Science | The Guardian

Both ice giants are similar pale blue, new research finds, correcting earlier beliefs about the planets' relative huesIt's a colour beloved by interior designers, but it seems duck-egg blue is also splashed across our solar system, with research suggesting it is the true colour of both Uranus and Neptune.The new work puts paid to the popular belief that Neptune has a deep blue hue, suggesting instead both planets are a similar colour - with Neptune only slightly more blue than Uranus. Continue reading...

Rocket and satellite maker responds to National Labor Relations Board complaint that it wrongly fired employeesRocket and satellite maker SpaceX on Thursday sued a US labor board to block its case accusing the company of illegally firing employees who sent a letter to company executives calling its CEO, Elon Musk, a distraction and embarrassment".In a lawsuit filed in Brownsville, Texas, federal court, SpaceX claims the structure of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) - which issued a complaint against the company on Wednesday - violates the US constitution. Continue reading...

Experts say severe muscle damage, mitochondrial problems and microclots may explain impact of working outMany people with long Covid feel tired, unwell and in pain for lengthy periods after exercise, and researchers say they now know why.Experts say they have evidence that biological changes are to blame, such as severe muscle damage, mitochondrial problems and the presence of microclots in the body. Continue reading...

Science Weekly revisits episode three of this 2023 mini-series from Full Story.In the final part of this three-part series, the Australian climate scientists Lesley Hughes, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg and Graeme Pearman take stock as they look back on their life's work. How does it feel for them to carry this burden of knowledge? Could they have done more? And what hope do they hold for the future? Continue reading...

Psychoanalysis comeback | Worldrenowned floggers | Lights, camera, Croydon | Pantomime in parliament | Full-leaf failuresHannah Zeavin quotes Harold Bloom in praise of Sigmund Freud's metaphors (Psychoanalysis has returned': why 2023 broughtanewFreud revival, 29 December). Bloom also said: I do not know of anyone who has ever benefited from Freudian or any other mode of analysis, exceptforbeing, to use the populartrope, so badly shrunk,that they became quite dried out" (Paris Review, 1991).

Fragments of butchered animal bones and drinking vessels indicate site near Barry was also used for feastingAn extraordinary early medieval cemetery with women's bodies placed carefully in crouched positions has been found close to the end of an airport runway in Wales.The bodies, which were buried about 1,500 years ago, were all laid on their side facing south, suggesting they were the subject of a specific ceremony. Continue reading...

Zosurabalpin has defeated strains of pneumonia and sepsis in mice, raising hopes for human trialsScientists have discovered an entirely new class of antibiotic that appears to kill one of three bacteria considered to pose the greatest threat to human health because of their extensive drug-resistance.Zosurabalpin defeated highly drug-resistant strains of Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (Crab) in mouse models of pneumonia and sepsis, and was being tested in human trials. Continue reading...

Complaints amateur fossil hunter Philip Jacobs was airbrushed' from BBC film about pliosaur discoveryA campaign has been launched to have a reptile that starred in Sir David Attenborough's latest blockbuster documentary named after the amateur fossil hunter who found it, after complaints he was airbrushed" from the BBC show.Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster, which won widespread acclaim, has been criticised for only mentioning the finder of the pliosaur skull, Philip Jacobs, in the credits at the end of the programme. Continue reading...

Scientists played audio recordings to volunteers - with the majority responding correctly to the birds' emotionsPeople can tell if chickens are chirpy or frustrated from their calls, according to researchers who believe that listening to the birds could help breeders improve the welfare of their flocks.Scientists played audio recordings of hens to nearly 200 volunteers and found that 69% could tell the difference between birds that were happy about an imminent treat and those that were annoyed that no such reward was forthcoming. Continue reading...

Science Weekly revisits episode two of this 2023 mini-series from Full Story.In part two of Weight of the world, three Australian climate scientists reveal the professional and personal toll of their predictions.Lesley Hughes tells us about the axing of Australia's Climate Commission, a group tasked with educating the public about climate science and the need to cut carbon emissions; Graeme Pearman talks of the pushback from government and industry; and Ove Hoegh-Guldberg speaks of the personal attacks and death threats that followed his warnings. All three express their disbelief that meaningful action didn't follow the science, with Pearman saying he was naive' to think it would Continue reading...

Rising temperatures have spurred an influx of beavers to Alaska and northern Canada on a huge scale'The stream through western Alaska never looked like this before. In aerial photography from the 1980s, it wove cleanly through the tundra, thin as thread. Today, in satellite images, it appears as a string of black patches: one large pond after another, dozens of metres apart.It's a transformation that is happening across the Arctic, the result of landscape engineering on an impressive scale. But this is no human endeavour to reshape the world. It is the work of the North American beaver, and there is no sign of it stopping. Continue reading...

As I fled that plane I knew it would be the most humiliating moment in my lifeMy fear of flying arrived with full force and every day I ask myself if I will ever fly again. It's a thought that sits with me daily.Anxiety arrived without warning and it packed a punch when I was 15. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Millennium Cohort's finding raises questions about why a large proportion has a difficult relationship with social mediaAlmost half of British teenagers say they feel addicted to social media, according to findings that come amid mounting pressure for big tech companies to be held accountable for the impact of their platforms on users.The finding, from the Millennium Cohort study, adds to evidence that many people feel they have lost control over their use of digital interactive media. It comes as dozens of US states are suing Instagram and its parent company, Meta, accusing them of contributing to a youth mental health crisis and as the EU has ushered in major reforms designed to give consumers more control over smartphone apps. Continue reading...

We give things up when we believe we can change; we give up when we believe we can'tIn the ordinary way of things, when people say that they are giving up, they are usually referring to something like smoking, or alcohol, or chocolate, or any of the other anaesthetic pleasures of everyday life; they are not, on the whole, talking about suicide (though people do tend to want to give up only their supposedly self-harming habits). Giving up certain things may be good for us, and yet the idea of someone just giving up is never appealing. Like alcoholics who need everybody to drink, there tends to be a determined cultural consensus that life is, and has to be, worth living (if not, of course, actually sacred).There are, to put it as simply as possible, what turn out to be good and bad sacrifices (and sacrifice creates the illusion - or reassures us - that we can choose our losses). There is the giving up that we can admire and aspire to, and the giving up that profoundly unsettles us. What, for example, does real hope or real despair require us to relinquish? What exactly do we imagine we are doing when we give something up? There is an essential and far-reaching ambiguity to this simple idea. We give things up when we believe we can change; we give up when we believe we can't.Narrow attention. This first way of perceiving seemed to be the automatic one, the kind of attention which my mind gave to everyday affairs when it was left to itself ... this kind of attention has a narrow focus, by this means it selects what serves its immediate interests and ignores the rest. As far as I could see it was a questing beast", keeping its nose close down to the trail, running this way and that upon the scent, but blind to the wider surroundings. It saw items according to whether they served its purposes, saw them as a means to its own ends, not interested in them at all for their own sake. This attitude was probably essential for practical life, so that I supposed from the biological point of view it had to be one which came naturally to the mind ...Wide attention. The second way of perceiving seemed to occur when the questing purposes were held in leash. Then, since one wanted nothing, there was no need to select one item to look at rather than another, so it became possible to look at the whole at once. To attend to something and yet want nothing from it, these seemed to be the essentials of the second way of perceiving ... if by chance we should have discovered the knack of holding wide our attention, then the magic thing happens. Continue reading...

Science Weekly revisits episode one of this 2023 mini-series from Full Story.Pioneering Australian scientists Graeme Pearman, Lesley Hughes and Ove Hoegh-Guldberg saw the climate crisis coming. Pearman predicted the increase of carbon dioxide levels, Hughes foresaw the alarming number of species extinctions and Hoegh-Guldberg forecast the mass coral bleaching events we're seeing today. All three went on to become some of the country's most respected experts in their fields, travelling the globe, briefing leaders, and assuming the world would take action having heard their alarming findings.In part one of this three-part series, these climate change scientists reveal the moment they realised the planet was heading for certain catastrophe. What did they do when they found out? How did they think the world would respond? And how do they feel today, looking back on that moment of cognisance? Continue reading...

Ted Green, a conservation adviser to the crown estate at Windsor, has a provocative take on our living heritage'Ted Green is a rebel. He calls sheep land maggots". A horse-riding centre is a dog-food complex". And the ancient tree expert's new book includes a photo of him sticking up two fingers at a portrait of Margaret Thatcher.But the influential, iconoclastic Green, 89, who has lived his whole life around Windsor Great Park and still works as a conservation adviser for the crown estate, is also a staunch advocate for King Charles's protection of Britain's unique trove of ancient trees. Continue reading...

Before making another new year resolution it's worth asking if change is what you needIt wasn't until I'd finished reading a fourth article ranking the best wellies for children" that it dawned on me that maybe I could be doing something better with this precious time on Earth. Many websites use a five-star rating to rank the boots, just as one might rate films or albums or restaurants. These ratings, though subjective and often fickle, take on a life and meaning of their own. A spiteful customer can sink a small business with one-star online reviews. I wouldn't buy a three-star welly, even though it's not clear how much anyone should expect from a rubber boot.The American psychologist Barry Schwartz observed that faced with apparently endless consumer choice, people respond in two ways. Satisficers" are happy to pick a good enough option and are unlikely to spend their free time reading hundreds of product reviews, but maximisers" feel compelled to make the best possible choice. This means the more choices they are offered, the worse off they are: an expansion of possibilities makes decision-making harder and regret the more likely outcome. Studies suggest that maximisers often do better professionally - in this sense, their high standards pay off - but even then they feel worse. Maximisers tend to be less happy, and more prone to depression and negative social comparison. Continue reading...

The two inner planets will be visible, Venus blazingly obvious and Mercury harder to spotThe new year starts in fine style with the two inner planets, Mercury and Venus, putting on a fine show in the morning sky.Venus, situated 114m miles from Earth, will be blazingly obvious in the sky. Its reflective cloud layer acts like a mirror to the sunlight and it will be easily visible in a clear sky. Continue reading...

Turning normal sleeping cycles upside down helped this bestselling writer recover her energyWhy don't you go to sleep when normal people do?" This is a question asked of me on countless occasions. The last time was in a radio interview and I was about to give my usual self-deprecating comments about the joys of not being normal, when I took a breath and replied, Because I don't want to." It really is that simple. Going to bed at 5pm and getting up just after midnight suits me. I enjoy the peace and quiet. My productivity levels soar. It's just a shame other people find it so difficult to accept. I'm not entirely sure why. I do exactly what everyone else does, I just do it about seven hours earlier. Around the time most of the country is pouring milk on their Weetabix, I'm chopping garlic and frying mushrooms for my lunch. As you're settling down with a glass of wine and a film, I've long since gone to bed. A week of keeping to the same pattern and it became my new routine.The day always begins with a 1am breakfast before a long walk with my dog, then I start my working day. Working from home makes it all too easy to creep into the world of permanent loungewear, so I try to make the effort and dress as if I were going out to an office. It can feel strange, switching on my computer and settling down to write in the dark, but it doesn't seem long before the rest of the world wakes up. My office looks out over the town and I see lights appear as the new day begins. I break for lunch around 8am, then go back to my desk. One rule is no napping! I still get an afternoon dip, like everyone else, but it usually happens mid-morning and a quick snack does the trick. If I give in, my sleeping pattern becomes even more erratic. Another thing I have to be strict with is reading emails after my day is over. When everyone else is at their desk chatting away, it's tempting to join in so, around 2pm, I shut down all the tech, read for a couple of hours, then go to bed. Continue reading...

Finding drugs that mimic the benefits of a workout has long been a goal of science. As a new trial begins, the hope is to assist not just the time-poor or the lazy but elderly people and those with disease or disabilityIn a hospital in northern Norway, just south of the Arctic Circle, a landmark experiment is taking place that could transform the way we treat ageing in the years to come. Called ExPlas - exercised plasma - the clinical trial involves taking blood plasma from young and healthy adults who exercise on a regular basis and injecting it into people aged between 50 and 75 in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. It's the first time this has been tested in humans.The full results will be available in 2025, and the hope is that it will represent a new way of rejuvenating the minds and bodies of older people, and perhaps one day even all of us who lead largely sedentary lives. Continue reading...

Therapists and gyms are working both brain and body as the full benefits of fitness are increasingly recognisedTwelve years ago, when he was in his mid-40s, psychotherapist Andrew Keefe found himself in a very stressful job - working with survivors of torture - and really out of shape. Determined to improve, Keefe joined an outdoor fitness class. Hours of burpees and press-ups in London's Finsbury Park helped him get physically fit, but he was fascinated to discover that his state of mind also completely changed.Afterwards I would be incredibly relaxed - blissful," he says. Continue reading...

Despite a surplus of eggs at fertility clinics around the country, very few end up being donated to research or other prospective parentsThe vast majority of eggs frozen by prospective mothers go unused, causing headaches for IVF clinics and preventing potentially groundbreaking research.Scientists are decrying a wasted opportunity as thousands of frozen eggs sit unused in storage instead of being used in potentially valuable medical research. Continue reading...

Experts say prolonged delay in replacing chair signals that government does not take net zero policy seriously enough and is harming investmentRishi Sunak has come under fierce attack from UK climate experts for the Conservative government's failure over the past 18 months to appoint a new chair of the independent committee that advises ministers on emissions targets.In a letter to the prime minister leaked to the Observer, the UK's leading organisation working on the economic effects of global warming condemned the excessive delay" in finding a replacement to the previous chair, Lord Deben. Continue reading...

Sir Humphry Davy's unpublished verse - including one published below for the first time - was found in notebooks alongside details of his groundbreaking experimentsHe is famous for discovering elements of the periodic table, for inventing a lamp in 1815 that would save the lives of hundreds of thousands of miners and as an electrochemical pioneer.But it is the unpublished poetry of the British chemist Sir Humphry Davy - and the intriguing connections between his poems and scientific breakthroughs - that is now electrifying academics. Continue reading...

Dozens of elections, Ukraine and Israel-Gaza, moon missions, the climate crisis and AI Support independent Guardian journalism in 20242024 will be a landmark year: dozens of elections across the world, unresolved conflicts in Ukraine and Israel-Gaza to address, and further milestones expected in everything from global temperatures to space exploration and artificial intelligence.Here are some of the major events scheduled for the year. Continue reading...

Extending the limit could help uncover causes of recurrent miscarriage and congenital conditions, experts sayScientists are calling for a review of the 14-day rule on embryo research, saying that extending the limit could help uncover the causes of recurrent miscarriage and congenital conditions.Until now, scientists studying the earliest stages of life have been restricted to cultivating embryos up to the equivalent of 14 days of development. They can then pick up the path of development several weeks later, on pregnancy scans and from material donated from terminations. Continue reading...

The Marches, Shropshire: Gales like this have a violent beauty as they rip through trees, bending trunks and pulling at the rootsOn solstice eve, a gale came thrashing trees, strewing sticks. Around each tree in the park, particularly the limes and ash, was a leeward shadow of branches and twigs, mostly dead brash winnowed from the living boughs, cast down to rot into the earth.Before decaying and recycling nutrients back to the tree roots through fungi, the fallen sticks had a more esoteric presence. They fell individually but made patterns or shapes together - shapes like the Chinese characters or the symbolism of Nordic runes used in spells, or Mimih spirit sticks in the ceremonies of the Kunwinjku people of Australia, or the stick divination of the Dagara people ofBurkina Faso. Continue reading...

Over the holidays, this column will explore next year's urgent issues. Today we look at the challenge to regulate science that seems to defy comprehensionIntelligent machines have been serving and enslaving people in the realm of the imagination for decades. The all-knowing computer - sometimes benign, usually malevolent - was a staple of the science fiction genre long before any such entity was feasible in the real world. That moment may now be approaching faster than societies can draft appropriate rules. In 2023, the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) came to the attention of a wide audience well beyond tech circles, thanks largely to ChatGPT (which launched in November 2022) and similar products.Given how rapidly progress in the field is advancing, that fascination is sure to accelerate in 2024, coupled with alarm at some of the more apocalyptic scenarios possible if the technology is not adequately regulated. The nearest historical parallel is humankind's acquisition of nuclear power. The challenge posed by AI is arguably greater. To get from a theoretical understanding of how to split the atom to the assembly of a reactor or bomb is hard and expensive. Malicious applications of code online can be transmitted and replicated with viral efficiency. Continue reading...

A new film on the doctor is weak on the facts. But it marks a year in which we've turned to his theories to comprehend suffering - and to get treatmentAgainst the background of the always-on sonic leak of the BBC and Hitler's promise to annihilate the Jewry of Europe, a new film, Freud's Last Session, hopes to capitalize on a year in which Freud - and psychoanalysis - were resurrected.The film opens with two pairings - the first, Freud and Freud: Anna (Liv Lisa Fries) teases her dying father, Sigmund (Anthony Hopkins), as he gets up from a nap on his couch. The doctor lives," jokes Anna, which, given the film's title, we know won't be true for long. Somewhere else in England, Janie Moore (Orla Brady), an older maternal figure, begs CS Lewis (Matthew Goode) to cancel his appointment and stay safely indoors. Both men push through their challenges - the jaw cancer that has made Freud's life nearly unbearable, and the threat of bombs over Lewis's train - to gather to debate the facticity of God. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Study published in 2019 used blood and saliva samples from 203 Uyghur and Kazakh people living in Xinjiang capitalConcerns have been raised that academic publishers may not be doing enough to vet the ethical standards of research they publish, after a paper based on genetic data from China's Uyghur population was retracted and questions were raised about several others including one that is currently published by Oxford University Press.In June, Elsevier, a Dutch academic publisher, retracted an article entitled Analysis of Uyghur and Kazakh populations using the Precision ID Ancestry Panel" that had been published in 2019. Continue reading...

A figurine from one of the world's oldest known human settlements reveals much about the history and potential of female powerAs a writer, my focus has been on one of the biggest mysteries in all of history: what are the origins of patriarchy in human society? I should have known that the journey to answer that question would for ever change the way I thought about myself.What I did know was that researching it would mean going back in time. The historical timescales involved here aren't centuries but millennia. That was how I landed in southern Anatolia, Turkey, at the site of one of the oldest known human settlements in the world. Catalhoyuk is beautifully preserved, its box-like homes a window into how people lived in this region thousands of years before Stonehenge was built or the first pyramids went up in Egypt.Angela Saini is a science journalist and the author of Superior: The Return of Race ScienceDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

The US military's X-37B robot spaceplane blasted off from Florida on its seventh mission, the first launched atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket capable of delivering it to a higher orbit than ever before. The launch of the plane, which will carry out classified experiments, marks another development in US-China space rivalry

Social media can amplify our own helplessness and guilt - perhaps it's time to return our focus from the global to the local, where we can truly make a changeI am a worrier. Long before I read about the stoics, I tended to begin my days with what they call a premeditatio malorum - a rumination on all the very worst things that could happen in the next 24 hours. These days, I achieve the same effect by logging on to Twitter (or X, as nobody but Elon Musk will ever call it).To exist in the age of globalised social media is to wake up to the news that the worst has happened somewhere and, somehow, it's your fault. Looking ahead to 2024, the thought of 365 more days of the worst possible happenings actually happening - and my being somehow complicit, if only as witness - doesn't exactly fill me with festive cheer. Continue reading...

Duolingo is pausing' its Welsh course despite high demand - we need robust forms of learning that aren't driven by profitEvery 14 days, a language dies. Within the next century, about half of the 7,000 languages spoken on Earth today will have disappeared, taking with them a unique lexicon, culture and way of seeing the world.I'm lucky enough to be one of just 0.01% of the world's population who speaks Welsh as their mother tongue. Its survival over 1,500 years is remarkable, living cheek by jowl with English, the most dominant language on Earth. The Welsh language faces a genuine threat; it is classed as vulnerable" by the Endangered Languages Project and potentially vulnerable" by Unesco. The latest census showed that despite huge expense and effort, in 2021 there were 24,000 fewer Welsh speakers in Wales than a decade earlier, with the proportion dropping to a record low of 17.8%. Continue reading...

Monitoring what comes out of an animal is a vital part of keeping an eye on its healthI thought convincing my husband of the merits of my returning to study just as he had retired would be a tricky sell. So his enthusiasm for the idea caught me by surprise.He helpfully suggested several interesting topics: sea turtles, dugongs and coral reefs. If it involved a boat in a warm climate, he was behind me 100%. Continue reading...

International research indicates giving infants nirsevimab would cause sharp drop in rates of respiratory syncytial virus infectionAn injection could reduce by 80% the numbers of babies and young children admitted to hospital with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a groundbreaking" study has found.The study, published in the peer-reviewed New England Journal of Medicine, involved 8,058 healthy babies aged up to 12 months from the UK, France and Germany, who were approaching their first RSV season. Continue reading...

My friend and colleague Tony Roth, who has died aged 70 from a brain tumour, was an academic in the field of clinical psychology.Tony's interest in what makes an effective therapist led to projects commissioned by the Department of Health & NHS England that resulted in the creation of new frameworks to summarise the skills and knowledge required to practise competently. These have helped to improve training, services commissioning and policy development across a range of therapies, as well as in other mental health areas such as self-harm prevention and children's inpatient services. Continue reading...

My father, Felix Munkonge, who has died aged 64 after a stroke, was a biochemist recognised for the key role he played in coordinating the clinical testing of gene therapy as a potential treatment for cystic fibrosis. He was also a contributor to the team at AstraZeneca that supported the manufacturing capability of the Covid-19 vaccine.Felix joined AstraZeneca as a project manager in November 2020, at the height of the pandemic, and was responsible for managing laboratory-scale collaborations with several chief medical officers around the world. That work made a significant contribution to ensuring the global availability of the vaccine. Continue reading...

Study that involved transplanting people's microbes into mice may show way to possible therapies, say scientistsWhile some people might relish the prospect of a new year party, for others socialising can trigger feelings of fear, anxiety and distress. Now researchers say microbes in the gut may play a role in causing social anxiety disorder, opening up fresh possibilities for therapies.Scientists have previously found the gut microbiome - the collection of bacteria and other organisms that live in the gastrointestinal system - differs for people who have social anxiety disorder (SAD) compared with healthy individuals, while a growing body of research has revealed that microbes in the gut can influence the brain - and vice versa. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Device with compartments replicating major organs could also speed up patients' access to new medicinesScientists have developed a pioneering 3D-printed device that could speed up patient access to new medicines and eliminate the need for animal testing.Thousands of animals are used in the early stages of developing medicines worldwide every year, yet many drugs tested on animals do not end up showing any clinical benefit. Continue reading...

In this special Age of Extinction mini-series from Science Weekly, which first aired in August 2023, the Guardian's biodiversity reporter, Phoebe Weston, explores the murky world of the illegal killing of birds of prey on grouse moors, and asks why it is so difficult to solve these crimes. In episode two, Phoebe speaks to the people trying to protect these rare birds but, as she digs deeper, she encounters a surprising silence around the killing of a hen harrier's chicks Continue reading...

Ground-breaking research identifies 15 factors that significantly raise chance of developing illnessAlcohol misuse, coming from a lower socioeconomic background, loneliness and having a hearing impairment are among 15 factors found to significantly increase the risk of early-onset dementia, according to a groundbreaking" study.Almost 4 million people worldwide experience dementia symptoms before they are 65, with 370,000 people newly diagnosed each year. Continue reading...

Gracell Biotechnologies acquisition marks China's growing importance to the Anglo-Swedish drugmakerAstraZeneca has struck a deal to buy a Chinese cancer therapy company for up to $1.2bn (950m), as Britain's biggest drugmaker expands its footprint in its second-largest market.The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical firm announced on Tuesday it would acquire Gracell Biotechnologies, which is focused on a type of cancer therapy known as CAR-T that modifies a patient's cells to fight the disease. Continue reading...

Satellite images showing plant health hold vital information on stratovolcanoes in forested areasGreener plants can be used to foretell when a volcano is about to erupt, potentially providing a warning long before more conventional methods of volcano monitoring.An increase in carbon dioxide emissions is often one of the earliest signs of volcanic unrest, but it is hard to detect against ordinary background levels of the gas and difficult to measure directly because so many volcanoes are in inaccessible and heavily vegetated areas. Continue reading...

In this special Age of Extinction mini-series from Science Weekly, which first aired in August 2023, the Guardian's biodiversity reporter, Phoebe Weston, explores the illegal killing of birds of prey on grouse moors and asks why it is so difficult to solve these crimes. In episode one, Phoebe hears about the case of Susie, a hen harrier whose chicks were killed while being monitored on camera. As she starts to investigate the case, she hears from conservationist Ruth Tingay about why hen harriers are targeted and finds out about the personal costs of campaigning on this issue Continue reading...

My friend Andy Kuczmierczyk, who has died aged 68 of cancer, was professor of clinical psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, and also a life coach and a poet.Starting out on his career in the late-1970s, he studied cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) at Middlesex hospital in central London, under Victor Meyer, a founding father of CBT. Andy deployed adventurous techniques including flooding", which involves people with phobias being exposed immediately and directly to the things they fear most. Continue reading...

The answers to today's questionsEarlier today I set you the following problems. Here they are again with solutions.Puzzle 1 Can you make 24 using only the digits from 1 to 9 and the basic arithmetical operations? Here's one way that places all the digits in the correct order. Continue reading...

Puzzles to mark the yearUPDATE: To read the solutions click hereFor the first time in eight years of posting puzzles on alternate Mondays, today's publication date coincides with Christmas Day. Festive greetings everyone!What numerical gifts has Santa brought this year? For North Americans, there's a delightful date next week: New Year's Eve is 123123. Continue reading...

When the virus shut down my nostrils, I presumed it was a temporary issue. But three years later my food still tastes like cardboardTo celebrate our anniversary, my partner and I dine in a trendy London restaurant in Hackney with a Michelin star - my first time in such a place. A crispy little bonbon is introduced to us simply as Pine, kvass lees and vin brule." I watch my partner light up, the flickering candle in her eyes, as the waiter sets the thing down. The impact of the aroma has already registered on her face. With her first bite she is transported to her childhood in Massachusetts. Gosh," she gasps, closing her eyes as a New England virgin pine forest explodes in her mind. When she blinks open, returning to the here and now, she looks at me guiltily. I take a bite and wince. No coniferous wonderland for me. Just unpleasant bitterness, confined very much to the tongue.I am pleased for her, truly. I'm a magnanimous guy. But from that moment on, the whole evening is a bit of a spectator sport and, by the end of it, I have a feeling that she is even playing her enjoyment down, muting her reactions, as if to say, You're not missing out." She finds some dishes prove more successful than others - the sweetness of cherry, an umami-rich mushroom - but I am missing out: on the nuances, the emotions, the memories. The smell. Continue reading...

After its first full calendar year of operation, astronomers are using the probe to look for life on thousands of newly discovered planetsThere is a distant world where quartz crystals float above a searing hot, puffy atmosphere. Vaporised sand grains, not water droplets, form the clouds that fill the sky on Wasp-107b, a planet 1,300 light years from Earth.Then there is GJ1214, the sauna planet. With a mass eight times that of Earth, it orbits its parent star at a distance that is one-seventieth of the gap between Earth and the sun and seems to be coated in a thick dense atmosphere containing vast amounts of steam. Continue reading...