Astronaut thanks ground teams for ‘exhilarating’ spacewalk, which ended early after water discovered in colleague’s helmetThe selfie will never be the same again. Tim Peake has beaten the likes of Kim Kardashian at their own game by posting the ultimate self-portrait on Twitter during his historic spacewalk on Friday.About four hours after becoming the first Briton to walk in space, Peake tweeted three pictures – including one of himself – as he shared his feelings on the landmark occasion. Continue reading...

Photographs from the Eyewitness series Continue reading...

The vice-president said he would push for more funding and use his influence to ‘break down silos’ to cure the disease, which took his son’s life last year

Two spacewalking astronauts – including Britain’s first, Tim Peake – successfully restored full power to the International Space Station on Friday. But the spacewalk was cut short after water leaked into one of the men’s helmets in a scary repeat of a near-drowning two-and-a-half years ago. Kopra and his spacewalking partner, British spaceman Timothy Peake, took care of their main job early on in the spacewalk before returning to the station

The team used historical documents and modern archaeological techniques to determine that Proctor’s Ledge is where 19 people were hanged in 1692A team of researchers using historical documents and 21st-century archaeological techniques has confirmed the exact site where 19 innocent people were hanged during the Salem witch trials more than three centuries ago.The site, known as Proctor’s Ledge, is a small city-owned plot of woods nestled between two residential streets and behind a Walgreens pharmacy, said Salem State University history professor Emerson “Tad” Baker, a member of the seven-person team, which announced its findings this week. Continue reading...

Government promises to investigate ‘unprecedented’ accident as six volunteers remain in hospital after trial for pharmaceutical company BialOne man is brain dead and three others could face irreversible neurological damage after they volunteered to take part in a drugs trial in western France.Six volunteers remain in hospital in Rennes, Brittany, after taking part in the Phase 1 trial for a new experimental medication designed to treat mood disorders such as anxiety, which was under development by the Portuguese pharmaceutical company Bial. Continue reading...

Friday’s main task was completed successfully, but water in Tim Kopra’s helmet meant the astronauts were ordered back into the ISS, leaving work undoneThe moment was hardly lost on him. As Tim Peake clambered out of the International Space Station he nodded to the union flag emblazoned on his shoulder. To wear the patch was, he said, “a huge privilege, and a proud moment”.Britain’s first European Space Agency astronaut began his maiden spacewalk shortly before 1pm on Friday as the orbiting station soared 250 miles above Australia. By the time he returned inside, he had circled the planet at least three times and witnessed six stunning sunsets or sunrises.

The main task was completed right on schedule, but both astronauts were ordered to return inside after water appeared in Tim Kopra’s helmet6.50pm GMTI think that’s enough spacefaring excitement for one day. There you have it: Britain’s first ESA astronaut has completed his first spacewalk. It may have ended early, but when Scott Kelly, the station commander, got Peake out of is spacesuit, the man from Chichester was grinning like a Cheshire cat. Good to see both Tims safely back inside.Thanks to all of you who joined us for what turned out to be a truly exhilarating day.6.08pm GMTScott Kelly and Yuri Malenchenko have just pulled Tim Peake inside what’s called the equipment lock. Time for Tim Peake to doff his spacesuit now. Sergey Volkov has taken a picture and I’ll bet he caught Peake grinning from ear to ear. Continue reading...

French health minister, Marisol Touraine, and Rennes university neurology professor Gilles Edan speak to the press on Friday afternoon after six people fall critically ill in Rennes after taking part in a drug trial from Portuguese pharmaceutical company Bial. Touraine confirmed that the victims were men between 28 and 49, confirming that one of the six is reported as brain deadFrench drug trial leaves one brain dead and five critically ill Continue reading...

Ninety people took some dosage of experimental drug being tested for Portuguese pharmaceutical company BialOne person is brain dead and five others are seriously ill after taking part in a drug trial for Portuguese pharmaceutical firm Bial at a clinic in north-west France.The French health ministry said the six male patients aged 28 to 49 had been in good health until taking the oral medication. They started taking the drug on 7 January. One person started feeling ill on Sunday and the other five afterwards. The brain dead volunteer was admitted to hospital in Rennes on Monday. Other patients went in on Wednesday and Thursday. Continue reading...

Cute internet videos and animals in children’s entertainment with human-like intentions can be useful, harmful or both – depending on whom you askHumans have long attempted to portray the natural world as reflections of us, from giving storms names such as Desmond or Katrina to putting tasteful blue clothing on Donald Duck and Peter the Rabbit. But the science of how much humans actually share with other animals is still keenly contested.

Two astronauts - including Britain’s first spacewalker - venture outside on Friday morning to restore full power to the International Space Station. British astronaut Timothy Peake and NASA’s Timothy Kopra work to replace an electronic box that failed two months ago, slashing station power by one-eighth

SNP MP gives Vulcan salute during debate on UK space industry as William Shatner and George Takei voice their supportThe Star Trek stars William Shatner and George Takei have backed the Scottish National party’s ambition to establish Europe’s first spaceport in the UK.The SNP MP Philippa Whitford led a debate in the House of Commons on Thursday on the future of the UK space industry, which she concluded by giving the Vulcan salute. The MP made the case for a spaceport to be established in her constituency of Central Ayrshire. Continue reading...

Obama’s address was relevant to how knowledge and evidence are used in democracy. Politicians need to spell out how science will inform their decisions

France’s health minister Marisol Touraine says that ‘serious accident’ seems to have occurred during a drugs trial. One person has been left brain dead and five others are seriously ill after taking part in the trial for an unnamed pharmaceutical firm at a clinic in the north-west of the country

Measures to tighten the US visa waiver programme passed through Congress last month, impacting hundreds of thousands of Iranian AmericansDr Firouz Naderi has served America for 35 years, climbing the ranks at Nasa, landing spacecraft on Mars and meeting Michelle Obama at the White House. But lately, he feels he has been treated like a second-class citizen in the country he calls home.Iranian-born Naderi, a senior scientist at America’s space agency, fears that new visa regulations passed in the wake of the Paris and San Bernardino terror attacks will unfairly discriminate against himself and hundreds of thousands of Iranian Americans – even those born in the US. Continue reading...

British astronaut Tim Peake takes his first spacewalk on Friday. Peake’s Stint outside the International Space Station (ISS) will last more than six hours, and will involve him and his Nasa partner Tim Kopra traversing almost the entire length of the space station to replace a broken power unit, fit a new valve, and lay tens of metres of cable

A century after the publication of the general theory of relativity, sci-fi is still grappling with its implications, and still trying to explain it to the rest of usA century after Albert Einstein formulated general relativity, the theory holds a profoundly strange place in modern life. On one hand, it underwrites all the marvels of technology today, from smartphones to space probes. We wouldn’t be tweeting from orbit around Mercury without the physics Einstein published in 1915. On the other hand, while a fair number of people can tell you what special relativity’s E=MC stands for, a vanishingly small number can claim to really understand the universe as Einstein’s famous equation reveals it to us.The popular understanding of relativity comes almost entirely from science fiction. A crew of astronauts crash land on a planet populated by apes, where humans are mutes kept as cattle. But it’s only when Charlton Heston screams “You maniacs, you blew it up!” at Lady Liberty that the other moon boot drops: we’re on Earth after a nuclear apocalypse, transported into the future as a result of time dilation, an effect of relativity predicted by Einstein’s theory. Continue reading...

State media reports Chinese mission to survey previously unexplored far hemisphere in 2018China will launch a mission to land on the dark side of the moon in two years’ time, state media has reported, in what will be a first for humanity.

We look at the science of uncertainties, taking in meteoroid impacts and gravity, to ask what role dark matter may have played in the demise of the dinosaurs

Astronomers find brightest star explosion ever, located 3.8bn light-years away, which is more luminous than entire Milky WayAstronomers have discovered the brightest star explosion ever, a super supernova that easily outshines our entire Milky Way.An international team revealed “the most powerful supernova observed in human history” Thursday in the latest Science journal. The astronomers used a network of telescopes around the world to spot the record-breaking supernova last year. Continue reading...

The as yet unnamed Titanosaur species was found in Patagonia and stands 122ft long – too big for the gallery at the American Museum of Natural HistoryPaleontologists at New York’s American Museum of Natural History unveiled a cast skeleton of the world’s biggest dinosaur, a new species of Titanosaur, to a packed crowd of media on Thursday morning.“There’s nothing like finding a great new fossil. Especially a big one, like this one,” declared Michael Novack, the museum’s senior vice-president. Continue reading...

Investigation of deaths in Bihar state indicates children with low blood sugar are vulnerable because toxins in lychee interfere with food metabolismResearchers confirmed that a toxic chemical in the fruit of the Asian lychee tree is responsible for outbreaks of a fatal brain sickness in children in India’s Bihar state, where the fruit is commercially grown.

Whatever the animal was demonstrating – empathy, sexual exploitation or something else – one certainty is the human impulse to anthropomorphiseIt was a photograph that touched the world. An intimate portrait of a dying mother kangaroo being gently cradled by her mate, while with her last breath she reached out to caress her innocent baby.Yet, as it turns out, that is not what the photo shows at all. As an Australian expert swiftly pointed out, rather than protecting the female, the male appears to be trying to mate with her, holding her close to fend off any rivals. Indeed, his unwanted attentions may even have led to her death. Continue reading...

My recent research has shown that differences other than cannabis use might be causing the much-discussed disparities in cognitive functionWhether or not using cannabis can lead to cognitive impairment is a hot topic of research and public interest. Given the extensive media attention granted to findings that suggest detrimental effects of cannabis on cognition, brain function and mental health, you would be forgiven for thinking smoking a spliff was akin to repeatedly bashing yourself over the head with a giant bong. However, since much of the work to date is cross-sectional (that is, measurements are taken only at one time in a person’s life), we cannot know whether cannabis users would have performed any differently before they started using cannabis. In short, we’re faced with a classic “chicken or egg” problem.Cannabis use does not occur in a vacuum. And teenagers who start using cannabis from a young age will almost certainly differ from those who will never try, it or who delay until they are older. The evidence suggests that those who start using cannabis from a young age often have less stable backgrounds and more behavioural problems than their non-using peers. Teenage cannabis use also typically goes hand in hand with other drug use and risky lifestyle choices in general. The poorer cognitive performance of cannabis users may therefore result from other factors associated with cannabis use, rather than cannabis use itself. However it is of course very difficult to control for all these other factors. Continue reading...

Western European waters are a global hotspot for lingering toxic PCB pollution, research reveals, damaging the reproduction of orcas and dolphinsThe UK’s last pod of killer whales is doomed to extinction, with new research revealing western European waters as a global hotspot for the lingering legacy of toxic PCB pollution.The persistent chemicals, used in electrical equipment but banned in the 1980s, are still leaking into the oceans and were also found in extremely high levels in European dolphins, whose populations are in decline. Continue reading...

Archaeologists in Austria say their findings about discovery in grave of man with one foot are ‘very, very surprising’Archaeologists in Austria believe they have found Europe’s oldest prosthetic implant – a sixth-century wooden foot.The discovery was made in the grave of a man missing his left foot and ankle at Hemmaberg, southern Austria. At the end of his leg was an iron ring and remnants of a clump of wood and leather. Continue reading...

Dr Derek Spielman, a senior lecturer in veterinary pathology, says it is ‘gross misunderstanding’ to think kangaroo was cradling dying mateFar from “mourning the loss of his mate”, the male kangaroo pictured in “heartbreaking” viral photographs with its injured female “companion” might have been responsible for her death while attempting to mate with her, experts say.The images, taken on a bushland property in River Heads, Queensland, Australia, show a male eastern grey kangaroo holding the head of a dying female, in front of her joey. Continue reading...

Russian president announces vaccine for disease that has killed 11,000 in west Africa, but does not go into detail about how it works or any clinical trialsRussian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that his country has developed a vaccine for the Ebola virus which has killed thousands of people in west Africa.But Putin, who is famed for his talent for headline-grabbing announcements, did not divulge the vaccine’s name, nor did he say how it worked, who was developing it or give details of any trials. Continue reading...

Sutton Trust research suggests link between wealthier upbringing and qualities such as assertiveness as well as personality and career successPeople with character traits thought of as extrovert tend to come from wealthier backgrounds than their less extrovert peers as well as being more likely to have well-paid jobs, a new study suggests.The research, published by the Sutton Trust educational charity, found that traits such as being assertive, talkative and enthusiastic are associated with higher earnings in adult life. Continue reading...

A new study shows that Protoceratops used its crest for sexual or social displaysThe incredible array of horns, frills, helmets, crests and other generally excessive and unusual structures that adorn dinosaurs have been a puzzle to palaeontologists back to the earliest discoveries of these animals. Huge numbers of hypotheses have come and gone about what they might have been used for though recently one idea has (re)emerged from the pack – sexual selection and social dominance. This is the aspect of evolution that produces features like the train of a peacock or the antlers on deer – structures that essentially advertise the health and ‘quality’ of the bearer and help them find suitable mates and / or take a dominant position in a social situation.This is an area of research I have been working on (and writing about) for several years but it’s a frustrating issue as naturally the behaviour of long extinct species is rather hard to test. One productive line is that socio-sexual dominance structures typically only grow late in an animals’ life. When they are young, their efforts are focussed on surviving and growing and getting to sexual maturity to reproduce, so growing large and heavy structures (or things that are brightly coloured and might give you away to predators) are eschewed. Then as maturity nears, these are important and suddenly grow quite quickly. Continue reading...

Here in the UK we are all too familiar with rain, and this winter we seem to be having more than our fair share. In recent weeks it has been frontal rain – formed where cold air meets warm tropical air – that has repeatedly flooded northern areas. Its process of formation is well understood.Other kinds of rain are less straightforward. In particular, the sudden downpours that spring from innocent looking fluffy cumulus clouds don’t seem to obey the laws of physics. Inside a typical cumulus cloud the average droplets are about 20 micrometres wide. But to become raindrops that can fall to the ground they need to grow to about 2mm – which equates to a millionfold increase in volume. Continue reading...

The “civilised Romans”, despite their baths and sewage system, have been assessed as no freer from disease than the barbarians they scorned (Lice, fleas and tapeworms: the horrible history of the Romans, 8 January). I wonder whether modern Britain would fare any better if judged by academics in a couple of thousand years. Will they find that our obsession with cleanliness, evidenced by myriad shampoos, cleansers and deodorants, left us prey to the fearful ravages of the ubiquitous trisclosan; that the sewage sludge which found its way on to agricultural land exposed us to the noxious effects of heavy metals; or that gender mutations caused by synthetic hormones had undreamt-of implications for our fertility? We shall never know.

I’ve been looking out for an example of when the indefinite article, “a”, can legitimately be pronounced “ay”, ie when it’s to be stressed. I found one in your article on the TV series Girls (8 January): “I may be the voice of my generation – or at least the voice of a generation.” What is driving me crazy is that nowadays everybody, including professionals all over the BBC and other channels, says “ay” all the time, instead of the correct short “a”. What is going on here? The other night I even heard somebody stress “an” when there was no earthly need to. Has anybody else noticed this? Kids are beginning to do it too. It sounds awful!

Climate change is altering global cycles to such an extent that the next ice age has been delayed for at least 100,000 years, according to new research identifying Earth’s deep-freeze tipping pointHumanity’s burning of fossil fuels is postponing the next global ice age for at least 100,000 years, according to new research that has discovered the tipping point which plunges the planet into deep freezes.Showing that human activity, via climate change, can alter global processes like ice ages is compelling evidence that the planet has entered a new geological epoch, dubbed the Anthropocene, according to the scientists. Continue reading...

Researchers awaiting approval to use gene editing in embryos, which they hope will help them understand early stage life and improve fertility treatmentScientists in Britain are ready to genetically modify human embryos for the first time as part of a research effort to shed light on the root causes of recurrent miscarriages.Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute in London could receive approval for the controversial work as early as Thursday when the government’s fertility watchdog meets to consider the proposal.

The odds of being rich, famous and happy are even worse than actually winning the $1.5bn jackpot

Puff adders are masterful ambush predators. Coiled up in a pile of leaves, they are almost invisible. New research suggests they hide their smell tooPuff adders lie in wait for their prey. Their patient approach to sustenance should make them vulnerable to becoming dinner themselves. Except they have appear to have evolved a suite of adaptations that renders them virtually undetectable.Most obviously, the puff adder’s beautiful pattern make them incredibly hard to see. When confronted by danger, they tend to freeze too, making them still harder to detect.

Dispute over possible carcinogenic effects of the widely used weedkiller comes ahead of an EU decision on its continued useA bitter row has broken out over the allegedly carcinogenic qualities of a widely-used weedkiller, ahead of an EU decision on whether to continue to allow its use.At issue is a call by the European Food and Safety Authority (Efsa) to disregard an opinion by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) on the health effects of Glyphosate. Continue reading...

President says it’s biggest regret of presidency but appeals to America’s better self in calling for rejection of hostile rhetoric: ‘We can’t afford to go down that path’Barack Obama admitted his regret that he will leave the US more, not less, polarised when he departs office a year from now, using his final State of the Union address to urge the nation not to succumb to demagogues.

In his final address, Barack Obama on Tuesday said he would launch a new national effort to cure cancer, with Joe Biden leading the mission: ‘Let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all’ Continue reading...

In State of the Union address, president calls for US to ‘cure cancer once and for all’, with Joe Biden at the helm of ‘a new moonshot’Barack Obama has channeled John Kennedy’s space race with the Russians to pledge a new “moonshot”, led by vice-president Joe Biden at “mission control”, for the United States to win a new global health race and find a cure for cancer.Related: State of the Union 2016: Obama calls for 'new moonshot' to cure cancer – live Continue reading...