After two years of recording the surprising relationship between a baby giant armadillo and its mother, scientists have found the juvenile dead in the Brazilian Pantanal.

Britain’s night-long summer twilight begins to subside in July so that lucky starwatchers under a dark sky may be able to glimpse the Milky Way as it arches high across the E at our map times from the Scorpius-Sagittarius region in the S towards Cassiopeia and Auriga in the NNE. On the way, it flows through the familiar Summer Triangle formed by Deneb, Altair and (brightest of all) Vega. Continue reading...

Under new rules that set the state apart from others, patients will have to stick with pills and oils, and the drug will only be sold in eight locationsThere will be no baggies of pot awaiting patients next week, when Minnesota joins 21 other states in offering medical marijuana. No glass pipes, no plants to tend at home. Instead, the nation’s latest medical marijuana programme is a world of pill bottles and vials of marijuana-infused oil.For the qualifying patients seeking relief from pain, medical marijuana advocates and some lawmakers, Wednesday isn’t the finish line, but the first step. The state’s restrictive approach, unseen in the industry, is likely to mean high costs, long drives and reluctant doctors. Continue reading...

Apes paid more attention to film clips of an infant chimp being killed by its own kind than other acts of violenceChimpanzees may have a sense of right and wrong that echoes human concepts of morality, a study has found.

The idea behind neuromarketing is that the brain can reveal hidden and profitable truths, but this is misleadingMarketing has discovered neuroscience and the shiny new product has plenty of style but very little substance. “Neuromarketing” is lighting up the eyes of advertising executives and lightening the wallets of public relations companies. It promises to target the unconscious desires of consumers, which are supposedly revealed by measuring the brain. The more successful agencies have some of the world’s biggest brands on their books and these mega-corporations are happy to trumpet their use of brain science in targeting their key markets. The holy grail of neuromarketing is to predict which ads will lead to most sales before they’ve been released but the reality is a mixture of bad science, bullshit and hope.First, it’s important to realise that the concept of neuroscience is used in different ways in marketing. Sometimes, it’s just an empty ploy aimed at consumers – the equivalent of putting a bikini-clad body next to your product for people who believe they’re above the bikini ploy. A recent Porsche advert apparently showed a neuroscience experiment suggesting that the brain reacts in a similar way to driving their car and flying a fighter jet, but it was all glitter and no gold. The images were computer-generated, the measurements impossible, and the scientist an actor. Continue reading...

Australia’s environment minister Greg Hunt names scientists tasked to advise the government on Great Barrier Reef health priorities

Today’s “Caturday” video features an adorable young sugar glider (known as a “joey”) practicing her gliding skills in front of a fanI couldn’t resist sharing this video with you: today’s “Caturday” video features an adorable young sugar glider (known as a “joey”) practicing her gliding skills in front of a fan: Continue reading...

Humans could save the Great Barrier Reef from global warming by transplanting corals that survive heat stress, say scientistsHumans could save the Great Barrier Reef from global warming by transplanting corals that survive heat stress, say scientists.A new joint study by the Australian institute of marine science (AIMS) in Townsville and the University of Texas has found a genetic basis for tolerance of higher temperatures in coral. Continue reading...

From Ex Machina to Terminator Genisys, ‘synths’ and robots have invaded our popular culture. But how real is the reel depiction of artificial intelligence?The harried parents in one family in the Channel 4 drama Humans are divided about having a robot called Anita.

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.