A new study sheds light on how the English language is changing – but what shapes the vocabulary du jour?A huge ongoing study by Lancaster University and Cambridge University has discovered what, in fact, we probably knew already: that word-usage changes continuously under the pressures of historical malaise, new sensitivities, the new machineries of life and fashion.“Golly†is fast going. No need to ask why. Good thing, too. And “gosh†is long gone; it’s one of those euphemistic items of religious vocabulary (along with “blimey†and “gadzooksâ€) that we largely godless people don’t see the point of any more. “Gee!†I rarely hear any more. Jesus weeps. Continue reading...
To usher in the ‘Singularity’ – when computers match human intelligence – superintelligent one trick ponies like DeepMind must become jacks of all tradesThe road to human-level artificial intelligence is long and wildly uncertain. Most AI programs today are one-trick ponies. They can recognise faces, the sound of your voice, translate foreign languages, trade stocks and play chess. They may well have got the trick down pat, but one-trick ponies they remain. Google’s DeepMind program, AlphaGo, can beat the best human players at Go, but it hasn’t a clue how to play tiddlywinks, shove ha’penny, or tell one end of a horse from the other.Related: Google’s DeepMind makes AI program that can learn like a human Continue reading...
Influential archaeologist who helped to change the public experience of StonehengeThe young Geoff Wainwright once nervously approached Dame Kathleen Kenyon to inquire about employment prospects in archaeology. She apparently told him that without an inheritance or private income he had no hope. Luckily, he disregarded her advice and went on to become a big influence on archaeology in Britain and Europe.Geoff, who has died aged 79, was fascinated by archaeology from an early age and in 1956, while still a student, excavated a Mesolithic settlement at Freshwater West in Pembrokeshire, two miles from his family home. His early excavations were traditional affairs, but led him to a realisation that empirical research required clearly defined questions, and methods that matched the scale of the problem. Continue reading...
The Rhynie Chert fossil deposit in Scotland is just over 400 million years old and reveals secrets of life’s conquest of the landHow life made the move onto land is one of the big questions for palaeobiologists. The physiological challenges were immense, and affected most facets of life. Organisms needed to adapt how they gained water (and prevented themselves drying out), how to obtain nutrients, how to exchange gases with the atmosphere, how to support and move a body without water buoyancy, not to mention reproducing out of water.Related: Scotland holds the key to understanding how life first walked on land Continue reading...
How can you tell if a sheep likes theatre? Or a pig is into dance? Fevered Sleep are staging a show for farmyard creatures – while humans decide if they’re bleating for moreAlmost 10 years ago, David Harradine made a show in a basement for the Brighton festival. It was called An Infinite Line and featured a horse that stood entirely unconcerned throughout the performance, barely blinking at what went on around him. He was an impressively large presence, a symbolic representation of the natural world, and clearly didn’t give a fig for the theatrical avant-garde.Related: Our obsession with the natural world isn't about power – it's about love Continue reading...
Waters off the coast of Tasmania turned a shimmering blue this week, a phenomenon known as ‘noctiluca scintillans’, or sea sparkle. Despite people flocking to photograph the eerie scene, scientists have warned that it is, in fact, a worrying sign of climate change
Over-the-counter drug linked to 31% increased cardiac arrest risk, with the figure rising to 50% for diclofenac, says researchThere have been fresh calls for restrictions on the sale of the painkiller ibuprofen after another study found it heightens the risk of cardiac arrest.Taking the over-the-counter drug was associated with a 31% increased risk, researchers in Denmark found. Continue reading...
by Presented by Hannah Devlin and Produced by Max San on (#2FXQK)
To celebrate the announcement of the 2017 Wellcome Book Prize shortlist, Hannah Devlin asks three of its featured authors about the secrets to writing a successful science bookSubscribe & Review on iTunes, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud & Acast, and join the discussion on Facebook and TwitterNow in its eighth year, the Wellcome Book Prize aims to showcase fiction, nonfiction, and memoirs, that engage with some aspect of biomedical science. And with the shortlist for this year’s prize announced on Tuesday, we ask a handful of authors where they get their inspiration, how they research their chosen subject, and what strategies they have up their sleeve to turn complex scientific concepts into riveting narratives. Continue reading...
Roscosmos space agency looking for six to eight cosmonauts who will operate a new-generation spaceship headed to the moon in 2031Russia’s space agency has announced a recruitment drive for young would-be cosmonauts who it hopes will become the country’s first on the Moon.
Children and young people are being denied the latest cancer treatments by outdated European regulations. Pharmaceutical companies are able to use a loophole in EU legislation to avoid trialling cancer drugs in children – despite evidence that these treatments could work. An analysis of European Medicines Agency data by the Institute of Cancer Research shows that since 2012, the loophole has been enacted to prevent 33 new cancer drugs from being evaluated in children. There is evidence that at least some of these treatments could be effective against children’s cancers.Children’s cancers are rare, and there is little financial incentive for companies to develop drugs for them. The current EU paediatric regulation could do much more to ensure that children benefit from the dramatic advances in treatment we are seeing for adult cancers. The regulation is badly out of date. It allows pharmaceutical companies to opt out of running paediatric trials simply because the adult cancer a drug targets does not occur in children. But these days, scientists understand that it is a cancer’s genetic causes – rather than where it happens to grow in the body – which are the most important factor in determining which treatments work. Continue reading...
Program brings artificial general intelligence a step closer by using previous knowledge to solve fresh problemsResearchers have overcome one of the major stumbling blocks in artificial intelligence with a program that can learn one task after another using skills it acquires on the way.
The US president has made much use of quote marks to distance himself from his outlandish statements – is Steve Martin to ‘blame’ for this phenomenon?
Following the shark bite death of a body boarder in February, there have been calls for a cull of bull sharks. But it isn’t the answer – and it won’t workI’m a shark biologist and I also love to surf. One of my favourite surfing memories isn’t one of my rides, however, but of being a spectator. I remember standing on the Waimea shoreline in 2009, feeling the beach shake as enormous waves thundered to a close. Moments before, my favourite surfer had just scored a 98 point ride in the prestigious “Eddie†competition, named in honour of Hawaiian surfing legend Eddie Aikau. That surfer was Kelly Slater.
Academics fear Donald Trump’s environmental policy may put an end to key data from US agenciesUK scientists are warning they may be unable to carry out crucial research on climate change if Donald Trump cuts climate science funding in the US.Trump tweeted in 2014 that research on global warming is “very expensive bullshit†that “has to stopâ€. Scientists are braced to find out whether his administration will put these words into practice. The early signs are not good. Last month Scott Pruitt, one of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s fiercest critics, was named as its new head. There are rumours that the budget of its office for research could be cut by more than 40% as part of extensive overall cuts. Continue reading...
Life expectancy of men and women aged between 60 and 100 and having children better than those with no children, study findsParenthood could boost your chances of living longer in your later years, according researchers who believe the effect could be down to children helping with care and support.
Spending over three hours watching TV or playing computer games every day increases risk of type 2 diabetes in childhood, study saysChildren who are allowed more than three hours of screentime a day are at greater risk of developing diabetes, new research suggests.The study found that children who were glued to their screens for three or more hours a day scored higher on measures of body fat and had higher levels of resistance to the hormone insulin than their peers who spent an hour or less watching TV, videos or playing computer games. Continue reading...
It is good that neuroscientists are taking seriously their responsibility to improve education (No evidence to back idea of learning styles, Letters, 13 March). However, debunking can oversimplify matters.My favourite example showing that learning styles do exist, but that focusing on them does not improve learning, comes from football. We easily agree that most players have a preferred foot (typically the right one). However, unfortunately for them, the pitch has two sides to play on. Hence, though laterality does exist, it is a great advantage if you also learn to kick the ball with your non-preferred left foot. Continue reading...
An Egyptian-German archaeological mission has unearthed two 19th-dynasty royal statues near Pharaoh Ramses II’s temple in ancient Heliopolis: an 80cm bust of Seti II, and an 8m statue believed to be of Ramses II himself Continue reading...
Experiments prove judicial distinction between criminal intent and reckless behaviour has scientific merit tooNeuroscientists have used brain scans to spot the difference between people who committed crimes on purpose and those who broke the law through sheer reckless behaviour.It is the first time that people’s intentions, or otherwise, to perform criminal acts have been decoded in a brain scanner, revealing that legal categories used to draw up sentences reflect real brain activity.
The warning that children with cancer risk missing out on drug trials (Report, 9 March) highlights an issue that has been largely overlooked in the Brexit debate. I led work on the EU clinical trials regulation, which will come into force in 2018. By harmonising EU law and creating a single application portal, this will make it easier to carry out clinical trials in more than one country. Cross-border trials are particularly important for paediatric cancers because there are usually not enough cases in one country to make a trial viable. Once outside the EU, it will be harder for UK patients to participate in these trials.Related: UK children with cancer could miss out on drug trials after Brexit, doctors warn Continue reading...
The solutions to today’s gyral and viral puzzlesEarlier today I set you two puzzles as a pre-party for Pi Day.1) Pictured below are three identical boxes packed with pies. You can assume that all pies are exactly the same height. Which box contains the most pie? Continue reading...
A study has found that 98% of people think they’re among the nicest 50%. And this delusion seeps into everything from how we rate our attractiveness to our drivingHow nice are you? No, really, deep down, how nice are you? It would be easy to imagine that low self-esteem leads us to play down our better qualities, but the research shows the opposite is true – regardless of our confidence, we are not as nice as we think we are. Nor are we as attractive or competent … the list goes on. If niceness were a number, we would be guilty of some pretty extreme rounding up.If you can take that emotional blow (you’re probably still nice, just, you know, not that nice) listen to Jonathan Freeman, a psychology professor at Goldsmiths, University of London. In a study he carried out for an airline, he found that 98% of us consider ourselves to be among the nicest 50% of the population. Continue reading...
Misconduct in academia isn’t rampant but should be taken more seriously: let’s consider independent anti-corruption unitsWatching the BBC’s detective drama Line of Duty, I thought: could the academic research community benefit from an internal affairs style anti-corruption unit? Not to police illegal behaviour in an underworld of dons and deans – but to tackle the very real problem of fraudulent research.Related: How big data has transformed research Continue reading...
Robot submarine, named after competition, will collect data from depths of Southern OceanA small yellow robot submarine, called Boaty McBoatface after a competition to name a new polar research ship backfired, is being sent on its first Antarctic mission.Boaty, which has arguably one of the most famous names in recent maritime history, is a new type of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), which will be able to travel under ice, reach depths of 6,000 metres, and transmit the data it collects to researchers via a radio link. Continue reading...
Two teasers – one gyral and one viral – to usher in the annual celebration of mathsUPDATE: You can read the solutions and poll results here.Hi guzzlers.Tomorrow is Pi Day – March 14 – the annual excuse for the mathematical community to circulate puns about buns. I mean to honour pi, the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, which to two decimal places is 3.14, hence 3/14, as the Americans write tomorrow’s date. Continue reading...
How to find the, rather dim, comet 41P/Tuttle–Giacobini–Kresák, from the Jupiter family of comets, as it passes through our skies during the next few weeksWith a week to go until the spring equinox in Earth’s northern hemisphere, the brilliant Venus is poised to plummet into our western evening twilight on its way to passing 8° N of the Sun’s near side on the 25th. Meanwhile Jupiter rises in the E in mid-evening and is prominent in the S in the small hours where it stands below-left of the Moon on the 14th and alongside the Moon on the 15th. Continue reading...
My friend David Jacobi, who has died aged 54, was a research scientist with a particular expertise in the disposal of radioactive waste and a keen general interest in the environment.Born in London to Harry, a rabbi, and his wife, Rose (nee Solomon), a secretary and voluntary worker originally from India, David went to Claremont high school in Wembley before studying chemical engineering at Bath University. It was in the West Country that we first met in the early 1980s, when I was at nearby Bristol University. From time to time members of Bath’s tiny Jewish Society used to come over to join our slightly larger society for study and social events. Years later I met him again at Birmingham Progressive Synagogue, where his sister, Margaret, was rabbi. After that our paths continued to cross. Continue reading...
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN revealed the Higgs boson in 2012, but has led to no comparable discovery since. It is worth asking what we hope to learn from the new data coming soon – and indeed from any particle physics experiment in the near futureIn CERN, on the outskirts of Geneva, preparations are well underway for the next spate of particle collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We are planning for a record year, starting in June. Last year was a bounteous one, but in 2017 we expect even more collisions, at the same record-breaking high energy.The detectors which will record the data have been under maintenance and refurbishment. Most notably, the vertex detector in the centre of the CMS experiment has been entirely replaced. The vertex detector is made of silicon; the electrons in the material only need a small nudge from a passing charged-particle to escape and carry an electric current. Those tiny currents allow us to track the path of the particle, and thus work out where it originated – the vertex. The vertex detector is a vital and complex component of the experiment. You can see a video of the (very careful) operation to insert the new one, below. Continue reading...
Answer our questions to see what the link is between whether you issue complaints to official bodies and the political party you supportRightwingers love the stereotype of the ‘whining liberal’. Have they got a point? Or is it self-entitled conservatives who are more likely to complain? Find out by answering the following:How likely are you to complain to an official body (eg Ofcom) if you are unfairly treated by your bank or broadband provider? Continue reading...
A fascinating project is harnessing the power of the arts to unlock creativity and communicationHarvey’s reaction to his dementia is not what you might expect. “I’m so happy,†he says. “I wouldn’t reverse it for anything.â€Harvey has a relatively rare dementia called posterior cortical atrophy or PCA, a variant of Alzheimer’s disease. Inasmuch as he has difficulty remembering things and can’t do basic arithmetic, his condition conforms to the stereotype of dementia. But PCA particularly affects spatial awareness: it can lead to disorientation, visual illusions, and problems with making your movements coincide with your perception of space. Harvey has trouble with vests; another person with PCA recounts how, aiming to sit in an empty seat, he found himself instead in his vicar’s lap. But for Harvey, who is 78, these are just inconveniences in a wonderful life. He has never, he says, felt so full of love for his wife, Diana, who confirms that his expressions of affection are much more frequent now than before his PCA developed. Continue reading...
Artificial intelligence is already making inroads into the NHS and could have profound effects on the medical workforceAdvances in clinical uses of artificial intelligence (AI) could have two profound effects on the global medical workforce.
So. Technically, the biggest story this week was the news that scientists at the Synthetic Yeast Project are close to completing an entire synthetic genome for baker’s yeast. This means that we could soon have human-designed organisms capable of producing drugs and vaccines, or that can convert waste into energy or even grow organs for human transplant operations. But yeast isn’t that sexy. Accordingly, our actual “biggest†story this week was, in fact, about sex. Or rather, about a lack of sex, because a US study has found that today’s adults are having less sex than the adults of 20 years ago. Don’t despair, though – one factor may be that we’re all a bit more empowered nowadays, so people are having less crap sex. They might also be watching more Netflix. Swings and roundabouts, eh? Still, now you don’t have to devote as much time to sex, maybe you could spend time working on your memory palace, an ancient technique that a new study has shown can make dramatic long-term improvements to memory. Alternatively, you could take a wander around the Rome of 315AD, courtesy of a new free online course from the University of Reading, which will use an immersive 3D panoramic model to let students explore the city. This was my personal favourite this week (and yes, I have registered for the programme). I absolutely cannot wait. The news that analysis of Neanderthal dental tartar has revealed some exciting variations in diet (including what looks to be a plant-based diet for the Spanish Neanderthals studied) but also the possibility that they were able to self-medicate with forms of painkiller and penicillin. Continue reading...
Archaeologists in Cairo believe they have uncovered parts of a temple of Pharaoh Ramses II, including an eight-metre-high statue. The statue could not be identified from its engravings, but since it was found at the entrance to the temple, it was likely to represent Ramses II, who ruled Egypt in the 13th century BC
Study reports 14% of people with epilepsy used cannabis products to manage condition, with large majority reporting improvementsMany epilepsy patients in Australia are turning to medicinal cannabis to manage their seizures, a survey has shown.The nationwide survey found 14% of people with epilepsy had used cannabis products to manage the condition. Of those, 90% of adults and 71% of children with epilepsy, according to their parents, reported success in managing seizures. Continue reading...
This eccentric, diverting film about the world of mould and its enthusiasts is as weird as they come, but it could teach us a thing or two … well, maybeHere is a documentary that in filmic and scientific terms is the equivalent of a lengthy mandolin solo on a triple gatefold prog-rock album. It’s all about the weird world of slime mould. We hear from amateur slime mould enthusiasts who love to study time-lapse footage of the frilly, bulbous mouldy growths spreading and branching all over fallen trees, like the fractal images in those films that used to be shown on The Old Grey Whistle Test. Slime mould is part plant, part mysterious, shapeless animal.There is an intriguing link with early cinema. In the days of magic lanterns, things like this were a favourite spectacle: the pioneering film-maker and naturalist F Percy Smith produced what he called “time magnification†films of fungi. This film interviews people from organisations such as the International Center of Unconventional Computing with some freaky and funky slime mould-related notions. Could the spontaneous formation of mould teach us something about urban planning? Road networks? Er, it’s not proven. Some researchers gauge the electric charge of slime mould growth and link it up to a weirdo “robot emotion headâ€. Strange, eccentric, diverting. Continue reading...
When Nasa realised its spacecraft was on a near-collision course with Phobos, it was time for its first avoidance manoeuvreNasa successfully avoided a possible collision between its Maven spacecraft and the martian moon Phobos this week. The danger was spotted in late February by mission controllers at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.Maven studies Mars’s upper atmosphere and has been at the planet for two years. It follows an elliptical orbit that crosses the paths of Phobos and several other Mars spacecraft. This means that controllers are always on the look out for possible collisions. Continue reading...
Human-designed organisms could produce drugs and vaccines, convert waste into energy or grow organs for human transplant operationsScientists are close to completing an entire synthetic genome for a microbe that has been used in bread, beer and wine making for more than five thousand years, paving the way for a realm of new organisms designed by the human hand.The work on baker’s yeast marks a substantial advance in researchers’ ability to manufacture the code of life. While genetic modification alters only small numbers of genes at a time, the new approach allows scientists to rewrite entire genomes. In doing so, they can strip out excess genetic baggage and unstable regions that have accumulated over millions of years of evolution and add fresh DNA on the way. Continue reading...
Archaeologists believe eight-metre statue found in Cairo slum is of Pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled Egypt in 13th century BCArchaeologists from Egypt and Germany have found an eight-metre (26ft) statue submerged in groundwater in a Cairo slum that they say probably depicts revered Pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago.The discovery – hailed by Egypt’s antiquities ministry on Thursday as one of the most important ever – was made near the ruins of Ramses II’s temple in the ancient city of Heliopolis, located in the eastern part of modern-day Cairo. Continue reading...
I believe patient care depends on the use of disruptive innovators. My live demo at the Science Museum will show how far we’ve already comeOn Friday 10 March, I will perform an operation in public for the first time. In a live demonstration, I will aim to show how robots can assist surgeons to cut more safely, with greater precision, and achieve better results for patients.I should say at the outset that no patient’s life will be put at risk during this event. I will be operating on a surgical mannequin – a specially adapted version of the shop mannequin designed to respond like a human body – and the event will take place at the Science Museum in London. Continue reading...
Research seeking to unpick the reasons for contagious itching suggest it is not linked to empathy but is programmed into the brain’s neurocircuitryHumans and monkeys are not alone in finding they can catch an itch. Researchers have discovered that mice also start scratching when they see others at it – and worked out why.Contagious itching has long intrigued scientists, with various suggestions cropping up to explain the phenomenon, among them the possibility that it might help social animals curb the spread of parasites. Previous research has also suggested that it is more prevalent among highly neurotic people. Continue reading...
It was one of those moments historians dream of. In 2012, Florike Egmond discovered an enthralling collection of 16-century drawings and watercolours of animals collected by the founding father of zoology Conrad Gessner and his fellow Swiss successor Felix Platter hidden away in the Amsterdam University Library. These and many more illustrations feature in her new book on early modern natural history illustration, Eye For Detail (Reaktion Books, 2017) Continue reading...
A controversial new treatment facility in Los Angeles wants to find out if cannabis can help keep opioids from claiming more lives to addictionWhen Joe Schrank got the call six years ago that his friend Greg Giraldo had been found unconscious after an overdose in a New Jersey hotel room, he was not surprised. Giraldo, a comedian, had cycled through the addiction loop for years, and Schrank had tried in vain to save him. Continue reading...
Fears youngsters could be denied access to Europe-wide tests of new medicines when Britain leaves EU amid calls for reformLeading doctors are warning that British children with cancer could suffer if they are no longer able to join Europe-wide trials of innovative new medicines as a result of the Brexit deal.The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust say the best hope for some children with cancer is a clinical trial where a new drug is being tested. But because of the small number of children with the same cancers, the trials have to be run in many hospitals, often across Europe. Continue reading...
‘Liberation therapy’ to widen veins in multiple sclerosis sufferers has been shown to be worthless after ‘gold standard’ studyA surgical treatment pioneered in Europe that was sought out by thousands of desperate people with multiple sclerosis has been categorically debunked by Canadian researchers.“Liberation therapy†to widen narrowed veins from the brain and spinal cord was devised by the Italian surgeon Dr Paolo Zamboni, who suggested in 2009 that the neurological disease could be triggered by a build-up of iron where the blood did not flow freely. Continue reading...
Analysis of 100 hair samples sheds light on population movement around Australia and depth of links to regionsA study of ancient Aboriginal hair samples has revealed distinct Aboriginal populations were present in Australia with little geographical movement for up to 50,000 years.The discovery of such a long, continuous presence in the those regions emphasised why land was so sacred to Aboriginal people, researchers said. Continue reading...