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by Mona Chalabi on (#WD6F)
Survey measuring gap between public perception and reality reveals Americans vastly overestimate the number of immigrants and atheists in USHow well do you really know your country? Take our quizAmericans think there are almost twice as many atheists in their country than there actually are, according to a new poll. They also overestimate the number of immigrants, but do guess correctly the percentage of women who work.The survey by Ipsos Mori released on Wednesday measures misconceptions around the world – and in America some of the biggest concern money. On average, Americans think that the wealthiest 1% of people in the country own 57% of all wealth, 20 percentage points higher than reality. Continue reading...
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| Updated | 2026-06-28 23:30 |
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by Oliver Milman on (#WCWW)
Experts point to damage caused by erosion and pollution, raising major concerns about degraded soil amid surging global demand for foodThe world has lost a third of its arable land due to erosion or pollution in the past 40 years, with potentially disastrous consequences as global demand for food soars, scientists have warned.New research has calculated that nearly 33% of the world’s adequate or high-quality food-producing land has been lost at a rate that far outstrips the pace of natural processes to replace diminished soil. Continue reading...
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by Karl Mathiesen on (#WCVR)
2C, the widely reported safe global warming limit, would still mean devastation for many countries that are pushing for a more ambitious target for a climate deal in Paris – but is 1.5C realistic?2C - it’s become shorthand for a safe, equitable climate deal. But the science and the UN’s position is unequivocal that if the world warms 2C above the pre-industrial age by 2100, many countries will face unbearable devastation.Of the 195 countries present at the UN climate conference in Paris, 106 of the poorest have said a target of 1.5C is the only acceptable pathway for humankind. The head of the UN’s climate process, Christiana Figueres, has also backed this goal. Continue reading...
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by Michael Bloomfield on (#WCKT)
Recently published research raises the intriguing possibility that as far as our brains are concerned, we may all be bi-gendered to varying degreesIn an arguably transphobic tirade, Germaine Greer recently decreed that “Just because you lop off your penis and then wear a dress doesn’t make you a ******* womanâ€. The resultant backlash included attempts to prevent her lecture at Cardiff University and Elton John muscling in to the debate, accusing her of “living in another centuryâ€. What it means to be male and female remains controversial, emotive and intriguing in both society and science.Being a woman or a man or otherwise is more than simply a difference in our genitalia. Our gender often goes to the core of how many of us identify ourselves. Can a twenty-first century understanding of potential similarities and differences in brain structure between the sexes provide us with useful information? I think so.
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by Lynn Gamwell on (#WCG5)
In her new book Mathematics and Art, historian Lyn Gamwell explores how artists have for thousands of years used mathematical concepts - such as infinity, number and form - in their work. Here she choses ten stunning images from her book that reveal connections between maths and art.When I was a graduate student in art history, I read many explanations of abstract art, but they were invariably inadequate and misleading. So after completing my PhD, I went on to learn the history of biology, physics, and astronomy, and to publish a book detailing how modern art is an expression of the scientific worldview.Yet many artworks also express the mathematics and technology of their times. To research Math and Art I had to learn maths concepts like calculus, group theory and predicate logic. As a novice struggling to understand these ideas, I was struck with the poor quality and confusing content of illustrations in most educational books. So I vowed to create for my book a set of cogent math diagrams that are crystal-clear visualizations of the abstract concepts. Continue reading...
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by Alan Yuhas on (#WBJS)
The answer to the mystery of leaders’ ultimate fate could be revealed behind two doors at the end of a tunnel into a platform at Tenochtitlán’s Great TempleArchaeologists in Mexico have found a passageway and two sealed chambers beneath one of the largest temples of the ancient Aztec capital, raising hopes that excavations will uncover a ruler’s tomb beneath the city.The tunnel, only 18in wide and 5ft high, leads 27ft directly into a circular ceremonial platform at the Great Temple or Templo Mayor complex of Tenochtitlán, the ruined Aztec capital that overlaps with modern Mexico City. At the end of the tunnel the archaeologists found two sealed doors. Continue reading...
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by Associated Press in Washington on (#WB7H)
‘Deep and disturbing questions’ surrounding diseases and designer babies examined at summit as experiments get closer to altering human heredityAlternating the promise of cures for intractable diseases with anxiety about designer babies and eugenics, hundreds of scientists and ethicists from around the world began debating the boundaries of a revolutionary technology to edit the human genetic code.“We sense that we are close to being able to alter human heredity,†Nobel laureate David Baltimore of the California Institute of Technology said Tuesday in opening an international summit to examine what he called “deep and disturbing questionsâ€. Continue reading...
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by Ian Sample Science editor on (#WAH9)
Prints the size of dustbin lids discovered by researchers, who say that the tracks were probably created by many dinosaurs over thousands of yearsAncient tracks from sauropods that plodded through a lagoon in the middle Jurassic period have been uncovered on the Isle of Skye, making the spot the largest dinosaur site in Scotland.The zigzag pattern of giant prints was spotted on a slab of rock reaching out to sea on the north eastern tip of the island by researchers from Edinburgh University.
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by Sarah Marsh on (#WAA1)
Ahead of blast off later this month, we secured a few minutes with astronaut Tim Peake to ask him your students’ questions. Here are his answers
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by Oliver Wainwright on (#WA6N)
Black Shoals is a planetarium that tracks trading in real time, turning the flow of global capital into a twinkling night sky. Just watch out for the black holes …A black dome, dotted with thousands of tiny stars, hangs in the vaulted bowels of Somerset House in London. The stars blink and flash, then begin to form misty galaxies, like the evolution of the universe replayed at warp speed. Suddenly there’s a great flash, and the whole thing lights up with the white heat of the Big Bang.“That’s Wall Street waking up,†says Joshua Portway, lounging on a bean bag under the dome beside fellow artist Lise Autogena. “A huge amount of money just changed hands.†Continue reading...
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by Daphna Joel and Cordelia Fine on (#WA48)
Research published yesterday, showing that brains don’t come in male and female forms, fits with what we know about gendered behaviourIt’s the first thing we want to know when a newborn arrives. We state it on every form we fill out. We mark it with pronouns, names, clothing, and hairstyle. It’s the first thing we register about a person.Sex categories – whether you have female or male genitals – are fundamental for reproduction. They are also the principal way we carve up the social world. No surprise then that scientists and the general public alike often assume that sex categories are no less essential to how we think, feel, and behave, taking it for granted that there are female and male natures subserved by a “female brain†and a “male brainâ€, respectively. Continue reading...
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by Roland Jackson on (#W9X5)
The signs are clear in this document: the public is not going to be allowed much of a role in defining the public goodThe eagerly awaited Nurse Review of UK Research Councils has just landed. It arrives at a critical juncture, as decisions are made about overall UK public sector research funding and about the status and role of the institutions that will be responsible for spending the allocated budget. In that context it is to be expected that the review focuses on the nature, importance and impact of research, and on high-level adjustments to the current system. The broad, integrating thrust of those proposed administrative and governance changes is politically timely.As the review clearly states, research delivers for society, both in terms of knowledge that adds to our culture and in underpinning innovations that can improve our quality of life and contribute to economic growth. In this societal context the recommendations call for ‘an effective dialogue and understanding between researchers, politicians and the public’, and the very last recommendation reads: ‘Society and its elected representatives should be engaged in high-level questions about the overall direction of science and research, such as top-level allocation of resources, or in respect of needs that society might like to see addressed by research’. Taken in conjunction with the statement in the review that a successful research endeavour requires: ‘a compact that bonds science and society’, I looked avidly in the rest of the review for some pointers as to what this all might imply. Continue reading...
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by Imran Khan on (#W9X6)
In a landmark essay to mark the relaunch of the British Science Association, Chief Executive Imran Khan argues that science is too important to be left to scientists alone
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by Ian Sample Science editor on (#W9Q2)
Tests on roundworms show antidepressant drug can prolong life by more than 30%, but only extends young adulthood, and has no effect on later life stagesIn work that risks rousing a chorus of tuts from the older members of the population, scientists have extended lifespan by making youth last longer.The remarkable discovery came from tests which showed that a drug capable of prolonging life by more than 30% worked by expanding only young adulthood, and had no effects on later life stages.
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by Jon Butterworth on (#W9ME)
Paul Schaffer from TRIUMF - Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics and accelerator-based science - gives a Perimeter Institute public lecture on how accelerators are used to develop diagnostic and therapeutic medical tools and techniquesI reviewed Michael Hiltzik’s excellent book “Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention that Launched the Military-Industrial Complex†for Nature recently. Lawrence built the first particle accelerators, and started a chain of technological advances which has currently got us as far as the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, where I do my science. I was, and am, well aware of the many other uses of accelerators beyond particle physics, but it was a surprise to me, reading Hiltzik’s book, to discover that medical applications featured so early on in Lawrence’s programme at Berkeley. Indeed, they seem to have played a comparable role to that of basic physics research in motivating his push for bigger and better machines.Dr Paul Schaffer is Associate Laboratory Director of TRIUMF’s Life Sciences Division, and is giving a public lecture on where nuclear medicine has got to now. The video will appear below live, and a recording will be uploaded to the same place afterwards. You can sign up for an email reminder here.
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by Stuart Clark on (#W9G0)
Tomorrow’s mission is designed to test technology which, if successful, will allow us to “listen†to the universe using Einstein’s general theory of relativitiyTomorrow at 04:15 GMT, the European Space Agency (ESA) will launch the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft from Kourou, French Guiana. The choice of date is no accident. December 2nd is the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, the best theory we have of gravity.LISA Pathfinder is a pioneering mission designed to test new technology that will allow us to use Einstein’s theory to study the universe in more detail than ever before. If all goes well, astronomers will eventually find themselves with the equivalent of a new sense, like adding sound to vision. Continue reading...
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by Stephan Lewandowsky on (#W9C2)
Greater uncertainty about climate change means bigger risks and more reason to act
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by Ian Barwick on (#W8VH)
The life sciences industry is ever-increasing, and some of the research is inspired by and derived from some surprising sourcesLife sciences is one of our fast-growing industries, encompassing a wide range of scientific disciplines from anatomy to zoology.Described by politicians as a “jewel in the crown†of the UK economy thanks to its impressive growth, the sector has a total annual turnover of £56 billion and accounts for 183,000 UK jobs (UKTI Inward Investment Report 2014 to 2015). Continue reading...
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by Agence France-Presse on (#W863)
British future monarch given prize for organic farming by French and says he fears traditional cheese will disappear in a world of genetically modified producePrince Charles has revealed he fears for the very existence of traditional French cheeses as he received a prize in Paris for his long-term commitment to organic farming.
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by Interview by Brigid Delaney on (#W864)
Dr Evans–Galea, a leader in the field of gene therapy, talks about the challenges she has faced, but also the increasing visibility of female scientists in her field, and her professional mission: finding a cure for Friedrich ataxia
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by Ian Sample on (#W7CJ)
Authors say scans show need to think beyond an individual’s sex as each brain has unique “mosaic†of sex-based features plus some common to both sexes
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by Mark Carnall on (#W6NW)
From single cells through lumbering amphibians to men with spears. We all know ‘the story of life on Earth’. But whose story is it?The scientific story of life on Earth, as told in palaeontology books for children, museum displays, documentaries and even on university courses is always the same. It begins with the creation of the universe, then the Earth, represented more often than not by exploding volcanoes. Microscopic single cells bob in the ocean, dividing and swelling, morphing into things with a noticeable front end and a back end.Skip forward a couple of billion years, and emblematic fossils, the trilobites, are scuttling around the ocean floor. Chances are that ammonites are floating around too. Then we get to the more familiar beats: the story proper finally starts. The Age of Fishes kicks off in the Devonian, 400 million years ago with fish that look a bit different to today’s fish, but not different enough for us to care. Fish-headed salamanders then triumphantly flop onto a green and verdant land. Then it’s the glorious Age of Reptiles, unanimously depicted by Tyrannosaurus rex locked in eternal conflict with mortal enemy Triceratops. From between the feet of stomping dinosaurs, ratty animals scurry about; cue an asteroid impact and the Age of Mammals begins. The rest you could fill in yourself, rat climbs a tree, becomes a monkey takes a few more steps and is then a man at last! Continue reading...
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by Mark Brown Arts correspondent on (#W6KY)
Blockbuster exhibition to feature objects from two lost cities at mouth of the Nile uncovered by underwater archaeologists
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by Guardian Staff on (#W6JH)
The most prestigious dog-breeding club in the world is considering adding non-pedigree animals to its breed registry for the first time. Has it gone, er, barking mad?Name: The Kennel Club.Age: 142. Continue reading...
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by Mark Vernon on (#W691)
After a century of being derided, Freud’s ideas are quite rightly being re-evaluated – as they could shed light on some of medicine’s great unknownsThe unconscious has had a bumpy ride since Sigmund Freud first described the extent of his discoveries in a seminal paper published 100 years ago this month. Sceptics sneer at its mention, assuming it’s as discreditable as penis envy. Others, who sense the father of psychoanalysis was on to something, prefer to hedge their bets and not be tarnished by Freud’s mixed reputation: they refer limply to the subliminal or subconscious. Yet it could be the case that far from being past its sell-by date, the time of the unconscious is yet to come.Related: Paul Broks on 150 years of Sigmund Freud Continue reading...
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by Sophia Collins on (#W625)
It’s best to wash nappies in non-biological detergent, right? Wrong, as a citizen science project discovered when they challenged NHS advice on the subject“I appreciate your evidence-based approach.†I said recently, in a heated discussion about washing nappies, “But while the NHS recommends using non-bio detergents on baby clothes, you aren’t likely to convince the whole country to change its view.†“Yeah,†said a colleague, “getting the NHS to change their views on anything is like trying to get a baby to sleep on demand.â€â€œChange has to start somewhere,†replied our conversation partner. Continue reading...
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by Guardian Staff on (#W5WS)
Unusual fossil of small cousin of Triceratops shows how continent was divided by shallow sea, allowing dinosaurs to evolve differentlyA scientist has uncovered the fossil of a dog-sized horned dinosaur that roamed eastern North America up to 100 million years ago.The fragment of jaw bone provides evidence of an east-west divide in the evolution of dinosaurs on the North American continent.
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by Jon Butterworth on (#W5A3)
Every year, as Christmas approaches and the bankers of Geneva sit around their fondues yodelling festive tunes and melting cheese with holes in it, the Large Hadron Collider switches from protons to lead. But this year is a bit special
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by James Wilsdon on (#W5A5)
This week, Sir Venki Ramakrishnan takes over one of the biggest jobs in British science, as incoming president of the Royal Society. We asked his fellow Fellows what they hope to see during Venki’s five years at the helm.
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by Jeff Sparrow on (#W4D2)
There must be another way for nonbelievers than to transform, as Dawkins and Harris have done, into toxic know-it-allsWhy are the New Atheists such jerks? Case in point: Richard Dawkins’ continuing pursuit of Ahmed Mohamed, the Texas 14-year-old humiliated in school after authorities mistook his homemade clock for a bomb.The other day, The God Delusion author called Ahmed a hoaxer and responded to suggestions “he was only a kid†by linking to a report about a juvenile Islamic State (Isis) fighter. “And how old is this ‘kid’?†Dawkins asked. Continue reading...
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by Alan Pickup on (#W499)
Orion stands clear of Britain’s ESE horizon at our map times as the glorious starscapes of winter invade from the east. Above Orion lies Taurus with the Pleiades and the bright star Aldebaran which is occulted by the almost-full Moon on the 23rd. Times vary a little across Britain, but for London the star is hidden from 18:10 to 19:12. Continue reading...
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by Guardian Staff on (#W3P5)
According to its fans in California, taking ‘microdoses’ of the hallucinogen enhances energy and creativity. Just watch out for the multicoloured fish swimming out of your monitor …Full name: Lysergic acid diethylamide.Age: First synthesised by Dr Albert Hoffman in Switzerland in 1938. Continue reading...
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by Jan Selby and Mike Hulme on (#W375)
Prince Charles is the latest high-profile figure to echo claims that ‘securitise’ the conflict. But the evidence just doesn’t stack upWas the Syrian civil war partly caused by climate change? Prince Charles, for one, seems to think so. “There is very good evidence indeed that one of the major reasons for this horror in Syria was a drought that lasted for about five or six years,†he told Sky News, adding that climate change is having a “huge impact†on conflict and terrorism.The Prince is not alone on this one: he joins a chorus of voices making similar claims. In the US President Obama, Al Gore, and the democratic presidential hopefuls Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders have all talked of a link between climate change and the Syria conflict, Sanders going so far as to argue that climate change is “directly related to the growth of terrorismâ€. Continue reading...
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by Fortunato Salazar on (#W30R)
Keeping Phobos and Deimos, which means ‘fear’ and ‘terror’, implies it’s totally cool to demonize our neighbor in the skyIn the last five months, Mars has become a whole lot more like … us. We have flowing water; Mars has flowing water. We have underground water; Mars has underground water. We have auroras in the night sky; so does Mars. In just the last five months, we and Mars have grown a whole lot closer, beyond our basic adjacency in the solar system. It’s reasonable to think that Matt Damon’s recent triumph of ingenuity and self-sufficiency over Martian inhospitality might soon come true.Related: Gravity will rip Martian moon apart to form dust and rubble ring Continue reading...
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by Lucy Rock on (#W2T4)
When Anne Biklé and David Montgomery fed their failing soil with organic matter, they were astonished by the results. Stimulating the microbes that live beneath the surface led the garden to flourish. Then, when Biklé was diagnosed with cancer, the couple had an idea…Juicy is the best word to describe Anne Biklé and David Montgomery’s garden, even in the dying days of autumn. Emerald green, dewy grass; a vegetable patch where leafy kale stands tall and arugula nestles low; shrubs and trees – cork bark maple, Persian ironwood and wax myrtle – screening the area from passersby and a late-flowering rhododendron bearing plump red blooms.It is this oasis that led them on a remarkable journey into another world, one that exists beneath our feet and is run by microbes, creatures invisible to the naked eye. Continue reading...
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by Nick Middleton on (#W2SF)
Imagine living somewhere that no one else recognised. Nick Middleton reveals why some nations don’t exist
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by Ben Ambridge on (#W2RQ)
Take this simple Observer quiz to find out whether you like to take risks or prefer to err on the side of cautionAre you a risk seeker? Do you know when to hold ’em, when to fold ’em and when to walk away? What would you choose if offered £500 for sure or a gamble with a 15% chance of winning £1,000,000?Although ostensibly about risk seeking, this test is actually a test of your reasoning ability and, more generally, your intelligence. Now we can make an exception if you have some particularly unusual specific personal circumstances. Perhaps, for example, you owe £500 to a loan shark who will be calling round first thing Monday morning. Perhaps you think all forms of gambling are morally wrong. Or perhaps you think being a millionaire would make you miserable. But if not, you would be crazy not to take the gamble. Continue reading...
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by Robin McKie on (#W2P5)
A marine archaeologist warns urgent action is needed to stop heavy modern fishing nets obliterating important historic artefactsThey are some of the country’s greatest untouched treasures, having lain undisturbed on the seabed, in some cases for centuries. But now these archaeological riches are being destroyed at an unprecedented rate before scientists or historians can get their hands on them.Once shipwrecks have been struck by fishing gear, they – and their contents – are obliterated for ever Continue reading...
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by Jamie Doward on (#W20N)
Blackadder jokes prove that Arthur Schopenhauer’s 200-year-old theory of humour still holds true todayAny aspiring comic wanting to make it big should seek inspiration not so much from the likes of Michael McIntyre but that arch proponent of philosophical pessimism, Arthur Schopenhauer.For it seems that the German thinker, not easily confused with a ray of sunshine, may have been on to something when he came up with his now 200-year-old theory of humour. Continue reading...
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by Evgeny Morozov on (#W20Q)
Satellites, drones and balloons can make global connectivity a reality – but this space race is about profits not altruismThe US Congress quietly passed an important piece of legislation this month. The Space Resource Exploration and Utilisation Act – yet to be signed by Barack Obama – grants American companies unconstrained rights to the mining of any resources – from water to gold. The era of space exploration is over; the era of space exploitation has begun!While the 1967 Outer Space Treaty explicitly prohibits governments from claiming planets and other celestial resources, as their property, Congress reasoned that such restrictions do not apply to the materials found and mined there. Continue reading...
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by Robin McKie on (#W20S)
As Tim Peake prepares for a six-month stay on the space station, Helen Sharman, Britain’s first astronaut, talks about the experience that awaits himWhen Tim Peake is blasted towards the stars next month on a Russian Soyuz rocket, he will carry an unexpected but highly appropriate gift with him. He will take a book, Road to the Stars by Yuri Gagarin, that was given to him last month by a fellow astronaut, Helen Sharman. This is the copy she took into orbit in May 1991 when she became the first Briton in space.“Tim asked me if there was anything I had that I would like him to take,†said Sharman. “He wanted to make that link between me, the first Brit in space, and himself, the second. I have kept the book very safe for 24 years and now Tim is going to take it up to the international space station.†Continue reading...
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by Robin McKie on (#W1RQ)
Washington biology summit to consider ban on controversial technologyDelegates at a crucial scientific summit this week are expected to debate a ban on the use of the controversial technique of gene-editing. Hundreds of the world’s leading biologists will gather in Washington to discuss the procedure, in which genes are removed from or added to human embryos.Some researchers say gene-editing of humans could have unpredictable effects on future generations and is ethically unacceptable. They also warn that the technology could be used to create lineages of “enhanced†humans and want all work in the area halted until its implications are fully assessed. Continue reading...
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by Interviews by Rosie Ifould on (#W08T)
Handle awkward date silences, end a conversation with a stranger – plus chat to your children, your parents and your boss. Our panel shares their secretsChildren often don’t have the words to say what they’re feeling, and they don’t always understand what we’re looking for when we ask them questions. So if you ask, “How was your day?†and you’re met with a grunt or a shrug, it’s not because your child is trying to hide something from you. It’s because they don’t see why you could possibly want to know, or which part of their day you’re interested in. It can help to make your questions more specific: “What was the best thing about your day? What was the hardest thing?†And, of course, it helps if you are really listening. We often don’t give children our full attention. Continue reading...
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by Graham Farmelo on (#W08W)
It’s 100 years since Einstein completed his theory of relativity, transforming our understanding of the universeTime magazine chose well when it named Albert Einstein as the most influential person of the 20th century. As well as being a peerless scientist, he showed great wisdom and integrity – he was an outstanding humanitarian. One hundred years ago, he completed his theory of relativity, setting out a theory of gravity that would surpass Isaac Newton’s and which continues to shape our understanding of the universe today.Einstein had emerged 10 years earlier, apparently from nowhere, to give the world’s leading scientists a series of physics lessons they would never forget. During his 20-year golden streak, ending in 1925, he did more than anyone else to reshape the understanding of space, time, energy, matter and gravity. He pioneered the crucial idea that symmetry is at the heart of fundamental laws of nature. He could be practically minded, too: with his Hungarian friend Leo Szilard, he came up with an innovative design for a fridge, which they patented in 1930. Continue reading...
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by Chris Hadfield and Randall Munroe on (#W05F)
Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut and internet sensation
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by Ian Sample Science editor on (#VZZ4)
Now that the ability to selectively insert or remove genes from DNA is widespread, a ‘global discussion’ is being convened to agree fresh safeguardsThe question could hardly be more profound. Having stumbled upon a simple means to make precise changes to the code of life, should humans take control of their genetic fate, and rewrite the DNA of future generations?Once an idea explored only in fiction, the prospect is now a real one. The inexorable rise of gene editing has put the technology in labs across the globe. The first experiments on human embryos have been done, in a bid to correct faulty genes that cause disease.
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by Steven Morris on (#VZEE)
Researchers say cyclists find exercise easier when they drink ordinary sucrose – or table sugar – rather than only glucoseSwapping some specialist sports drinks in favour of water mixed with a spoonful of sugar could boost the performance of long-distance athletes, a study finds.Researchers at the University of Bath brought in a team of club cyclists and used an adapted MRI scanner to assess the impact of prolonged exercise on the levels of glycogen – stored carbohydrate – in the liver. Continue reading...
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by Guardian Staff on (#VYR9)
After losing its nervous system, the freshwater polyp adapts its skin cells to make them act like nerve cellsIn Greek mythology, the Hydra was a gigantic, snake-like monster with nine heads and poisonous blood and breath, which lurked in the swamps of Lerna. Heracles was sent to destroy the beast as one of his twelve labours, but when he decapitated one of its heads, two more grew back in its place. He eventually defeated it with the help of his trusty nephew Iolaus, however, by burning out the severed roots with firebrands to prevent the regrowth, then decapitating its one immortal head and burying it under a heavy rock.The real Hydra has regenerative capacities that surpass those of its mythological namesake. When it is dismembered, any fragment of its body can regenerate to form a completely new individual, and it can even remain alive after its entire nervous system has been lost. Researchers in Switzerland now report that it does so by adapting its skin cells to make them behave more like neurons. Their findings provide clues about how nerve cells first evolved, billions of years ago. Continue reading...
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by Guardian Staff on (#VY5C)
Debris from the failed Nasa SpaceX Falcon 9 lies on the shore of Tresco in the Isles of Scilly. The wreckage was spotted by a local boatman on Friday between the islands of Bryher and Tresco. It was initially mistaken for a dead whale. The rocket broke apart mid-flight on 28 June shortly after take-off from Cape Canaveral in Florida Continue reading...
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by Tash Reith-Banks on (#VY2V)
In the third in our series on STEM and humanitarian crises, a classic engineering solution uses cardboard to help homeless people in WolverhamptonThis time of year brings additional challenges to those living on the streets: the nights are longer and colder, and plummeting temperatures and wet weather increase the risk of illness.