Scientists dismiss calls by some Liberal Party members to review basic climate science – within days of Australia announcing a key emissions target – as ‘worrying and ignorant’Now is probably not the best time – if there ever was one – for a minority within Australia’s Liberal party to be excreting climate science denialist brain farts.The government is expected to announce within a week or two its proposed target to cut greenhouse gas emissions beyond the year 2020. Continue reading...

Researchers study original Swedish trial data, which provided evidence for UK’s and other screening programmes, and claim benefits were vastly overestimatedInternationally renowned cancer experts have cast fresh doubt on the benefits of breast cancer screening programmes, warning that they save fewer lives than previously thought.

Scientists look at 135,000 deaths and find combination of the two conditions leads to a substantially lower life expectancyA combination of heart disease and diabetes can shorten your life by more than a decade, research has shown.

WA backbenchers Dennis Jensen and Chris Back, who want an inquiry before emission reductions are decided, agree to briefing but say they will not be lectured toTwo climate sceptic MPs have accepted an offer from a group of scientists for a briefing ahead of the release of Australia’s post-2020 emissions targets.But the West Australian backbenchers Dennis Jensen and Chris Back insist they want a parliamentary inquiry before emission reductions are decided. Continue reading...

Tests on physiological markers in nearly 1,000 38-year-olds found that some had biological ages many years older than their birthdates would suggestIf the school reunion was not proof enough, scientists have confirmed that people grow old at radically different rates, with some ageing much faster than their fresh-faced former classmates.

There could be life beneath the surface of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko according to two UK astronomers. Apparently the comet displays characteristics typical of an environment that could support alien life, including a black crust and icy lakes. Rosetta, the European Space Agency [ESA], spacecraft is also said to have picked up clusters of organic material that resemble viral particles Continue reading...

Laughter overrides our usual vocal and physical control to make sounds we never normally hear in any other contextThe human voice is the most complex instrument in nature. When we talk, we shape sounds in the way no other animal can. This reflects the very precise evolutionary adaptation that means, for example, our tongues are short and fat and nimble, rather than long and hard to maneuver. It also reflects the very fine voluntary motor control that we have over our mouth and our rib cage, which enables us to control the act of talking, and also the fact that unlike many other animals, we learn new patterns of vocal behaviour. And of course, this is only the start of our abilities – we can do vocal impressions, sing, beatbox – when it comes to the human voice, the sheer range of abilities is extraordinary. However, these voluntary motor acts can be derailed quite efficiently by a different vocal behaviour – laughter. Continue reading...

Breakthrough linking protein in blood to memory loss raises hopes for dementia treatment, and could be key to keeping people healthy for longer in old ageResearchers may have found a way to slow down or prevent memory problems that arise in old age and which can become devastating in patients with dementia.The fresh hope comes from a series of studies in humans and mice that identified a protein which causes memory impairment when it builds up in the blood and brain with age.

It’s a big hit in Israel - but can the hexagon puzzle catch on elsewhere?

Screening for disease has the potential to save lives, but only in very specific circumstancesWhy isn’t prostate screening offered in the UK? Why do we only start screening for cervical cancer after age 25? These questions are often leveled at the government or the NHS, who are accused of withholding them due to cost. But although financial reasons play a factor, the screening programme in the UK is most definitely evidence driven.

Mistakes are embarrassing, and getting over-excited about a statisitical anomaly is silly. But these things happen, and the answer to building public confidence in science is not to pretend that they don’t

The Migratory Connectivity Project seeks to connect people and cultures throughout the Americas by fostering the public’s love of and appreciation for migratory birdsDid you know the coast of Texas is a critically important place for migratory birds in the U.S. and Canada? This is where most migratory birds that breed in the eastern United States and throughout Canada first make landfall after a long migration across the Gulf of Mexico. This is where they seek food, water and rest before continuing northward on their migratory journeys.But unfortunately, populations of North American migratory birds are declining, and in many cases, scientists aren’t exactly sure why. The Migratory Connectivity Project, a collaboration between the US Geological Survey bird banding lab and Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, is devoted to better understanding the migratory patterns of North American birds so they can learn how to protect them. They do this by analysing USGS bird band recovery data and using this data to construct migratory connectivity maps for all birds breeding in North America. Here’s a preliminary map for the tree swallow, Tachycineta bicolor: Continue reading...

Recognise his name? Few do. But Wieland wasn’t just the father of biochemistry and a Nobel prize winner. He was a scientist with the courage of his convictionsDespite finding international fame as one of Germany’s most renowned scientists in the first half of the 20th century, Heinrich Otto Wieland always shied away from the limelight, so the man now regarded as the father of modern biochemistry would probably have approved of the low key manner in which his 1927 Nobel prize was sold in April.Auctioned off by a small memorabilia company in Los Angeles amongst a random collection of showbiz items such as curtain costumes from the Sound of Music, Wieland’s medal received just a single bid, raising a princely $395,000. Continue reading...

As Greece’s spending on weapons shows, it’s not pensions or benefits that cripple economies, it’s the military-industrial complexSomewhere in a Greek jail, the former defence minister, Akis Tsochatzopoulos, watches the financial crisis unfold. I wonder how partly responsible he feels? In 2013, Akis (as he is popularly known) went down for 20 years, finally succumbing to the waves of financial scandal to which his name had long been associated. For alongside the lavish spending, the houses and the dodgy tax returns, there was bribery, and it was the €8m appreciation he received from the German arms dealer, Ferrostaal, for the Greek government’s purchase of Type 214 submarines, that sent him to prison.There is this idea that the Greeks got themselves into this current mess because they paid themselves too much for doing too little. Well, maybe. But it’s not the complete picture. For the Greeks also got themselves into debt for the oldest reason in the book – one might even argue, for the very reason that public debt itself was first invented – to raise and support an army. The state’s need for quick money to raise an army is how industrial-scale money lending comes into business (in the face of the church’s historic opposition to usury). Indeed, in the west, one might even stretch to say that large-scale public debt began as a way to finance military intervention in the Middle East – ie the crusades. And just as rescuing Jerusalem from the Turks was the justification for massive military spending in the middle ages, so the fear of Turkey has been the reason given for recent Greek spending. Along with German subs, the Greeks have bought French frigates, US F16s and German Leopard 2 tanks. In the 1980s, for example, the Greeks spent an average of 6.2% of their GDP on defence compared with a European average of 2.9%. In the years following their EU entry, the Greeks were the world’s fourth-highest spenders on conventional weaponry. Continue reading...