Research by London Cancer shows cancer cases diagnosed in A&E are often at a late stage when treatment options are limitedA quarter of people diagnosed with cancer after going to A&E in London with symptoms are dead within two months, according to new research.The figures from London Cancer, which brings together services in hospitals in north-east and central London and west Essex, are stark but reflect the reality for patients diagnosed at a late stage of disease, when the cancer has probably spread. Continue reading...

The H Word blog’s Halloween special looks at the displayed bodily remains of six scientific savants - from the intruiging to the odd, via the frankly ghoulishAdmirers of science usually like to think that they’re above the talismanic, fetishist practices they’d associate with superstition, magic and religion. Yet, as was discussed recently at a seminar on Savant Relics, there are a surprising number of objects and bodily remains of scientific individual that have been preserved and are, often, treated with the kind of ritual and endowed with the kind of aura that is elsewhere reserved for saints.They are distinctly odd things through which to celebrate the memories of individuals admired for their scientific work: too corporeal for transcendent genius and too wrapped in mystique for sceptical science. While in some cases there was a scientific or medical motivation, it being hoped that something might be learned from an examination of the remains of someone remarkable, others are simply relics. And like religious relics they often play a role in ceremony, endow a place with symbolic significance or form an object of pilgrimage. They are also rather gruesome: be warned... Continue reading...

Nasa’s Cassini spacecraft captures images of Saturn moon’s underground ocean. The spacecraft’s close flyby of icy moon Enceladus reveals more about the deep saltwater ocean hidden inside the planet which was discovered last year by researchers. The images show the pale, grooved and cratered surface of the moon, and several bright streaks of vapour plumes erupting from its south pole. Photograph: AP Continue reading...

Spiritualism fascinated the 19th century public and was furiously debunked by scientists. But its modern, “scientific”, incarnations are just as sinisterIn the run up to Halloween , many of us are open to a frightening supernatural adventure. A good scare can be a bonding experience, and in this spirit many of us have dabbled with Ouija boards, either in earnest or jest - perhaps even getting slightly phased by the apparent disembodied messages, sometimes surreal and foreboding, emanating from the board. While there is no evidence that we can truly communicate with the dead, phenomena like the Ouija board and automatic writing can truly give us a fascinating insight into our own psychology, and serve as a reminder that we can all too easily fool ourselves.Our fascination with words from beyond the grave is nothing new. In the mid- 19 century, the growing spiritualist movement had begun to experiment with ghostly messages transcribed by table-turning, a precursor to the modern Ouija board. In table turning, the alphabet was inscribed on a table, upon which all participants laid their hands. Seemingly ethereal whisperings would soon appear from the void as the table tilted towards the imprinted letters. Such demonstrations of spiritualism convinced many in high society that a new force, perhaps a mystical one, was behind the haunting messages. Continue reading...

From tracking cows and Peruvian asparagus to monitoring harmful algae blooms, satellites offer the food industry valuable informationThe first successful weather satellite, TIROS-1, was launched in 1960. The images, though a bit blurry, picked up a typhoon 1,000 miles east of Australia. This satellite only lasted 78 days in orbit but it showed the benefits of space observations, ushering in an era of much more accurate weather information that has helped save lives and protect livelihoods.Today there are more than 200 non-military operational satellites looking at the Earth and agriculture is a key beneficiary of the boom in this technology. As innovation drives down the cost of getting a satellite into orbit, and more data becomes available, increasing numbers of farmers are set to benefit. Continue reading...

A pioneering project to cure children crippled by fluoride poisoning holds hope for tens of millions of peopleRelated: 11 views on improving water supplyFor years the people of Tapatjuri, a remote village in northeast India, thought evil spirits were tormenting them. It was the only way they could explain why hundreds of people in their community were crippled, with bones bent so badly out of shape that many could not wash, eat, or leave their houses without help.

Thanks to our pronunciation rules, when you do algebra on the alphabet, everything reduces to 1Many words in English are homophones. That is, they are pronounced the same but are spelt differently.For example AISLE and ISLE Continue reading...

On Thursday, Kelly will break the US record for longest single space flight. He and twin Mark are also part of a unique study on the effects of space on the bodyThe commander of the International Space Station will break the record for the longest single flight by a US astronaut on Thursday by clocking up 216 days in orbit.Scott Kelly, who performed his debut spacewalk on Wednesday, will surpass the previous record of 215 days set by the Spanish-American astronaut Michael López-Alegría in 2007.

In the next week, our planet will experience one near miss and one impact. What else is heading our way?Every day, Earth is hit by something from space. It is a sobering thought that we live on the celestial equivalent of a dartboard, especially since we are taught that the dinosaurs were wiped out by the impact of a giant asteroid 65m years ago.Astronomers at the European Space Agency’s Near Earth Object Coordination Centre (NEOCC), in Frascati, Italy, place objects that show even the slightest hint of striking our planet in the next century on a risk list, which currently contains 524 objects. Continue reading...