elusive of tastes: umami. Continue reading...

Quarks, basically. But more charming than usualLast month the LHCb experiment, at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC), reported the discovery of a new particle. While this received a reasonable amount of attention, it didn’t really cause as much excitement as, say, last year’s unconfirmed hints of a new particle from the ATLAS and CMS experiments (also at the LHC), which turned out in the end to be just a statistical glitch.Those hints evaporated when more data came in, as such glitches do. The new particle at LHCb has passed a much higher statistical threshold, and seems to be here to stay. The animation here shows how the signal developed in the data over time as the LHCb experiment recorded and analysed more data. The peak indicating the presence of the new particle, call a Ξ (pronounced Ksi c c plus plus) is pretty convincing by eye, an impression confirmed by solid statistical analysis. So why isn’t there (even) more excitement about this particle? There are good reasons, and they are worth looking into. Continue reading...

With evidence mounting that many minor operations owe their success to the placebo effect, is it time to call a halt to some routine procedures?What’s the difference between a homeopath and a surgeon? It’s a question that sounds like a joke, and it won’t have many surgeons laughing. Homeopathy is the scientifically implausible idea that diluted substances can somehow treat disease: it has never been shown to work and any effect is, at very best, a placebo effect. It’s a world away from the glinting scalpels and cut-and-dried logic of surgery. See a problem, cut it out, sew it back up. Right?Well, it is until you start looking for evidence of effectiveness for some operations, and then you’re left thinking that the line between the two is not as clear as you first thought. Continue reading...

Crews, an academic, thinks psychoanalysis is an unscientific jumble of ideas, while psychoanalyst Orbach would prefer not to throw the baby out with the patriarchal bias

Personality traits aren’t the only things that define us, says Brian R Little: the projects we choose are also keyDid you know that it is virtually impossible to lick the outside of your own elbow? More significantly, how you respond to this piece of information – and how you attempt the pursuit – can offer a glimpse of the stable traits you are born with and that form the bedrock of your personality.According to personality psychologists, these traits can have major consequences for how our lives play out. The “Big Five” dimensions spell out an acronym – OCEAN (or CANOE if you prefer): openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. Because the same dimensions emerge in virtually all countries, cultures and linguistic groups, they can be regarded as universal. Individuals are aligned with each trait on a spectrum, with most of them piled up in the middle and fewer appearing at the extremes. Continue reading...

A transformative visit to Catholic Florence inspired the Puritan poet to write his epic masterpiece, a BBC documentary revealsIt is an epic poem with a daunting reputation that has struck fear into the hearts of many a student of English literature. Recounting the fall of man, and Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden, Paradise Lost cemented the reputation of its author, the staunchly Protestant poet, John Milton, as one of England’s literary giants.The 10,000-line poem is regarded as one of the defining contributions to the English canon, a work to be mentioned in the same breath as those of Chaucer, Shakespeare and Dickens. But 350 years after its publication, some rather surprising influences on the Puritan imagination of its author have emerged, the result of a little-known journey the poet undertook to the heart of Catholic Italy. Continue reading...

The mysterious islands of the Salish Sea, between British Columbia and Washington State, are home to the ecological artist Jill Bliss, who since 2012 has devoted herself to exploring the isolated region, artistically and literally. The archipelago has its own unique ecosystem, and Bliss’s medleys of mushrooms and other arcane plants, which she calls her “living sculptures”, are gathered during a “daily treasure hunt”, hiking through woods and staying in isolated cabins. “This particular medley was made while lost deep in the woods of Cortes Island,” she says of one of her favourite works (see first image, below). “I first spotted the amanita [toadstool] glowing under the shadows of a downed tree.” Continue reading...

Health secretary reacts to physicist’s claim that the Conservatives are trying to implement US-style health insurance systemJeremy Hunt has accused Stephen Hawking of a “pernicious” lie after the physicist said it seemed the Tories were steering the UK towards a US-style health insurance system.

Kate Leahy used to work as cabin crew, until she was signed off sick. Then a young colleague died in 2014. She talks to the former staff looking for answersThree years ago, Matt Bass, 34, died suddenly in his sleep. According to his father, Charlie, he had been feeling unwell for a few months. He’d lost weight, had digestive and respiratory problems, and suffered from severe fatigue. Doctors thought he might have Crohn’s disease, but were struggling to reach a diagnosis.Matt was cabin crew for British Airways, and on the day he died had returned overnight from Accra, Ghana (by cabin crew standards, a relatively short, six-hour flight). He went for a scheduled MRI scan, hoping to get to the bottom of his ill health, then in the evening to a crew friend’s house in Slough for pizza. After a few hours, he said he needed a rest and went to lie down. When his friends couldn’t wake him, they administered CPR. An ambulance arrived and took him to A&E, where paramedics tried to revive him; but he never woke up. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Physicist criticises ministers over funding cuts, privatisation and pay caps before address revealing his reliance on health service

The crisis in the health service has been created by politicians who want to privatise it – when public opinion, and the evidence, point in the opposite directionLike many people, I have personal experience of the NHS. In my case, medical care, personal life and scientific life are all intertwined. I have received a large amount of high-quality NHS treatment and would not be here today if it were not for the service.The care I have received since being diagnosed with motor neurone disease as a student in 1962 has enabled me to live my life as I want, and to contribute to major advances in our understanding of the universe. In July I celebrated my 75th birthday with an international science conference in Cambridge. I still have a full-time job as director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology and, with two colleagues, am soon to publish another scientific paper on quantum black holes. Continue reading...

The biggest news this week is further evidence that the use of vaginal mesh needs to be looked at again: NHS figures suggest that traumatic complications mean one in 15 women fitted with the most common type of mesh support will require surgery to extract it. While we’re down there, a survey has revealed that pubic grooming has a surprisingly high injury rate. And if you need a steadying post-depilation whisky, two chemists say they have discovered why diluting your dram might make it taste better. It may be that whisky is not enough to banish your waxing woe. If that’s the case then good news: memories (specifically those of fear in this study) can be permanently erased, researchers have shown. Their work in mice reveals a new approach to wiping memories from the brain, demonstrating that specific memories can be weakened or strengthened. One thing you won’t want to forget, however, is the excitement of Chilesaurus, “the most bizarre dinosaur ever found”. Originally classified as a relative of T rex, analysis shows Chilesaurus belongs to a different dinosaurian group, with implications for the dinosaur family tree – basically, it’s the missing link in dinosaur evolution. Continue reading...

Theatre 503

Scientist and writer who, under his pen name, Daedalus, entertained readers with his ‘impossible’ inventionsDavid Jones, who has died aged 79, was a physical chemist and writer who, through his columns under the pseudonym Daedalus, entertained readers of New Scientist, Nature and the Guardian for more than 30 years. His ideas for inventions started from secure principles and wove a plausible tale through to the impossible – or so he thought. In fact, many turned out to be feasible. His version of 3D printing with lasers even landed him in a patent dispute in 1974.He described how to coat the moon in a reflective layer so that northerners would be released from their dark winters and “lovers would blink in its unromantic glare”. His remote-controlled painting machine would climb walls with the aid of slug slime and allow mountain bikes to go up vertical cliffs. He foresaw the problems of the information age and proposed a system of computerised billing that paid a fee every time personal information was passed on. Continue reading...