Excavation has brought up silver dollars, pewter jugs and a mystery chest from Rooswijk wreck in Goodwin SandsCovered with seaweed, bits of shell and pebbles concreted into lumps of corroded iron, the wooden seaman’s chest from the Dutch East India ship Rooswijk remains tantalisingly locked after almost 300 years. It will take months of conservation work before the archaeologists discover whether it holds some of the silver treasure the ship was carrying, or a long dead sailor’s old socks.A joint excavation by divers and scientists from Historic England and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands is unravelling the story of the last hours of the Rooswijk, which ran aground and sank in the Goodwin Sands off Kent in January 1740 with the loss of every life on board – almost 250 sailors, soldiers and passengers. Continue reading...
Although almost exclusively American, the 40-year-old Nasa Voyager spacecraft helped raise the ambitions of the UK’s planetary astronomersThe rasp of the filling cabinet’s shutter fills the office, and my guest comes face to face with his past. “My pharaoh’s tomb is open,†he quips, before uttering a more heartfelt, “My goodness me.â€His name is Garry Hunt and we are standing in front of more than 80,000 postcard-sized photographs of the outer solar system. They were taken by a pair of Nasa spacecraft, Voyager 1 and 2, that launched 40 years ago this summer.
Hope alone won’t halt climate change but Al Gore’s latest film highlights the role optimism can play“Hope is essential – despair is just another form of denial,†Al Gore said last week, in an interview to promote the sequel to his 2006 climate change documentary An Inconvenient Truth. As well as the very bad news of Donald Trump’s science-denying presidency, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, which opens in the UK today, brings good news: the plummeting cost of renewable electricity and the 2015 Paris climate agreement.In 2017, denial of the facts of climate change – and myriad linked dangers including air and ocean pollution, famine and a refugee crisis the likes of which we can hardly imagine – is in retreat, with the Trump administration the malignant exception. Virtually all governments know that climate change is happening, and polls show most people do too – with those living in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa particularly worried. The question is not whether global warming is happening, but what we are going to do about it. There are, and need to be, many answers to this. Gore believes the solutions to climate change are within reach, if people can only find the political will to enact them. Even if how to whip up sufficient zeal to make this happen remains a puzzle, his essential message is one of optimism. Continue reading...
Academic titles | Margarets as a dying breed | Big Ben | Girls’ and boys’ clothes | Dogs on escalatorsAlison Hackett (Letters, 17 August) complains at the use of “Dr†and “Prof†titles. But they can prove useful. Our mother Anne McLaren (a single parent, and a biologist who, working with mice, created the world’s first IVF birth, and became the first woman officer of the Royal Society in their 300-year history, as foreign secretary and vice-president), was asked, “Is it ‘Miss’ or ‘Mrs’?â€. We three kids watched and wondered how she would respond. “No,†she said firmly, “It’s ‘Dr’.â€
Research in mice reveals a new approach to wiping memories from the brain, demonstrating that specific memories can be weakened or strengthenedThe eternal sunshine of a spotless mind has come one step closer, say researchers working on methods to erase memories of fear.The latest study, carried out in mice, unpicks why certain sounds can stir alarming memories, and reveals a new approach to wiping such memories from the brain. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#2ZGP0)
How best to enjoy whisky has long been debated, but two chemists say they have discovered why diluting your dram might make it taste betterNeat, on the rocks, or with a dash of mineral water. Whisky enthusiasts have long disagreed about how the amber nectar is best enjoyed, but now a scientific paper has backed the idea that diluting whisky can enhance its flavour.The work suggests that adding water boosts the concentration of flavour compounds at the surface of the drink, helping to unleash the rich mix of aromas. Continue reading...
Three victims, a country house and poison could be a case for Hercule Poirot. But this is a sad case of botanical ignorance rather than murder most foulA recent report appeared in the news about the sad demise of Mirabel, Adele and Jet of Walton Hall, Cheshire. The deaths were initially suspected of being due to deliberate poisoning when it became clear that there had been intruders in the grounds of the hall. The case seemed to have all the ingredients for an Agatha Christie novel: multiple deaths, poison, suspicious circumstances and even a big country house setting.Except in this case the unfortunate victims were not characters in a novel, or even people: they were African pygmy goats. Four other goats were affected by the poison but have since made a full recovery. And the source of the poison? Rhododendron leaves found in the goats’ enclosure. Continue reading...
Communal bison hunts were used by Native Americans for upwards of 11,000 years on the great plains to procure meat and other goods for the winterIt’s still morning, a slight chill in the air. You feel the rumbling of the earth before you even see the mass of bison pounding across the prairie toward the precipice, and toward you. As you stand beside the rock cairn, boughs of sage or juniper in your hands, and in the hands of your friends flanking you on either side, and across the way, you see the others draped in wolf skins, who lured the animals to this final moment. Your comrade starts the yelling just a moment before the bison reach you, and you join in, urging them towards the edge, reminding the beasts not to turn, before they thunder past, hurtling into the arroyo.Below there are more people, to finish off the bison who survived the fall, and to start separating the useful from the non-useful, and hauling it nearby where even more people are waiting to butcher the sections properly. Continue reading...
Weiser, Idaho, could see its population of 5,507 swell to 70,000 for the total solar eclipse. As the big day looms, will things go smoothly?The portable toilets began arriving in Weiser, Idaho, on Tuesday, the first of around 70 orange outhouses ordered by local agengies for the Great American Eclipse.They will serve a crowd that could reach 70,000 by the time this tiny town on the Oregon border is plunged into total darkness on Monday. Continue reading...
This herbivorous creature could be the missing link in the dinosaur family tree, changing everything we think we know about their evolutionChilesaurus doesn’t look like the kind of dinosaur that would kick up much of a fuss. The Jurassic saurian – named for the country, not the tasty peppers – was a small, bipedal herbivore that munched on plants over 150m years ago. It didn’t have nasty teeth, crazy horns, or the immense body size that typically launch the careers of Mesozoic celebrities. The creature’s secret is more subtle, and plays into a controversial reshuffling of the dinosaur family tree.Related: 'Most bizarre dinosaur ever found' is missing evolutionary link – study Continue reading...
Do web porn clicks deliver data that ‘Freud and Foucault would have drooled over’, or are we not as weird as our online behaviour suggests?Seth Stephens-Davidowitz wanted to call his new book How Big Is My Penis?, but his publishers demurred. He settled for Everybody Lies. The book is subtitled What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are and it’s a polished display of some of the early fruits of “big data†science. Its principal defect, perhaps, is that it doesn’t say enough about how many of these fruits are rotten.Stephens-Davidowitz’s first source, when he set up as a data scientist, was Google Trends, which records the relative frequency of particular searches in different places at different times. He soon added Google Adwords, which registers the actual number of searches. Then he moved on to other vastnesses: Wikipedia, Facebook and then PornHub, one of the largest pornographic sites in the world. PornHub gave him its complete data set, duly anonymised: every single search and video view. He also “scraped†many other sites, including neo-Nazi sites such as Stormfront, which account for the internet’s resemblance to the box jellyfish, a highly poisonous predator with 60 anuses. Continue reading...
Australian researchers hail breakthrough after ‘life-changing’ tolerance persists for up to four yearsAustralian researchers have made a breakthrough in the treatment of peanut allergy in children.A small clinical trial conducted at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute has led to two-thirds of children treated with an experimental immunotherapy treatment being cured of their allergy. Importantly, this desensitisation to peanuts persisted for up to four years after treatment. Continue reading...
Babies born before the 37th week of pregnancy are also less likely to have severe disabilities, although some risk of delayed development remainsPremature babies born in recent years are more likely to survive and less likely to have severe disabilities than those born in the mid-1990s, research has revealed.According to the World Health Organisation, around 15 million babies worldwide are born before the 37th week of pregnancy every year, with premature babies at higher risk of severe disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, as well as a greater chance of delayed development of language and motor skills. Continue reading...
The devices have benefited a large number of women – but thousands have suffered serious adverse effectsThe numbers tell their own tale. Thousands of women have undergone surgery to have vaginal mesh implants removed after suffering complications. Around one in 15 of those fitted with the most common type of mesh have required operations, according to NHS data obtained by the Guardian. In short, the problems are much more widespread than previously acknowledged. The removal rate was previously estimated at less than 1%.But numbers are not enough. Each case is a woman with a disturbing story; and listening is as important as tallying them. Carolyn Churchill had to give up work after she was left in agony, with persistent bleeding. Yet she said she was made to feel like a baby for complaining. Others describe being left unable to walk or have sex – and of being assured that the implant was not responsible. So even this data under-represents the problem. Women may not be referred for removal, or may decide against it given the risks. Continue reading...
by Presented by Hannah Devlin and produced by Max San on (#2ZE3W)
Hannah Devlin speaks with the IT pioneer about her life as a woman in tech, having a son with autism, and how it all led to her later role as a philanthropistSubscribe & Review on iTunes, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud & Acast, and join the discussion on Facebook and TwitterIn 1962, Stephanie Shirley - now Dame Stephanie Shirley - set up the computing company Freelance Programmers with just £6. The company was one of the first to commercialise software which, until then, had often been given away for free with computers. And with a gender balance of roughly one man for every hundred women, the company was pioneering in other ways too. Continue reading...
A quarter of those who groom their pubic hair have suffered mishaps from cuts to burns and rashes – some requiring medical help – researchers have foundWhether it’s shaving, waxing or laser hair removal, pubic grooming has become commonplace – but more than a quarter of those who remove hair have met with mishap in the process, research has revealed.The study found that 76% of US adults quizzed said they removed some or all of their pubic hair, with almost 26% of those who groomed reporting that they had sustained at least one injury while doing so, ranging from cuts to burns and rashes. Continue reading...
Chilesaurus diegosuarezi, named after the seven-year-old who discovered it, changes everything we thought we knew about dino evolution …Name: Chilesaurus diegosuarezi.Nickname: The Frankenstein dinosaur. Continue reading...
Originally classified as a relative of T rex, analysis shows Chilesaurus belongs to a different dinosaurian group, with implications for the dinosaur family treeAn unusual vegetarian dinosaur with the silhouette of a flesh-ripping velociraptor, whose fossilised remains were unearthed in southern Chile 13 years ago, is a missing link in dinosaur evolution, researchers have said.A revised assessment of the kangaroo-sized Chilesaurus diegosuarezi , reported in the journal Biology Letters, bolsters a theory unveiled earlier this year that threatens to upend a long-standing classification of all dinosaurs. Continue reading...
Palaeontology is synonymous with excavating fossils, but the stereotype of the rugged, white, male digger, could be a barrier to diversity in Earth science
Britain faces a worsening social care crisis with people living longer but with substantial care needs, researchers sayAn extra 71,000 care home spaces are needed in the next eight years to cope with Britain’s soaring demand as people living longer face more health problems, a study has found.New research predicts there will be an additional 353,000 older people with complex needs by 2025, requiring tens of thousands more beds. Continue reading...
The fruit’s evolutionary history has been unpicked for the first time by studying a range of wild and cultivated apples from China to North AmericaIt is a lunchbox staple so ubiquitous as to have become mundane. But the apple we know today is the fruit of an extraordinary journey, researchers have revealed.Scientists studying the genetics of the humble apple have unpicked how the cultivated species emerged as traders travelled back and forth along the Silk Road – ancient routes running from the far east to the Mediterranean sea. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#2ZAM2)
Carolyn Churchill was in agony after mesh surgery, but doctors were reluctant to blame her implant, even suggesting the pain might be a mental health issueSix years ago, Carolyn Churchill, 57, from near Pontypridd in Wales, was in a long-term relationship, worked as a chef, and spent hours each week walking with her dogs and looking after her granddaughter’s pony. She was busy and content, but was bothered by stress incontinence, which affects roughly 10% of women.“Never knowing when you’re going out if you’re going to wee yourself. It really got to the stage where it was embarrassing,†she recalls. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#2ZAM1)
Traumatic complications mean one in 15 women fitted with the most common type of mesh support will require surgery to extract it, figures suggest• Vaginal mesh implants: ‘I really thought I was dying’Thousands of women have undergone surgery to have vaginal mesh implants removed during the past decade, according to NHS records that reveal the scale of traumatic complications linked to the devices.The figures, obtained by the Guardian, suggest that around one in 15 women fitted with the most common type of mesh support later require surgery to have it extracted due to complications. Continue reading...
By taking part in projects such as counting hedgehog homes, ordinary people enable scientists to understand and protect Britain’s much-loved wildlifeToday sees the launch of the “hedgehog housing censusâ€. All over the country, thousands of people are going to the trouble and expense of building or buying hedgehog homes. We want to know how important this is to the lives of one of our most loved animals – and how we can improve the way we help hedgehogs in the future.For a hedgehog scientist – and believe me, there are such things – gathering the volume of information required to make this a meaningful study cannot be done alone. They would need to get into thousands of gardens, assess the structures, what they are made of, where they are situated. They would also need to see what other features the garden had that might encourage hedgehogs, such as access. One of the key messages from our Hedgehog Street campaign is the necessity to make small holes, around the size of a CD case, at the bottom of fences and walls to allow the animals to roam. Continue reading...
Tyler Nordgren, a physics and astronomy professor at the University of Redlands says eclipse watchers should be prepared for a multi-sensory experienceMillions of Americans will look up toward the sky on Monday 21 August and watch stars shine in the afternoon, feel the day’s heat swapped for an evening chill and hear the sounds of confused birds and animals during the first total eclipse seen in the continental US in 38 years.
With a breakthrough in gene editing, the prospect of breeding animals to harvest their organs looms. Chas Newkey-Burden and Susan Watts go head to headPigs are intelligent creatures with social instincts and emotional depth. We are so closely related to them that their hearts can replace our own. But what sort of person would kill a relative for spare parts? Continue reading...
Less than two-thirds of doctors feel confident discussing activity levels and almost a third have never heard of national guidelinesThe majority of doctors in England are unfamiliar with recommended levels of physical activity, with fewer than two-thirds confident about discussing the topic with their patients, researchers have revealed.Set out in July 2011 by the Chief Medical Office, national guidelines recommend that adults aged between 19 and 64 undertake 75 minutes of intense activity or 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week.
John Collis on the limitations of DNA testing, Peter McKenna on the Romans and race, and Alun Thomas on West Midlands historyDNA testing to determine people’s origins (DNA uncovers villagers’ exotic heritage, 11 August) should come with a major health warning as interpretations are based on false scientific methodologies.First, there is a confusion between two types of data. Our DNA is what we inherit from our parents and, until recently at least, could not be altered. Ethnic or “racial†terms like “English†are culturally constructed “imagined communities†and can be altered and redefined. Though genes may affect our perception of ethnicity (eg in skin colour) it is not dictated by them. Continue reading...
The solutions to today’s firelightersOn my puzzle blog earlier today I set the following three questions:A barracks (the matchbox below) is surrounded by 24 guards (matchsticks) in groups of three, such that when the sergeant drives once around the guards to check that they are all there he sees two rows of 9 guards (the top and bottom rows), and two columns of 9 guards (the left and right columns).
Science is not just for boffins. If we can get our minds around football statistics, we can handle scientific enquiry – starting in primary schoolScience is not just the brainy preserve of the stereotypical boffins you see on TV. In an interview last week, the head of the British Science Association, Katherine Mathieson, said this formal public image was not helpful and that we need to see more of the everyday people involved in science. She called for this everyday approach to science to extend to teaching, with creative experiments involving “genuine open-ended research by pupils, rather than fiddling around with beakersâ€.Related: Science classes won’t future-proof our children. But dance might | Christina Patterson Continue reading...
Leading scientist who focused on the biological origins of animal behaviourSir Patrick Bateson, who has died aged 79, was a scientist whose work advanced the understanding of the biological origins of behaviour. He will also be remembered as a man of immense warmth and kindness, whose success as a leader, teacher and administrator of science owed much to his collaborative spirit, generosity and good humour.He was a key figure in ethology – the biological study of animal behaviour. As well as being a conceptual thinker who revelled in painting the big theoretical picture, he was an accomplished experimental scientist. He published extensively, with more than 300 journal papers and several books to his name. Continue reading...
You expect to find climate change denial on the right. But from the left too, there is a strange silence about the single most pressing issue facing humanitySomeone writes a memo about his views on gender difference and it kicks off. Apparently women are in tears, too traumatised to go to work. A baker refuses to ice a wedding cake for two guys and my Twitter feed practically bursts into flames. “HOW CAN THIS BE HAPPENING?!â€But mention the climate crisis, something that is smashing temperature records, raising sea levels, driving diseases into places they’ve not been before, and which may lead, as Professor Stephen Hawking suggests, to a need for the human race to flee the planet, and there’s radio silence. You can almost see the digital tumbleweed. Continue reading...
Many students will have important decisions to make after getting their GSCE and A-level results. Here’s what teachers can do to helpResults day will soon be upon us. For many students across the country, it will mark the end of one journey and the start of a new one. Most will get the grades they want and be rewarded for the many hours of revision and hard work. But some will fall short of their expectations and have to make important decisions about what to do next. Teachers are often the first point of call to help navigate this difficult moment. Here’s what your students need to know:
For bright sparks!UPDATE: you can read the solutions hereHi guzzlers,The first two puzzles today come from reader Gabriella Horvath, who lives in Hungary. She first came across them in her childhood, during the Soviet-backed socialist regime, at a time when many people smoked, and when military service was compulsory. Match puzzles about soldiers were guaranteed entertainment. Continue reading...
Scientists find that silver used came from mines on Iberian peninsula captured by Rome from Carthaginian leaderThe defeat by the ancient Romans of Hannibal, despite the Carthaginian leader’s famous feat of marching his army – complete with war elephants – over the Pyrenees and Alps into Italy, also meant that the Romans captured the silver mines of the Iberian peninsula, bringing so much silver into the Roman empire that it can be traced through the coinage.Scientists have for the first time analysed the silver content of a group of coins bracketing the Second Punic War from 218-201 BC, in which Hannibal initially inflicted humiliating defeats on the Romans, but was then forced by a counter-invasion to fall back to north Africa and ultimate defeat. The Carthaginians also lost control of the Iberian peninsula and the richest silver mines of the Mediterranean world. Continue reading...
The newspapers love a cancer research story, but many are misleading or won’t affect patients for many years. But there is plenty of progress worth reportingEvery news story about cancer research should come with a health warning: believe the hope, but not the hype. Good headlines are quick and catchy, good science is steady steps taken on a complicated issue over a long time. If a new treatment is still being researched, it could be metaphorical miles and actual years away from getting into the hands or bodies of patients. As blogger Kay Curtin, who has advanced melanoma, puts it: “The media tend to pick one line on a report and run with it, but they do not draw attention or highlight that it’s just a potential benefit, or the fact that many of these are just proven in a petri dish or a mouse and very often do not prove effective when tested on humans. It is cruel to existing patients to make claims with misleading headlines.â€One of the best ways to deal with cancer is to divide and conquer, based on as much knowledge as we can get of how individual tumours work. Treating all cancers from the same part of the body equally isn’t good enough – you must match the right patient with the right treatment. Continue reading...
How to enjoy the full eclipse experience on 21 August, during the first total solar eclipse to cross the USA from coast to coast since 1918The countdown to the Great American Eclipse on 21 August is entering its final week as eclipse-watchers are completing their plans for the first total solar eclipse to cross the USA from coast to coast since 1918.Millions live in the path of totality, the corridor up to 115km wide that visits 14 states from Oregon to South Carolina. Millions more will converge on it so that highways may be gridlocked and hopes of chasing clear weather may be curtailed. Even for those under clear skies, though, one has to wonder just how many will enjoy the full eclipse experience. Continue reading...
The grand finale of Nasa’s epic 20-year mission to the ringed planet will be overseen from a deep space centre near Canberra. A photo essay by Jonny WeeksOn 15 September 2017 at about 10pm AEST, Nasa’s Cassini spacecraft will plunge deep into the hostile atmosphere of Saturn on a historic but suicidal course. It’s the grand finale of a 20-year mission which has revolutionised our understanding of the solar system and sent home more than a quarter of a million stunning images of Saturn and its moons.Cassini’s instruments will be running to the last, capturing every possible byte of data from its closest encounter with the ringed planet before it ultimately evaporates. Continue reading...
They are persecuted in their homeland, but music is now changing their lives. Meet the Tanzanians who play with sledgehammers, chant in Swahili – and dance till they dropIt is a Wednesday night in a London pub and a group are about to play their first ever gig. It doesn’t begin well. Some members start singing the wrong song, the keyboard won’t work properly and they don’t all finish at the same time.But then something happens: the audience claps. The four singers look stunned and overwhelmed, and then Teleza Finias, the band’s only woman, starts jumping up and down with joy. Amidu Didas, a lanky singer in a woolly Arsenal hat, shakes his arms in celebration, while Elias Sostines and Riziki Julius, the other two members, shout, “Tanzania! Tanzania! Tanzania!†over and over, making the crowd shout it back. Continue reading...
My friend Jo Draper, who has died aged 68 from cancer, was an author, editor, archaeologist, museum curator and an authority on post-medieval pottery. Much of her considerable output focused around Dorset and her adopted home town of Dorchester.Born near Winchester, Hampshire, the daughter of John and Betty Draper, Jo espoused the common-sense values of her farming background. Encouraged by a teacher at Fareham girls’ grammar school to take part in an archaeological dig in Portsmouth in 1964, she moved on to join Barry Cunliffe’s key excavations at Portchester Castle and Fishbourne Roman Palace, near Chichester, West Sussex. She then enjoyed a happy stint at Southampton University, where she met and married Christopher Chaplin, then an archaeologist and later a land surveyor for the Ordance Survey. Continue reading...
The annual Perseid meteor shower filled the sky will glowing streaks over the weekend near the archaeological site of Mesimvria outside Alexandroupoli in northern Greece. As the meteors burn up, they can appear as green, white or orange streaks across the sky
Views from UK, Macedonia, Spain and Turkey of the Perseid meteor shower, which occurs every year when the Earth travels through debris shed by comet Swift-Tuttle Continue reading...
Answer four questions to find out if you really are God’s giftInterviewer: What’s your biggest weakness?Applicant: I’m a perfectionist Continue reading...
The annual meteor shower will fill the night sky with glowing streaks this weekend, as the Earth travels through debris shed by comet Swift-TuttleFrom piquing the interest of astronomers to fuelling the musings of poets, meteor showers have left a trail of inspiration in their wake since humanity first peered up into the sky.Now inspiration is set to strike once more. This weekend the night sky will be filled with glowing streaks as the annual Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak, with the best views in the northern hemisphere. Continue reading...
Israel Kristal, who was only member of his family to survive war, described as ‘very hardworking’ by grandsonIsrael Kristal, the world’s oldest man who lived through both world wars and survived the Auschwitz concentration camp, has passed away just a month short of his 114th birthday, his family have said.Related: Maximum human lifespan could far exceed 115 years – new research Continue reading...
As our understanding of the minds of our fellow species improves, will we increasingly look back at the way we have treated them in horror and repulsion?