Acclaimed science-theatre writer-performer John Hinton talks about impersonating scientists as his award-winning ‘Scientrilogy’ comes to the Edinburgh FringeIf at first you don’t succeed, pretend.I adored science at school. But my coursework assignments bewildered my teachers. Details of experimentations were often accompanied by personal anecdotes and quotes from obscure song lyrics. Irrelevant clip-art was rife. So when I had to pick a path through the labyrinth of life, i.e. select my A-levels, science fell away in favour of subjects where personal anecdoture and obscure lyricalism are paramount.

All plants contain toxins which continue to work after leaf fall, so how worms are able to stomach dead grass and leaf litter has long been a mysteryBritish scientists have cracked the global earthworm mystery: they have worked out how the planet’s great subterranean reprocessing system copes with the poisons that would choke most herbivores.Earthworms underwrite almost all life on earth: they drag fallen leaves below the soil and digest them, to excrete that rich mix of loam and living things called topsoil. Every year, 35 billion tons of dead grass and leaf litter get turned over by the worms and other soil fauna. But the catch is that some plants are really poisonous, and all plants contain some toxins designed by evolution to discourage demolition by herbivores, and these toxins carry on working even after leaf fall. Continue reading...

“Merkeln’, which means being indecisive or failing to have an opinion, is topping a poll to choose Germany’s favourite new ‘youth words’It is, perhaps, a measure of just how powerful she has become: Angela Merkel now appears to be influencing youth slang.The compilers of Germany’s most popular dictionary say that the verb “merkeln” is on track to become the most popular “youth word” of the year. Media strategists around the chancellor who may have fleetingly thought they could seize on the opportunity to encourage more young people to support the German chancellor will, however, have been quickly disappointed. Continue reading...

‘If the first 10,000 pioneers to Mars can go without water for 10 years, everything should be hunky-dory’In the year 2027, two sleek spacecraft dubbed Raptor 1 and Raptor 2 will finally land on Mars after a gruelling 243-day journey. The following day a further 3,000 spacecraft – Raptors 3 to 3002 – will land next to them. This is a fact. The colonisation of Mars will have begun.Ever since Nasa stopped flying astronauts to the moon, many people have got a bit bored with space exploration. But manned space travel is now more than an ever a necessity as people are getting so fed up with the lack of Vodafone coverage. Earth is doomed to a slow death through climate change or a quick one through an invasion of Scientologists from Planet Theta, and the sooner we get the hell out of here the better. The good news is that Wernher von Braun has already designed the technology to get to Mars. Man got to the moon easily enough in 1969; all we need to do is build a rocket 1,000 times more powerful. Simples. Continue reading...

New observation of ‘peeping’ sounds made by humankind’s closest living relative suggest a possible evolutionary origin for human languageThe bonobo or pygmy chimpanzee – humankind’s closest living relative – has mastered the human art of babytalk. That is, it makes a range of sounds that must be interpreted in context. It may not be language, but it parallels those sounds that human infants make to communicate before they learn to use words, according to new research by Zanna Clay, a psychologist at the University of Birmingham. Continue reading...

Some treatments hold much promise, but they pale in the face of the realization that everyday life choices are altering gene activity all the timeMuch of the current research on treating disease and staying healthy has focused on our genetic makeup – from the Human Genome project, completed in 2003, to the newer field of epigenetics, which puts our 23,000 genes into the context of the chemical reactions that influence their activities. Though these are crucial areas of study, scientists are continually forced to confront how much human health is not dependent on our genetics.The original optimism about the potential of genetics has been dampened by the immense challenges of translating gene findings into drug discovery as well as a gross underestimation of the role of lifestyle on disease risk. Geneticists did not –and many still do not – fully appreciate the dynamic manner in which our genes interact with each other and our lifestyles, down to the level of our cells, eavesdropping on activities everywhere in the body and responding, often instantaneously, to a person’s experiences. Continue reading...

The UK has over 20,000 species of insect, but their numbers are declining sharply. Here are some of the many reasons we should protect themIf you ask the average person what their favourite insect is, chances are you may not receive an enthusiastic response. Insects are not necessarily something we are expected to have an opinion on, let alone a favourite. They are often lumped together as one entity, “bugs”, and are regularly overlooked, or considered a pest (which of course they can be).In many ways, however, this is extremely surprising. We have over 20,000 species of insect in the UK. They come in all sorts of wonderful shapes and sizes, with distinct characters, traits and glorious life histories. Continue reading...

Academics have learned to live with attempts to measure university research, but is this the best way to judge success or failure?Many academics now showcase their work on one or more “reputation” websites – Google Scholar, ResearchGate, Academia.edu … They are as familiar with their h-index – a number that measures the quality of a researcher’s output – as they are with their phone numbers, and they are not ashamed to quote them in job or research applications.They have learned to live with, if not love, these metrics, which rate the number of highly cited papers an academic has written. They seem solid compared with the old-fashioned peer review in which one lot of academics, anonymously of course, comments on the quality of the work of another lot. Continue reading...

A series of experiments has produced incredible results by giving young blood to old mice. Now the findings are being tested on humans. Ian Sample meets the scientists whose research could transform our livesOn an August morning in 2008, Tony Wyss-Coray sat in a conference room at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto, California, waiting for his lab’s weekly meeting to begin. Wyss-Coray, a professor of neurology at Stanford University, was leading a young group of researchers who studied ageing and neurodegeneration. As a rule, the gatherings were forgettable affairs – the incremental nature of scientific progress does not lend itself to big surprises. But a lab member scheduled to speak that day had taken on a radical project, and he had new results to share.Saul Villeda, an ebullient PhD student with slick black hair and a goatee, had spent the past year engrossed in research that called to mind the speculative medical science of the middle ages. He was investigating whether the old and frail could be rejuvenated by infusions of blood from the young. The hypothesis was not as absurd as it might sound. Continue reading...

Astrophysicist joins scientists and mathematicians to discuss climate change and extraterrestrial life – and the booing of Adam Goodes – without acrimonyPoliticians cherry-picking information to suit their own agenda is one of the great tragedies of modern civilisation, the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson said on Monday night’s Q&A.In a panel devoid of politicians, Tyson joined the oncologist and Guardian Australia columnist Ranjana Srivastava, the mathematician and CSIRO marine scientist Beth Fulton and the mathematics ambassador Adam Spencer to discuss climate change, extraterrestrial life and artificial intelligence. Continue reading...

Scientists develop test for three proteins which could give early warning of disease and help doctors distinguish symptoms from chronic pancreatitis

Michael Bywater (When a manly pat on the back won’t do, 1 August) correctly points to the salience of culture in shaping our responses to grief, but when he writes “We have grown to distrust rationality; feeling is the new thinking”, whom is he referring to? For some, grief has to be stowed away because, in rational terms, they cannot allow it to dominate their lives when earning a living and supporting children have priority. They are not in a position to cogitate on “the rewriting of what it means to be human”.Those who are at the forefront of this discourse, though, are not necessarily harbingers of change when it comes to responses to grief. Some years ago I was working in a Russell Group university and the response I received, on the death of my wife, from a female professor of sociology, was: “Oh, I wouldn’t like that.” Clearly indicating, as Bywater puts it, that the new message is “We’re all in it together”. Really?

The Apollo 11 astronaut who made the first lunar landing in 1969 has tweeted his official travel voucher and customs forms for the moon rock he brought backBuzz Aldrin’s 1969 trip to the moon was just like any other business trip, expenses forms and all.Related: Camera and souvenirs from Apollo 11 moon landing go on display Continue reading...

The procedure is increasingly being sought out by professional women looking to postpone motherhood, but it could have unintended consequencesIsobel Taylor laughs as she recalls her decision to freeze her eggs. “I joke to my friends that it’s douchebag insurance,” the 34-year-old art director from Los Angeles says, explaining that since the right man is not yet on the horizon, putting her eggs in storage feels like a reasonable backup plan. “It takes away a bit of the stress.”Taylor (not her real name) is far from alone in opting for egg freezing. There has been a surge in mainly professional women across the US going down the freezing route in an effort to preserve healthy eggs that can be thawed and fertilized later, if or when they decide to start a family. Continue reading...

Members of those communities may be uncomfortable sharing their sexual orientation with doctors. And doctors lack comprehensive statistics on their riskGay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer/questioning (LGBTQ) people may be at greater risk for seven different cancers than heterosexual and gender-aligned folks are, and a lot of the discrepancy is due to misinformation and lack of regular healthcare in those communities.These factors increase the likelihood that LGBTQ people, who make up some 12% of the population, will avoid important cancer screenings, or be unaware that they are necessary. The upshot is that anal, breast, cervical, colorectal, endometrial, lung and prostate cancers may disproportionately affect the LGBTQ community. For example, available data suggest the risk of dying from breast cancer is 3.2 times higher in lesbian women compared to heterosexual women. Continue reading...

A combination of fossils and sophisticated statistical techniques has allowed scientists to reconstruct how Fractofusus reproduced 565 million years agoThey looked like plants but were almost certainly animals; they drifted back and forth in in the deep ocean currents 565 million years ago; and by 540 million years ago, they were gone.And yet, in one of palaeontology’s triumphs, researchers at Cambridge now know how these mysterious organisms spread themselves around the pre-Cambrian world. And the answer is one that every gardener would recognise: they sent out runners, and established new growths. Just like strawberries.

There were a whopping four puzzles to solve this week, each an area plan with a missing value. Did you manage it? Alex explains the solutions to two of them – click here to discover if you've cracked the other two. See you in two weeks for the next puzzle! Continue reading...

New study claims tendencies, which pediatricians have long advised children will ‘grow out of’, are associated with more serious conditionsFor many in the toddler-rearing parent population,dinner-time can be a battle: their children are picky eaters, and have divined what seems like a both arbitrary and immovable set of guidelines for their foods.The foods they can’t touch, the crusts that have to be cut off or the ketchup that has to be a certain brand. Continue reading...

Look out for alien skin, astronauts and UV-related anguish in the alt-pop band’s latest music video

Alex Bellos sets a mind-bending puzzle – the area maze. Originally invented for schoolchildren, it's become a big hit with adults in Japan. Can you find the missing values in the four puzzles Alex has set? He goes through an example to help you along! For a written version, click here. Continue reading...

A success rate of 100% in trials is spectacular. There is no excuse for inertia on other diseases nowFor more than a year and a half, three of the world’s poorest countries have struggled against the most devastating Ebola epidemic in human history. Containing this unprecedented outbreak would have been a huge challenge for Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone under any conditions. But the scale of the task was far greater because of the absence of the most effective possible defence: a vaccine.Related: Ebola vaccine trial proves 100% successful in Guinea Continue reading...

Today scientists use sophisticated technology to catalogue treasures such as fossils. Items can be laser scanned, enabling us to view the object from any angle, without even touching the specimen. But sometimes you can’t beat an old fashioned illustration. Continue reading...

Intake should be boosted with supplements, say official health advisors in draft recommendations that could lead to new guidancePeople in Britain should boost their vitamin D intake with supplements because of a lack of bright sunshine to provide it naturally, government health advisers have suggested. The British weather prevents much of the population from receiving healthy amounts of the essential vitamin from sunlight, and natural food sources alone are not enough to boost levels, according to the scientific advisory committee on nutrition (SACN).The SACN, an independent advisory body to the government, made the recommendation after studying the links between vitamin D levels and a range of health problems, including musculoskeletal health, heart disease, type 1 diabetes, cancer and multiple sclerosis. Continue reading...

Artefacts discovered amid submerged ruins of cities of Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus to be unveiled in major Paris exhibitionSpectacular ancient Egyptian treasures are to be exhibited for the first time having been discovered underwater in the submerged ruins of the near-legendary cities of Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus.A finely sculpted statuette of a pharaoh and a golden-eyed depiction of god Osiris are among antiquities to be unveiled in a major exhibition in Paris from next month.

Last week I was in a hotel in Edinburgh where the whole bedroom was vibrating for some unexplained reason, at an almost imperceptible level. The Bessel functions in my glass of water were a key part of the evidence that persuaded the manager to move us

In February, football’s lawmakers approved the analysis of a player’s performance during live matches, via a tracking device in the shirt. So what impact will this have on a player’s health, game management – and the half-time team talk?The Fifa Women’s World Cup final this summer was remarkable, and not just because England came within one game of playing in it. One in 12 Americans watched at least part of the game live, making it the most watched football game in US history, while Team USA secured a record third title, thanks in no small part to their midfielder Carli Lloyd scoring a 13-minute hat-trick. The third of these saw her lob the Japanese goalkeeper from the halfway line.Less obvious, but possibly of more significance, were the small black gadgets about the size of an old Nokia mobile phone that the winning players were wearing between their shoulder blades. The final was the first major international match since the laws of the game were changed in February to allow players to wear performance-tracking devices during a match. Continue reading...

Analysis of the ancient mammal’s fossilised remains will help scientists study long-term climate trends and the ecosystems of the Holocene eraAt least 12,000 years ago, a mastodon with a toothache died on top of a pile of seashells beside a creek near what is now Yorktown, Virginia. The flesh decayed, leaving teeth and bones that were gradually covered by sediment from the creek. Over the years, the bones of other mastodons in Virginia dissolved. But this one was in just the right place to survive.In 1983, a brick mason named Lawnell Hart was out hunting when he spotted an enormous tooth in the creek. Hart showed the site to Gerald Johnson, a geologist at the College of William and Mary. Continue reading...

A ban on the use of landmines by British forces won’t cover troops working with NatoGeorge Robertson, the Defence Secretary, yesterday announced an immediate and total ban on the use of anti-personnel landmines by British forces as the Government ratified an international convention outlawing the indiscriminate weapon estimated to kill or maim 2,000 people a month.

A blue moon rose in the skies for first time in three years on Friday. The event occurs when there are two full moons in one calendar month, roughly every two to three years. This summer it is especially interesting as it’s also a supermoon, when the moon is at its closest approach to Earth, making it appear very big and bright Continue reading...

Robert Peston found his male friends insensitive after his wife’s death – but the problem is not menWe must all grieve, sooner or later. Even divinity doesn’t exempt you. “Jesus wept” is famously the shortest verse in the Bible, and he wept because his friend Lazarus was dead. Not just emotion, but a matter of doing the right thing. “Then said the Jews,” it goes on, “Behold how he loved him!”What man, after all, would not weep if his friend died? Or the friend of a friend, or a friend’s wife? What man could remain stony-eyed or, worse, cheerily encouraging? Continue reading...

Sci-fi show is broadcaster’s most successful drama in 20 years, with audiences engrossed by its depiction of AI and how it could threaten mankindChannel 4 has announced there will be a second series of Humans, its most successful drama in 20 years, ahead of the show’s highly anticipated season finale on Sunday night.Set in a parallel present, Humans has prompted widespread debate about artificial intelligence. It imagines a world in which we increasingly rely on robots, marketed as high-tech luxury house appliances. As the eight-part drama has progressed, it has wrestled with questions around artificial intelligence and its possible threat to mankind, as well as exploring what it means to be human. Continue reading...

Rapid development and testing of drug may bring current epidemic in west Africa to an end and control future outbreaks, experts say

What does the creative brain look like, and can we boost our creative powers?It's a question that's fascinated us for centuries - what is the nature of creativity? Can we find its roots in the human brain? And if so, can we boost our creative powers?To discuss the notion of a link between creativity and madness Ian Sample is joined in the studio by Dr Caroline Di Bernardi Luft, from the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London. Down the line is Dr Anna Abraham from the School of Social, Psychological and Communication Sciences at Leeds Beckett University, and from the University of New Mexico we have Professor Rex Jung. Continue reading...

The proposed ban on nitrous oxide is irrational and unworkable, and requires serious challenge, not an inane demo in Parliament SquareOn Saturday at exactly 3pm, hundreds of people will converge on Parliament Square in London, inhale nitrous oxide, or “laughing gas”, collectively giggle for 30 seconds, and then disperse. The Psychedelic Society insists “this is not a party” but a serious act of political dissent. “We’ll all inhale together in a sea of coloured rubber to send the message: My mind, my choice.”The “mass inhalation” is in protest against the proposed psychoactive substances bill, which would make possession or supply of any “psychoactive substance” (with the exceptions of nicotine, alcohol and caffeine) punishable by up to seven years in prison. The aim is to crack down on legal highs, which chemists constantly concoct when old favourites are banned. No more “meow meow”, “spice”, “vanilla sky” or other new chemical substances. The catch-all legislation would also remove well-established legal highs such as nitrous oxide. Continue reading...

Tonight’s blue moon will be easy to see, but the name has nothing to do with its colour and ‘once in a blue moon’ is probably based on a misunderstandingIf it is clear tonight, step outside and marvel at the full moon. Its heavy, illuminated orb will trace a path right across the sky from horizon to horizon during the twilight and nighttime hours.It will be shining in the reflected light of the Sun, as normal, and will appear yellow/white, as normal, yet we call it a blue moon because, well … here’s where the story gets interesting. Continue reading...

Move needed to prevent spread of deadly fungal disease via pet trade to the wild where it can wipe out salamander populationsThe import of hundreds of thousands of live salamanders to the US each year should be banned to save wild salamanders from a deadly disease, scientists say.They say the move is needed to stop the skin-eating fungal disease, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), from spreading via the pet trade to wild populations, where there is currently no effective way to control it. Continue reading...

Pharmacology can get a bad rap in the press. Professors George Davey Smith and David Nutt fight the case for statins and SSRIs.In a public lecture hosted by the British Association for Psychopharmacology and Bristol’s MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (where I work), Professors George Davey Smith and David Nutt stripped away the sensationalisation and misinformation around statins and SSRIs. They come from very different fields, George is an epidemiologist and David a psychiatrist, but both fields can help us understand the efficacy and safety of drug treatments.George took on the topic of statins. George is a perfect example of a scientist being led by the evidence - he himself wrote an article 25 years ago calling for cholesterol lowering drugs to cease to be prescribed, but now believes the evidence is overwhelming in support of the use of statins for lowering cholesterol, which reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. Not that you’d necessarily see that from the media, where their use has been linked to everything from baldness to memory loss, kidney damage to nosebleeds. Continue reading...

Implausibly, this elusive nocturnal animal has somehow survived in Bangalore, a mushrooming megacity of 10 million people. But a catastrophic loss of trees in what was formerly known as India’s ‘garden city’ threatens their futureIt’s 7pm on a Saturday night and a park in the heart of the city is teeming with people. The pathways are crammed with jostling walkers, park benches are spilling over with couples and senior citizens. In all the bustle, a group of people carefully trail the walkway armed with torches that they shine across the park’s treetops. They’re looking for something. They find ant nests, a spotted owlet and bats hanging upside down – but they keep moving. They reach the end of the park’s walkway and a swathe of light from a torch hits a tall tree outside the park boundary. A pair of eyes glowing in the dark stare back and begin floating in the dark. They’ve found what they’re looking for – a small and extremely elusive furry creature – a slender loris. With wide, unblinking eyes and long, skinny limbs, these peculiar squirrel-sized primates live on trees in the forests of southern India and Sri Lanka.But the park where the group spots the loris is far from a pristine forest. The roundabout next to it is clogged with traffic, drowned in a cacophony of horns and city noises. Bangalore, known as India’s Silicon Valley, is one of the world’s fastest-growing cities with a population of 10 million.

How scientists analyse the spread of extreme bushfires and the weather phenomena they create. In the latest Catastrophic Science episode, researchers at University of New South Wales analyse the deadly 2003 Canberra bushfires during which fire spread across the wind's direction as well as with it, and spawned supercell thunderstorms and tornadoes Continue reading...