Science Museum counts human and medical cost of injuries sustained during conflicts past and presentRelated: Somme trench recreated in Welsh castle to salute battle's centenaryScraps of ribbons, figurines and toys, and religious medals are among a collection of charms carried by soldiers a century ago at the Battle of the Somme that will go on display in an exhibition at the Science Museum on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Trial version in US giving successful immunisation to mice could help fight disease, but complications warned for those who have contracted dengue fever

Blue curaçao, blue vodka, blue gin, now there is blue-pigmented wine. But why? We explore the psychology of weirdly coloured boozeA company is trying to shake up the wine industry by producing bright blue bottles of the boozy beverage. But will it help the taste?Blueness and alcohol aren’t strangers, as anyone who has drunk one too many gins and wept into their lap on the night bus will know. But last week, a Spanish company decided to make that link a tad less metaphorical by launching a wine that is the same shade as the WKD Blue alcopop. Continue reading...

Scientist and presenter attacks ‘growing intolerance’, no-platforming and ‘deeply flawed’ national conversationThe BBC’s best-known science presenter, Prof Brian Cox, has criticised the “growing intolerance” of no-platform speaking bans at universities and colleges, describing them as “nonsensical”.The Wonders of the Universe presenter also attacked the “deeply flawed … national conversation” which he said meant people were unwilling or unable to change their minds on issues such as the European Union. Continue reading...

From flying saucers to alien life on other planets, our lessons will help you explore all things extra-terrestrial from the comfort of your classroomIs it a bird? Is it a plane? If you have to ask, then – technically – it is an unidentified flying object (UFO), although not necessarily an alien craft. Saturday 2 July is World UFO day, when residents of Earth are encouraged to look skyward in search of unexpected items whizzing around. The date was chosen in honour of the first ever reported UFO sighting: US pilot Kenneth Arnold claimed to have seen nine objects flying in tandem on 24 June 1947 in Mount Rainier national park.This year’s World UFO day was also chosen to mark the anniversary of the supposed UFO crash in Roswell – and is commemorated as a means of encouraging the US government to declassify its files on UFOs. It’s an intriguing subject, and one that works across the curriculum. So how can you explore it with your students? Continue reading...

Brexit has resulted in a PM set to resign and an opposition leader under threat. Within a few months, the leaders of the UK will look completely different. But, psychologically speaking, what makes a good leader? And why?Less than a week on from the EU referendum and still the disastrous consequences rain down upon us like angry red-hot turds from God’s own backside. It has, if you’ll forgive the record-breaking understatement, put the UK in a bit of a pickle.One consequence is that the prime minister has promised to resign. Never ones to look at a burning building without wanting to douse their own floorboards with kerosene and take up fire eating, Labour are currently undergoing a revolt against Jeremy Corbyn. It’s not all meltdowns; Nicola Sturgeon seems to be doing Scotland proud. Also, Tim Farron has promised the Lib Dems will campaign on a pro-EU ticket in the (possibly imminent) general election. Nice, but in 2016 it’s like having the Microsoft paperclip pop up and offer to help you; appreciated, but the initial reaction is “I’d forgotten you existed”. Continue reading...

Studies have proven that colour plays a vital role in setting our expectations of taste and flavour in foods. But what happens when colour defies expectation? We put food colouring into vanilla yoghurt and challenged people to guess the flavour. Will they all be duped or might someone see through our ruse? Continue reading...

Weatherwatch: Meteorologists are counting ‘thunder days’ – and checking they’re not hearing jet planes or fireworksRumbles of thunder have been performing multiple symphonies in the skies recently. Already the UK has clocked up more than its average quota of thunderstorms for a whole year. Normally, the most thunder-prone region – London and the south-east – would expect to have 15 to 19 days when thunder is heard, but by mid-June that number had already been exceeded. However, recognising the sound of thunder isn’t always easy.For more than 100 years, meteorologists across the UK have noted the days on which they hear a rumble of thunder. These “thunder days” make an invaluable contribution to understanding global warming and changes in the weather. But sometimes observers can be conned into thinking they heard thunder, when in fact the rumble was a jet plane passing over, or a firework exploding. Continue reading...

What to look out for in the night sky over the month aheadOur notes for June concluded with advice to watch for noctilucent clouds low in the N sky between the NW after dusk and the NE before dawn. This proved timely, for the first decent display of these “night shining” electric-blue clouds of ice were sighted widely from Britain within a couple of days and there have been others since. Expect more until mid-August.Although the Sun has turned southwards, Britain’s summer twilight is slow to subside and we must wait until late in July to savour true darkness with no interfering moonlight. Continue reading...

To complete its mission Nasa spacecraft must survive circuit-frying radiation storm generated by gas giant’s magnetic fieldScientists are preparing for a bumpy ride as they send a spacecraft perilously close to Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system.The Juno probe is due to reach the gas giant on 4 July after a five-year, 1.4bn-mile journey from Earth. Continue reading...

Former Liberal leader says climate should be dominant issue of election campaign rather than ‘short-term politicking’The former Liberal leader John Hewson addressed an estimated 2000 people protesting in the Sydney suburb of Double Bay – minutes from Malcolm Turnbull’s harbourside mansion – calling on the prime minister to take stronger action on climate change.Speaking at the same time as Turnbull addressed the party faithful at the Coalition’s campaign launch, Hewson told protesters the Coalition’s lack of action on climate change was a “national disgrace”. Continue reading...

Men and women make very different decisions under pressure. But who loses their head?Mara Mather and researchers at the University of Southern California were curious to see if stress changes how people make decisions. They asked subjects to play a computer game: the goal was to make as much money as they could by inflating virtual balloons. As the animated balloon got bigger, you won more money. You could cash out at any time. If a balloon exploded, if you went one pump too far, then you received no cash for that popped balloon – and you couldn’t predict how many pumps it would take: it was entirely random.Did men and women behave all that differently in the game? Not when they were relaxed. But add stress to the equation and we see something different. Researchers asked subjects to hold their hand in painfully cold water to raise their heart rate and blood pressure. Women in this stressed state stopped inflating the balloons sooner, pumping 18% less than the relaxed women – they chose to take the sure win over the higher risk. Stressed men did just the opposite. They kept pumping – in one study averaging about 50% more pumps before calling it quits. Continue reading...

International Society for Reef Studies presidents say prime minister should prioritise reef after ‘devastating’ damageAs the largest international gathering of coral reef experts comes to a close, scientists have written to the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, calling for action to save the world’s reefs.The letter was sent to Turnbull on Saturday imploring his government to do more to conserve the nation’s reefs and curb fossil fuel consumption. Continue reading...

Leave vote sparks concerns over losing £1bn a year in funding and closing doors on researchers from EU countries

Faced with rave reviews of musicals, films, books and plays, why does Oliver Burkeman run a mile?Somewhere around the 500th headline I read in praise of Hamilton, the universally acclaimed Broadway musical due in Europe next year, I was struck by a deflating thought: I’ll probably never see it. Not just because it’s virtually impossible to get a ticket, but because so many people – people whose tastes I trust – have raved about it that I now regard the prospect with annoyance. Two years ago, it was the Richard Linklater movie Boyhood, which I still haven’t seen; then Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, which I still haven’t read. Straw polls of friends suggest I’m not alone in this reaction – call it “cultural cantankerousness” – which seems to affect books, films, plays, holiday destinations and restaurants equally. Increasingly, my first thought on seeing something described as a “must-read” is‚“Oh really? Try and make me.”It would be easy to dismiss this as simple contrarianism. After all, we live in an era that champions ostentatious dissent from the mainstream, whether you’re a journalist trolling for clicks by explaining what “Donald Trump gets right”, or a hipster embracing fashions because others disdain them. And contrarianism has its merits: “Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority,” Mark Twain said, “it is time to pause and reflect.” But unlike contrarianism, cultural cantankerousness isn’t solely about appearing different from others: even alone in a room, I’d be disinclined to pick up Ferrante’s books if others were available. Nor is it because I suspect these works of art are no good; they’re probably all sensational. When it comes to, say, TV shows about competitive baking, I resist the pull of the crowd because I’m confident I’m not missing much. In the case of Hamilton or Boyhood, I’m sure my perversity is costing me real enjoyment. Continue reading...

Generation X author offers €5,000 prize to person who most closely resembles red-haired painterDo you have a serious, grimly determined face, red hair and a beard? Do people swear you’ve got the look of Vincent van Gogh? If so, you can help the novelist and artist Douglas Coupland as he explores genetics and globalisation.Coupland, best known as the author of the 1991 novel Generation X, is searching for the world’s closest lookalike to Van Gogh and is offering a €5,000 prize. Continue reading...

Ground control to major Tim: how does it feel? “I was told that it would stop with a big jolt as the main chute opened, but in our case, it didn’t,” said Tim Peake as he recalled the moment when he feared his spacecraft’s main parachute had failed to open. In related news, the discovery of two “baby” planets this week (awww) is exciting for a number of reasons, not least because they’re still developing, giving us “a glimpse of planet formation as it occurs”. And finally, researchers explore the moral dilemma of programming driverless cars. Continue reading...

To find out whether the ‘wisdom of crowds’ is real, I asked people on Twitter to guess the weight of my scotch. With Britons voting in a referendum to leave the EU, their responses speak volumes about the ability of populations to find the right answersLet me tell you the most boringly overused statistical anecdote ever. In 1906, an ox was butchered at a fair in Plymouth. 800 people present were asked to guess it’s weight, and you will literally not be amazed when you hear what happen next. From the Victorian polymath Francis Galton, who wrote about the event, we know that average of the crowd’s estimates was within a gnat’s bingo wings of the true figure – 1207 pounds versus 1198.Fast forward about a century, and James Surowiecki popularized the concept of ‘the wisdom of crowds’ in his book of the same name. The basic idea is this: if you get a large number of people, and you ask them to answer certain types of question – usually ones involving estimation, general knowledge and spatial reasoning - the average of their answers will be as good as or better than any one of them. The theory is that random individual errors cancel each other out, while collectively the crowd acts as a kind of fishing net to gather lots of little bits of information that accumulate to guide the result. Continue reading...

Ian Sample talks to Stuart Clarke about his new book exploring exoplanets and alien worlds, and how to find another EarthMany of the thousands of alien worlds discovered around distant stars are unlike anything in our solar system. Some face perpetual hurricane-force winds; others have not one, but two suns.But some of these planets do have striking similarities to those in our own cosmic neighbourhood. Could an Earth-like planet capable of harbouring life be one of our next discoveries? Continue reading...

Dutch researchers successfully raise radishes, peas, rye and tomatoes in soil mixed to match that of the red planet – giving hope that settlers could grow foodCrops of four vegetables and cereals grown in soil similar to that on Mars have been found safe to eat by Dutch scientists.

Pumping of groundwater blamed for causing soil to collapse as development roars ahead above, with railways among infrastructure at risk, say scientistsChina’s capital is known for its horrendous smog and occasional sandstorms. Yet one of its major environmental threats lies underground: Beijing is sinking.Excessive pumping of groundwater is causing the geology under the city to collapse, according to a new study using satellite imagery that reveals parts of Beijing – particularly its central business district – are subsiding each year by as much as 11 centimetres, or more than four inches. Continue reading...

Independent UK mission hopes to analyse the atmospheres of distant worlds using off-the-shelf componentsTwinkle is a small mission with big ambitions. Designed to reveal the chemical composition, weather and history of planets orbiting distant stars, it will involve building and launching a space telescope before 2019.Twinkle is an independent mission proposed by UK scientists and engineers. It will be built in the UK, and this month it passed a key design milestone. Continue reading...

The EU referendum has led some to claim big decisions should only be made by intellectuals and elites. But gut instincts should play a huge part in how we voteTowards the end of CS Lewis’s The Silver Chair there is a fascinating little exchange between a rather dour marsh-wiggle called Puddleglum and a brilliant sorceress that has imprisoned him and his friends below ground. Tightening her grip on their minds, the witch tries to convince Puddleglum that there is no such thing as above ground, that Narnia and Aslan are all fantasies, that his quest for something better is hopeless. The friends are close to being persuaded when Puddleglum finds some inner strength to resist. His argument is stuttering. He admits that maybe he’s wrong and a dreamer. Yet his made-up world feels a lot more inspiring than the apparently real one described by the witch. “That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia.”I write in half-defence of what is now being called “post-truth politics”. In half-defence only because – obviously – I’m not enthusiastic about defending Trump-like liars and political frauds, or the idea that people in power can say anything they like regardless of its truth. But still, there is something about Puddleglum’s answer that represents a noble suspicion of what is asserted as established and uncontestable reality by intellectual elites. Continue reading...

As part of the Game of Thrones blog carnival, Dave Hone takes a look at whether Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons could fly if they were realThe dragons from the Game of Thrones books and TV series are, sadly, a fiction but that does not mean they are not worthy of some serious (OK, semi-serious) scientific thought and musings. Certainly they are not the most unlikely animals that scientists have seriously suggested could fly as made famous by the proposition in 1920 that Stegosaurus could take to the air (yes, that Stegosaurus, the one with the plates).Fictional creations in science fiction and fantasy can certainly be instructive and a great launch point for discussion and thoughts about what might be possible or plausible in reality. Many ideas and concepts have appeared in fiction before serious scientists looked at them, and some have been provided a real inspiration for later research and technological developments. With that in mind, just how plausible are these animals, in particular given their huge size? Continue reading...

Tech enables us to do more while understanding less. That’s fine, until there’s a glitch – which is why the US navy is teaching sailors how to navigate by the starsThe smartphone in your hand enables you to record a video, edit it and send it around the world. With your phone, you can navigate in cities, buy a car, track your vital signs and accomplish thousands of other tasks. And so?Each of those activities used to demand learning specific skills and acquiring the necessary resources to do them. Making a film? First, get a movie camera and the supporting technologies (film, lights, editing equipment). Second, learn how to use them and hire a crew. Third, shoot the movie. Fourth, develop and edit the film. Fifth, make copies and distribute them. Continue reading...

Known as a culinary delicacy, this coastal plant plays an important role in saltmarshes – a powerful buffer against erosion from pounding wavesSamphire is a juicy green shoot eaten as a delicacy with fish dishes. It has a briny taste because it grows in saltwater.After the summer solstice is the traditional start of the samphire harvest. The shoots are picked at dawn each day on mudflats along the coast and river estuaries, especially in the Wash of Norfolk, and then rushed to market. Continue reading...

Australian researchers find 27% of unexplained deaths have a genetic mutation, findings which could open the way for preventative treatment for existing family

The anatomy of ancient roots pushes the boundaries of palaeobiology, pointing to more diverse root biology than previously understoodMost palaeontologists tend not to think about cells too much. Our world is dominated by the parts of living things that preserve well, and on a human scale: teeth, bones, shells, or (in my case) the bits of plants which best survive the processes of decay and preservation. Soft part preservation is highly unusual, and cell-scale detail is incredibly rare. Yet it is what soft parts do that most of biology focuses on, from molecules up to ecosystems. If we want to reconstruct lost worlds, we need to think about all these scales.Where we do see cellular detail, it is thanks to permineralisation, a mode of preservation where mineral-rich fluids infiltrate the cells of an organism before decay can take hold. If you have seen a polished slice of petrified wood, with its tree rings clearly visible and beautifully preserved, you have seen a permineralised fossil. Microbial fossils, found in some of the oldest rocks on the planet, are the most ancient direct evidence of life on Earth, and by their very nature, show us cell-scale detail.

Archaeologists find coins, pottery and stretch of road in Ipplepen, beyond what was thought to be limit of Roman influenceThe discovery of a few muddy coins in a Devon paddock by a pair of amateur metal detector enthusiasts has led to the redrawing of the boundary of the Roman empire in south-west Britain.Previously it had been thought that Ancient Rome’s influence did not stretch beyond Exeter but the find has resulted in a major archaeological dig that has unearthed more coins, a stretch of Roman road and the remnants of vessels from France and the Mediterranean once full of wine, olive oil and garum – fish sauce. Continue reading...

Every day millions of internet users ask Google life’s most difficult questions, big and small. Our writers answer some of the commonest queriesIf you’re asking this question, you’re probably also wondering if perfectionism can ever be a good thing.Perfectionists are those who strive for flawlessness, for a perfect creation, outcome or performance. They set excessively high standards. They’re harshly critical in their evaluations both of themselves and of others, and they’re highly concerned about the way others evaluate them and their work. They find compromise challenging – either something is done to their own high and exacting prescription or it’s regarded as a total failure. They find it difficult to delegate, even if that means neglecting their health, relationships and wellbeing in pursuit of a “perfect” outcome. They also find it difficult to forget about a past mistake or a situation in which they feel they failed – and as a result, they’re often plagued by feelings of guilt and regret. Continue reading...

The EU referendum has stirred the blood of the UK body politic as never before. It is up to us to ensure a positive outcomeAt 5:30 pm tomorrow I will make my way to the annexe room at our local library to give blood. The appointment was fixed months ago so the fact that it falls on the same day as the vote in the EU referendum is just a coincidence. But as the 23 of June has approached and the campaigns intensified, being scarred lately by lies and xenophobia, and then disfigured horribly by the brutal killing of MP Jo Cox, the symbolic aspects of the vote and the donation have come to seem fused.I used to give blood when I was a student but, during my peripatetic early career working as a research assistant in Grenoble, Surrey and Boston (USA), I got out of the habit and only picked it up again a few years ago. I’m no great fan of needles, but as long as I look away I can cope with being pricked and drained of a pint of the red stuff. It’s for a good cause, though giving blood is clearly also an act of reciprocity: should I be in need one day, I hope the NHS will have the donations of others to treat me. Continue reading...

How does a song we dislike at first hearing become a favourite? And when we try to look different, how come we end up looking like everyone else?If you had asked me, when I was 10, to forecast my life as an adult, I would probably have sketched out something like this: I would be driving a Trans Am, a Corvette, or some other muscle car. My house would boast a mammoth collection of pinball machines. I would sip sophisticated drinks (like Baileys Irish Cream), read Robert Ludlum novels, and blast Van Halen while sitting in an easy chair wearing sunglasses. Now that I am at a point to actually be able to realise every one of these feverishly envisioned tastes, they hold zero interest (well, perhaps the pinball machines in a weak moment).It was not just that my 10-year-old self could not predict whom I would become but that I was incapable of imagining that my tastes could undergo such wholesale change. How could I know what I would want if I did not know who I would be? Continue reading...

Samantha and Clive Jefferies had been about to start fertility treatment with embryos when army veteran died suddenly

Creating different personalities can be key to personal growth. We could all learn a lot from David BowieIt’s a commonplace that we are different people in different social roles – mother, worker, friend, lover. We put on a face to meet the faces that we meet. Creating new personas, or using ones from other settings, is important in order to flourish.David Bowie’s life is a powerful illustration of how we can be more conscious of which persona should be the host of the radio show, so to speak. Three of his aunts and his half-brother had mental health issues. Bowie’s consequent fear of insanity stalked him during the years of his greatest creations, between 1969 and 1973. It suffused his lyrics and was expressed in his stage personas. Continue reading...

British astronaut relives fretful moment of re-entry journey from ISS as he calls on UK to support human spaceflightTim Peake has spoken of the fleeting moment when he feared his spacecraft’s main parachute had failed to open as he plummeted back to Earth.

Irrational feelings of disgust can cloud our moral judgment. It’s time to get wise to politicians who provoke them to gain powerWhat do Donald Trump, “moist”, and Pantone 448 C have in common? They all demonstrate the powerful sway that disgust has over us.The word “disgust” is overused, and is not well understood. It is one of the most powerful biological responses we have. It shapes how we think, feel and behave far more than we realise. It permeates and perverts politics, exercises an insidious influence on our laws, and helps trigger tragedies. Disgust at two men kissing, combined with self-disgust at his own homosexual feelings, motivated a gunman in Orlando to kill 49 people. And Donald Trump’s knack for triggering conservative America’s revulsion has helped propel him to his present political success. Continue reading...

Restoration of the La Belle, which left France on the orders of King Louis XIV in 1684 to establish a new colony, took 17 years after worms damaged the shipArchaeologists have restored the remains of a 330-year-old frigate that carried hundreds of French settlers on a doomed journey to the coast of Texas, where they set up an ill-fated colony that led to a grim end for a famous explorer.Related: Captain Cook's Endeavour: from the Great Barrier Reef to Rhode Island? Continue reading...

British astronaut Tim Peake says he’d love to go to the moon for his next mission. He was giving his first press conference since returning back to Earth three days ago at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne. He said he’d go back to space in a heartbeat and added that he’d already discussed the idea with his wife. He refused to say which way he would vote in the EU referendum. Photograph: PA Continue reading...

Primatologist creates ‘humankind evolution bed’, which apes key features of a treetop lair to provide a good night’s sleepAfter he woke feeling unusually rested and refreshed among the treetops of an east African forest, Koichiro Zamma was convinced he had ended the seemingly elusive quest for the perfect sleep.There were no memory foam pillows or mattresses, just a simple bed of cool leaves held together by a wickerwork of twigs, and built not by humans but by chimpanzees. Continue reading...

Whether at Stonehenge or in their back gardens, Guardian readers shared their pictures of the glorious strawberry moon during the summer solstice Continue reading...

Mental health problems are often blamed for violent crimes, but this is often just a deflection based on needless prejudiceWhenever a violent crime occurs, one thing that happens with depressing inevitability is the accusation that the perpetrator was mentally ill. Continue reading...

Britain has achieved more in space exploration by being a member of the EU says Clare Moody, MEP. And that has economic benefits for allBritain, long dormant in the space race, has recently taken up its full role in space science. It has done this through the EU space programmes and the European Space Agency.As a nation, we fete Tim Peake, launched by a European team to the International Space Station; and the landing of Rosetta’s Philae probe on a comet 500 million miles away. These things and so much more are the product of a collaboration of European technologies and science. It is proof positive of the ability of space to inspire. Continue reading...

How should we explain hospital statistics to the parents of potential patients? Christina Pagel and David Spiegelhalter’s website helps make sense of themKnowing your child needs heart surgery is daunting for any parent. Being able to reassure yourself that survival rates at your child’s hospital are in line with UK’s very high standards could help ease at least some of the anxiety. But would parents know where to look and if they did find them, how easy are the statistics to understand?The NHS is increasingly publishing statistics about the surgery it undertakes, following on from a movement kickstarted by the Bristol Inquiry in the late 1990s into deaths of children after heart surgery. Ever more health data is being collected, and more transparent and open sharing of hospital summary data and outcomes has the power to transform the quality of NHS services further, even beyond the great improvements that have already been made. Continue reading...

Altered radiotherapy regime would cut around 150,000 hospital visits per yearRadiotherapy for prostate cancer on the NHS could change after a new system that delivers higher-beam doses over a shorter period was found to work as well as existing treatment.

Review finds women are more likely to experience chronic pain than men, while prevalence was generally found to increase with ageChronic pain affects more than two fifths of the UK population, meaning that around 28 million adults are living with pain that has lasted for three months or longer, a new study reveals.The authors estimate that almost 44% of the population experience chronic pain, with up to 14.3% living with chronic pain that is either moderately or severely disabling.

Summer solstice coincides with a full moon this year - and if you’re lucky enough to have clear skies on Monday night, we’d love to see your photos

Did you ace today’s tennis puzzles?Earlier today I set you the following three puzzles: Continue reading...

A trial in mice has shown that the drug denosumab could become a preventative breast cancer treatment for women with BRCA1 gene mutationsWomen who have a high risk of breast cancer may benefit from a drug that is already prescribed to treat bone loss in old age, according to scientists in Australia.

Scientists believe the bodies - one a planet larger than Neptune, the other a young, ‘hot Jupiter’ - are among the youngest ever detectedTwo “baby” planets have been found orbiting close to young stars, providing new insights into how planets and solar systems form, scientists say.The planets, just a few million years old, are among the youngest ever to be discovered. Reported by two separate teams of researchers, they are both are giant planets which take around five days to orbit their stars.

Circassia Pharmaceuticals loses two-thirds of its value after significant placebo effect halts vaccine for sufferersAn Oxford company hailed as a star of British biotechnology lost almost two-thirds of its stock market value on Monday after it revealed that its experimental cat allergy treatment had failed in a late-stage trial.Circassia Pharmaceuticals floated on the stock exchange in 2014 and was seen as one of the great hopes of the sector for its research into cat allergies, which affect 24 million people in the US alone. Continue reading...