The prize goes to a discovery about the properties of neutrino particles that has saved us from worrying that Earth might end in an icy deathAstronomers called it the solar neutrino problem. It was much more than a problem. Upon its discovery in the late 1960s, it meant that the sun could be dying. And if the sun died, so would life on Earth. But thankfully the latest winners of the Nobel prize for physics, Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B McDonald, have been addressing such concerns to great success.

Dementia is now a government priority but 70% of researchers leave four years after their PhD. We need to improve the career path before its too lateDementia is in the public and political spotlight like never before, as society wakes up to the fact that it poses one of the greatest threats to the health and wealth of our country.The numbers are stark: 850,000 people in the UK are currently living with dementia, at an estimated cost of more than £26bn a year. By 2021, one million people will have the condition. Continue reading...

People were evacuated after the Chernobyl accident, but what happened to the local wildlife? A new study shows that wildlife in the Chernobyl disaster zone is thriving, indicating that the presence of humans is more damaging to wildlife than is radiation poisoningAfter a fire and explosion destroyed the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986, more than 100,000 people were permanently evacuated from the area to avoid radiation levels that were twenty times greater than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. But what happened to the local wildlife? According to a letter published today in the journal, Current Biology, scientists report that the Chernobyl disaster area is home to a rich and varied wildlife community, indicating that the mere presence of people is more damaging to wildlife than is radiation poisoning. Continue reading...

Recent hype surrounding neuroenhancing drugs should set alarm bells ringing for scientistsA great deal of excitement has been generated in recent weeks by a review paper examining the literature on the drug modafinil, which concluded that “modafinil may well deserve the title of the first well-validated pharmaceutical ‘nootropic’ [cognitive enhancing] agent”. Coverage in the Guardian, Telegraph, British Medical Journal, and the Independent all called attention to the work, with a press release from Oxford University trumpeting “Review of ‘smart drug’ shows modafinil does enhance cognition”.Related: Is modafinil safe in the long term? Continue reading...

There is still a hard road ahead, but progress on tackling the causes of global warming has far outstripped expectationsReliable weather forecasting is notoriously difficult. But with two months to go, it looks as if the sun may shine on the Paris climate change summit in December. This is the 21st meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the climate change agreement. The first was opened in Berlin in 1995 by Germany’s environment minister, a young Angela Merkel, and that the political and economic landscape looks so favourable owes something to her lasting commitment.Agreement is not a done deal, but countries responsible for 75% of the world’s carbon emissions have now set targets for cuts in carbon emissions. On Friday, India, which is now the third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, became the last of the major economies to file its pledge. It has promised to source 40% of its electricity from renewables by 2030. When the targets put forward by all the major polluters are assessed, it is reckoned that as long as they are honoured, these levels of emissions would hold global warming at 2.7C above the pre-industrial era. That is still too far above the 2C considered the limit to prevent dangerous climate change; but it is much lower than feared. Continue reading...

A new series of Perimeter Public Lectures starts with a word from the boss, on a “very powerful clue” that he says may spark a new scientific revolution