This year, why not welcome the shadowy side of winter with an ancient ritual or two?We spend much of our midwinter in joyous celebrations - of Christmas, of New Year, with friends and family, good food, good drink and bright fires blazing in our hearths, But beyond that firelight, there are lingering shadows: we might associate Christmas with parties, love and general jolliness, but for millennia it was a time when the world was turned on its head, when hideous creatures rampaged through the streets, when the dead returned, when chaos reigned. Associated with all these horrors are a host of unsettling celebrations and rituals - there's plenty to pick from, but here are my own top 10. Continue reading...

Fantastically expensive and hard to handle, the substance holds the key to a holy grail of science. And experts at Cern now know how to transport itResearchers are preparing to make one of science's most unusual journeys. They are planning to transport a container of antimatter in a lorry across Europe.Antimatter is the most expensive material on Earth - it's estimated it would cost several trillion dollars to make a gram - and it can only be manufactured in particle physics laboratories such as the Cern research centre near Geneva. Continue reading...

In some ways it's not really about the chewing, Philippa Perry suggestsThe question My wife's eating habits drive me crazy. What can I do? We've been married for 30 years and we are a good team together. But she doesn't seem able to eat with her mouth closed. Sitting beside me even now, she's noisily crunching her way through a bunch of cheese crackers and an apple. When we're out with friends, she's by far the noisiest eater at the table.I love her energy, strength and, if it's not a mealtime, her presence, but we're eating together more as we head into retirement and I find it difficult to stay in the room with her. Continue reading...

A lot of talent is wasted in a world where more than half of laureates come from households in the richest 5%We like scientific breakthroughs. Humanity ultimately relies on them. So it matters if we're missing out on discoveries.But compelling evidence that we are indeed missing out comes from a new study of the childhood background (measured on the basis of their father's occupation) of some very successful scientists: Nobel laureates. Continue reading...

A new exhibition at Oxford's Bodleian Libraries examines the enduring appeal of divinationIn Cameroon, the Mambila people practise a specific form of divination that will have arachnophobes sweating. Using tarot-like leaf cards", questions are asked, and a tarantula emerges from a hole in the ground to select a card and offer guidance.This spider divination is one of the specialities of David Zeitlyn, a professor of anthropology at the University of Oxford - so much so that he is a fully initiated spider diviner, trained by the people he has spent time with for his research. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Experts say increasing law from 14 days could lead to breakthroughs in understanding of miscarriagesThe 14-day limit for human embryo research should be extended to 28 days, the fertility regulator has recommended in a move that could pave the way for breakthroughs in understanding the causes of miscarriages and heart defects.If adopted in law, this would permit scientists to cultivate embryos to the equivalent of 28 days of development for the first time, allowing them to study a crucial black box" period. They say this could help uncover the origins, and develop new screening tools, for recurrent miscarriages and severe conditions such as spina bifida. Continue reading...

Study finds increased risk of fatal complications for patients from every minority ethnic background after donor stem cell transplantBlack and Asian cancer patients are less likely to survive in the five years after a donor stem cell transplant than their white counterparts, according to a study and largest of its kind.The study, published in Lancet Haematology, looked at 30,000 patients who had a stem cell transplant between 2009 and 2020 on the NHS, with 19,000 of these being cancer patients. Continue reading...

US space agency chief says astronauts still on schedule to make landing well ahead' of China's lunar voyageThe Nasa administrator, Bill Nelson, announced has announced new delays in the US space agency's Artemis programme to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972, pushing back the next two planned missions amid potential policy changes under president-elect Donald Trump's administration.Nelson told a news conference on Thursday at Nasa headquarters that the next Artemis mission, sending astronauts around the moon and back, has been delayed until April 2026, with the subsequent astronaut landing mission using SpaceX's Starship planned for the following year. Continue reading...

Hunting bigger, more experienced animals eradicates memories and knowledge crucial to group survival, research suggestsIt's not just humans who get wiser as they age - animals do too, according to a growing body of research. The bigmouth buffalo fish can reach 127 years old, the Greenland shark 392, and some sponges can live for 10,000 years or more. And age is not just a number: as animals get older they behave differently depending on their life experiences, gain richer knowledge of their environment, and often pass it on to younger members of their group, researchers say.The problem is, we are killing off these older creatures. Earth's old animals are in decline," researchers warned in a paper published in Science last month, which analysed more than 9,000 peer-reviewed papers. Few animals make it to old age, and the ones that do are vulnerable to being hunted or harvested by humans, because they are the biggest or have, for example, the largest antlers, horns or tusks. Continue reading...

Ian Sample speaks to colorectal surgeon and researcher James Kinross about the miraculous world of our gut microbiome, how modern life is impacting it, and what we can do to look after itBecause of industrial action taking place by members of the National Union of Journalists at the Guardian and Observer this week, we are re-running an episode from earlier in the year. For more information please head to theguardian.com. We'll be back with new episodes soon.This episode originally ran on Tuesday 23 January 2024The trillions of microbes living on and inside the human body are an important part of who we are, from mediating all our interactions with the environment to determining our cancer risk and influencing who we fall for. Scientists are only just beginning to decipher the species of bugs we share our lives with and how they shape us. Continue reading...

Cosmic collisions' 12bn years ago could be key to understanding formation, say researchersGalaxies crashing together 12bn years ago could have caused the universe's biggest galaxies to form, according to research.A study by astronomers at the University of Southampton is hoping to solve what they are calling an intergalactic mystery" of how elliptical galaxies were created. Continue reading...

Researchers say risk could be reduced by 21% but connection controversial'Eating a few pieces of dark chocolate five times a week while avoiding milk chocolate has been linked to a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.The connection between chocolate consumption and type 2 diabetes risk is controversial", according to researchers, although they highlight that most previous studies did not explore the difference between types of chocolate. Continue reading...

Aerospace defense firm founder was first civilian to walk in space and led first flight of all-private crew of astronautsA billionaire entrepreneur who led the first flight of an all-private crew of astronauts, and became the first civilian to walk in space earlier this year, has been nominated by Donald Trump to be the next leader of Nasa.If confirmed by the Senate, Jared Isaacman, also an experienced jet pilot with his own display team, will guide the space agency at a pivotal moment in its 76-year history as it moves closer to returning humans to the moon for the first time since 1972 and sending the first crews to Mars. Continue reading...

AI program GenCast performed better than ENS forecast at predicting day-to-day weather and paths of hurricanes and cyclonesFor those who keep an eye on the elements, the outlook is bright: researchers have built an artificial intelligence-based weather forecast that makes faster and more accurate predictions than the best system available today.GenCast, an AI weather program from Google DeepMind, performed up to 20% better than the ENS forecast from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), widely regarded as the world leader. Continue reading...

Research shows common air pollutants can be detrimental to egg, sperm and embryo developmentMaternal and paternal exposure to common air pollutants may increase the risk of infertility because it can be detrimental to egg, sperm and embryo development, new research in the US finds.Previous papers have established that air pollution exposure probably contributes to infertility, but it has been unclear whether the toxins affected men or women because both parents face similar exposures. That also made it difficult to establish when in the conception process damage occurred. Continue reading...

World's largest longitudinal cohort study' reports that older teens and society's most disadvantaged most likely to be affectedMost teenagers who have suffered from long Covid recover within two years, according to the largest study of its kind.But the researchers said more work was needed to understand why some children still had ongoing health problems two years after infection. Continue reading...

Bursts of intense movement such as climbing stairs can make big difference to health, finds UK Biobank researchWomen who add four minutes a day of high-intensity routine activities such as climbing the stairs instead of taking a lift could halve their risk of heart attacks, a study suggests.Less than five minutes of brief bouts of exertion in everyday life could have a significant effect on heart health, reducing the risk of serious cardiovascular events, researchers found. The results were published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Continue reading...

Device inflates before eating and contracts afterwards, simulating the effects of having a meal, say scientistsFrom weight loss jabs to vibrating pills, the obesity crisis has spawned myriad innovations to help people shed pounds.Now scientists have overhauled the humble gastric balloon - producing a device that inflates and deflates to keep it effective for longer. Continue reading...

What if you could take a pill or a shot that could reduce your blood alcohol level and make you feel better in the morning? That's the promise of a range of wellness products aiming to be the next big hangover antidote. But what exactly are hangovers, and which methods of preventing them are backed by science? Madeleine Finlay speaks to Dr Sally Adams, an alcohol researcher and associate professor of psychology at the University of BirminghamClips: @drinklikecut, @visitourmedia, @thegutgirlie, @settingthebrowlow Continue reading...

I gave away my genetic information to a now imploding company for results that inspired nothing but ambivalence23andMe is facing implosion. As the once-promising genetic testing company flounders - losing 98% of its $6bn value, all its independent board members, nearly half its staff - many of its 15 million customers are scrambling to delete their DNA data from the company's archives. I am one of them.My reluctant path to 23andMe began in 2016, when I ordered a kit in the mail. After letting the box sit on my desk for weeks, I finally spit in a tube and sent it to the company for analysis. I am a technology journalist - I like to think I am thoughtful about what data I share with corporations. When it comes to genetic data, which unlike a password or credit card number cannot ever be changed, I was particularly wary. Continue reading...

Research indicates planet's interior is dry in blow to theories that it was previously habitableWith a surface hot enough to melt lead and with clouds of sulphuric acid above it, it is a planet often called Earth's evil twin" - similar in size, yet worlds apart.Some scientists have long believed it was once much more hospitable, home to cooler temperatures and oceans of liquid water. But now researchers have dealt a blow to the idea that Venus ever hosted life as we know it. Continue reading...

Scientists are increasingly finding that behaviours once seen as depraved often have a direct physical causeThe first thing that strikes me when I visit Alex in her supported accommodation is the huge lock on the kitchen door. The accessible rooms are devoid of any food or drink, the exception being two dispensers of sugar-free squash in the living room. Even the food-waste bin outside the back door is padlocked. Packages delivered to the home's residents are opened in front of staff and searched for surreptitiously ordered food. These extraordinary efforts are crucial to prevent the housemates from eating too much.For Alex and her fellow residents, their perpetual and insatiable hunger is not a matter of gluttony. It is not a marker of immorality, or depravity of the soul. It is a function of their biology. All those living in that house have a rare genetic disorder, Prader-Willi syndrome, which affects the region of the brain that controls appetite and hunger. For them, the signal to stop eating never materialises. People with this condition are destined never to feel full, sometimes even eating non-food items in the search for satiety. So extreme is their hunger that occasionally they will overeat to the point that they die of a perforated stomach, or choke on regurgitated food.Guy Leschziner is a consultant neurologist at Guy's and St Thomas' hospital trust. He is the author of Seven Deadly Sins: The Biology of Being Human Continue reading...

Slender curve of the moon and bright beacon of Venus will be visible in the south-south-west on 5 DecemberNo matter how many times you may have seen it, the crescent moon and the planet Venus make a beautiful pairing. This week, as twilight closes around the landscape, the duo will appear in the south-south-west. The chart shows the view looking from London at 16.30GMT on 5 December 2024.Venus will be an unmistakably bright beacon in the gathering night, and the moon will be a slender crescent. The new moon was just over four days ago and will have approximately 20% of its visible surface illuminated. Continue reading...

Expression chosen after public vote describes impact of endless scrolling of mind-numbing contentBrain rot" has been announced as the Oxford word of the year for 2024, amid concerns over endless social media scrolling and mind-numbing content.More than 37,000 people voted to help choose the winner from a shortlist of six words drawn up by Oxford University Press, the publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary. Continue reading...

A brilliant young scientist believes that if we preserve our brains, they could be revived in the future, helping us live for centuriesElizabeth Hughes Gossett shouldn't have survived beyond 11, the age at which she developed type 1 diabetes. Born in Albany, New York, Gossett received her diagnosis in 1918 when diabetes had no known treatment. Tragically, her life expectancy was just a matter of months. Her parents desperately searched for any way to keep their daughter alive. A New Jersey physician had developed a radical course of action: keeping the blood sugar levels of diabetic children low by feeding them the bare minimum needed to survive. This could see a prognosis of months extended to years. These young patients weren't exactly living, but they were alive.In the spring of 1919, Gossett went into this starvation clinic. She'd have been constantly cold and hungry. Emaciated, unable to move or grow. At its lowest, her weight dropped to 20kg. Three years later, Gossett was lingering on death's threshold but, crucially, hadn't crossed to the other side. Continue reading...

Long thought to be sterile, our brains are now believed to harbour all sorts of micro-organisms, from bacteria to fungi. How big a part do they play in Alzheimer's and similar diseases?Nine years ago, Nikki Schultek, an active and healthy woman in her early 30s, experienced a sudden cascade of debilitating and agonising symptoms - including cognitive and breathing problems and heart arrhythmia - and was investigated for multiple sclerosis. But three brain scans and numerous X-rays later, there was still no diagnosis or treatment plan. It was like living in a nightmare, imagining not watching my children - three and five years old - grow up," says Schultek.Now, speaking on a video call from North Carolina, she is as bright as a button and shows no signs of degenerative brain disease. It turned out she had multiple chronic infections, including Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, which causes Lyme disease and which had stealthily reached her brain. Antibiotics restored her health, but B burgdorferi is hard to eradicate once in the brain. She may need maintenance treatment to keep the disease at bay. Continue reading...

Facing an enormous decision about her health filled Kat Lister with wonder at her body's ability to fight for herThe 2cm wound to the right of my bellybutton had been oozing for days. A syrupy weep in the well of my abdomen. A surgical pothole so small that it felt almost indulgent to photograph it in my bathroom mirror. As if these tiny keyhole incisions dotted around my swollen stomach - one, two, three, four, five of them - bore no relation to the magnitude of the plunder beneath.Magnitude. Or, should I say: weight. Do you feel lighter?" a friend asked me a week after I had a total colectomy to save my life. To which I replied (somewhat contradictorily): yes and no. It didn't take long for my doctors to start referring to my large bowel, laden with more than 400 precancerous polyps, as a heavy burden" - and I think there is something poetic in that choice of words. A flash of humanity in an otherwise sterile place. Which is where I found myself in May last year, staring numbly at pictures of stoma bags in St Mark's hospital in north-west London, the only hospital in the world to specialise entirely in intestinal and colorectal medicine. Continue reading...

After wowing the court of Versailles over 200 years ago, the jet-black beast is back in the spotlight at the Science MuseumKing Louis XV's rhinoceros was the star of the court of Versailles. Fed on a diet of bread, its tough hide was regularly massaged with oil. But it proved not an easy pet to keep and unfortunately killed two people who entered its enclosure.Now, the magnificent beast, since stuffed and preserved, has left Paris for the first time since it arrived in 1770, travelling to London to take up a temporary place under the spotlight at the Science Museum in London. Continue reading...

A way to personally connect with wildlife is vital when statistics alone can't convey the scale of the lossSixty-six million years ago, an asteroid struck Earth, causing the extinction of around 75% of all species. This event was so significant that we now use it to define the boundary between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. There hadonly been four extinction events of this magnitude up until then; today, we are living through the sixth - and we are its cause.News of the sixth mass-extinction often comes in the form of statistics - 1 million species threatened with extinction; extinctions now occurring up to 1,000 times more frequently than before humans - and we are left none the wiser about what it is we are losing. A few years ago, I asked the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for a list of species that had recently gone extinct. I wanted to understand what was happening to the natural world, beyond the numbers. The list they sent back contained species from all over the world. One in particular, however, stood out to me. Continue reading...

Tracking the behaviour of tagged animals from space could transform the research into a host of natural phenomenaScientists are enlisting some unusual recruits in their efforts to forecast earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other natural phenomena. They are enrolling thousands of dogs, goats, and other farmyard animals - as well as a wide range of wildlife - in studies that will monitor their movements from space.The programme uses tiny transmitters that are being fitted to mammals, birds and insects. The detailed movements of these creatures will then be monitored from a dedicated satellite to be launched next year. Continue reading...

Two satellites in Proba-3 mission expected to be launched on Wednesday in India and will work in tandem to study sun's coronaFinal preparations have begun for a landmark space mission that will use satellites flying in close formation to create artificial solar eclipses high above the Earth.The Proba-3 mission is the European Space Agency's first attempt at precise formation flying in orbit and calls for two spacecraft to loop around the planet in an arrangement that never deviates by more than a millimetre, about the thickness of a human fingernail. Continue reading...

A covalent organic framework' can be used to capture carbon to store it or convert it for industrial useAn innocuous yellow powder, created in a lab, could be a new way to combat the climate crisis by absorbing carbon from the air.Just half a pound of the stuff may remove as much carbon dioxide as a tree can, according to early tests. Once the carbon is absorbed by the powder, it can be released into safe storage or be used in industrial processes, like carbonizing drinks.This article was amended on 30 November 2024 to clarify Farzan Kazemifar's job title. Continue reading...

Researchers say fossilised marks were apparently made in same place within days of each other about 1.5m years agoAbout 1.5m years ago a big-toothed cousin of prehistoric humans walked quickly along a lakeside in Kenya, footprints marking the muddy ground. But they were not our only distant relative on the scene: treading the same ground was the early human Homo erectus.Researchers say an analysis of fossilised footprints discovered in deposits of the Turkana Basin, northern Kenya, suggest the marks were made by two different species on the human family tree who were in the same place within hours or days of each other. Continue reading...

What lies beneath this ice giant's surface might be the potential for life - but not as we know itFor nearly 40 years, Uranus and its five largest moons have been dismissed as frozen and lifeless. This view was formed by humanity's only close encounter with the Uranian system at the edge of our cosmic neighbourhood. Data sent back by Voyager 2 in 1986 indicated that the distant ice giant was sterile and inactive. But that probe had the misfortune of flying past Uranus just when a powerful solar storm hit, creating a distorted impression of its true nature. Far from the barren worlds previously assumed, a new analysis suggests that the celestial bodies could hold hidden oceans, and perhaps even the conditions necessary to support life.This news should put rocket boosters on the $4bnplan by Nasa, the US space agency, for a mission to return to Uranus. The clock is ticking to make it there by 2050, just in time for its planetary equinox, when sunlight floods Uranus and its moons from pole to pole. Nasa wants to launch a mission by 2032 - a timeline that allows the spacecraft to use Jupiter's massive gravity like a slingshot and shoot a probe out to Uranus in time for its seasonal transition. Continue reading...

In the earnest press tour for the film, actor Cynthia Erivo was in tears at the idea that fans were holding space' for the song Defying Gravity. But is it more self-help jargon or something more powerful?The journalist Tracy E Gilchrist had just four minutes with the Wicked actors Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande - and she had to make them count. She just didn't bargain on becoming part of one of the year's most-used memes as a result of saying the phrase holding space". I just went in and did my job, which was to try to get an authentic answer to a question in a very short amount of time," she says. It felt like the right term for what I was trying to get across to Cynthia, which is the idea that you can interact with a work of art like Defying Gravity and feel something within yourself."In the interview - a standard junket affair of rotating film journalists - Gilchrist, teeing up her question, informs Erivo that people are taking the lyrics of Defying Gravity and really holding space with that and feeling power in that". Continue reading...

The conversation about fluoride's health benefits has exploded recently after a US federal toxicology report, court ruling and independent scientific review all called for updated risk-benefit analysis. Ian Sample hears from Catherine Carstairs, professor of history at the University of Guelph in Canada, about how attitudes to fluoridation have evolved, and Oliver Jones, professor of chemistry at RMIT University in Australia, about where the science stands todayClips: the New York Sun, Columbia PicturesThe science of fluoride is starting to evolve': behind the risks and benefits of the mineral Continue reading...

Results of trial of benralizumab injection could be gamechanger' for millions of people around the worldDoctors are hailing a new way to treat serious asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease attacks that marks the first breakthrough for 50 years and could be a gamechanger" for patients.A trial found offering patients an injection was more effective than the current care of steroid tablets, and cuts the need for further treatment by 30%. Continue reading...

Structures thousands of times narrower than a human hair suggest future uses for nanobot technology

With RFK Jr and a court ruling, conversation on fluoride, in about 72% of US community water supplies, has explodedA national conversation about fluoride's health benefits exploded this fall after a federal toxicology report, court ruling and independent scientific review all called for updated risk-benefit analysis.Fluoride, a naturally occurring mineral in some regions, has been added to community water supplies since the mid-20th century when studies found exposure dramatically reduced tooth decay. Continue reading...

A brave memoir from a psychiatrist with severe mental illness that describes a failing system from withinThis brave memoir by apsychiatrist who has severe mental illness shows how lost and confused psychiatry and its patients have become. Future readerswill be amazed, we must hope,by how poorly we understood and how ineffectively wetreated the troubled mind.Rebecca Lawrence has experienced recurrent and horrendous depressions throughout her life, mixed with periods of elevated mood. Despite multiple breakdowns and admissions to hospital, her determination and resilience, alongside the support of her remarkable husband, Richard, enable her to survive and prosper, becoming a consultant psychiatrist and mother of three. Continue reading...

Underwater chimney structures spewing jets of brine can help alert to dangerous regional issue, research showsVenting chimneys have been discovered on the floor of the Dead Sea. These previously unknown white smokers" spew out salty water and provide early warning of sinkhole formation on nearby land.The Dead Sea is sinking fast. Over the past 50 years, intense evaporation has resulted in it dropping by about 1 metre a year, with its surface now approximately 438 metres beneath sea level. This drop has opened up new fissures in the rock strata and researchers wanted to understand how this might be contributing to an alarming fall in freshwater aquifer levels seen in Israel, Jordan and the West Bank. Continue reading...

Choosing Jay Bhattacharya to lead NIH signals return to controversial and scientifically questionable health policies

Variations in time a person goes to sleep and wakes up strongly associated' with higher risk of negative impactsFailing to stick to a regular time for going to bed and waking up increases the risk of stroke, heart attack and heart failure by 26%, even for those who get a full night's sleep, the most comprehensive study of its kind suggests.Previous studies have focused on the links between sleep duration and health outcomes, with people advised to get between seven and nine hours shut-eye a night. Continue reading...

Every three months in Kazakhstan, a trio of cosmonauts and astronauts head off to the International Space Station - then return in small capsules. What do the locals make of it? Continue reading...

Analysis involving more than 85,000 people showed risk of worsening function was reduced by 22%Weight-loss drugs can reduce the risk of worsening kidney function, kidney failure and dying from kidney disease by a fifth, according to a study.Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists are a family of medications that help people shed the pounds, manage blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes and prevent heart attacks and strokes in people with heart disease. Continue reading...

Video posted by Emily Calandrelli about awesome view of Earth was flooded with hateful, objectifying commentsThere isn't a galaxy far, far away enough where women can escape sexist online trolls.Emily Calandrelli became the 100th woman to go to space when she joined a group of six space tourists in a launch led by Blue Origin, the aerospace company owned by the billionaire Jeff Bezos. Continue reading...

Madeleine Finlay hears from the Guardian's environment editor, Damian Carrington, about the controversial climate finance deal that brought Cop29 negotiations to a close in the early hours on Sunday morning in Baku, Azerbaijan. Developing countries asked rich countries to provide them with $1.3tn a year to help them decarbonise their economies and cope with the effects of the climate crisis. But the final deal set a pledge of just $300bn annually, with $1.3tn only a target. Damian tells Madeleine how negotiations unfolded, and what we can expect from next year's conference in BrazilFind all the Guardian's reporting on Cop29Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

Prof Dorothy Bishop said fellowship was a contradiction of all the values' of UK's national academy of sciencesA leading scientist at the University of Oxford has resigned from the UK's national academy of sciences over concerns about Elon Musk's continuing fellowship.Prof Dorothy Bishop, emeritus professor of developmental neuropsychology and a leading expert on children's communication disorders, said she handed back her fellowship of the Royal Society last week. Continue reading...

The answers to today's puzzlesEarlier today I set you three problems from a maths competition for Martian schoolchildren. By Martian, I mean Hungarian.In the mid-twentieth century, a generation of outstanding mathematicians and physicists from Hungary were humorously called Martians, as their intelligence was from another planet. Continue reading...

Study detects synergistic effect making substances more dangerous, raising alarm since humans are exposed to bothFew human-made substances are as individually ubiquitous and dangerous as PFAS and microplastics, and when they join forces there is a synergistic effect that makes them even more toxic and pernicious, new research suggests.The study's authors exposed water fleas to mixtures of the toxic substances and found they suffered more severe health effects, including lower birth rates, and developmental problems, such as delayed sexual maturity and stunted growth. Continue reading...