Stuart Clark, author of the Guardian’s astronomy blog, explains the coming month’s astronomical occurance – the apparent alignment of the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Clark says the event is a coincidence, since all the planets move at different speeds and with different orbits

Researchers hope to develop a high-bandwidth, implantable neural interface to open the channel between the human brain and modern electronicsThe US government is researching technology that it hopes will turn soldiers into cyborgs, allowing them to connect directly to computers.The US military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) has unveiled a research programme called Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) which aims to develop an implantable neural interface, connecting humans directly to computers. Continue reading...

It started as a pithy way of calling out people who parade their convictions just to look good. But it’s flawed and out of control

The Shot Show held in Las Vegas is the world’s largest annual trade show for shooting, hunting and law enforcement professionals, featuring 1,600 exhibitors showing off their latest products to more than 62,000 attendees Continue reading...

Every day millions of internet users ask Google some of life’s most difficult questions, big and small. Our writers answer some of the commonest queriesWell, why don’t you, you ungrateful wretch?Appreciation seems such a half-hearted emotion, the sort of declaration you’d expect to see on a barrel-scraping greeting card: “I appreciate you.” Which would be a good card to send, when that’s the best that can be said. Appreciation is the anaemic, weakling cousin to the chest-bursting emotions of love and anger. Appreciation never moved mountains, and no one ever cried into their pillow listening to a song about appreciation. Continue reading...

Tests by British company found that introducing sterilised males reduced the number of disease-transmitting female larvae by 82% in a yearGenetically modified mosquitoes could help Brazil combat the Zika virus, tests results released on Tuesday by a British biotech company suggest.Related: Brazil downplays threat from zika virus in run up to Carnival and Rio Olympics Continue reading...

Scientists say the reason for the unusual sight is that Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be on the same side of the sun at the same timeFor the next month, Earthlings will be treated to a spectacular sight, with all five planets visible to the naked eye lining up together, stretching from the horizon to the moon. But just don’t call it a “planetary alignment”.

University of Southampton research finds public places can feature high frequency sounds beyond occupational health limitsExposure to high frequency sounds beyond the range of human hearing from public address systems, loudspeakers and door sensors in public places could be making people feel ill, research suggests.Increasing exposure to ultrasound in the air was recorded in railway stations, museums, libraries, schools and sports stadiums in which it is claimed people have complained of nausea, dizziness, migraine, fatigue and tinnitus. Continue reading...

Your article on a new design of incandescent lightbulb (G2, 13 January) perpetuates the common myth that the original was invented by Thomas Edison. While a number of people were working on this at the time, it was the British scientist Joseph Swan who demonstrated the first viable incandescent electric bulb in 1878, some 18 months before Edison did. Edison, however, had the perspicacity to file his patents before Swan (and before he’d produced a working example).

My friend John Chubb, who has died aged 82, made a huge contribution to the study and understanding of electrostatics, a branch of physics that deals with the build-up of electric charges created by objects coming into contact with other surfaces – for instance, when a balloon is rubbed on to someone’s hair.John was responsible for many papers and conference presentations on the topic, and wrote an influential book, An Introduction to Electrostatic Measurements (2010), which provided many insights from his work over a 50-year period. He also created measuring instruments that are still commonly used in studies of electrostatic phenomena, including in the fields of industrial safety and lightning prediction, selling them through his own company, John Chubb Instrumentation. He took a great deal of interest in how his instruments were used, and was always ready to share his knowledge and experience with people who bought them. Continue reading...

Since nature is universal, and physics is the language, maybe we can reach out to refugees through physics. Does this work in practice? And if so, how? Guest post from Herbi Dreiner

Scientists reveal that headless men believed to be gladiators have descendants in Wales – and one hailed from Middle EastThe origins of a group of men whose decapitated corpses were discovered in a Roman cemetery in York have been traced through genome technology. It has been revealed that one man came from as far away as modern Syria or Palestine, and that the descendants of others now live in Wales.The 1,800-year-old skeletons of more than 80 individuals, all aged under 45 when they died, have been puzzling archaeologists since they were excavated more than a decade ago by the York Archaeological Trust. The men – many of whom were taller than average and well built – may have been gladiators, soldiers or criminals whose violent deaths were arena entertainment. Continue reading...

Quick fixes such as abstinence and detox diets often do more harm than good – the magic bullet is appealing, but there’s no such thing’Tis the season to be abstemious. Christmas is over, most of us over-indulged, and now we need to recover. Enter the period of good intentions, characterised by a surge in gym-going and dieting before most of us fall off whichever bandwagon we jumped on and revert to our old patterns of eating and (in)activity, often with an added sense of guilt and failure. Happy New Year, indeed.There’s a lot of debate about the merits of enforced abstinence. Initiatives such as dry January may feel virtuous but they won’t necessarily do a lot to help you understand your relationship with alcohol and the factors that influence your consumption. And, of course, there’s the possibility that you’ll feel so good about your teetotal month that you overcompensate for it in February. Two-thirds of those who participate in dry January report a reduction in consumption that is sustained six months later, but the evidence is not conclusive. We know that asking people how much alcohol they drink typically results in under-reporting by some 40%-60%. No wonder even the BMJ is asking, “Could campaigns like dry January do more harm than good?” Continue reading...

Falling into a black hole is a bit like going over Niagara Falls in a canoe – there is no way back, says Professor Stephen Hawking. He is giving this year’s BBC Reith Lecture exploring these collapsed stars. They challenge the very nature of space and time, as they contain a singularity - a phenomenon where the normal rules of the universe break down. Photograph: Philip Toscano/PA Wire

Any human interaction was tortuous to me. I felt suicidal, but then I got a job in the City and my life started to changeSocial anxiety disorder seems to be rooted, as Sartre plausibly pointed out, in the fact that most of what we are is a projection of what others think of us. We should all be afraid of “the look” of another person because it’s an unfathomable abyss into our very essence. And yet, despite its roots in our imagination, social anxiety is an unremittingly “physical” disease. You can have long-term therapy, or read as much philosophy on the subject as you like, but your body won’t care. The next time you interact with another human being on the bus, at the checkout, or on the phone, waves of adrenaline flood your body all the same, resulting in a racing heart, faltering voice and glowing red cheeks.Current scientific opinion attributes all this to serotonin imbalances and overactive amygdalae. There are also genetic factors at work which try to explain why social anxiety tends to run in families. Whatever the ultimate cause, the stubbornly physical basis of social anxiety suggests that there is no immediate cure. One doctor informed me that it’s just something that has to be lived with. A harsh conclusion indeed, and one that I and other social anxiety sufferers have found to be made much harsher by the nature of the modern world. Continue reading...

Researchers scoured 50 houses and found they were inhabited by 579 types of arthropods in study thought to be first of its kind

Researchers have developed biocompatible brain implants that can monitor brain injury before completely dissolvingAn international team of researchers has developed a miniaturized wireless electronic device that can monitor temperature and pressure when implanted into the brains of mice, and then dissolve to be naturally resorbed into the soft tissue once they are no longer needed.Electronic implants are used widely in the treatment of numerous medical conditions, ranging from pacemakers and defibrillators given to cardiac patients, electrode arrays used for deep brain stimulation in patients with Parkinson’s Disease, and devices used to monitor intracranial temperature and pressure inside the skulls of people with severe traumatic brain injuries. Continue reading...

Do you and your partner fight about your finances, or dodge the issue at every opportunity? Here’s how couples can start to discuss it calmlyThis afternoon I have to undertake a secret mission. The object? Two dresses and two glass tumblers that I purchased online in the Anthropologie sale. The destination? Greenwich post office. The challenge? To sneak out of the flat, pick up the goods, then sneak back in and get the dresses into my wardrobe without my husband seeing me and saying: “Woman, what is wrong with you? You could wear a different dress every day and not have to do any laundry until November! After Christmas, you now have more Bella Freud jumpers than I have jumpers full stop! Stop spending money!”

Diving off Guadalupe Island was a biologist’s paradise for shark specialist Lauren Smith. The best bit? Seeing the drama of a great white shark defecating ...The shampoo bottle skittered away from my grasp and looped around the shower tray for the umpteenth time. I had never taken sea sickness medication, but I was beginning to think perhaps now might be a good time to start. I was aboard the Southern Sport, leaving behind the port of Ensenada, Mexico and with it the calm of All Saints Bay, and was now several hours into the journey heading south-west into the north Pacific.

Women with thin needles inserted into body had same results as those who had their skin stimulated with blunt-tipped needlesTraditional Chinese acupuncture is no better than a fake version for treating menopause symptoms, says a new study.But, after eight weeks of treatment, both led to a 40% improvement in the severity and frequency of hot flushes, which was sustained six months later. Continue reading...

Speaking ahead of his BBC Reith Lecture on black holes, Stephen Hawking discusses the danger inherent in progress and the chances of disaster on EarthThe human race faces one its most dangerous centuries yet as progress in science and technology becomes an ever greater threat to our existence, Stephen Hawking warns.The chances of disaster on planet Earth will rise to a near certainty in the next one to ten thousand years, the eminent cosmologist said, but it will take more than a century to set up colonies in space where human beings could live on among the stars.

Study of mice finds that the drug can trigger out-of-control ‘autophagy’ – a process by which cells digest themselvesHigh doses of cocaine can cause the brain to eat itself, research suggests.A study of mice found that the drug can trigger out-of-control “autophagy”, a process by which cells digest themselves. Continue reading...

The truth about Alf, Bert, Charlie, Derek, Ethel and Freda.Earlier today I set you the following puzzle: Continue reading...

A blooming zinnia follows a successful lettuce harvest at the International Space Station, taking astronauts a step closer to their aim of growing fresh food for a future manned mission to MarsWhen there is no “up”, which way does a flower grow? Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have answered this and other zero-gravity gardening conundrums by growing the first flower in space.The orange zinnia looks like a daisy and has a reputation for being one of the easiest flowers to grow on Earth. In space, though, it was a challenge getting it to sprout. The flowers seemed doomed in December after four plants developed mould. But at the weekend, US astronaut Scott Kelly, who has been taking care of them, tweeted a photo of a solitary blooming zinnia with the Earth in the distance behind it, with the hashtag #SpaceFlower and the words: “Yes, there are other life forms in space!” Continue reading...

Black-legged tick inhabits twice as many counties as in 1998, CDC reports, with 320% increase in number of north-eastern counties seen as high risk for diseaseTicks that can carry the debilitating illness Lyme disease have significantly spread across the US over the past 20 years and are now found in nearly half of all American counties, including areas where they’ve never previously been documented, a new analysis has found.

Vegetarianism may seem straightforward, but when you get down to the scientific details, it becomes less clear. With advancements in food technology, it’s likely to get even more confusingWould you eat a jellyfish? The most likely answer would be “no; they look disgusting. And they’re probably poisonous. Shall I wash it down with a nice glass of chilled urine?” But, inevitably, some people do eat them. They might even enjoy them, the maniacs.But Cnidaria cookery methods aside, consider this; would it be OK for a vegetarian to eat jellyfish? If not, why not? Continue reading...

Researchers at France’s Haute-Touche nature reserve develop techniques to aid the conservation of threatened speciesIt’s 9am and the rush is already on in the animal operating theatre at Haute-Touche nature reserve in central France. Seven operations on Japanese Sika does (Cervus nippon) are scheduled between now and lunchtime. With each procedure lasting 20 to 30 minutes, there’s no time to be lost.Assisted by two technicians, Katia Ortiz, one of the team’s vets, carries an anaesthetised deer into the theatre where biologist Yann Locatelli and his assistant are waiting in full surgical gear. Continue reading...

Re-usable space rocket owned by Elon Musk experiences another ‘rapid unscheduled disassembly’ crash while trying to landElon Musk’s SpaceX has experienced another example of “rapid unscheduled disassembly” – which is Musk jargon for “my rocket exploded”.The spaceflight company has been testing a re-usable version of its Falcon 9 rocket, the sub-orbital rocket which it uses, among other things, to deliver supplies to the International Space Station (it started in 2012, making it the first private company to visit the ISS). Continue reading...

The belief that anything can be flawless is a mirage. Embracing imperfection is the best way to truly improve our work and relationshipsA little perfectionism can be a good thing. It generates an image of a future we care about and the energy to strive for it. But too much and we can quickly become overwhelmed, lose confidence, frustrate others and underperform. So it’s crucial to be able to tolerate, and even embrace, imperfection at work, at home and in relationships.Related: Perfectionists relax: we’re good enough as we are | Laya Maheshwari Continue reading...

Six ants are on a stick. Will you twig what happens next?Hello guzzlers.Many classic puzzles involve animals, such as the ones about a bird flying between trains, a fox and a goose crossing a river and four dogs chasing each other. Continue reading...

SpaceX’s attempt to land its Falcon 9 rocket on a barge appears successful until the rocket tips over and explodes into a ball of flames. The company’s founder, Elon Musk, posted this footage to his Instagram page, captioning it: ‘Falcon lands on droneship, but the lockout collet doesn’t latch on one [of] the four legs, causing it to tip over post landing. Root cause may have been ice buildup due to condensation from heavy fog at liftoff.’ Although it appears to be a setback for the private spaceflight company, SpaceX did manage to land the rocket on solid ground in December Continue reading...

Scientists have registered a constellation shaped like a lightning bolt in honour of David Bowie and his out-of-this-world talentDavid Bowie has been given his own constellation, consisting of seven stars that shine in the shape of the lightning bolt.Belgian astronomers announced the registration of the constellation, which appropriately sits in the vicinity of Mars, following the artist’s death last week. Continue reading...

Researchers will soon begin analysing radiographic particles collected inside Egypt’s Bent Pyramid to search for clues about its originAn international team of researchers they will soon begin analysing cosmic particles collected inside Egypt’s Bent Pyramid to search for clues as to how it was built and learn more about the 4,600-year-old structure.Mehdi Tayoubi, president of the Heritage Innovation Preservation Institute, said on Sunday that plates planted inside the pyramid last month have collected data on radiographic particles known as muons that rain down from the Earth’s atmosphere. Continue reading...

Five other men are still in a stable condition after testing the pain-relief drug, although doctors fear three may have suffered irreversible brain damageA French man in his 20s who volunteered to take part in a drug trial has died after serious side effects left him brain dead.Five other men are still in hospital “in a stable condition”, but doctors fear three of them may have suffered irreversible brain damage.

Five other volunteers in stable condition after testing pain and mood disorder drug for Portuguese company BialA man who was left brain dead after suffering serious side effects during a drug trial in north-west France has died, according to the hospital that had been treating him.Five other volunteers, hospitalised a week ago when the drug trial went wrong, were in a stable condition, the Rennes hospital said in a statement on Sunday. Continue reading...

Overhauling your life, whether it’s your home, job or your relationship, can seem an impossible task. But these five self-help gurus are here to get you startedWhatever you know or even think you know about mindfulness, Rohan Gunatillake wants you to consider his perspective. “Mindfulness needs to be normalised,” he says. “Why have we been trying to import a system designed for medieval Asian monastics into our culture?” Continue reading...

Put your iPad down, ditch the phone and pick up a book. It could boost your circle of sympathyFortunate owners of working fireplaces in my neighbourhood have their chimneys swept by a father-and-son team of great kindliness and charm. Once every couple of years is enough, they say, unless you keep a fire burning every day. So they were surprised when a new customer called them back after only a month. Had they done something wrong? No, not at all. Eventually they realised that she wanted company so badly she was prepared to pay for quite unnecessary work.What have we become? A society in which someone can have hundreds of online friends and yet go for days without human contact. Where the face-to-face encounters that once punctuated daily lives – and gave opportunities for the sort of casual conversation which, no matter how banal or weather-centred, makes real connections between one person and another – have largely been replaced by automaton. We swipe and scan; we click; we text people in the next room instead of speaking to them; we even check our library books out by ourselves when once we might have chatted to a friendly person with an ink pad and a date stamp. Continue reading...

An Imperial College London team is pioneering nanoscale robotic surgical instruments which can, among other uses, better target cancer cells with chemotherapy drugsWhen Chinese president Xi Jinping visited Britain last October, one of the more unusual gifts he received was one he couldn’t actually see – a model of the Great Wall of China which was the same width as a human hair.Researchers at Imperial College had used advanced 3D printing techniques to make the model. But the more practical use of the technology is for the development of advanced surgical instruments. The detail of these precision surgery instruments cannot be seen by the human eye, but they are expected to replace the large robotic instruments used in operating theatres at present. Continue reading...

A new species of dinosaur discovered in Argentina is forcing scientists to tackle some improbable questionsHow do you eat a skip full of food every day without ever chewing? How do you walk on tiptoes when you’re the length of four London buses? How do you have sex when you weigh 70 tons? While the answers to these three questions is probably “with great difficulty”, scientists are tackling such improbable questions after uncovering what is undoubtedly the biggest dinosaur excavation of all time.In the spring of 2014, a lone farmer scanned his land, looking for a lost sheep. He thought there was something odd about the rocky ledge his grizzled old sheep was perched on. Dinosaur finds aren’t uncommon in the area but the outcrop was huge – could it really be a bone? He called in the scientists. When they determined that the ledge was in fact the 8ft thigh bone of a dinosaur, this sleepy Argentinian farm became the most important dinosaur dig site for more than 100 years. Continue reading...

When Nasa first sent lunar probes into space, the world got a glimpse of the moon and Earth in orbit. Recently enhanced, the images star in a new exhibition celebrating five decades of planetary photographyFor more than half a century, robot spaceships have swept through our solar system, returning data that has transformed our knowledge of our sister planets. We now know that Venus is an acid-drenched, scorching hell, Mars is desolate and virtually airless, while several of Jupiter’s moons may have liquid oceans below their surfaces.These missions have provided science with some remarkable revelations, matched only by the equally striking photographs of these alien worlds that have been beamed back to Earth: the braided rings of Saturn; the plumes of water being ejected into space from its moon, Enceladus; and great volcanoes of Jupiter’s moon, Io. Continue reading...

For Britain to remain a world leader in science and engineering, researchers need to have proper resourcesThere’s a hair care advert that says “There’s more to life than hair… but it’s a good place to start.” I have been pondering the science equivalent in recent weeks. There surely is more to life than science. But, my goodness, it’s a good place to start. This very week, in 1986, British scientists were so worried about the fate of science in this country that they placed a full page ad in the Times calling on the public to “ask your Member of Parliament to help save British science before it is too late”. The advert was paid for by contributions from 1,500 scientists across the country, long before the notion of crowdsourcing. This extraordinary uprising was prompted by a dire situation. The advert spoke of “science in crisis”, “opportunities missed”, “scientists emigrate”, “whole areas of research in jeopardy”. In a time of swingeing cuts to universities and a falling science budget, scientists felt they needed a voice to stand up for science in parliament. The pressure group Save British Science was founded, later renamed the Campaign for Science and Engineering, and we have strived to provide that voice ever since. So was science saved? Does it still need saving?Related: Science is vital if Britain is to prosper – make sure your MP knows that Continue reading...

Discretion and reserve were once admired. Now the extroverts are exalted and the quiet seen to be flawedThanks to a Freedom of Information request, following a trip to Iraq, newly revealed Foreign Office emails have indicated the lengths to which the mayor of London – also, allegedly, the MP for somewhere or other – will go to get himself noticed.Since no mayoral word has emerged, to advise why Johnson needed to sprawl on a mountainside with a Kalashnikov, it looks as if this level of visible farce has simply become essential to his role as the country’s premier show-off. Albeit he is now competing principally against himself. Photographs of Johnson belly down in the dirt, purporting to “strengthen economic ties between London and Kurdistan”, had to outshine all his earlier public performances: knocking over a 10-year-old Japanese boy, giving his wife a lift on his bicycle, mussing his hair on Have I Got News for You, dancing like a loon at the Olympics. Continue reading...