Canada’s Hudson Bay is as ice-free in November as on a summer’s day and polar bears could be extinct here by mid-century. If the bears are in trouble, so are weChurchill, on the banks of the Hudson Bay in Canada, is known as the polar bear capital of the world. Hundreds of bears gather there each year before the sea freezes over in October and November so they can hunt seals again from the ice for the first time since the summer.I first went there 12 years ago at this time of year. The place was white, the temperature was -20C, and the bears were out feeding. Continue reading...

New therapy does not cause side-effects such as impotence and urinary incontinence, researchers sayA drug activated by laser light successfully destroys early prostate cancer while avoiding side-effects that commonly occur with surgery, trial results have shown.

You report (Stepping back 3.6m years: footprints yield new clues to humans’ earliest ancestors, 14 December) that Marco Cherin supposes from features of his find that other males in the species concerned, like gorillas, had multiple female partners. It is not the main conclusion that can be drawn from this, though it is usual for males to assume that they, in the past, would have been the one with several wives. The existence of family groups with one dominant male and several wives means that there would be many more males with no partners, circling aggressively round the family groups, attempting to displace the fathers, possibly, like lions, eliminating the offspring of a displaced male. It is not a nice ancestry. It is one in which females have little agency in the selection of mates. If this is, sadly, a strand in human development, it explains a lot about the behaviour of some males nowadays.

The answer to today’s puzzle, in which it is confirmed that Guardian readers are less clever than German 13-year-oldsEarlier today I set you the following puzzle, from a Christmas quiz set by the German Mathematical Society. About 80 per cent of German 12 to 14-year-olds gave the correct answer.Below are the first four prototypes of a machine designed by elves designed to sort presents by weight. Each machine sorts four presents at a time. The four presents are placed in the top, and then fall through the slides. Where two presents meet at a crossing, the lighter present goes to the left, and the heavier one goes to the right. This is repeated until all four presents are at the bottom. Continue reading...

Decrease in volume of grey matter in certain areas of the brain could help boost a mother’s ability to care for her child, research suggestsPregnancy appears to trigger long-term changes in brain structure, researchers have revealed, suggesting that the transformations could boost a mother’s ability to care for her newborn baby.The study, based on brains scans, found that the volume of grey matter in certain regions of the brain decreased in women who had been pregnant – a shift that was found to last for at least two years. Continue reading...

A debilitating condition which robs children of the ability to control their limbs has now been identified, making treatment possible for the first timeDoctors have discovered a new genetic disorder that robs children of the ability to walk normally and makes it hard for them to control their other limbs.While the condition has never been defined before, researchers found that patients with the faulty DNA can benefit enormously from a medical treatment that uses electrical pulses to stimulate the brain.

Soaring Arctic temperatures ‘strongly linked’ to recent extreme weather events, say scientists at cutting edge of climate change researchThe dramatic melting of Arctic ice is already driving extreme weather that affects hundreds of millions of people across North America, Europe and Asia, leading climate scientists have told the Guardian.

Geneticists are exploring how disease introduced by European colonists shaped the evolution of indigenous peoples of the AmericasPrehistoric America was not a disease-free utopia. Tuberculosis, treponemal disease, Chagas disease, and many other pathogens were endemic to populations in different regions of the continent. But the “Columbian Exchange” beginning in 1492 introduced new pathogens to American populations, including smallpox, measles, influenza, and yellow fever. This introduction had devastating consequences for tribes. In some places, death from infectious disease resulted in the depopulation of entire regions, leading to the collapse of social, economic, and political institutions, and the loss of many traditional cultural practices and ways of life.Understanding the dynamics of these pandemics is critically important in order to learn how they may have shaped the genetic diversity of contemporary Native American communities, potentially giving insights into the genetic underpinnings of diseases present in a higher frequency in some populations than elsewhere. More broadly, documenting the historical effects of the introduction of novel pathogens can give insights into the evolution of host-pathogen relationships. These insights are potentially useful for responding to future outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases. Continue reading...

Other finds in the biodiverse greater Mekong region include a rare banana species from Thailand and a tiny frog from Cambodia and Vietnam Continue reading...

Researchers devise test to determine whether machine learning algorithms are introducing gender or racial biases into decision-makingThere was the voice recognition software that struggled to understand women, the crime prediction algorithm that targeted black neighbourhoods and the online ad platform which was more likely to show men highly paid executive jobs.Concerns have been growing about AI’s so-called “white guy problem” and now scientists have devised a way to test whether an algorithm is introducing gender or racial biases into decision-making. Continue reading...

A seasonal conundrum about excellence in German manufacturingUPDATE: Solution and explanation now posted here.Merry Chrimbo guzzlers.For my last Monday puzzle of the year I’ve chosen a treat from the the German Mathematical Society’s online puzzle advent calendar. Continue reading...

Also known as chimaeras, the creatures have tooth plates instead of teeth and a retractable penis on their headsAmerican scientists surveying the depths of the ocean off the coast of California and Hawaii have unwittingly filmed the mysterious ghost shark for the first time.The team from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Center had sent a remote operated vehicle down to depths of 2,000 metres (6,700ft) when the creature appeared on their screens. Continue reading...

My father, Jim Low, who has died aged 88, was a rocket scientist. Not that he ever used the term himself. In his passport, he described himself always as a mathematician/physicist. But, as one of the early members of the European Launcher Development Organisation (Eldo) – the predecessor of the European Space Agency – that was indeed what he was, at least for much of his career.It was a career path that was all the more surprising, given his relatively humble origins in Cupar, Fife, as the son of James, a postman (who had fought in both the Boer and first world wars), and Mary (nee Collins). After attending Bell Baxter high school in the town, Jim, the youngest of four children, was the first in his family to go to university, thanks to a grant that was available after doing his national service – and, of course, to his intelligence and hard work. Continue reading...

Our panel of leading scientists pick the most significant discoveries and developments of the year – from the Zika virus to the planet Proxima B – and a surprising secret of marriage1 February Continue reading...

Do you love Christmas? Or find it a real ordeal? The answers to this quiz could surprise youFrom your taste in decorations to how happy you are with your presents, psychologists have studied every aspect of the festive season. So what does your attitude to Christmas say about you?1. Do you deck the halls? Are you a minimalist or a maximalist when it comes to decorations? How far do you go when it comes to decorating the outside of your house, and what does your taste say about your personality? Continue reading...

Scarlet dresses are outselling black ones but studies have cast doubt on the colour’s effect on sexual attractionTheresa May knows it. Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe exploited it to stunning effect. Even singer Chris De Burgh was aware of the transformative powers of the colour red.This is not just the judgment of the stylist who helped the prime minister choose her Amanda Wakeley number for a charity bash last week, or Howard Hawks, who dressed Monroe and Russell in glitzy red robes in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Countless psychological experiments have confirmed that wearing red clothing increases attractiveness and sex appeal. Continue reading...

It has struck nearly a million people in the UK, yet even its cause is still unclearEarly next year, Professor Bart De Strooper will sit down in an empty office in University College London and start to plan a project that aims to revolutionise our understanding and treatment of dementia. Dozens of leading researchers will be appointed to his £250m project which has been set up to create a national network of dementia research centres – with UCL at its hub.The establishment of the UK Dementia Research Institute – which was announced last week – follows the pledge, made in 2012 by former prime minister David Cameron, to tackle the disease at a national level and comes as evidence points to its increasing impact on the nation. Earlier this year, it was disclosed that dementia is now the leading cause of death in England and Wales. At the same time, pharmaceutical companies have reported poor results from trials of drugs designed to slow down the progress of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. Continue reading...

Red Shoot wood, New Forest A pony will strain every muscle in its neck to reach the most tender branch-end leavesAs we press on along the ridge above the wood, on the north side of the path we find ponies raising the browse line as they stretch high into the hollies. A large white one strains every muscle in its neck to get at the most tender branch-end leaves. Forest ponies eat a huge quantity of holly during the cold weather. People often cut branches to make life easier for them, but this group don’t need any help.

Billionaire Larry Tanenbaum has announced a major donation that will not just fund neuroscience, but support a new way of doing itWith the help of Tanenbaum’s gift of 20 million Canadian dollars (£12million) the ‘Neuro’, the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, is setting up an experiment in experimentation, an Open Science Initiative with the express purpose of finding out the best way to realise the potential of scientific research.It is hard to be against ‘open science’. Openness – the public sharing and challenging of knowledge – is held up as one of the foundational ideals of science. During the cold war, Niels Bohr was not alone in arguing that this principle should apply to politics too: ‘The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness’. For much of its history, science has been ahead of the curve when it comes to openness. However, as access to online information has exploded, scientific research, much of which is hidden behind paywalls, looked like a closed shop.

The web is cluttered with listicles offering the supposedly reassuring information that, say, JK Rowling wasn’t a publishing sensation until, well, her early 30sAt what age are you too old to achieve breakthrough success in your field? That question fascinates so many people, I suspect, because almost nobody considers themselves already entirely successful. The unpublished novelist longs to be published, the published one yearns for bestsellerdom, the bestselling superstar craves the Booker prize. (Also, everyone always thinks they’re just a few years from being “over the hill”. The web is cluttered with listicles offering the supposedly reassuring information that, say, JK Rowling wasn’t a publishing sensation until, well, her early 30s.)But a huge new study, examining the careers of nearly 3,000 physicists from 1893 on, reaches an unexpected result. It’s not that youth wins out, nor that years of experience lead to late triumphs. Rather, age just isn’t much of a factor. A physicist’s highest-impact work “could be the first publication, mid-career, or last publication”. What counted more was productivity. If you want to publish a celebrated physics paper, the crucial thing isn’t to be young and energetic, nor old and wise. It’s to publish a lot of papers. Continue reading...

Undergoing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons training in preparation for Iraq was nerve-wracking, but excavating here has been a revelationBefore the very first time I was going to excavate in Iraq, back in 2012, I have to admit I was a little apprehensive; I mean who wouldn’t be? Thankfully the university running the project completely allayed my fears by sending me on a chemical, biological and nuclear weapons training-day, followed up with a course on unexploded ordnance and not stepping on landmines. After this I was so wholly put at ease that I thought about maybe staying at home instead.

Why don’t humans have penis bones? I bet you’ve been asking yourself that question for ages, right? Well, now we have at least part of the answer. Be warned: it’s not exactly flattering. Still, onto other intriguing evolutionary news: footprints discovered in Tanzania almost certainly belong to a species of human ancestor called Australopithecus afarensis. Even more exciting is that measurements have revealed that these belonged to the largest Australopithecus yet recorded, leading the Star Wars-loving researchers to nickname him Chewie. Leaping forward in time (and possibly back again as well), a new form of gene therapy has been shown to produce rejuvenating effect in mice, leading scientists to claim that the ageing process may be reversible. And more historic progress has been made this week as the UK’s fertility regulator gave the green light for clinics to seek licences to create embryos with the DNA of three people, an experimental technique developed to help women with mitochondrial mutations have healthy babies. Continue reading...

My father, Eric Mansfield, who has died aged 93, was an aeronautical engineer who won the Royal Medal of the Royal Society in 1994, “for his many fundamental and analytical contributions to our knowledge of advanced aeronautical structures, and more recently to the biological sciences”.He was born in Croydon, Surrey, younger of two children of Grace (nee Pfundt) and Harold Mansfield. Within a year of Eric’s birth, his mother died. His father earned a living during the summer as a guide to travellers visiting mainland Europe; throughout the rest of the year, he toured the UK giving illustrated talks about his earlier foreign adventures, particularly in Canada (helping to map the Yukon boundary, working with “Buffalo” Bill Cody, joining the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, shooting the rapids, fur-trapping). Apart from leaving a garret for himself, he let out his home and used the income to fund the education of his children, Eric and Grace. Their childhood involved staying with various aunts when not at boarding school. Continue reading...

Nuclear tensions appear to be mounting again amidst political upheaval. So if the event of nuclear war, where should you head?The recent death of Fidel Castro – a man synonymous with the threat of nuclear war and the Cuban Missile Crisis – has reminded us how much the world has changed since the end of the Cold War.We are safer now than perhaps any time in our history. Let’s take the cheery topic of violent death, for example. In most of the world, murder rates are falling along with other violent crimes. A recent UN study reported that homicide rates in North America, Europe and Asia have been declining for last 15 years, and wars have also become less deadly when compared to conflicts in the 20th century. Even contemporary atrocities in the Middle East do not compare to the industrial genocide of Stalin, Mao, or Hitler. Research by the Early Warning Project for example, has shown a clear decline in mass killings in wars and conflicts since 1992. Continue reading...

For more than a decade, Australia has been held back by climate science denial and an antipathy towards environmentalismIf you can hear what sounds like a faint drumroll coming from across the Pacific then it’s the sound of millions of jaws dropping on hard surfaces.President-elect Donald Trump is a phrase journalists are regularly typing into their keyboards. That was jaw dropping enough, even for some Republicans. Continue reading...

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Rampant road building has split the Earth’s land into 600,000 fragments, most of which are too tiny to support significant wildlife, study showsRampant road building has shattered the Earth’s land into 600,000 fragments, most of which are too tiny to support significant wildlife, a new study has revealed.The researchers warn roadless areas are disappearing and that urgent action is needed to protect these last wildernesses, which help provide vital natural services to humanity such as clean water and air. Continue reading...

New form of gene therapy shown to produce rejuvenating effect in mice, although scientists say human clinical applications are decade awayWrinkles, grey hair and niggling aches are normally regarded as an inevitable part of growing older, but now scientists claim that the ageing process may be reversible.

At first glance, ‘post-truth’, the Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year for 2016, appears to be inimical to the interests of scientists. However, according to one of the 20 Century’s leading philosophers, science itself can be regarded in post-truth termsEven today, more than fifty years after its first edition, Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions remains the first port of call to learn about the history, philosophy or sociology of science. This is the book famous for talking about science as governed by ‘paradigms’ until overtaken by ‘revolutions’.Kuhn argued that the way that both scientists and the general public need to understand the history of science is Orwellian. He is alluding to 1984, in which the protagonist’s job is to rewrite newspapers from the past to make it seem as though the government’s current policy is where it had been heading all along. In this perpetually airbrushed version of history, the public never sees the U-turns, switches of allegiance and errors of judgement that might cause them to question the state’s progressive narrative. Confidence in the status quo is maintained and new recruits are inspired to follow in its lead. Kuhn claimed that what applies to totalitarian 1984 also applies to science united under the spell of a paradigm. Continue reading...

Clinics set to apply to offer treatment to help women with mitochondrial mutations after regulator gives green lightThe first British baby made with the DNA of three people could be born next year after the UK’s fertility regulator gave the green light for clinics to seek licences for the procedure.The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) announced on Thursday that it would accept applications from clinics wanting to offer the controversial therapy after it met to consider the latest scientific evidence for the safety of the procedure.

First edition of Principia Mathematica, which was published in 1687 and sets out Newton’s laws of motion, raises £3m at auction

Moaza Al Matrooshi, 24, went into menopause after chemotherapy but had her fertility restored using thawed tissueA woman has given birth to a healthy baby boy after doctors restored her fertility with ovarian tissue she had had frozen as a child.Moaza Al Matrooshi, a 24-year-old from Dubai, had one of her ovaries frozen as a nine-year-old and is thought to be the youngest to have had the tissue stored for future use in a pregnancy.

Over 100 million women around the world use the female contraceptive pill. But why isn’t there a male alternative? And are the barriers to its creation scientific or social?Subscribe & Review on iTunes, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud & AcastOn June 23rd 1960, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the world’s first combined oral contraceptive pill – or COCP - known as Enovid. And whilst there have been many developments in COCPs for women in the six decades that have followed, effective counterparts for men have yet to appear on to the market. Why has it taken so long? How close are we to a male contraceptive pill? Continue reading...

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Study finds pregnant women with low vitamin D levels at 20 weeks more likely to have a child with autistic traitsThe important role vitamin D plays in early life is back in the spotlight after Australian researchers noticed a link between a deficiency during pregnancy and autism.The study found pregnant women with low vitamin D levels at 20 weeks’ gestation were more likely to have a child with autistic traits by the age of six. Continue reading...

Speed of human mating might be behind the lack of a baculum in humans, suggests study tracing bone’s evolutionIt can be as long as a finger in a monkey. In the walrus, it can be two feet long. But the human male has lost it completely. And researchers are a little stumped.Known as the baculum to scientists with an interest, the penis bone is a marvel of evolution. It pops up in mammals and primates around the world, but varies so much in terms of length and whether it is present at all, that it is described as the most diverse bone ever to exist.

Richard Layard is promoting the idea that better provision of mental health services is more important than reducing social inequalities in promoting human happiness (Happiness depends on health and friends, not money, says new study, theguardian.com, 12 December). This is a false dichotomy. Evidence suggests that austerity damages our collective health. Deepening economic and social divides, bullying, abuse, misogyny, racism, dehumanisation and consequent insecurity, trauma, social exclusion, neglect and despair underpin the current tsunami of desolation in the UK and beyond, especially in our children. These are largely economic and political matters, requiring cultural, social and political solutions. Psychological therapies, humanely delivered to those who want them, have a part to play in ameliorating human suffering, and we do need more flexible, kind and supportive services. But we must not pathologise those who are damaged by the injustices they experience. Degradation by the benefits system is now devastating many with long-term illnesses in the UK. To imagine that therapy, rather than social transformation, can address or prevent the conditions that lead to despair is to be wilfully blind.