In the UK, dementia has fallen by a fifth over the past 20 years, possibly down to lifestyle and education changes, highlighting benefits of preventative actionThe proportion of older people suffering from dementia has fallen by a fifth over the past two decades with the most likely explanation being because men are smoking less and living healthier lives, according to new scientific research.

Does the EU referendum matter to the state of science in the UK? It depends on your perspectiveIt’s a matter of perspective.Like most people, there’s a set time by which I have to leave the house to catch a train. You get to see the same faces: the window cleaner with his ladder, the cyclist gamely puffing up the hill, the woman parking the red Renault.

Shisha, hookah or waterpipes are thought by some to be a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes, but the evidence doesn’t necessarily agreeWaterpipe smoking is on the rise, particularly among teenagers and young adults. And one of the likely reasons for this is the belief that shisha is less harmful than cigarette smoking. But is this the case?Shisha (also known as hookah, waterpipes, hubble bubble) is the name for pipes containing water at the bottom, and a platform at the top where flavoured tobacco (or non-tobacco herbal mixtures) is covered with foil. Hot charcoal is then placed on top of the foil, and when a user breathes through a hose, a vacuum is created, drawing smoke through the water and into the mouth, where it is inhaled into the lungs. Shisha is a social activity, with one pipe sometimes having a number of hoses, or the hose being passed around. Continue reading...

Faithful copy of ancient Syrian monument destroyed by Isis will stand in central London for three daysA monumental recreation of the destroyed Arch of Triumph in Palmyra, Syria, has been unveiled in London’s Trafalgar Square.The 1,800-year-old arch was destroyed by Islamic State militants last October and the 6-metre (20ft) model, made in Italy from Egyptian marble, is intended as an act of defiance: to show that restoration of the ancient site is possible if the will is there. Continue reading...

A new “tree of life” has prompted a re-evaluation of our place in evolution. But why are these diagrams named after the tree in the biblical Garden of Eden?Last week a team of scientists published a new “tree of life” in the journal Nature Microbiology. The evolutionary diagram, representing the interconnected family history of all life forms, deviates from earlier ones by granting significantly more space to bacteria, while eukaryotes – including fungi, plants, and animals – are relegated to one slender branch. But why is a multi-coloured, sprawling diagram like this one referred to as a tree in the first place? And why do scientists invoke the biblical image of immortality when they trace the course of evolution?Trees of life are often misread as chronologies of evolutionary history. However, because scientists cannot travel back in time, they cannot know with certainty how one species evolved into another. Instead they compare extant life forms and fossils to infer how closely related they are. In the past, trees of life were constructed by comparing visible physical characteristics. Following recent advancements in molecular biology, scientists can now calculate organisms’ degrees of affinity by comparing their genomes. The methods have been refined, yet even the most advanced representations remain approximations of life’s history. Trees are not records but models. Continue reading...

Ditch the highlighter and teach a friend. Psychology shows us a lot about how to improve our memory and avoid distractions – here are some dos and don’ts

New research resolves longstanding controversy, showing dinosaurs were already heading for extinction before the asteroid strike that sealed their fateDinosaurs were in decline long before the asteroid struck that spelt their doom, new research suggests.Dinosaurs were on the up and up from the late Triassic about 220m years ago, with new species arising faster than others went extinct. But the study reveals their fortunes had begun to change long before the catastrophic six-mile-wide asteroid hit what is now the Gulf of Mexico, 66m years ago. Continue reading...

Doing science in the cryosphere, especially in the Arctic and the Antarctic, is pretty demanding, even risky. The fact that lives have been lost in polar waters should dissuade us from naming the new NERC boat Boaty McBoatface, whose temporary jocularity would quickly fade from memory, while investigators carry on with their long-term work, essential at a time when ice-mass throughout the world is under multiple threats, especially by warming of the climate (Report, 18 April). A better choice would be the name of a young female researcher, Katherine Giles, certainly known to all aboard the new vessel. She was both a highly skilled ice analyst at University College London and a feet-on-the-ice investigator of Antarctica itself. Three years ago, clearly choosing a mode of transport in accordance with her environmentally focused professional practice, she lost her life while cycling in London traffic. No better acknowledgment of her stature could be made than by naming this ship after her.

Name overwhelmingly backed in poll but government would prefer something that ‘captures the spirit of scientific endeavour’It might be the democratic will of the people, but RRS Boaty McBoatface will probably never weigh anchor, the government has signalled.The Natural Environment Research Council, which asked the public to vote on a name for its new £200m polar research vessel, confirmed on Sunday that the votes were overwhelmingly in favour of naming the state-of-the-art ship Boaty McBoatface. The suggestion received 124,109 votes, four times more than second-placed RRS Poppy-Mai, named after a 16-month-old girl with incurable cancer. Continue reading...

Helen Sharman became the first Brit in space 25 years ago. She talks about those incredible eight days, withdrawing from the public eye – and whether Tim Peake stole her thunderWhen she dreams of space – as she still does from time to time – Helen Sharman sees how blue the Earth looks from 200 miles up.“You can’t imagine how deep the colour is,” she says. “And the detail: you can see continents, but also the wake of a ship. And, at night, the lights of cities shine up to you. There was a window where I slept, and waking up to the world right outside ... wonderful.” Continue reading...

Researchers discover extent to which DNA determines age of first sex; genetic link also found between risk-taking behaviour and early loss of virginityThe subtle impact of genetics on the age at which people lose their virginity has been teased apart by scientists and shown to have an effect on how well people fare at school.Though mostly driven by upbringing and peer behaviour, a person’s age when they first have sex is also shaped by biological factors where genes have a role to play.

Penguins aren’t the only animals known to form same-sex relationships – but they are perhaps the most well-known (and adorable). King penguin couple Stan and Olli are moving to an all-male enclosure in Hamburg while also becoming a symbol for marriage equality campaign in Germany Continue reading...

It’s not the longest-lived of tortoises, but with a provenance that stretches back over 400 years, the pet tortoise of Archbishop William Laud has got to be one of the most venerable

A ban on state-funded academics using their work to question government policy is to begin on 1 May. It’s either a cock-up or a conspiracyUnless government officials make a major U-turn in the next few days, many British scientists will soon be blocked from speaking out on key issues affecting the UK – from climate change to embryo research and from animal experiments to flood defences. This startling, and highly controversial, state of affairs follows a Cabinet Office decision, revealed by the Observer in February, that researchers who receive government grants will be banned, as of 1 May, from using the results of their work to lobby for changes in laws or regulations.The aim of the Cabinet Office edict was to stop NGOs from lobbying politicians and Whitehall departments using the government’s own funds. The effect, say senior scientists, campaigners and research groups, will be to muzzle scientists from speaking out on important issues. The government move is a straightforward assault on academic freedom, they argue. Continue reading...

No time to sort all that paperwork? Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths have a solution that will come as a real surpriseIn the early 1990s, Japanese economist Yukio Noguchi was overwhelmed by the effort of organising the papers that crossed his desk every day, so he did something drastic: he stopped trying. He began throwing every file, regardless of its contents or type, into the same box. Any time he pulled out a file to use it, he didn’t even bother to put it back where he’d got it. He just put it back in the front of the box. And a strange thing happened – his life got easier.We think of tidiness as a virtue, and mess as a vice, but the reality is there is a powerful argument in the other direction. In fact, better than an argument, even, a proof. And it comes, perhaps unexpectedly, from computer science, a discipline we think of as one of the tidiest of them all. The algorithms that computers use to manage their time and space turn out to be surprisingly useful in human lives. Continue reading...

People associate red and green with particular outcomes – so performance may depend on the background colourGive yourself one minute to try to solve those in the green box (covering up the red box – this is important), then one minute with those in the red box (covering up the green box).How many did you get in each (answers at the bottom of the page)? A 2007 study found that exposure to red was associated with significantly worse performance than exposure to green (or black and white). In fact, if you did badly overall, this may well be because the mere presence of red somewhere on the page was sufficient to impair your performance. Continue reading...

As the Queen celebrates her birthday, she joins a growing number of people living – and thriving – in very old age. So what makes a happy nonagenarian?On Thursday, the Queen celebrates her 90th birthday after 64 years of running the royal show. On 10 June, her official birthday this year, her husband Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, turns 95. Neither appear to be significantly slowing down. The Queen still embarks on royal visits, rides a horse, endures state banquets, walks nimbly backwards (from the Cenotaph), dresses stylishly and generally confounds the notion that ageing is one long continual slide into senility, if the Grim Reaper doesn’t claim you in your middle years.The Queen does, of course, have certain advantages when it comes to ageing. Income and class help. According to the charity Age UK, life expectancy at 60 for those from a higher income bracket is 23.3 years; those living on a lower income are likely to live almost six years less. Continue reading...

‘Incredible’ archaeological site was unearthed when electricians laying cables at a Wiltshire home exposed a mosaicIt was the urge to avoid playing ping-pong in the dark that led Luke Irwin to make one of Britain’s most extraordinary archaeological discoveries in recent years. Without that compulsion, he might never have found out that he lives on the site of one of the biggest Roman villas ever built in the British Isles.Irwin, a rug designer, and his wife had decided to convert an old barn on their newly purchased Wiltshire property into a room where they and their children could play table tennis, so they hired electricians to lay cables for lights. Continue reading...

A trial of ‘grooming traps’ is aiming to eradicate one of the biggest threats to Australian wildlife – feral felines Continue reading...

A competent politician gives a good answer to a sensible, if sarcastically posed, question. This should be normal.

Young children should learn about reproduction or risk future chances of parenthood through a lack of knowledge, conference hearsChildren as young as three should be taught about sex and fertility before starting at primary school or risk future chances of parenthood through a lack of knowledge, experts have warned.Young adults receive only 20% of information about fertility from official sources and often do not learn about their reproductive health until they are trying to conceive, it was revealed. Continue reading...

Average global temperature was 1.07C hotter - beating last month’s previous record increaseThe global temperature in March has shattered a century-long record and by the greatest margin yet seen for any month.

Can I get addicted, what are the short- and long-term effects and what can make cannabis harmful? Key questions answeredNot easily. Scientists estimate that the lethal dose of the drug is somewhere in the range of 15-70g. That is far beyond the daily consumption of even the most enthusiastic user.

Warning reflects growing consensus that frequent use of the drug raises the risk of psychotic disorders in vulnerable peopleThe risks of heavy cannabis for mental health are serious enough to warrant global public health campaigns, according to international drugs experts who said young people were particularly vulnerable.

Warning reflects growing consensus that frequent use of the drug raises the risk of psychotic disorders in vulnerable people• Q&A: the risks and effects of cannabisGlobal public health campaigns are needed to make clear the risks of heavy cannabis use, particularly for young people who are more susceptible to mental health problems, senior drugs researchers have said.The call for action from scientists in the UK, US, Europe and Australia reflects a growing consensus among experts that frequent cannabis use can increase the risk of psychosis in vulnerable people and lead to a range of other medical and social problems. Continue reading...

With more than 7 billion people in the world since 2011, and the recent release of JG Ballard’s apocalypic novel High Rise as a film, writers’ concerns about a population explosion were at even greater height more than 40 years ago

What has convinced some researchers that the risks of heavy cannabis use now warrant public health campaigns to warn people of potential harm?What has convinced some researchers that the risks of heavy cannabis use now warrant public health campaigns to warn people of potential harm?How real is the risk of psychosis among vulnerable users of the drug? Continue reading...

Our brains, with their intrinsic tendency to segregate, are designed to veer toward over-control. Psychedelics blow all that apart – and we can learn from themI was in San Francisco last week, visiting my brother and revisiting the years we spent there as young men. We walked through Golden Gate park, two guys in their sixties, admiring the giant sequoias, exotic gardens, and gold-green pastures cascading westward to the ocean. And we reminisced about our epic acid trip back in 1969, in that very place, when we were primed for adventure and self-discovery.I wouldn't encourage anyone to soothe existential discomfort with heroin or amphetamine. But psychedelics have a value Continue reading...

Barely a day goes by without the publication of dozens of articles about millennials. But what is it and who are they? Does everyone agree, or is it a term that’s just used to fit a narrative?Some facts about me; I presently work as a tutor/lecturer for a psychiatry programme (as well as, self-evidently, a science writer and author), but my PhD is in Behavioural Neuroscience, so I could be described as a neuroscientist, someone who scientifically studies the brain and nervous system (or is at least qualified to do so).However, given my various contributions to other publications and platforms, I’ve been referred to as a psychiatrist, a clinical psychologist, a neurologist, a neurosurgeon, and more. I’m none of these things; I cannot assess and treat patients with mental health problems, I don’t work closely with particular groups of patients to improve their wellbeing, I don’t study and treat those with nervous system disorders, I don’t perform surgery on people’s brains. It’s not just a preference, I’m genuinely unable/legally not allowed to do any of these things. Continue reading...

Climate change menacing yet another food crop by fuelling explosion in pests and diseases that are attacking cassava plantsClimate change and globalisation are fuelling an explosion in the pests and diseases that afflict south-east Asia’s cassava crops, threatening a multi-billion dollar industry and the staple food of millions of people, a report warns.Related: Bananas facing a bleak future as staple African crops decline Continue reading...

There can be few more exotic jobs than cloud herding in the Tibetan Himalayas. Shamans in the Amdo region keep watch from the mountain peaks and warn villagers when storms are coming.Their predictions are based on a combination of weather experience and trusted formulae such as “when the clouds over Ami Kodtse are like sheep’s hair, it will hail in the village”. Continue reading...

As Oxford Dictionaries comes under fire for sexist definitions, the history of terms that refer to women shows how deep negative attitudes goLinguists call it collocation: the likelihood of two words occurring together. If I say “pop”, your mental rolodex will begin whirring away, coming up with candidates for what might follow. “Music”, “song” or “star”, are highly likely. “Sensation” or “diva” a little less so. “Snorkel” very unlikely indeed.

The symbolic countdown to humanity’s end remained stuck at three minutes to the brink of the apocalypse for a second year in a row on TuesdayThe Doomsday Clock, the symbolic countdown to humanity’s end, remained stuck on the brink of the apocalypse for a second year on Tuesday, because of the continued existential threats posed by nuclear war and climate change.The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the group which created the clock in 1947, said it was keeping the clock hands set at three minutes to midnight – the closest the clock has come to destruction since the throes of the cold war in 1984. Continue reading...

All it takes is for an already infected person to be bitten by a species of carrier mosquito, which thrive in the south. Two entomologists discuss the potential of a US public health crisis and the challenges of eradicating the mosquitoesAs Brazilian authorities admit they are “badly losing the battle against the mosquito”, local insect experts say it would be remarkably easy for the Zika virus to begin spreading in the US.Related: Zika virus: its effects, how it is spread, and the possible threat to women Continue reading...

In response to the astrophysicist taking issue with his claim that earth is flat, rapper releases track larded with conspiracy theories and a shoutout for Holocaust denier David IrvingAmerican rapper BoB has taken his claims that the Earth is flat and written a rap, in which he restates his views and disses award-winning astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson who refuted the singer’s arguments on Monday.When the singer repeatedly tweeted that the Earth was flat, Tyson pointed out some flaws in his logic. BoB claimed that the New York City skyline shouldn’t be visible from 60 miles away at Harriman State Park’s Bear Mountain. He said it would be hidden behind 170 feet of curved Earth, if the planet were not flat. Continue reading...

Uber is trialling children’s toys and mirrors in a bid to prevent drunk customers becoming aggressive. But do such simple techniques really work?As anyone with a toddler, terrier or a black belt in karate will know, distraction techniques can work wonders. The latest to realise this is the taxi company Uber, which is hoping distraction will protect its drivers from being assaulted by drunken fares. In one US city, Uber drivers are taking part in an experiment in which they leave a Bop It – a noisy, electronic children’s toy – on the back seat, for their tipsier passengers to play with. Drivers, the company hopes, will be safer from physical attacks, though not, presumably, from intense irritation.“An intoxicated rider who is engaged in something interesting is less likely to be irritable and aiming aggression at the driver,” said Joe Sullivan, Uber’s chief security officer. It is not the only behaviour-modification experiment the company is trying. In a rather less infantilising move, it has also advised drivers to install mirrors on the back of seats so passengers can see themselves – the thinking is that this is more likely to make them aware of their actions. Continue reading...

University of Helsinki study says use of antibiotics in early years ‘may have long-term effects on the metabolic and immunological health of the child’The use of antibiotics in young children may alter the natural populations of gut microbes in a way that leaves them predisposed to weight gain and asthma in later childhood, according to new research.The study of 236 children aged between two and seven, with a median age of five, backs earlier research on mice and children indicating the negative consequences of early antibiotic use. Antibiotics are the most commonly used drugs in childhood populations of western countries. Continue reading...

My father, Tony Buffery, who has died aged 76, was a notable neuropsychologist once described by Clive James as having “a mind from outer space”. While at Cambridge University in the 1960s, he was a member of the Footlights and Beyond the Fringe revues, and began a career as a writer and performer.The younger son of Winifred, a typist, and George, who worked on the railways, Tony was born in Birmingham, weighing an astonishing 14lb. He gained a place at Mosley grammar school, where he excelled not only academically but in the javelin. He went to Hull University, then Cambridge to do his PhD with a thesis entitled Baboons I Have Known. Continue reading...

Objectionable phrases may be widely used, but Oxford Dictionaries has a responsibility to define them by other meansA Canadian anthropologist, Michael Oman-Reagan, tweeted Oxford Dictionaries last week to ask it why “rabid feminist” is its Oxford Dictionaries Online (ODO) usage example for the word “rabid”. Oxford Dictionaries responded by suggesting Oman-Regan may be a rabid feminist. It has since apologised for the “flippant” response and is reviewing the example sentence.Other sexist ODO sample sentences, according to Oman-Regan, include those for words such as shrill, nagging and bossy. Oxford Dictionaries has explained that these sentences reflect common usage – which I do not doubt – and do not represent the views of the publisher Oxford University Press. But they also, of course, reflect an editorial decision. Continue reading...

Rapper B.o.B. has been criticised for publicly insisting the Earth is flat. You may think his claims are ludicrous, but the truth is: they don’t go far enoughRapper B.o.B. has caused a furore by tweeting that the Earth is in fact flat, and you only need to look at the evidence to come to the same conclusion. Obviously, prominent scientists have openly mocked this claim, showing the many ways in which it is ludicrous, no matter how many people insist otherwise. They’re right though; sadly. B.o.B. is wrong. His nonsense claims, such as the idea that Earth’s curvature should be visible at certain distances but isn’t, are just that: nonsense. His comments and insistent statements are little more than childish naivety. In truth, the conspiracy goes much, much deeper than that.Related: 'I didn't wanna believe it either': Rapper BoB insists the Earth is flat Continue reading...

Even with its flaws, last year’s Ex Machina perfectly captured the curious relationship between artificial intelligence, God and ego. A tiny change in its closing moments would have given it an intriguing new dimension.It’s taken me a year and a several viewings to collect my thoughts about Ex Machina. Superficially it looks like a film about the future of artificial intelligence, but like most science fiction, it tells us more about the present than the future; and like most discussion around AI, it ends up reflecting not technological progress so much as human egos. (Spoilers ahead!)

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issues travel warning for outbreak areas, including Micronesia, French Polynesia and Latin AmericaThe Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has advised pregnant women to reconsider travel to any area where outbreaks of the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus has occurred, including Micronesia, French Polynesia and Latin America.Related: City at centre of Brazil's Zika epidemic reeling from disease's insidious effects Continue reading...

In this YouTube video Shubham Banerjee explains his low-cost Braille printer created from Lego. He designed the printer at the family kitchen table in Santa Clara, an hour south of San Francisco. The idea is to print Braille reading materials from a personal computer or electronic device on to paper using raised dots. His startup, Braigo Labs, has received undisclosed seed capital from backers who think it could shake up the market for the visually impaired Continue reading...

Drug companies evaluate existing vaccine technology as only Canada and Chile expected to be free of mosquito-borne diseaseTwo of the world’s biggest drug companies are evaluating whether existing vaccine technology could be used against the Zika virus, as the World Health Organisation warned the mosquito-borne virus was likely to spread to all countries in the Americas except for Canada and Chile.The WHO director general, Margaret Chan, told the organisation’s executive board that she had asked Carissa Etienne, head of the WHO in the Americas, to brief the board later this week on its response to the outbreak. The mosquito-borne Zika virus has been linked to brain deformities in babies. Continue reading...

Emissions of reactive nitrogen have increased more than 10-fold over the past 150 years, contributing to deaths from air and water pollutionYou’ve heard of managing your carbon footprint. But how about your nitrogen footprint? Emissions of reactive nitrogen into the environment have increased more than 10-fold over the past 150 years, contribute to deaths from air pollution and water pollution, and have countless other impacts including acid rain and degradation of ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef.Now, for the first time, researchers have calculated the average nitrogen footprint of people from 188 countries, as well as where exactly they cause that pollution, helping pave the way to policy that could help the world reduce its emissions of reactive nitrogen. Continue reading...

Monkeys that develop autism-like symptoms could be used to identify brain circuits involved in common autistic behaviours and test new treatmentsGenetically modified (GM) monkeys that develop symptoms of autism have been created to help scientists discover treatments for the condition.The macaques carry a genetic fault that causes a rare disorder in humans called MeCP2 duplication syndrome. This produces a wide range of medical conditions, some of which mirror those seen in autism, such as difficulties with social interactions.

Cheap and effective, CBT became the dominant form of therapy, consigning Freud to psychology’s dingy basement. But new studies have cast doubt on its supremacy – and shown dramatic results for psychoanalysis. Is it time to get back on the couch? Continue reading...