Science | The Guardian

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...

Canadian scientists say evidence from cave art all over the world shows digits may have been ritually removed to appease deities or aid social cohesionMen and women might have had their fingers deliberately chopped off during religious rituals in prehistoric times, according to a new interpretation of palaeolithic cave art.In a paper presented at a recent meeting of the European Society for Human Evolution, researchers point to 25,000-year-old paintings in France and Spain that depict silhouettes of hands. On more than 200 of these prints, the hands lack at least one digit. In some cases, only a single upper segment is missing; in others, several fingers are gone. Continue reading...

Marina Hyde mulls over Lady Mone's PPE farrago, car crash interview and fight with the PM (1m26s); Victoria Mary Clarke on the excess, addiction and love that bound her and Shane MacGowan together (10m20s); and Anita Chaudhuri on being shut out by loved ones for 40 years (27m46s) Continue reading...

Research carried out on pigs showed they ate almost 40% less food after ingesting the capsuleDieters everywhere know that, no matter how inventive a chef you may be, nothing leaves you buzzing like sugary or fatty food.Now science might have the answer: a vibrating pill, swallowed before eating, that creates feelings of fullness. Continue reading...

The animals combine sleeping and digesting, researchers found after extracting reindeer brain dataIf your ceaseless feasting at Christmas leaves you exhausted, it may be worth taking inspiration from reindeer: research suggests the animals can sleep while chewing.During the summer months, reindeer spend most of their time munching foliage - an important activity given food can be scarce in the winter. However, a study suggests one way they balance their need to digest with the need to sleep is by multitasking. Continue reading...

Research found little ones typically begin to distinguish fantasy from reality during preschool years I cried for hours': the moments people realised truth about Father ChristmasFrom empty glasses of sherry on the mantelpiece to sooty footprints leading to the bedroom door, evidence of Santa's existence is clearly irrefutable. Yet most children will begin to question it at some point - and many parents anticipate this moment with dread. Now psychologists have identified the average age when Santa scepticism creeps in, and which children are at greatest risk of harbouring negative feelings when it does.While most adults have fallen for the myth that Santa doesn't exist, many children still believe - even if the idea of a single individual visiting the homes of billions of children in a single night is at odds with their wider reasoning skills. Continue reading...

There are now seven known species of soft-furred hedgehogs, which look like a cross between a mouse and a shrewScientists have identified five new species of soft-furred hedgehogs from south-east Asia.Two of the species discovered are entirely new to science, while three have been elevated from subspecies level by researchers, who carried out DNA analysis as well as detailed physical observations of the mammals. Continue reading...

Sniffing emotional tears from women can cut male aggression by more than 40% and cause changes in brainHuman tears carry a substance that dampens down aggression, according to researchers, who believe the drops may have evolved over time to protect wailing babies from harm.Sniffing emotional tears from women reduced male aggression by more than 40% in computerised tests, and prompted corresponding changes in the brain, though the scientists behind the study think all human tears would have a similar effect. Continue reading...

Darwin spent more than half of the five years of the Beagle expedition in the most southerly region of Argentina, where his legacy is still vividFar from the recognisable image of the white-bearded father of modern biology, when Charles Darwin embarked on his expedition into the unknown, he was a young man who had twice disappointed his family.A model of HMS Beagle, the navy ship on which Darwin sailed to South America in 1831 Continue reading...

What with Christmas parties and work drinks, this time of year can feel like one long hangover. But a new generation of alcohol-free alternatives is emerging which claim to offer the fun of alcohol without the painful morning-after. Madeleine Finlay and Ian Sample are joined by science correspondent Hannah Devlin to sample some of these drinks and interrogate the science behind them Continue reading...

Researchers suspect euphoria and intimacy of season may be behind spike in casesIt may be the season of loving and giving, but doctors have warned against embracing this spirit too enthusiastically - at least where sexual relations are concerned. They have discovered that the Christmas period is associated with a significantly increased risk of penile fractures - a medical emergency in which the erection-producing regions of the penis snap, usually as a result of forceful bending during over-enthusiastic sexual intercourse.This injury tends to occur during wild sex - particularly in positions where you're not in direct eye contact [with your partner], such as the reverse cowgirl," said Dr Nikolaos Pyrgides, a urologist at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, who led the research. Continue reading...

Dark eyes are more common in domesticated dogs, possibly because we consider this trait more friendlyHuman preferences for a friendly face may have steered the evolution of canine eye colour, researchers have suggested.Ever since canines were domesticated, some time between 15,000 and 50,000 years ago, humans have selected - whether consciously or not - particular traits in their dogs. Continue reading...

French wild pansies are producing smaller flowers and less nectar than 20 to 30 years ago in startling' act of evolution, study showsFlowers are giving up on" pollinators and evolving to be less attractive to them as insect numbers decline, researchers have said.A study has found the flowers of field pansies growing near Paris are 10% smaller and produce 20% less nectar than flowers growing in the same fields 20 to 30 years ago. They are also less frequently visited by insects. Continue reading...

About 12% of birds have died out as result of human activity in past 120,000 years, say scientistsAbout 12% of the world's bird species have been driven to extinction by human activity, new research has found - double previous estimates.The study, published in Nature Communications on Tuesday, estimates that about 1,430 bird species have died out since the Late Pleistocene period, which started about 120,000 years ago. Continue reading...

Simon Thomas knew the periodic table by heart at six. Now the Cambridge firm's co-founder is putting his scientific brain behind graphene's power to help us compete with ChinaThe first thing visitors to Paragraf's lab, in the Cambridgeshire village of Somersham, are shown is a thin disc made of synthetic sapphire with a piece of graphene taped on to it. This was the first graphene product the company made, and it quickly evolved to a small wafer of 64 tiny graphene devices arranged in a grid. These days, the company produces six-inch wafers that hold 9,000 chips.Graphene, a 2D form of carbon, with the atoms arranged in a hexagonal structure, is mainly used to strengthen concrete and paints, but is now being touted as a replacement for silicon in semiconductors. China has started using it to get ahead in the global microchip wars. Continue reading...

Cat chases laser pointer dot in 15-second video, designed to test possibility of sending streaming video through deep spaceHe may not be the first cat in space - that honour goes to a French feline named Felicette in 1963 - but on Monday an orange tabby named Taters took an arguably bigger prize: first cat video in space.Nasa sent a 15-second video of Taters in ultra-HD, which travelled almost 19m miles from a probe back to Earth. Continue reading...

Veoza reduces the severity of this common menopausal symptom. But at that high cost, only the wealthy will gain just nowAfter decades of neglect, menopause and the impact it has on women's life quality is becoming a major focus of pharmaceutical research. Hence the excitement this week about a new, potentially life-changing, drug.Part of this is the growing recognition of what a huge market it is: the NHS estimates that 13 million women are currently peri- or menopausal in the UK, which is roughly a third of the female population. The most common symptom is hot flushes, which, in addition to fatigue, mood swings and muscle weakness, can seriously impact women's wellbeing and productivity.Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh Continue reading...

The prevalence of sickle cell disease is changing how Nigerians date, marry and plan their lives. And as genetic testing becomes more common, prospective parents across the world will face similar questionsSubomi Mabogunje fell for Nkechi Egonu within hours of meeting her in 2004. They were working at a state-run TV station in Ijebu Ode, a trading hub in south-west Nigeria. While Subomi was thin and bespectacled, Nkechi was petite and voluptuous, with her hair in a ballerina bun, and coldly immune to the stares that trailed her across the office. Her swaggering personality was also the opposite of his reserved one, and she was quickly promoted to programme presenter. She was the most exciting person, Subomi felt, who had ever walked into his home town.He found the courage to speak to Nkechi one weekend when they were assigned to do community service, clearing overgrown grasses near a government building. Subomi went, despite his habitual avoidance of strenuous physical activity. You're too good for this kind of work, ehe?" Nkechi teased. With his hollow cheekbones, frail body and elongated fingers, Subomi was clearly what some uncharitable onlookers would call a sickler" -one of up to 6 million people in Nigeria with sickle cell disease (SCD), a group of inherited blood disorders that turn red blood cells from soft discs into rigid crescents, leading to blood clots, pain episodes called crises" and serious complications in most major organs. But Nkechi never shied away from him. Within a few weeks of their first conversation, they were inseparable. Continue reading...

Bonobos and chimps demonstrate longest long-term memory ever found in nonhuman animals, scientists sayWhether it is a sea of faces at a school reunion or distant family at a wedding, our ability to remember people we met years ago can come in handy. Now it seems our evolutionary cousins have a similar skill.Researchers have found bonobos and chimpanzees can recall peers they spent time with in the past, even if they have been separated for decades. What is more, this recognition appears to be influenced by whether they got on well with each other - or not. Continue reading...

A male contraceptive is almost here - and it'll be another test of whether heterosexual men are actually willing to share the responsibilities of adult lifeTrials are under way in Britain for the first-ever male contraceptive pill. It's a promising medication, one that puts more power in men's hands to prevent unwanted pregnancy with high reliability and, so far, few reported side-effects. The trials seek to answer a basic medical question: is this drug safe and effective? But the manufacturers are no doubt wondering about something else: will men take it?The overwhelming share of responsibility for preventing pregnancy has always fallen on women. Throughout human history, women have gone to great lengths to prevent pregnancies they didn't want, and end those they couldn't prevent. Safe and reliable contraceptive methods are, in the context of how long women have sought to interrupt conception, still incredibly new. Measured by the lifespan of anyone reading this article, though, they are well established, and have for many decades been a normal part of life for millions of women around the world.Jill Filipovic is the author of the The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness Continue reading...

Pair will be visible from northern and southern hemispheres just in time for the solsticeThe moon is rapidly approaching fullness, and this week it will make a passing encounter with Jupiter on 21 and 22 December.The chart shows the view looking due south from London at 9pm GMT on 22 December. The moon will be waxing gibbous (getting bigger) with 82% of its visible surface illuminated. Jupiter will be a bright object, shining at around a magnitude of -2.7 in the constellation of Aries, the ram. The pair will also be visible from the southern hemisphere, where they can be easily seen in the northern sky. Continue reading...

Veoza, also known as fezolinetant, is prescription-only and will be available privately from JanuaryA gamechanging" drug that prevents hot flushes and could benefit hundreds of thousands of women has been approved for use in the UK.The green light for Veoza, also known as fezolinetant, comes after the US regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, authorised it for use in America in May. Continue reading...

Readers on when it is justifiable to ostracise close family members, and the pain of being cut off by othersI read with interest your piece about the silent treatment" as a response to conflict and thought it worth offering an alternative view that sometimes this is the only option available (The silent treatment: One woman was ostracised by her husband for 40 years', 12 December). I'm not sure that framing all people who stop talking to blood relatives as sulkers" is necessarily accurate or helpful.I have not spoken with my biological brother for the last 15-odd years. The basis for this was his psychological and physical abuse that not only overshadowed my childhood, but continued into adulthood, long after he should have known better. It took years of therapy to realise that I did not need to include this person in my life and I made the decision to cut ties. Despite pleas from our mother for me to reconcile", I have made it clear that reconciliation can only follow after an apology and acknowledgment from his end for threats, physical assaults and making me a figurative and literal punchbag, even into our 20s. Until then, there can be no grounds for a meaningful adult relationship. Continue reading...

Unst's remote location makes it perfect place for SaxaVord site to launch rockets with greatest payloadsFor centuries, Unst has been famous for its richly varied wildlife, pristine beaches and unspoilt sea views. Now the remote Shetland island is leading Britain into space.A former RAF base on a remote peninsula of the island has become the UK's first licensed spaceport for vertical rocket launches. It will allow up to 30 satellites and other payloads to be launched into commercially valuable polar, sun-synchronous orbits, which are in high demand from satellite operators for communications and Earth observation. Continue reading...

Early and enduring adoption of Freudian psychoanalysis puts paid to view of it being a European practiceThe famously Freudian Dr Frasier Crane may have brought psychoanalysis over the airwaves to the masses in the seminal 1990s comedy in which he constantly spars with his Jungian brother, Niles. But half a century before him, a real-life Brazilian Frasier was doing much the same.Sigmund Freud's influence in Latin America, a region the founder of psychoanalysis never visited, was so profound it spawned a 1940s hit radio show in Brazil, The World of Dreams, presented by the Freud devotee and psychiatrist Gastao Pereira da Silva. Continue reading...

It's often overlooked and left to its own devices, but should you listen to your gut more, or is it listening to you? Here's what the science saysUntil fairly recently, the idea of listening to your gut was mostly metaphorical. The heart, lungs and liver are important to keep in good shape. But the stomach, intestines and colon? Surely they just keep chugging along, processing whatever you put into them, occasionally objecting, but basically doing their job.Well, not quite. Over the last five years or so, evidence has been piling up that the huge community of microorganisms - bacteria, viruses and fungi - that live in the gut affect everything from the immune system to mental health. We have learned that there are roughly 500m neurons in the human gut, alongside the 100bn in the brain, and research around the gut-brain axis" - the biochemical signalling system that links your gastrointestinal tract and your central nervous system - suggests that signals go both ways between the two. Professional athletes, for instance, have more diverse gut microbiota than regular people, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the relationship is bidirectional - they might be better runners because they have more efficient gut bacteria, but doing more exercise is probably helping to keep the little chaps happy. Continue reading...

For years, Ginger Johnson imagined life as a tragedy playing out - until she decided to reframe it as a comedyThere was a hula-hooper, a juggler, a mime and a comic on our 2015 Christmas cabaret tour, and a striptease, too. Mine was known as the hotdog act". Each night, in full drag, I'd totter on to a stage in a room full of total strangers with a jar of 10-inch hotdogs, and shove them up my nose, down my throat, into the air, to music. I was apeing the burlesque style, turning what could seem sensual into something totally grotesque. You'll struggle to believe me, but during this period of my life I took myself - and my work - debilitatingly seriously.There was a lot of baggage on that tour bus: cases full of costumes, yes, but also the emotional variety. Each of us was going through the wringer - breakups, breakdowns, crises galore. I know, how festive. My mental health was in the pits and it had been six or seven months since I'd spoken to my family. I was in self-destruct mode. Through our collective pain, we bonded as a cast. When you live and work together on the road, there's no escaping. Pre-show, our dressing room became a group therapy space. And, after a gig, high on adrenaline, we'd sit around sharing problems and too much merlot. One of the other artists was reading a book that argued that being born is traumatic and to heal you must re-enact it. We talked logistics, but I never quite got round to reliving my own delivery. Continue reading...

Two dementia medicines set for approval in Britain are first to improve patients' lives directly - but condition must be diagnosedPeople in Britain could benefit from a key medical breakthrough next year. They may be given access to the first drugs ever developed to slow the impact of Alzheimer's disease.The first of these medicines - lecanemab - was recently approved in the US and Japan, where treatments using it have already been launched. A second drug, donanemab, is expected to follow soon, and next year it is anticipated that the UK medical authorities will consider both of them for approval in Britain. Continue reading...

The aristocracy and celebrities are in thrall to medical quackery that while useless can be far from harmlessWhen I hear someone extolling the virtues of homeopathy, I am often reminded of a quotation from the TV show 30 Rock. There are many kinds of intelligence," Jack Donaghy tells a particularly stupid employee. Practical, emotional ... and then there is actual intelligence, which is what I'm talking about." Similar, and perhaps correlating, are the many kinds of medicine. Natural, complementary, alternative, homeopathic, herbal, traditional. And then there is actual medicine, which works.It is strange that homeopaths can still find employment in 2023, but somehow they do. In 1853, Queen Victoria's doctor was already calling the practice an outrage to human reason". In the following 170 years it has been debunked repeatedly and comprehensively. After all, its principles run in complete opposition to science, based as they are on curing like with like" - an extract of raw onion, say, to treat watery eyes - strengthening" by process of dilution, and shaking it all up to promote quantum entanglement". Continue reading...

Expert called for child to go to live with father against girl's wishesA family court judge has accepted the recommendation of an unregulated expert and ruled that a child should be removed from her mother's care after finding the mother made an entirely false allegation" about the child's father.The woman will initially have only supervised contact with her daughter, who will be transferred to live with her father against the girl's wishes. The decision follows findings about the mother's attitude" towards him and the adverse impact of that on the girl of secondary school age. Continue reading...

The Belgian physicist and industrial musician on replacing maths with pictures, why he's now working in industry - and why we all need to understand subatomic physicsBelgian physicist and musician Prof Bob Coecke, 55, wants to teach quantum physics to a mass audience. The paradox-filled theory that describes the microscopic realm has become a staple of science fiction, from Marvel's Ant-Man to the multiple Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once. It's famously bizarre and, in the UK, the subject is mostly reserved for undergraduates specialising in physics because it requires grappling with complicated maths. But Coecke, a former Oxford professor, has devised a maths-free framework using diagrams for total beginners, outlined in Quantum in Pictures, his book with Dr Stefano Gogioso that was published earlier this year. Over the summer, they ran an education experiment, teaching the pictorial method to UK schoolchildren - who then beat the average exam scores of Oxford University's postgraduate physics students.Quantum physics is notoriously esoteric. Why should most people even want to study it?

Sensational report that Indonesia's Gunung Padang site is 25,000 years old is dismissed by archaeologists around the worldIt was one of the most sensational science stories of 2023. Researchers claimed last month that the Gunung Padang site in West Java, Indonesia, is the world's most ancient pyramid and could be more than 25,000 years old.Such antiquity would be unprecedented. Stonehenge and the oldest major pyramids of Egypt are only a few thousand years old, while the previous record holder, Turkey's Gobekli Tepe stone monuments, are thought to be about 11,000 years old. Continue reading...

Animals' eyes change colour as colder months approach to enhance UV sight, helping them spot lichen vital for their survivalRudolph does not need to use his famous red nose to guide his fellow reindeer as the animals have a special form of night vision that they use to forage for food, scientists have concluded.Researchers looked into why the species are the only mammals whose eyes change colour depending on the season, from golden-orange in summer to a blue hue in the winter months. Continue reading...