Social media users have uploaded stunning footage of the northern lights appearing much further south than usual. aurora borealis has been visible in areas not used to seeing it over the past few days, as has aurora australis in the southern hemisphere. While people on the ground captured footage, astronaut Scott Kelly filmed the view from space

Stuart Clark on the latest development in the world’s most ambitious Earth observation programmeThe second satellite in the world’s most ambitious Earth observation programme entered orbit this week. The European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 blasted off from French Guiana on 23 June.The 1.1 tonne spacecraft will be lifted into orbit by Europe’s 10-story Vega rocket. The satellite’s optical camera will provide high-resolution images of the Earth as part of the Copernicus environmental monitoring programme. Continue reading...

Scientists will release robots next week that can dive to 2,000 metres to gather previously unattainable information from the Indian OceanScientists will embark on a voyage across the Indian Ocean next week, distributing floating robots to gather data about the largely unknown biology of the ocean.For about 10 years 3,600 Argo free-floating sensors have been drifting around and gathering data about the temperature and salinity of the ocean. Continue reading...

The remains of herbivorous Sefapanosaurus were unearthed in the 1930s but languished in a storeroom at Wits University until they were recently reassessedPalaeontologists in South Africa have discovered the fossil of a previously unknown dinosaur dating back 200m years. It was found not on a remote desert plain but in a university storeroom.The specimen had been collected in the late 1930s and for decades it remained hidden among the biggest fossil collection in the country at Wits University in Johannesburg. Continue reading...

GM wheat designed to repel aphids is no more effective at repelling the bugs than standard varieties a major field trial has revealedA major field trial of GM wheat that is designed to repel aphids has found the crop is no better protected against the pests than conventional wheat.The results come from two years of trials that compared aphid attacks on standard wheat plants with those suffered by a GM version modified to release a natural aphid repellant. Continue reading...

Humans will be taken care of like pets should robots take over because AI will want to preserve us as part of natureApple’s early-adopting, outspoken co-founder Steve Wozniak thinks humans will be fine if robots take over the world because we’ll just become their pets.

Analysis by UNAids and Lancet Commission highlights ‘fragile window of opportunity’ to maintain progress on curbing deaths and infections

The future of astronomy is not in acquiring new data, but in mining the oldAstronomical data is and has always been “big data”. Once that was only true metaphorically, now it is true in all senses. We acquire it far more rapidly than the rate at which we can process, analyse and exploit it. This means we are creating a vast global repository that may already hold answers to some of the fundamental questions of the Universe we are seeking.Does this mean we should cancel our up-coming missions and telescopes – after all why continue to order food when the table is replete? Of course not. What it means is that, while we continue our inevitable yet budget limited advancement into the future, so we must also simultaneously do justice to the data we have already acquired. Continue reading...

Long hours in vans and solitary hotel rooms. Screaming fans when you’re on stage, then back home to feed the cat. Musicians talk about the psychological dangers of life on tourWhile many may envisage the life of a touring musician to be that of a glorified jetsetter, the reality is far from idyllic. A recent study by charity Help Musicians UK found that over 60% of musicians have suffered from depression or other psychological issues, with touring an issue for 71% of respondents.Singer Alanna McArdle recently announced her departure from Cardiff punk band Joanna Gruesome for mental health reasons, her statement hinting that the strain of touring may have been a factor in her decision to quit.And when Zayn Malik broke the hearts of millions by pulling out of One Direction’s tour of Asia – leaving the boy band shortly after – a source close to the band told the tabloid press: “Zayn went because he’d had enough. Have you ever been on the road for four years? ”

Bioethicist says older men’s seminal fluid contains greater number of mutations that could pose a risk to future offspringYounger men should consider freezing their sperm to avoid their children having genetic disorders if they choose to have them later in life, according to a bioethics expert.Freezing eggs from women planning families when they are older is not unusual, but bioethicist Kevin Smith, of the School of Science, Engineering and Technology at Abertay University in Dundee, believes freezing should also be considered for sperm to avoid the risk of “gradually reducing human fitness in the long term”. Continue reading...

When curator Alan Knox came across a rare egg in a museum drawer he just had to figure out its storyName: ABDUZ: 70169

How do you estimate the size of hidden populations? Dr Ruth King explains here, an excerpt from her talk tonight in the London Mathematical Society’s prestigious Popular Lecture series.In theory the question “How many…?” is a very simple one. After all, we just need to be able to count.In fact, this question is often extremely difficult to answer: Continue reading...

Roadside verges are one of our great wild plant refuges. They are only narrow strips of land, but verges along our major roads total an area the size of the Isle of Wight. And they provide a home to more than 700 species of plants, almost half the native flora of Britain, with some of the last habitats left for many wild flowers, especially meadow plants – which is why the charity Plantlife is campaigning to get verges looked after better to encourage these wild plants.Many of the roadside plants are flowering now, such as the familiar red clover, common buttercup, brilliant white oxeye daisy and the tall rosebay willowherb with its distinctive clusters of purply-red flowers. There are even rare flowers, such as the green-winged orchids on the M40 in Buckinghamshire, the Deptford pink in Devon and Worcestershire and wood bitter-vetch in Powys. Continue reading...

Hallucigenia sparsa, one of most common creatures 500m years ago, had previously baffled scientists as an anatomical misfit without distinguishable head or rear

It’s pachycephalosaurus, not ‘pakisaurus’, but that hasn’t stopped some people taking offence at the tiny-brained lizard with the thick, scaly head

This week, the irrepressible Jeremy Bumble looks at how the moon was formed. With help from space scientist and Sky at Night presenter Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Jeremy discovers how our largest natural satellite got its appearance and why it is the Earth's best friend. Go Science! Special thanks to Richard Hunter, Jamie Maule-ffinch, Luke Roulstone, Phillippa Burgess, Stuart Mckechnie, Laura Mckechnie, UCL, Imperial College, Fabrics Galore, Vega Electronics Continue reading...

Louisiana governor can point to a singular achievement as he announces run for president: allowing theories like ‘intelligent design’ to be taught in public schoolsHis refusal to endorse evolution hardly distinguishes him from the other Republican presidential hopefuls, but Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal can point to an unmatched achievement as he formally kicks off his campaign: signing a law that paved the way for creationism to be taught in schools.Jindal, who will announce his White House bid at a rally near New Orleans on Wednesday, signed the Louisiana Science Education Act into law in 2008. It was his first year as governor. Continue reading...

Ageing doesn’t mean a steady descent into misery – evidence suggests that happiness is likely to increase as we head towards old age, but is it that simple?

Jack Stilgoe: I was speaking yesterday at the Circling the Square conference in Nottingham and asked to say something about responsible innovation. Here’s the gist of what I said. I’ve been told to issue a SPOILER ALERT!, although I don’t think I’m giving away much of Jurassic World in harvesting its narrative.Frankenstein is almost 200 years old. It remains the default parable of irresponsible innovation even though it was written in the 1810s, when experiments with electricity and surgery were capturing the imaginations of Mary Shelley, Lord Byron and co. In the early 21 century, hopes and fears swirl around synthetic biology, geoengineering and de-extinction. While scientists stake their claims on various imagined futures, we watch Jurassic World.In 2012, the philosopher and sociologist Bruno Latour, writing for the Breakthrough Institute, explored the Frankenstein story. Why, he wondered, do we persist in confusing the monster with its creator? Langdon Winner had argued in 1978 that the problem was Hollywood. The many films of Frankenstein switched the villain from the scientist to the monster, stripping the human protagonists of their agency and reinforcing the message that monsters are bad and red lines must not be crossed. Latour argues that monsters are normal (in any case, as the scientist Henry Wu says in Jurassic World, ‘monster is a relative term’). The challenge is to find ways to love our monsters. Responsible innovation is about taking care of science and technology, not cordoning it off from society. Continue reading...

The ‘Claim the Sky’ campaign aims to save lives by protecting the atmosphere as a global asset, with governments taking legal action against those who pollute it

• Royal Society Journal investigation finds marked increase in speed

Mouse House to make naturalist biopic, six years after box-office failure of Creation, starring Paul BettanyIn 2009, Paul Bettany starred as revolutionary naturalist Charles Darwin in Creation, which told of his struggles writing On the Origin of Species, and his grief following the death of his 10-year-old daughter, Annie. The film, based on a biography by Darwin’s great-great grandson, made just over half a million pounds worldwide.Now, Walt Disney Studios is to attempt to reanimate the scientist in a new movie. Stephen Gaghan – whose previous script credits include Traffic and Syriana – is on board to direct from his own screenplay. He is currently about to direct Matthew McConaughey in a mining drama, Gold. Continue reading...

Every day, millions of internet users ask Google some of life’s most difficult questions, big and small. Our writers answer some of the most common queriesAnimals, including human animals, often find themselves in a state of desire. Desire, the felt motivation to pursue a goal, is how nature gets us to go after the things we need: food, sex, shelter, social status, cigarettes. Wait a minute … cigarettes?Like many other chemical candidates for the wayward human appetite, tobacco attracts. We desire it, despite its bad press. And as a result, it is one of the worst public health disasters the world has ever encountered. Continue reading...

Study finds elevated hospital admission rate among patients who live where traffic noise exceeds world health standards by five decibels or moreLiving in a neighbourhood with noisy road traffic may reduce life expectancy and increase the risk of stroke, doctors have reported in a study.

Horses make great companions for psychotherapy because they can mirror and respond to human behavior. And crucially, ‘there’s no judgment with a horse’It’s Saturday night in downtown Long Beach, California, and laughter can be heard from the streets below. Sarah Smith is sprawled on her bed, diligently peeling through sociology notes, preparing for her impending exams. An acoustic guitar rests against her bed, and a colorful gay-pride flag is pinned next to her bookshelf.

The likes of Richard Dawkins and Brian Cox should focus on taking up the real issue of sexism in science. It is absurd to say that scientists can do and say what they like in the name of academic freedom

Lamb genetically modified with jellyfish protein may have been sent from Paris lab to abattoir after dispute between researchers – and ended up on someone’s plateA lamb born with a jellyfish gene was mistakenly sold for human consumption and probably ended up on someone’s plate, French authorities have said. A dispute between researchers at a highly respected national institute may have been the cause of the animal being deliberately sent to the abattoir last year. Police have now been called in and an inquiry launched into how the lamb could have been passed as fit for human consumption.

With his latest statement on science, technology and the environment, Pope Francis has sought to change the debate on climate change. But his statement has broader significance for the way we think about the futureThe Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ released by Pope Francis last week has generated a wide range of reactions ranging from enthusiastic praise to uneasy criticism. For some, the Pope’s key message was about climate change, for others about the downsides of economic growth, and some saw in it a reconciliation of science and religion. But the Encyclical also lays bare a debate much larger than each of these perspectives, one that is fundamentally about what kind of world we want to inhabit. The Pope’s message is just the latest intervention in a debate over technologies that has been going on for centuries.Pope Francis writes of the “human roots of the ecological crisis” defined in terms of deference to a “technocratic paradigm” which contains “the deepest roots of our present failures, which have to do with the direction, goals, meaning and social implications of technological and economic growth.” Continue reading...

Watch a collection of stunning timelapses from the International Space Station, as made by film-maker Dmitry Pisank, using images and video courtesy of the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Nasa Johnson Space Centre. Visit The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth for more images and video from the International Space Station Continue reading...

Another Perimeter Institute lecture, by Jürgen Renn, on the theory by which as John Wheeler put it - ‘Matter tells space how to curve. Space tells matter how to move’As described in Pedro Ferreira’s book “The Perfect Theory”, after its development by Albert Einstein about a 100 years ago, and the subsequent big splash of its vindication by Eddington’s observations of stars near to the Sun during an eclipse, the general theory of relativity went into a bit of a lull, becoming something of a backwater. It answered the fundamental questions in physics that it was intended for, and the equations supported some interesting solutions, but the theory did not develop. Unusually for a great breakthrough in science, it did not seem to lead on to further exciting questions and phenomena, especially when contrasted with quantum theory, which was bursting out all over.

Shutting other people up when you’re powerful but frightened isn’t defending academic freedom. It’s repressing itTwo weeks ago, a Nobel Laureate made some ill-advised remarks in front of the World Conference of Science Journalism.

One in five cancers may be caused when common chemicals – deemed safe on their own – blend lethally inside the human body, study revealsChemicals deemed safe to humans may blend lethally together inside the human body to cause cancer, a report says.Researchers, including New Zealand scientist Dr Linda Gulliver, have released findings into possible links between common chemicals and the development of cancer. Continue reading...

Guidance on symptoms and tests drawn up by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for doctors and patients could transform cancer care in UKDoctors are being advised to extend cancer tests to half a million more people a year under new guidelines which could eventually prevent 5,000 deaths a year.Thousand of lives will be saved every year if GPs and patients act on new NHS guidance, which details for the first time the symptoms that could indicate cancer. Continue reading...

But slashing fossil fuel use also presents greatest global opportunity to improve people’s health in 21st century, says Lancet and UCL commissionClimate change threatens to undermine half a century of progress in global health, according to a major new report.But the analysis also concludes that the benefits to health resulting from slashing fossil fuel use are so large that tackling global warming also presents the greatest global opportunity to improve people’s health in the 21st century.

An Australian woman spent four days in hospital due to damaged nerve and muscle fibres in her legs. The reason? Her choice of tight trousers, say scientistsThey have been the uniform of choice for more than a decade of indie pop stars, off-duty supermodels and Russell Brand, but if that wasn’t enough of a warning sign, scientists now have the evidence: skinny jeans can be bad for your health.That, at least, was the case for one woman in Australia who collapsed and was hospitalised for four days after damaging her nerves and muscles by squatting while wearing tight jeans. Continue reading...

International team spends 10 years making inroads into treatment of bacterium which kills up to half of those it infectsAustralians have led an international team of researchers to decode the genes of a deadly superbug which kills up to half of those it infects, and which has wreaked havoc in Victorian hospitals.The bacterium, Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP), is not easily treated with antibiotics. Last week, Victoria’s health department issued a health alert after a particularly drug-resistant strain, known as KPC, was found in two hospital patients who had died. Continue reading...

Are you as smart as a Norwegian crime writer? Have you had a lightbulb moment and solved Alex's classic Three Switches puzzle? Here's the solution Continue reading...