Our father, Ramesh Vyas, who has died aged 82, was a gentle, modest man who had an unerring sense of justice; someone who took pleasure in quietly challenging whatever prevailing prejudices and unfairness he encountered.He was the second of four children born to Harakhji, a shop owner, and Nirmala, a housewife, in Hansot, Gujarat, India. When he was a young boy the family moved to Akyab (now Sittwe) Island in former Burma, but they fled back to Gujarat when Burma was invaded by the Japanese during the second world war in 1942. Witnessing poverty and suffering in both countries profoundly influenced him, and led him to abandon his traditional Hindu upbringing in favour of atheism, and to become a lifelong socialist. Continue reading...
Not content with their version 1.0 bodies, biohackers are installing USB drives in their fingertips, giving themselves night-vision eyedrops and growing third ears on their arms (that can go online). Welcome to the world of DIY cyborgsWhen the director of a research institute called the Alternate Anatomies laboratory says he’s got something up his sleeve, you can safely assume it’s not just a figure of speech.For Professor Stelarc, an Australian performance artist whose previous party tricks have included using a robotic third arm and letting his muscles be remotely controlled by a computer, growing a human ear on his arm was the obvious next step. Now, he wants to connect it to the internet. Continue reading...
American composer Eric Whitacre takes his inspiration from the Hubble Space Telescope’s Deep Field image for a premiere at the BBC PromsTonight on BBC4, a unique piece of music will be broadcast. Commissioned by the BBC, in association with the Minnesota Orchestra, Deep Field is a 25 minute-long soundscape of epic ambition. It was recorded on Sunday 9 August at its European premiere, as part of the BBC Proms 2015 at the Royal Albert Hall.Related: Hubble at 25: the space telescope's timeline - in pictures Continue reading...
A huge cloud of smoke bursts from the A-1 test stand as scientists ignite a ‘hot fire’ test, designed to measure the engine’s ability to withstand intense temperature and pressure conditions at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi on Thursday. The RS-25 engine could eventually propel astronauts to places such as Mars Continue reading...
Astronomers find 51 Eridani b, an infant at 20m years old that is still cooking and throwing off clues about methane-rich biggest planet in Earth’s solar systemRelated: Rosetta captures images of jet-blasting cometAstronomers have taken a photograph of a young planet beyond the solar system that may reveal clues as to how planets such as Jupiter are formed and influence their planetary siblings, a study released on Thursday shows. Continue reading...
In the wake of editor-in-chief Stephen Leeder’s sacking from the Medical Journal of Australia, academics are challenging the control of a select group of publishing houses over scientific journalsThe academic publishing industry is a “gigantic web of avarice and selfishnessâ€, an eminent public health professor has said, as Australian academics seek to challenge the domination of a few publishing houses over scientific research.Emeritus professor Stephen Leeder was sacked by the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) in April after challenging a decision to outsource some of the journal’s functions to the world’s biggest scientific publisher, Elsevier. This month he will address a symposium at the State Library of NSW where academics will discuss how to fight what they describe as the commodification of knowledge. Continue reading...
Number of research participants soared to 22,000 during last year as Downing Street aims to find a cure or disease modifying therapy by 2025The government’s ambition to find a cure for dementia by 2025 has been boosted by a big rise in people volunteering to take part in groundbreaking research studies.During the last year, almost 22,000 people have taken part in research studies to tackle the condition – a 60% rise – according to figures from the National Institute for Health Research. Continue reading...
The 10-15% of Americans living in opposition to the right-handed world are a curious bunch whose brains have been found to work differently in many waysThursday marks Left Handers Day, a chance for 10-15% of the US population to share their pride as lefties and raise awareness about the issues faced by those living in a right-handed world.Ink smudges and a lack of suitable scissor options have always plagued left-handed people, but according to scientists , those are only minor peculiarities compared to the underlying psychological differences at play. Continue reading...
Nasa engineers are wrestling with a $915m (£586m) satellite that began to malfunction just six months after launch.The Soil Moisture Active Passive (Smap) spacecraft was launched on 31 January into a polar orbit with an altitude of 685km. It is designed to measure the water content of the top 5cm of soil everywhere on Earth. Continue reading...
Cheesy, catchy, cliched? Soppy, sexy, stupid? Search your shelves for songs that produce such a strong, ripe reaction they will help sort the bad from the Gouda
Cameras of European Space Agency craft get within 330km of comet 67P as it hurtles past sun, rattles its ‘guest’, Philae, and spews out gas and boulders
Researchers say new biological manufacturing method using modified yeast instead of opium poppies could slash both manufacturing time and costScientists have genetically modified yeast cells to make them churn out painkillers that are normally harvested from opium poppies.
An editorial published in the BMJ this week makes a welcome call for a calmer and more evidence-based approach to dealing with concerns about how technology affects young peopleOne of the reasons that I got into science writing was because of Baroness Susan Greenfield. Actually, she’s also one of the reasons that I got into video game research as well. In that sense, I guess, I owe a lot to her. In another, more realistic sense, the reason that she acted as a catalyst for those things is because of her regular appearances in the media, claiming that the internet, social media and video games are damaging our brains.Over the years, Greenfield has appeared in newspaper articles claiming that computer games “leave children with dementiaâ€; that internet use is linked to autism; and that social media harms children’s brains. When criticised about the comments, the Baroness has been quick to claim that she’s been misrepresented, although no retractions or corrections of pieces like those mentioned above have ever surfaced. A call from Ben Goldacre for Greenfield to publish her claims in a scientific journal, so that they can be placed under an appropriately rigourous level of scrutiny, has been dismissed. Instead, we’ve had two books – the disastrous science fiction novel 2121, and the equally problematic popular science book, Mind Change. Both advance Greenfield’s view that the internet generally, and social media and video games more specifically, are having a huge and negative impact on our brains. Continue reading...
Number of babies dying shortly after birth has also dropped by almost 8%, according to researchStillbirths have dropped by almost 8% in England since the smoking ban was introduced, research has shown.
The annual meteor display, so-called because it appears to radiate from the constellation Perseus in the north-eastern sky, is a result of Earth’s orbit passing through debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle. This weekend is considered the peak of the shower, which is visible every August Continue reading...
Mandageria fairfaxi, a 370m-year-old fossil found in 1993 near Canowindra, will join the kookaburra, platypus, blue groper and black opal as NSW emblemsA 370 million-year-old fish fossil will join the kookaburra, platypus, blue groper and black opal on the list of New South Wales state emblems.With the scientific name Mandageria fairfaxi, named for a local creek and publisher James Fairfax, the fish fossil is one of the largest in the world, measuring up to 1.7m in length. Continue reading...
The endangered cape parrot really is a distinct species, according to a newly-published molecular study -- a finding that could impact conservation decisions and strategies in South Africa for decades to comeThe taxonomy of the Cape parrot, Poicephalus robustus robustus, has long been controversial, particularly amongst conservation biologists and policymakers. But today, a team of South African scientists published a study that agrees with previously published morphological, ecological, and behavioural assessments indicating that this taxon should be elevated to full species status. In this study, the authors analysed genetic data from five Poicephalus parrot species and found that the Cape parrot is genetically distinct from all of its closest relatives. This taxonomic revision could facilitate better planning and implementation of international and local conservation management strategies for protecting this critically endangered parrot. Continue reading...
Comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko, shadowed by the Rosetta spacecraft, will make its closest approach to the sun at 3.03 am BST on Thursday morningMission scientists have prepared the Rosetta spacecraft for a cosmic fireworks display as it chaperones the speeding comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko through its closest encounter with the sun.Related: Scientists to get ringside view as comet 67P reaches closest point to Sun Continue reading...
My play about the cancer gene BRCA1, Goodstock, raises honest issues about preventive surgery in a funny, uplifting way. I should know, I’ve tested positiveMy theatre company, Lost Watch, and I have made a show about biomedical misfortune, the BRCA1 gene mutation, and my family – without their permission. It’s called Goodstock and it opened last week at the Pleasance Courtyard as part of the Edinburgh festival fringe. Now my cover is officially blown.Related: Angelina Jolie and the complex truth about breast cancer | Judith Soal Continue reading...
Coral reefs, New York from space and an erupting volcano are among images captured by European Space Agency and Nasa satellites last monthTwo typhoons, one tropical storm, one formation alert and one large area of increased convection makes for a busy day in the northern Pacific Ocean in this image from 7 July. From left to right: Tropical Storm Linfa in the South China Sea meanders northward with winds near 55 knots ; Typhoon Chan-Hom has winds near 100 knots and strengthening, heading west-northwest toward the East China Sea; Typhoon Nangka is east of Guam heading west-northwest with winds intensifying near 140 knots in a couple of days. The large area of convection southwest of Hawaii was not expected to develop into a tropical system, despite its satellite presentation. Continue reading...
My play about the cancer gene BRCA1, Goodstock, raises honest issues about preventive surgery in a funny, uplifting way. I should know, I’ve tested positiveMy theatre company, Lost Watch, and I have made a show about biomedical misfortune, the BRCA1 gene mutation, and my family – without their permission. It’s called Goodstock and it opened last week at the Pleasance Courtyard as part of the Edinburgh festival fringe. Now my cover is officially blown.Related: Angelina Jolie and the complex truth about breast cancer | Judith Soal Continue reading...
The apparent discovery, based on scans of King Tutankhamun’s burial chamber, could yield treasure beyond what was found in his famous resting placeHidden doorways in the ancient Egyptian tomb of King Tutankhamun may lead to the long-lost resting place of Queen Nefertiti, a scientist has claimed.Related: The case of the Frankenstein Nefertiti: it's time to revolt against ugly public art Continue reading...
One Health holds that humans and the world around us thrive and suffer for the same reasons. As the idea grows more popular, health solutions developed for your dog might just end up helping you, tooEvery two to three months, Elizabeth Roberts says goodbye to her kids and husband and loads up Scooby Doo, the family’s three-legged, 12-year-old Labrador retriever, into the back of her SUV. She drives to the ferry from where they live on Martha’s Vineyard and takes the 45-minute boat ride to the mainland.From there, she has another six to seven hour drive to her parents’ home outside Philadelphia, where she and Scooby Doo spend the night before driving to University of Pennsylvania in the morning. All this for an experimental osteosarcoma clinical trial that has extended Scooby Doo’s life expectancy from one year to going on three years now. Continue reading...
In the last week alone, abortion has caused controversy in the US, the UK and in Chile. Medical science is often invoked on both sides of the debate. So what is the evidence on some of the main claims around abortion?There are few topics in modern discourse quite as divisive, as fraught with misunderstanding and as rooted in deeply-held conviction as abortion.Those on the pro-choice side of the spectrum argue that it is a woman’s right to choose whether she carries a pregnancy to term or not. On the other side, anti-abortion activists insist that from the moment of conception a foetus has an inalienable right to existence. In recent years, polarisation has increased and the topic has become exceptionally politically partisan, with the personal and political aspects increasingly difficult to separate. Continue reading...
A Guardian science writer recently had a minor meltdown after being unable to find a picture of a normal cake. This, in a roundabout way, resulted in a search for science themed cakes, many of which are represented here. Continue reading...
Early signs of this year’s Perseid meteor shower – the annual display of natural fireworks – in Europe. The shower is set to be particularly spectacular on Wednesday evening, with extra-dark skies expected to create optimal stargazing conditions – the best place to watch in the UK is tipped to be north-east EnglandHow to see the Perseid meteor shower in the UK Continue reading...
Researchers in Australia have developed a new way of printing 3D structures that closely resemble layered brain tissueIn the latest effort to build an artificial laboratory model of the brain, Australian researchers have developed a novel method for constructing layered biological structures that looks just like cerebral cortex tissue using a handheld 3D printer.Neuroscientists rarely get the opportunity to study the human brain directly, and so work on cells or tissue slices that have been dissected from animals and grown in Petri dishes. These in vitro methods are useful for studying development and processes such as neurodegeneration and cell-to-cell signalling, but are severely limited in that they do not resemble the complex three-dimensional structure of the brain. Continue reading...
Twenty amendments made to legislation – including rules over how money would be spent – means House of Representatives must now reconsider itThe Abbott government’s $20bn medical research future fund has cleared the Senate despite concerns about the potential for its funding decisions to be politicised.
Radio telescope, which was in danger of closing down due to federal government funding cuts, wins reprieve from project funded by Russian internet billionaireA $135m search for extraterrestrial life backed by physicist Stephen Hawking has thrown an unlikely lifeline to the Parkes radio telescope in New South Wales, which was facing closure after successive federal government funding cuts.The 54-year-old telescope, located in a sheep paddock five hours’ west of Sydney, is one of only two observatories chosen for the Breakthrough Listen project, an unprecedented search for alien signals starting in January 2016. Continue reading...
by Kate Lyons, Tom Phillips, Amy Fallon and Kate Conn on (#H4VK)
Across the globe, initiatives such as food-sharing clubs and projects aimed to reducing post-harvest losses for poor farmers are making a differenceA group of volunteers stand in the FareShare depot in Deptford, south-east London, as shift coordinator James Souteriou calls out items. They are putting together grocery orders to be delivered to organisations across London – to a branch of the homelessness charity Thames Reach, to the Holborn Community Association and a local nursery and infants’ school. Continue reading...
Wenlock Edge, Shropshire A controversial theory claims the reason butterflies and their caterpillars look so dissimilar is down to hybridogenesisIt’s hard to imagine a creature less like a butterfly than its own caterpillar. This is particularly true for the peacock butterfly – a blue-eyed beauty blinking through the dog days of summer until it’s time to sleep behind the bedroom curtains.But here comes the peacock caterpillar – like a train made of black polka-dot upholstery armed with great spines, undulating on suckers, propelled by a single idea of destiny behind its blank mask. The last journey the caterpillar takes is alone; it moves away from its writhing knot of siblings in the nettle clump to a safe place to pupate and become something else completely. Continue reading...
New moon and dark skies expected to make conditions especially good for the annual meteor shower – just try to get away from the city for the best viewsFleeting blazes of fire and light will streak and fade through the sky this week, at the height of what astronomers predict will be a spectacular meteor shower visible to skygazers in the US.The Perseid meteor shower will peak on the nights of 12 and 13 August, as the Earth swings through the densest debris left behind by a distant comet’s trail. On the east coast, the greatest cascade of fiery, disintegrating debris will fall at about 4am (1am Pacific time). Continue reading...
Footage recorded using light-sheet microscopy could help scientists understand how the brain and nerve cord interact to generate behaviourThe neural activity of an entire central nervous system has been captured in a fairly complex animal for the first time.
My friend and colleague, Dick Cotton, who has died aged 74, was a medical researcher who was internationally prominent in the field of human genetics. He had a long and distinguished career as both an innovative researcher and as a persuasive activist promoting the prevention and treatment of genetic disorders and birth defects.Dick grew up on the family farm in Wangaratta, Victoria, the only child of Esther and Graham Cotton. His father, an orange farmer, died when Dick was three years old. Dick went as a boarder to Melbourne grammar school, and graduated from the School of Agricultural Science at the University of Melbourne in 1963. Continue reading...
The results of a small study appear to show that a three month course of daily fish oil capsules could reduce the rate of psychotic disorders in young peopleEating more fish or taking regular fish oil supplements may help prevent psychosis in those most at risk, researchers claim.A three month course of daily fish oil capsules appeared to significantly reduce the rate of psychotic disorders in young people, an improvement that seemed to persist when doctors assessed their mental health seven years later.
Social anthropologist who studied the Samburu and Maasai peoples of the central Rift ValleyThe social anthropologist Paul Spencer, who has died aged 83, was best known for his work on the peoples – principally the Samburu and Maasai – speaking the Maa languages and living in the central Rift Valley from northern Kenya to northern Tanzania. His initial interest lay in age organisation: how these livestock-rearing communities assembled groups of boys of around the same age and managed their passage to maturity through a succession of initiation ceremonies. The young men developed a lifelong bond by living and eating together apart from their families, dancing and raiding as one, and, later on, acting as patrons and mentors for junior groups in their turn.Age and the passage of time remained at the core of Paul’s work, but he expanded his interests to include gender relations within the household, systems of belief and the social significance of dance. Despite his focus on men, he displayed an understanding of the predicament of women in a patriarchal world. They played a crucial role in upholding the core values that defined the community by shaming errant husbands and sometimes collectively punishing men whose delinquent behaviour transgressed the moral order. As Paul pointed out, relations between men were always mediated through women, despite the latter’s apparently subordinate position. Continue reading...
A new play examines why less than 3% of Nobel laureates in science are women – and highlights the stories of a few of those who have succeededIt’s clear to me that female scientists have always been swimming against the current – and continue to do so today. But the play No Belles, staged recently at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, has brought this unfortunate situation to dramatic life.A three-woman show written and performed by Portal Theatre company , No Belles presents the fascinating personal stories of members of a rare club: women who are Nobel laureates in science subjects (to date only 17 prizes have been awarded to women) Continue reading...
A video put out by the Guardian has angered scientists for portraying crude and offensive stereotypes of them. Is this anger valid, or is there more to it than that?Yesterday on Twitter, someone flagged up this video, from the Guardian itself, where a scientist explains how the Higgs Boson works.Except not quite. The scientist is fictional, and is less an authentic scientist than, as many have noticed, a ridiculously exaggerated offensive stereotype of a “scientistâ€. This video is the last of a series, one that most scientists have never noticed before now. Weird. Nonetheless, this one certainly drew attention. Mostly bad attention; it’s really upset/enraged many scientist types. But others like it, finding it amusing, ironic, an obvious joke etc. Continue reading...
Joy as mathematicians discover a new type of pentagon that can cover the plane leaving no gaps and with no overlaps. It becomes only the 15th type of pentagon known that can do this, and the first discovered in 30 yearsIn the world of mathematical tiling, news doesn’t come bigger than this.In the world of bathroom tiling – I bet they’re interested too. Continue reading...
Astronauts filmed five-and-a-half-hour walk on hand-held cameras and kept in touch constantly with each other and Russian mission control near MoscowTwo Russian cosmonauts added new equipment outside the International Space Station on Monday and took pictures to study its exterior during a five-and-a-half-hour spacewalk.The outing was the 188th in support of the space station and the 10th of Gennady Padalka’s career, a veteran cosmonaut and grandfather who is serving as commander of the space station. Continue reading...
Nasa astronauts Kjell Lindgren and Scott Kelly, along with Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, ate red romaine lettuce grown in space on board the International Space Station on Monday. The harvest comes from Nasa’s Veg-01 experiment, aimed at studying how plants grow in orbit in order to give astronauts on possible longer missions in the future the ability to grow their own meals and fresh produce for longer missions Continue reading...
Study finds parasitic disease in samples taken across three continents, as 42% of frog species are listed as being in declineTadpoles are contracting a new and highly infectious disease that may threaten frog populations worldwide, British scientists have found.A parasitic disease caused by single-celled microbes known as “protists†was found in the livers of tadpole samples taken from six countries across three continents, the scientists said in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Journal on Monday. Continue reading...
The text speak acronym may soon be laughing no more, according to a Facebook survey in the US, with haha, hehe and emoji now far more popularIt began as a shorthand understood only by computer geeks and went on to enter the dictionary and be (mis)used by the prime minister. But LOL, the acronym for “laugh out loud†used to express an electronic laugh, has had its day, according to a Facebook survey.As parents and grandparents have taken up “lolling†and “lolzingâ€, the young have abandoned it in favour of the heartier “haha†and “heheâ€, or use emoji to express amusement in text.
Re Brian O’Donovan’s letter (8 August): 25 years ago I lived in a mixed English-Asian community. My immediate neighbours were Pakistanis and the head of the household had little English but I eventually understood his father was ill and allowed him to use my phone to talk to his family. Days later it became clear that his father’s condition was serious and later that he had died. Khalid was in tears. All he wanted was a shoulder to weep on. At that moment, with little language in common, all he needed was my shoulder and arms around him. That was the start of our friendship.
The bountiful harvest aboard the International Space Station is part of Nasa’s Veggie experiment to make spacecrafts more self-sustaining for longer missionsIt was one small bite for man, one giant meal for mankind.On a gustatory adventure never attempted by humanity, astronauts have for the first time dined on a harvest sown in space. The verdict from astronaut Scott Kelly: “Tastes good. Kinda like arugula.†It was a strangely appropriate comment, given that arugula is also known as rocket. Continue reading...