Science | The Guardian

The Traitors has shown just how adept some people are at lying. Here, an ex-FBI agent, a psychologist and a fraud investigator share their best tips for detecting dishonestyTwenty-two people in a castle, Claudia Winkleman hamming it up like crazy, a number of silly challenges, a chunk of money sitting at the centre, almost glowing, and human nature laid bare. To try to pick apart exactly what makes The Traitors so compelling would be to miss the point, like trying to analyse the ingredients in a Krispy Kreme doughnut.As enjoyable as it is, though, the show gets more infuriating with each episode. I don't want to point fingers, still less give spoilers, so let's keep this broad: why are they (the Faithful) all so stupid? Why can't they tell when they are being lied to? It's so obvious! Continue reading...

How did the country get from a 2017 WHO declaration that the disease had been eliminated in Britain to the current crisis?In September 2017, Britain was basking in the glory of a public health success story. No indigenous cases of measles had been recorded for three years. Decades after a sham study threatened to permanently undermine trust in the MMR jab, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, the World Health Organization declared the disease had been eliminated for the first time in the UK.Dr Mary Ramsay, then head of immunisation at Public Health England (PHE), expressed delight. This is a huge achievement and a testament to all the hard work by our health professionals in the NHS to ensure that all children and adults are fully protected with two doses of the MMR vaccine." Continue reading...

As Buruli ulcer cases rise in Victoria, Australian researchers say they have finally solved the transmission enigma'

Traces of DNA found on lumps of tree resin suggest trout and hazelnuts were popular 10,000 years agoDNA from a type of chewing gum" used by teenagers in Sweden 10,000 years ago is shedding new light on the stone age diet and oral health, according to research.The wads of gum are made from pieces of birch bark pitch, a tar-like black resin, and carry clearly visible teethmarks. Continue reading...

Study finds measuring levels of a protein could be just as good at detecting disease as lumbar punctures and scansThe possibility of simple blood tests to help diagnose Alzheimer's disease faster has been given a boost after researchers revealed evidence that they can rival costly brain scans or painful lumbar punctures for accuracy.Recent studies have brought the possibility of reliable blood tests for dementia closer to becoming a reality. A 5m project was launched by researchers in the UK last year with the goal of enabling people to be diagnosed in seconds on the NHS within five years. Continue reading...

Campaigners say 76% decline in riverfly species' abundance at Cunsey Beck is being caused by sewage dischargesTesting by citizen scientists of a beck that feeds into Windermere has revealed a huge loss in invertebrate life in the lake in Cumbria that campaigners say is being caused by sewage discharges.Save Windermere and WildFish carried out testing for invertebrates in Cunsey Beck, a site of special scientific interest (SSSI), in order to assess the impact on its freshwater ecology of the Near Sawrey wastewater treatment works, owned and operated by United Utilities. Continue reading...

The trillions of microbes living on and inside the human body are an important part of who we are, from mediating all of our interactions with the environment to determining our cancer risk and influencing who we fall for. And scientists are only just beginning to decipher the species of bugs we share our lives with, and how they shape us.In the first of a Science Weekly three-part mini-series, Ian Sample speaks to colorectal surgeon and researcher, James Kinross, about the miraculous world of our gut microbiome, how modern life is impacting it, and what we can do to look after it Continue reading...

The answers to today's puzzles - and some of your Scrabblegrams!Earlier today I introduced the Scrabblegram: a form of constrained writing in which you must use all 100 tiles in a Scrabble set, including the two blanks, and no other letters. Many of you sent me your Scrabblegrams, and I'll print a few below.But first, the answers to today's puzzle, which I think is possibly the greatest wordplay puzzle of all time. Written by David Cohen, both the question and the answer are Scrabblegrams. Continue reading...

A new study suggests that illness anxiety can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Fortunately, there are effective treatmentsIn an English churchyard, the Irish comedian Spike Milligan's gravestone has a chastening message for those who knew him: I told you I was ill."We can all identify with Milligan's concerns. Who hasn't panic-researched supposed symptoms, fearing the worst? His joke speaks to our fear that legitimate health concerns will be shrugged off as nothing to worry about - Oh, it's just hypochondria." Continue reading...

Scrabble as you have never seen it beforeUPDATE: Read the solutions hereThe Scrabblegram is a form of constrained writing in which you must write a piece of text that uses all 100 tiles in an English Scrabble set, and no other letters. The blank tiles must be used, and as per the rules can be any letter.This example by David Cohen is considered one of the best examples in the genre: Continue reading...

This month the moon will sit directly below two bright stars in the constellation of GeminiThe full moon meets the celestial twins this week. The chart shows the view looking south-east from London on 24 January at 2000 GMT, when the full moon will sit directly below the stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation of Gemini.The story of the twin half-brothers of Greek and Roman mythology is that Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, while Pollux was the divine son of Zeus. Pollux requested that he be able to share his immortality with his brother, so Zeus transformed them into stars. Continue reading...

Researchers suggest image of prehistoric giant based on proportions of great white shark could be mistakenHuge, fearsome and boasting an enormous pair of jaws, the star of Hollywood's The Meg left even the movie hardman Jason Statham troubled by its size.Now researchers say the gigantic prehistoric shark megalodon might have been slimmer than previously thought. Continue reading...

UKHSA declares national incident as figures suggest more than 3.4 million children have not had MMR jabA national campaign to boost uptake of a vaccine that protects against measles has been launched in England after a rise in cases of the potentially deadly disease.Measles outbreaks have occurred around the country, including in London, with the West Midlands experiencing cases at their highest level since the mid-1990s. Continue reading...

After months of wrestling with last two of 35 fasteners, scientists were able to remove dust from Bennu to examineCurators at Nasa's Johnson Space Center in Houston have said they are overjoyed" to have finally got a canister of asteroid dust open, four months after it parachuted down through the Earth's atmosphere into the Utah desert.The space administration announced Friday that it had successfully removed two stuck fasteners that had prevented some of the samples collected in 2020 from the 4.6bn-year-old asteroid Bennu, which is classified as a potentially hazardous" because it has one in 1,750 chance of crashing into Earth by 2300. Continue reading...

AI-powered technology that projects lifelike avatars trialled at Loughborough UniversityAny university lecturer will tell you that luring students to a morning lecture is an uphill struggle. But even the most hungover fresher would surely be enticed by a physics lesson from Albert Einstein or a design masterclass from Coco Chanel.This could soon be the reality for British students, as some universities start to beam in guest lecturers from around the globe using the same holographic technology that is used to bring dead or retired singers back to the stage. Continue reading...

The zoologist on observing animal communication in the wild, why dolphins give one another names, and the high likelihood that humans could converse with aliensDr Arik Kershenbaum is a zoologist at Cambridge University who specialises in animal communication, studying wolves, gibbons and dolphins to understand more not just about their ecology and conservation, but also about the evolution of our own language". His first book, The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy, which speculated on alien life, came out in 2020. His new book, Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication, will be published on 25 January.Why did you decide to write this book?

The coverage of the model's birthday celebrations has led me to reflect on my tendency to compare myself to others. Perhaps it's time to take a different tack ...Thoughts and prayers, please, for those of us born in 1974, as the global news event that is Kate Moss turning 50 continues. Given the blanket coverage, I probably don't need to tell you much about it, but just in case you're a high court judge, here are the bullet-point basics. Moss went to a spiritual retreat" on Mustique, then private-jetted to Paris for a party at which she wore an incredible vintage sheer lace dress. Guests included Venus Williams and Stella McCartney, but the lack of gawping paparazzi pics suggests it was mainly her friends in attendance; the whole thing seemed high on glamour and low on scandal, as befits a 50-year-old style icon with absolutely nothing left to prove.It's not my turn for months yet, but it's pretty clear that my 50th will be less catsuit, more crying into my crisps. It could be a tricky year, self-esteem-wise, as my peers - Leonardo DiCaprio, Victoria Beckham, Robbie Williams, Penelope Cruz, Chloe Sevigny - hit their half-century. Do you remember how at the start of secondary school, kids in your class looked wildly different ages, anything from eight to 28, depending on genetics and gender? Well, 50 seems to be the same: some of us (me) look as if they've been excavated from a Valley of the Kings antechamber after multiple graverobbings; Moss, despite the decades of cigs and partying, looks better than ever. Continue reading...

Modern life can be exhausting. Psychologist, author and fatigue expert Vincent Deary says the answer is to learn how to restVincent Deary, psychologist, fatigue specialist and author, has been telling me what an anxious creature" he is. He barely slept last night. The hotel room was unfamiliar and noisy. Worse, the prospect of an interview and of meeting someone new made his arrhythmic heart race.It's racing now as we sit together in a London hotel. We're here to discuss his new book, How We Break: Navigating the Wear and Tear of Living, an exploration of our varying responses to the corrosive pressures of daily life, especially work, and an assertion of the vital necessity of rest, recovery and the lost art of convalescence. The book is the second in a trilogy by Deary, a professor of psychology at Northumbria University and a clinical fatigue specialist at the Cresta Fatigue Clinic, a role from which he has just retired. The NHS clinic, which is closing later this year, is unique in the UK for taking a multi-disciplinary approach to disabling fatigue. Deary goes on to share something else with me: he dreads the intimacy of dinner parties and hates surprises, before adding that his partner of 10 years recently threw a surprise party for his 60th birthday - and he loved it. Proof, it seems, that people can change. Continue reading...

Threat of outbreak from microbes trapped in permafrost for millennia raised by increased Siberian shipping activityHumanity is facing a bizarre new pandemic threat, scientists have warned. Ancient viruses frozen in the Arctic permafrost could one day be released by Earth's warming climate and unleash a major disease outbreak, they say.Strains of these Methuselah microbes - or zombie viruses as they are also known - have already been isolated by researchers who have raised fears that a new global medical emergency could be triggered - not by an illness new to science but by a disease from the distant past. Continue reading...

National Museums Scotland restores soldier's brass guard, only the third of its kind known to existA spectacular brass guard that would have protected the sword arm of a high-ranking Roman soldier some 1,800 years ago has been reconstructed from more than 100 fragments found at Trimontium, the Roman fort complex in Scotland.The extraordinary jigsaw puzzle has been pieced together by National Museums Scotland (NMS) in Edinburgh, and the arm-guard will now be lent to the British Museum's forthcoming exhibition on life in the Roman army. Continue reading...

Mental health problems affect up to 20% of new mothers, but provision of mother-and-baby support is patchyThe bed was covered with baby clothes neatly arranged with milestone cards for future events such as coming home" and Easter". They were the outfits for all the special occasions Tara Maguire thought she would miss with her daughter Maisie, then just two weeks old. Downstairs her husband and mother-in-law were waiting to drive her to be admitted as an inpatient at the Bluestone psychiatric unit of Craigavon Area hospital in Northern Ireland. It was really hard," recalls Tara, wiping away tears.Tara had postpartum psychosis, one of the mental health conditions that affect 10-20% of mothers either during pregnancy or the year after - the perinatal" period. They include depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and psychosis. Many factors make women more vulnerable to mental illness during this period, from changes in hormone levels and the brain, physical and psychological stress and traumas during birth, the sheer magnitude of this life event, or a potential genetic vulnerability. Continue reading...

The controversial painkiller is being cited in a growing number of deaths in Spain despite warnings about dangerous side-effectsOn an October evening last year, Summer Moses stood at her partner's bedside in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Spain and agreed the life support systems could be switched off. Her partner, Mark Brooks, lay under a transparent cover surrounded by tubes and machines. His body was swollen, blistered and broken.Moses was in a state of shock. Just six days earlier, Brooks had been enjoying a game of golf in eastern Spain in bright sunshine near his home. He sought treatment the next day for shoulder pain, and was given a painkiller injection of the drug metamizole at a local clinic. Continue reading...

Japan has become the fifth country to put a spacecraft on the moon after its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) made a successful landing on Friday. Hitoshi Kuninaka, the head of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, said: We are also able to confirm that the spacecraft is receiving commands correctly from Earth and responding to them.' However, Kuninaka said the spacecraft wasn't able to generate electricity due to problems with its solar panels

Jaxa space agency says lander's solar panels may not be angled correctly, after apparently flawless descentJapan's hopes to become the fifth country to land a working spacecraft softly on the moon ran into difficulties on Friday after mission controllers said the probe was unable to generate electricity after touchdown.The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) was trialling new technologies for pinpoint landings, but after an apparently flawless approach and descent, the mission hit a glitch when the probe landed soon after 3pm UK time. Continue reading...

Slim spacecraft landed on the moon and is communicating with earth but is not generating electricity

Open letter says lawmakers must reject fearmongering' and allow scientists to develop crops that can withstand climate emergency'The EU must reject the darkness of anti-science fearmongering" before a key vote on gene editing, 34 Nobel prize winners have said.In an open letter shared with the Guardian and other European newspapers, the laureates demanded that lawmakers relax strict rules on genetic modification to embrace new techniques that target specific genes and edit their code. The technology could make crops more resistant to disease and more likely to survive extreme weather events that are growing more violent as the planet heats up. Continue reading...

The space race of the 20th century put the first person on the moon. Now a new race to the lunar surface - with new global players - is just getting going. Robin McKie reportsRobin McKie is the science editor of the Observer. Over the last 42 years, he's covered everything from advances in genetics and new discoveries in physics to the urgent scientific issues raised by the Covid pandemic. But one topic excites him more than any other: space - and, more specifically, the moon.He tells Michael Safi how the first crewed mission to the moon in 1969 captured the imagination of his generation and why the modern-day missions are something to be newly excited by. Continue reading...

Surgeons at University of Pennsylvania attached modified organ from pig to brain-dead human bodySurgeons externally attached a pig liver to a brain-dead human body and watched it successfully filter blood, a step toward eventually trying the technique in patients with liver failure.The University of Pennsylvania announced the novel experiment on Thursday, a different spin on animal-to-human organ transplants. In this case, the pig liver was used outside the donated body, not inside - a way to create a bridge" to support failing livers by doing the organ's blood-cleansing work externally, much like dialysis for failing kidneys. Continue reading...

Altoir na Greine stood for approximately 4,000 years on Dingle peninsula before vanishing in 19th centuryThe remnants of a bronze age tomb once thought to have been destroyed and lost to history have been discovered in County Kerry on the Atlantic coast of Ireland.The tomb, known locally as Altoir na Greine - the sun altar - stood for approximately 4,000 years on a hill outside the village of Ballyferriter on the Dingle peninsula before vanishing in the mid-19th century. Continue reading...

US spacecraft expected to burn up in fireball over south Pacific Ocean after failed lunar mission

If all goes to plan, Jaxa's lander will make Japan the fifth country ever to land on the moonJapan is on final approach to become only the fifth country to land on the moon, in what would be a reversal of fortunes as it attempts to join a global space race centred on unravelling the mysteries of the lunar landscape.If all goes to plan, the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) will begin its descent to the rocky lunar surface at midnight on Friday (1500 GMT) before touching down about 20 minutes later, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa). Continue reading...

Non-brand-name drugs are one inexpensive part of the healthcare system but they're driving some manufacturers out of businessGeneric drugs are the singularity of American healthcare - they are too cheap. And it's driving some manufacturers out of business altogether.Drug prices regularly spark recrimination and outrage on Capitol Hill, such as a recently announced investigation by Senate Democrats and Bernie Sanders into the price of albuterol inhalers. Continue reading...

If you've made a resolution to spend less time on your phone this year, help is at hand. The Guardian has launched a new newsletter, Reclaim your brain. Its co-writer and expert coach Catherine Price tells Madeleine Finlay how her own excessive phone use inspired her to investigate the science behind our relationships with our devices, and what we know about how to break the cycle. And Prof Barbara Sahakian of Cambridge University explains why many of us are drawn to looking at bad news on our phones, and what it's doing to us Continue reading...

Skilled medical journalist with a gift for demystifying evidence who was also an admired obituarist of doctors and scientistsIn 1987 the medical journalist Caroline Richmond, who has died aged 82, was shocked at the barrage of protest in response to an article in the New Scientist saying food additives were mostly harmless. Curious to test what else people might believe was harmful, and a fan of wearing bright colours, she wrote a tongue-in-cheek article for the British Medical Journal, Fabric dyes: are they in the consumer's interest?"It suggested wearing brightly coloured clothes might have a range of effects including increasing cancer risk and masking serious psychiatric disorders by making people too cheerful. The article was supposedly issued by the Dye Related Allergies Bureau (DRAB), a subsidiary of the Food Additives Research Team (FART), which Richmond assumed would alert readers to the joke. Continue reading...

My father used to tell me that everything is resolved by walking. He was right. A daily walk became my therapy, and I haven't stopped yetOne sweltering evening in 2020 during the first lockdown, as we sat drinking wine in the shed at the end of the garden, my husband and I came to the surprise decision to finish our 17-year relationship. It's the end of the line, isn't it?" I ventured. I know," he replied, looking down at his glass. Every day I think about it." The unspoken had finally been said.I took a breath. Unexpectedly, there was a wave of relief as recent frustrations dissolved. We toasted our newfound honesty, and chatted into the early hours, celebrating how civilised we were. But the next morning, reality hit: it felt strange sipping a takeaway coffee together on a sunny bench, and yet not reneging on what had been agreed. Admittedly I was also grieving, after the recent death of my father and then our beloved jack russell in quick succession. Was I doing the right thing? Was it too much to start again in my mid-40s? And all against the backdrop of Covid. The airless heat wasn't helping. Continue reading...

Experts hypothesise that attractiveness of behaviour was selected for during domestication processWhether it is an elegant swish or a furious oscillation, tail wagging is ubiquitous among dogs. Now researchers have suggested it may have become commonplace during canine domestication because humans love its rhythm.It is thought humans domesticated dogs sometime between 15,000 and 50,000 years ago - a process that has led to a fervent bond between the two species, with about a third of households in the UK having a dog. Continue reading...

Lichen survived 18 months attached to outside of International Space Station and raises prospect life could exist on MarsLichens are strange organisms, a partnership between a fungus that offers shelter, water and minerals, and an alga or cyanobacterium that supplies food from their photosynthesis. And even though lichens tend to be modest to look at, they are so incredibly tough that some can even survive the harsh environment of space.When lichens were attached to the outside of the International Space Station for 18 months they survived the vacuum of space, no water, extreme temperatures and the full onslaught of radiation and ultraviolet rays from the sun, and carried on photosynthesising. Continue reading...

Spider dung beetles thought to be a only example of animals other than humans working together without knowing object's destinationThere comes a time in a dung beetle's life when the only hope of overcoming an obstacle without losing their prized ball is a partner who can pull off a decent headstand.When their path is blocked, pairs of dung beetles carefully coordinate their actions, with males grabbing the dung ball from above, and females going into a headstand to push the ball off the ground with their legs, researchers say. Continue reading...

Darius Hughes was a key figure in Pfizer's pioneering Covid vaccine drive. Now he has changed companies - and sees a big future for mRNA technologyThe man who launched Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine in the UK three years ago - when 90-year-old Margaret Keenan in Coventry became the first person in the world to receive one - is now overseeing the construction of a manufacturing and research centre in Oxfordshire for rival US jab maker Moderna.The company's Harwell site is Britain's first centre dedicated to the production of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines against new Covid variants and other illnesses, and part of the UK's 100 days mission" initiative - the ambition for governments to be able to respond to future pandemics within 100 days of a threat being identified. Continue reading...

Largest study of ocean DNA reveals abundance of fungi thriving in extreme environment of the deep seaLarge numbers of fungi have been found living in the twilight zone of the ocean, and could unlock the door to new drugs that may match the power of penicillin.The largest ever study of ocean DNA, published by the journal Frontiers in Science, has revealed intriguing secrets about the abundance of fungi in the part of the ocean that is just beyond the reach of sunlight. At between 200 metres and 1,000 metres below the surface, the twilight zone is home to a variety of organisms and animals, including specially adapted fish such as lantern sharks and kitefin sharks, which have huge eyes and glowing, bioluminescent skin. Continue reading...

Bonsall, Derbyshire: Nature is not separate from, or immune to, its underlying culture, whether long-forgotten industry or the acceptability of what we call speciesThis upland moor is a place where culture and nature are intertwined. Everywhere we looked on this sun-glazed morning were irregular, if repeated, hummocks and corresponding hollows that are theinsignia of old mineshafts.Derbyshire workmen once followed lead seams across Bonsall and, as they dug, they left mounds of spoil. They are still so contaminated with heavy metals that the livestock can die of lead poisoning and grazing pressure remains light. Bird-planted hawthorns have infilled many shaft hollows and now Bonsall is more covered in thorn scrub than almost any other part of this county. Fieldfares gorged their berries and overhead the heavens were freckled with chakking thrushes. Continue reading...

In November, a plane powered by 100% sustainable' jet fuel took off from London to New York. It was hailed by some as a milestone in reducing the carbon footprint of air travel, which accounts for about 2.5% of global CO emissions. Could this be the start of a greener way to fly? Madeleine Finlay speaks to Guy Gratton, associate professor of aviation and the environment at Cranfield University, to find out if the future of aviation can ever truly be guilt-free. Continue reading...

Study of children in US and China found larger impact when brothers and sisters were closely spaced in ageFrom Cain and Abel and the Brothers Karamazov to Cinderella, the warmth and support provided by siblings has hardly been taken for granted.Now, researchers have found that children who moan about their brothers and sisters may have good reason to complain: the more siblings teenagers have, the more it hits their happiness, they claim. Continue reading...

Lion's mane find prompts fungarium to conserve rare fungi at risk from farmers and commercial strainsHenry Jephson was wandering around the countryside near Bristol during a Covid lockdown when his eye was caught by the ghostly appearance of a lion's mane mushroom, its shaggy fronds hanging across a tree trunk.Jephson, the head of research at the Bristol Fungarium, knew he was looking at something rare and special. A staple of traditional Chinese medicine, the lion's mane is also native to the UK, but is under threat. The absolutely enormous" specimen spotted by Jephson was the first to be seen in south-west England in eight years. Continue reading...

Mind-blowing' edition of 16th-century anatomist's De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem estimated to be worth up to 1mWhen the Renaissance physician Andreas Vesalius wrote his magnum opus on human anatomy in 1543, he transformed the study of medicine and revolutionised the way scientists investigate the world.A mind-blowing" edition of his De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem, estimated to be worth up to 1m, is to be sold at auction for the first time since scholars discovered it was annotated by Vesalius himself. Continue reading...

Should we all be taking a leaf out of Arnold Schwarzenegger's book?Something interesting happens in the first few pages of Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent memoir-cum-self-help book Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life. It opens on a moment of weakness, as he describes his lowest point: the day he told his wife that he'd fathered a baby with their housekeeper. No failure has ever felt worse than that," he writes.But that isn't the interesting part. I won't be rehashing that story here," he sniffs, refusing to dwell on it for even a sentence longer. Instead, he instructs readers to Google the story if that's the sort of gossip that happens to get them going. The rest of the book continues at the same sort of clip, with Schwarzenegger wresting away any looming hint of introspection that might impinge on yet another anecdote about the time he cut the legs off his trousers to remind himself to work on his calves. Continue reading...

No technology can yet match the uncanny ability that dogs possess to find their way homeOn New Year's Day, Merlin, a springer spaniel belonging to Daniel Horsley, ran away from his front garden in Cumbria after appearing to suffer some kind of fit. One hundred people were involved in a search involving drones and thermal-imaging cameras. And, 16 hours later, Merlin found his own way home, quite unharmed. If nothing else, all these helpers united by a lost dog confirmed one thing. Quite simply: animals bring people together.But what no one seemed to realise is this. No human technology yet invented can match the uncanny homing abilities of dogs. A century ago, a collie cross in the US was busy showing the rest of them up. In August 1923, the Brazier family lost Bobbie on their holiday in Indiana; and in February 1924 he was back home with them in Silverton, Oregon. All the evidence indicates he walked the whole way, about 3,000 miles, over six months through the intense winter cold. His endurance alone was formidable. But how did he know where to go? Continue reading...

In Greek mythology, Artemis is said to have placed Orion in the stars after a scorpion stung his foot and killed himWinter in the northern hemisphere is dominated by the great constellation of Orion, the hunter.One of the original 48 constellations defined by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, it is now one of 88 recognised by the International Astronomical Union. Named after the great hunter from Greek mythology, Orion is said to have been placed in the stars by Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, after a scorpion stung his foot and killed him. In another version of the story, Artemis killed Orion either by mistake or to defend one of her companions from Orion's forceful advances. Continue reading...

Christopher Rufo, credited with helping oust school's first Black president, touted critic associated with scientific racists'A data scientist promoted by the rightwing activist Christopher Rufo, the Manhattan Institute thinktank, and other conservatives as an expert critic of the former Harvard president Claudine Gay has co-authored several papers in collaboration with a network of scholars who have been broadly criticized as eugenicists, or scientific racists.Rufo described Jonatan Pallesen as a Danish data scientist who has raised new questions about Claudine Gay's use - and potential misuse - of data in her PhD thesis" in an interview published in his newsletter and on the Manhattan Institute's City Journal website last Friday. Continue reading...

The continuing lack of transparency about UFOs in the US is causing concern not only about the existence of aliens but about the psychological fallout of uncovering a conspiracyIf you thought that we were about to finally get the truth about UFOs, think again. At the end of last year, a US government bill that would have mandated the controlled release of all classified documents and artefacts relating to UFOs was significantly watered down at the last minute so that it would get through Congress.Interest in unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), the new term for UFOs, reignited in June 2023 when ex-US intelligence agency whistleblower David Grusch told the Debrief website that during his official duties he had discovered the US had indeed been retrieving spacecraft of non-human origin for decades. The claims led to a congressional hearing, in which Grusch and others described what they had gleaned of this super-secret project, or seen with their own eyes during military service. Their testimonies resulted in the new Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Disclosure Act, authored by a bipartisan group of five elected representatives, led by Democrat majority leader Chuck Schumer and Republican senator Mike Rounds. Continue reading...