Science | The Guardian

A demographic change is unfolding, and many of us can expect a long life. It's time to provide the support neededEthel Caterham, at the age of 115 years, is said to be the oldest person alive. She offers the sage life advice to say yes to every opportunity because you never know what it will lead to. Have a positive mental attitude and have everything in moderation." When she was born in 1909, the average life expectancy of a British female was 52 years - becoming a centenarian was a remote prospect.Today, according to the United Nations, centenarians are the fastest growing age group. By 1950, there were an estimated 14,000 whilst today there are nearly 750,000, projected to reach nearly 4 million by 2054. Medical advances, increases in the standard of living and improvements in public health have transformed the human condition. The American Academy of Actuaries estimates that one in six Americans born today will live to be 100. That is about the same as in the UK, where the Office for National Statistics suggests that the majority of babies can expect to live into their early 90s. Continue reading...

I was told my husband would never talk again, while physiotherapy was dismissed entirely. My son was failed in similar ways, but for the brilliance of some medical staff who refuse to believe a stroke is the endOn the night before the accident, John and I and our son Jay, who was then 26, lingered in the garden drinking wine and enjoying the mid-summer scent of jasmine and lilies. We talked about the Manet exhibition we had just seen at the National Gallery. We probably talked about how the end of the cold war might affect the chances of Bill Clinton winning the presidential election against George HW Bush in November. I know what John thought about that. I only wish I could recall his words.The next morning, 30 July 1992, John got up before me as he always did. In the kitchen I found the contents of the dishwasher - knives, forks, spoons, plates, mugs - jumbled together on the table. This was odd because unloading the dishwasher was the one domestic ritual he willingly performed. It would be years before I learned the reason. At the time I put it down to absent-mindedness. It was a month since he had delivered a book to the publisher and he was already preoccupied by the next one, about art in the European Renaissance. Before I had time to be annoyed, I heard a crash from his study at the top of the house. I ran upstairs and found him lying on the floor next to his desk. He looked up at me with the radiant, witless smile of a baby. And he said: Da walls." Continue reading...

Geoengineering, the controversial set of techniques that aim to deliberately alter the Earth's climate system, may be inching a step closer to reality with the announcement that UK scientists will be conducting real-world experiments in the coming years. To understand what's happening, Ian Sample is joined by the Guardian environment editor Damian Carrington. Damian explains what the experiments will entail and why scientists are so divided on whether pursuing this research is a good ideaClips: GB NewsReal-world geoengineering experiments revealed by UK agency Continue reading...

Kseniia Petrova, Harvard researcher arrested in February, faces deportation as lawyer calls case meritless'A Harvard scientist who has been held in US immigration detention for months was charged on Wednesday with smuggling frog embryos into the United States, and likely faces deportation.Kseniia Petrova, a Russian scientist and research associate working at Harvard University, was originally detained by immigration officials in February after attempting to enter the United States at Boston Logan international airport. Continue reading...

Dangerous indoor pollution could be tackled with air purifiers but costs are too high for many, researchers sayToxic pollution from wildfires has infiltrated the homes of more than a billion people a year over the last two decades, according to new research.The climate crisis is driving up the risk of wildfires by increasing heatwaves and droughts, making the issue of wildfire smoke a pressing global issue", scientists said. Continue reading...

Groups of large language model artificial intelligence agents can adopt social norms as humans do, report saysArtificial intelligence can spontaneously develop human-like social conventions, a study has found.The research, undertaken in collaboration between City St George's, University of London and the IT University of Copenhagen, suggests that when large language model (LLM) AI agents such as ChatGPT communicate in groups without outside involvement they can begin to adopt linguistic forms and social norms the same way that humans do when they socialise. Continue reading...

The discovery by two local fossil hunters on a river bank in Victoria has potentially far-reaching implications', scientists sayFossilised claw prints found in Australia suggest amniotes - the ancestors of reptiles, birds and mammals - evolved about 40m years earlier than thought.The footprints, in sandstone dated 354m to 358m years old, were probably made by reptiles crossing a surface dimpled by raindrops. Researchers said the trackways represent the oldest evidence of amniotes on the planet.Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Continue reading...

Fossilisedfootprintsfound in Australia provide the oldest evidence for reptiles on Earth, a discovery that suggests the group evolved in the southern rather than the northern hemisphere, and some 35-40 million years earlier than thought. A 35cm trackway of clawedfootprintsfound in sandstone on Taungurung country, near Mansfield in eastern Victoria, have been dated to between 354 and 358m years old in a paper published in Nature, making them the oldest on record. The previously oldestfossilrecords, from Europe and North America, are estimated at 318m years old

Beautifully preserved' Archaeopteryx has tertial feathers that appear to have been key to making it aerodynamicAn exquisitely preserved Archaeopteryx fossil has delivered fresh insights into how the earliest birds first took flight 150m years ago.The fossil is the first Archaeopteryx in which scientists have been able to identify specialised wing feathers that would have made flight possible. These tertial feathers on the upper arm bone create a smooth aerodynamic line from wing to body and are not seen in feathered flightless dinosaurs that existed alongside the first birds, suggesting that this was a crucial evolutionary change required for lift-off. Continue reading...

Research looking at hygiene and healthcare habits of the primates finds implications for understanding origin of human healthcareHumans are not unique in having a host of hygiene and healthcare habits, researchers have found: chimpanzees also wipe their bottoms, tend each other's wounds and even clean up after sex, according to a new study.The research from the University of Oxford is not the first to show that great apes take care of themselves. Scientists have previously found chimpanzees use insects to treat their own wounds and those of others, while orangutans have been observed treating wounds with the sap and chewed leaves of plants with known medicinal properties. Continue reading...

Time-lapse footage reveals cardiac cells in a mouse embryo begin to organise themselves during early developmentThe moment a heart begins to form has been captured in extraordinary time-lapse images for the first time.The footage reveals cardiac cells in a mouse embryo begin to spontaneously organise themselves into a heart-like shape early in development. Scientists say the technique could provide new insights into congenital heart defects, which affect nearly one in 100 babies. Continue reading...

I was recently asked to explain the media's attitude to weight loss drugs. And the more I tried, the more sheepish I becameWhy you might be given the second-best' weight-loss drug", ran the i's coverage of the most recent research findings: Mounjaro is officially more effective than Wegovy. And there are plenty of perfectly sensible reasons. Wegovy, which produces an average weight loss of 14%, might suit you fine. It's the only drug approved for reducing the risk of a major cardiovascular event because it's been on the market for longer. Mounjaro, reducing weight by 20%, might end up on top in the long run. The media often takes a scandalised tone about pharmacological innovation: whether it's the NHS trying to palm you off with second best, or big pharma selling snake oil, someone is always out to get you. This seems OK; let's see how it goes" is a peculiarly difficult editorial line to take.I was part of a panel discussion last week at Ozempic Nation", part of the British Library's Food Season. Ozempic is the same drug as Wegovy, just with a lower concentration of the active ingredient, semaglutide, and is used to treat type 2 diabetes. The discussion felt a little paradoxical to include in a food season", since Ozempic is the opposite of food, the anti-food, the drug that can make you forget what you ever liked about food. And yet, the debate - which was essentially Is this a wonder drug or a sticking plaster?" - cut to the heart of what food means for politics, for society and, I guess if you squint at it, for civilisation.Do 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...

For a long time the appendix was considered disposable. After all, millions of people have theirs removed each year and go on to live healthy lives. But as Heather F Smith, a professor of anatomy at Midwestern University tells Ian Sample, researchers are increasingly understanding what this small worm-shaped organ may be bringing to the table in terms of our health. Smith explains how the appendix is linked to both our immune system development and gut health, and why she thinks an increasing interest in the microbiome may bring it to greater prominenceSupport the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

Liraglutide is found to have beneficial impact on weight and families report reduced conflicts around foodGiving obese children weight loss jabs works and could help avoid arguments over mealtimes, according to research.Clinicians treating very obese children at a hospital in Sweden analysed whether liraglutide injections could be used as well as diet and lifestyle changes to increase weight loss. Continue reading...

The answers to today's puzzlesEarlier today I set these two puzzles. Here they are again with solutions.1. Go compare! Continue reading...

Some see the fiery root as a miracle cure for colds, but there are easier, cheaper ways to support your immune systemDo you find yourself buying tiny bottles of fiery gloop at the first signsof a cold? You're not alone. Ginger shots have become a trend in recent years, thanks to the perception that they're good for immunity. Butarethey?Dr Emily Leeming, a dietitian at King's College London, says it's unlikely they are a miracle cure. Shesays there has been only a small amount of research that shows thatgingerol extracts, the active polyphenols in ginger, may help lower some markers of inflammation (an immune response), but the evidence ispretty weak. Continue reading...

Don't run out of rope!UPDATE: Read the solutions hereTwo very different puzzles today. In the first, you have to identify two numbers. In the second, you have to escape off a roof.1. Go compare! Continue reading...

While faint, the constellation still makes a big impression because of its sheer sizeThis week, we track down one of the zodiacal constellations, Virgo, the virgin. It is a prominent constellation in the northern hemisphere's spring night sky because of its sheer size. Covering an area of 1,294 square degrees, Virgo is the second largest constellation in the sky. By comparison, the easily recognisable Orion, the hunter, is a celestial minnow at just 594 square degrees.The chart shows the view looking south from London at 22.00 BST on 12 May, although the view will remain roughly the same all week. Continue reading...

Experts say findings are transformational and could herald new era of preventive medicineWeight-loss jabs could almost halve the risk of obesity-related cancers, a landmark study suggests.Cancer experts said the findings were transformational" and could herald a whole new era of preventive cancer medicine". Continue reading...

Teams vie for place on shortlist for XPrize Healthspan, the richest prize yet in the longevity fieldAdmitting its goal is audacious", the largest longevity-focused prize in history - offering $101m (76m) in prize money - will announce its shortlist of candidates on Monday.The aim of the seven-year XPrize Healthspan is to develop a way for humans to dramatically rejuvenate muscles, cognition and immune functions, the three systems crucial to healthy ageing. Continue reading...

Key programs from child-support services to HIV treatment also gutted, leaving global populations vulnerableMass terminations and billions of dollars' worth of cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have gutted key programs - from child support services to HIV treatment abroad - and created a real danger" that disease outbreaks will be missed, according to former workers.Workers at the HHS, now led by Robert F Kennedy Jr, and in public health warned in interviews that chaotic, flawed and sweeping reductions would have broad, negative effects across the US and beyond. Continue reading...

Swiss study finds wellbeing and life quality can be improved more than with insulin and other antidiabetic drugsWeight loss jabs may be good for people's mental health as well as helping curb their appetite, according to research.A study by scientists from the University of Bern in Switzerland has found that appetite-suppressing injections also improve mood, wellbeing and quality of life more than insulin and other antidiabetic drugs. Continue reading...

Kosmos 482 re-enters the atmosphere more than a half century since launch on failed mission to VenusA Soviet-era spacecraft plunged to Earth on Saturday, more than a half century after its failed launch to Venus.The European Union Space Surveillance and Tracking agency confirmed its uncontrolled re-entry, based on analysis and the disappearance of the spacecraft from tracking on subsequent orbits. The European Space Agency's space debris office also indicated it had re-entered the atmosphere after it failed to appear over a German radar station. Continue reading...

Providing semaglutide for all those eligible may bring productivity gains as people are able to work moreGiving weight loss jabs to everyone eligible for them could boost the UK economy by 4.5bn, according to research.Worldwide, about 3.8 billion people over 25 and just under 750 million children and young people are forecast to be overweight or obese by 2050. In England, 26.5% of adults are obese, while across the UK 4.6 million are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Continue reading...

Lander probe of Kosmos 482, launched in 1972, is expected to re-enter the atmosphere some time between 9 and 10 MayPart of a Soviet spacecraft is expected to crash back down to Earth this weekend, with experts still unsure of where it will land.Kosmos 482 was launched in March 1972 on a Soyuz rocket a few days after the Venera 8 atmospheric probe, and was thought to have a similar purpose. Intended to reach Venus, it failed to escape low Earth orbit and instead broke into four pieces. Continue reading...

Research found chimpanzees drum with non-random rhythms that suggest building blocks of music may predate humans by millions of yearsThey might not produce Gershwin hits, but chimpanzees have got rhythm, researchers have found in a study they say sheds light on the evolutionary origins of music.Scientists have previously found chimpanzees drum on the buttress roots of trees to send information to each other, with each individual having their own signature style. Continue reading...

We know some medications work differently in men and women. Why is it taking so long for studies to reflect this?The first step, they say, is admitting you have a problem, and on that front the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has made some much-needed progress. The agency, which is responsible for approving all clinical trials in the UK, has identified a notable imbalance" in trials conducted between 2019 and 2023: there were nearly twice as many all-male trials as all-female trials.This imbalance is hardly surprising: as I documented in Invisible Women, my book on the female data gap, the failure to adequately represent women in clinical trials is a longstanding and global problem. The MHRA's figures are also in line with a recent US analysis that found male-prevalent diseases receive nearly twice as much funding as female-prevalent diseases, both absolutely and relative to disease burden. So far, so disappointingly standard.Caroline Criado Perez is the author of Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for MenDo 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...

Scientists fear early emerging insects may fall out of sync with pathogens, predators or availability of foodMidsummer butterflies are on the wing in early May after a sunny spring prompted one of the most advanced seasons for Britain's Lepidoptera on record.The Lulworth skipper - usually found in June and July - is flying at Lulworth Cove in Dorset, the chequered skipper emerged in April rather than mid-May in Scotland and the first swallowtail, which is most common in mid-June, was spotted in Norfolk on 1 May. Continue reading...

Experts found 60% of the EU's agricultural soils had been degraded, with about 40% similarly damaged in the UKMore than 60% of the EU's agricultural soils are degraded due to intensive agriculture, with similar damage to about 40% of British soils, a report has found.Experts from the Save Soil initiative said nourishing and restoring agricultural soils could reduce the impact of the climate crisis and provide protection against the worsening extremes of weather, as well as the food shortages and price rises likely to accompany them. Continue reading...

And yet science cannot get rid of them. Or can it?

Researchers say AI could give every developing country a vital early warning system of extreme eventsWeather forecasting has gradually been getting more and more sophisticated. It has also got far more important as the climate gets more unpredictable and extreme events threaten to cause massive economic damage and loss of life. So an early warning system is vital.Ever larger computer systems making millions of calculations over many hours are now part of the daily forecasting in most developed countries. Sadly large parts of the world, many very vulnerable to dangerous climate events, do not have the money, personnel or computing power to develop the 10-day forecasting system they need. Continue reading...

Small genetic changes in enzyme that prevents bad breath in humans lead to sulphurous scent in some asarumWith a smell of rotting flesh the flowers of certain species of wild ginger are unlikely to be used in a wedding bouquet - although they are irresistible to carrion-loving flies. Now researchers say they have worked out how the sulphurous scent is produced.Scientists say the odour is down to small changes in an enzyme that prevents bad breath in humans. Continue reading...

Lack of rain and floods both threaten crops. Ministers should heed the experts' warningsIt is so ingrained in British culture to celebrate sunshine that unless you are a farmer or gardener, it is unusual to complain about the lack of rain. But alarms are being sounded by environmentalists and farmers after a very dry spring followed a winter during which parts of the country, including Northern Ireland, had only 70% of average rainfall.Some crops are already failing, and worse will follow unless more rain arrives soon. Conditions at the moment are said to resemble 2022 - the last time that farms suffered significant losses due to drought. In certain regions, fields have had to be irrigated months earlier than usual. The National Drought Group, which coordinates management of scarce water resources, met on Wednesday. Long-range forecasts are predicting more warm, sunny weather, but the UK's weather is changeable. Two years ago the driest June on record was followed by an exceptionally wet July. Continue reading...

Eric Topol says we can prevent age-related disease and live fuller lives - but only if we reject anti-science malarkey'Dr Eric Topol's new book examines the best evidence-based approaches to longevity, and seeks to challenge the malarkey" of the bio-hacking, age-reversal and anti-science movements - all of which have found new purchase in American society amid scientific distrust stoked during the Covid pandemic.This book is trying to set the record straight, get rid of the pseudoscience, and paint an incredibly optimistic picture of how we are so well-positioned to prevent the three age-related diseases that compromise our health span," says Topol, director and founder of the Scripps Research Translational Institute and a practicing cardiologist, in an interview with the Guardian. Continue reading...

Science correspondent Hannah Devlin joins Ian Sample to discuss three intriguing science stories from the week, from a global study that puts the UK third from bottom when it comes to flourishing, to a man who intentionally suffered more than 200 snake bites in the quest to find a universal antivenom and a breakthrough in the quest to understand the contents of the charred Herculaneum scrolls buried when Mount Vesuvius eruptedUK among lowest-ranked countries for human flourishing' in wellbeing study

It is shocking that while illnesses specific to men are studied, those affecting women are ignoredSix years after Caroline Criado Perez's bestselling book Invisible Women drew a mass readership's attention to the long history of sexist bias in medical research, it is shocking that women and their illnesses are still underrepresented in clinical trials. Analysis by the Guardian of data gathered for a new study showed that from 2019 to 2023, 282 trials involving only male subjects were submitted for regulatory approval in the UK - compared with 169 focused on women.Health inequality is a complex and multifaceted problem. There are massive socioeconomic differencesin life expectancy and infant mortality, aswell as race inequalities - for example, in maternity and mental illnesses. These and other disparities, alongwith those relating to disability, can also be mapped geographically.Do 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...

Superb starlings seen to build reciprocal relations in which they return favours when a helper' has offspring of its ownBirds of a feather flock together, so the saying goes. But scientists studying the behaviour of starlings have found their ability to give and take makes their relationships closer to human friendships than previously thought.About 10% of bird species and 5% of mammal species breed cooperatively", meaning some individuals refrain from breeding to help others care for their offspring. Some species even help those they are unrelated to. Continue reading...

SpaceX and Starlink owner may benefit from Trump cuts to projects that could have led to regulations and costsThe Trump administration is poised to kill federal research into pollution from satellites and rockets, including some caused by Elon Musk's space companies, raising new conflict-of-interest questions about the billionaire SpaceX and Starlink owner.The pollution appears to be accumulating in the stratosphere at alarming levels. Some fear it could destroy the ozone layer, potentially expose some people to higher levels of ultraviolet radiation or help further destabilize the Earth's climate during the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Feeding the world sustainably is an incredibly complex challenge, yet some people are trying to sell us a bucolic fairytaleThe fire that has just destroyed 500 hectares (1,230 acres) of Dartmoor should have been impossible. It should not be a fire-prone landscape. But sheep, cattle and ponies have made it so. They selectively browse out tree seedlings, preventing the return of temperate rainforest, which is extremely difficult to burn. In dry weather, the moor grass, bracken and heather covering the deforested landscape are tinder.The plume of carbon dioxide and smoke released this week is one of the many impacts of livestock grazing. But several recent films, alongside celebrities, politicians, billionaires and far-right podcasts, seek to persuade us that cattle and sheep are good for the atmosphere and the living planet. This story, wrapped in romantic cottagecore, is now the most active and seductive frontier of climate-science denial. It is heavily promoted by the meat industry, which is as ruthless and machiavellian as the fossil fuel industry. It sows confusion among people desperately seeking to do the right thing in an age of misinformation.George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Crowning achievement of Alan Turing's codebreakers is now straightforward', according to computer scientistsThe Enigma code was a fiendish cipher that took Alan Turing and his fellow codebreakers a herculean effort to crack. Yet experts say it would have crumbled in the face of modern computing.While Polish experts broke early versions of the Enigma code in the 1930s and built anti-Enigma machines, subsequent security upgrades by the Germans meant Turing had to develop new machines, or Bombes", to help his team of codebreakers decipher enemy messages. By 1943, the machines could decipher two messages every minute. Continue reading...

Exclusive: doctors and patients forced to make decisions in vacuum of evidence' as women under-represented in dataHealth experts are calling for more UK clinical trials to focus on finding new treatments for women, as concerning" data reveals they are severely under-represented, with 67% more male-only studies than female-only.Details of thousands of studies were collected by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the University of Liverpool. The evidence shows the UK is a hub for pioneering research, with one in eight trials testing humans for the first time, and cutting-edge treatments such as gene therapies becoming a new growth area. Continue reading...

British team says new study radically transforms' understanding of bronze age trade networksIn about 1300BC, the major civilisations of the eastern Mediterranean made a cultural and technological leap forward when they began using bronze much more widely for weapons, tools and jewellery. While a form of the metal had previously been used in smaller quantities by the Mycenaeans and Egyptians among others, bronze was now abundant - but how?Most bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, but while the former was widely available in antiquity, tin is a rare element, with no large sources within thousands of kilometres. This left one big question, referred to by archaeologists as the tin problem". Where were the bronze age societies of the Mediterranean getting the tin for their bronze? Continue reading...

This display caused by Earth passing through debris from Halley's Comet will peak this week and be most visible on Wednesday - but only if you're up before dawn

A new study has found that helping sufferers manage their emotions lessens their experience of chronic painWhen Jabez Allies developed chronic lower back pain 10 years ago, her doctor sent her to the physio, who recommended different types of stretching and exercises - some that helped, some that didn't help at all - as well as hot-water bottles and painkillers.But as the pain got progressively worse every year, so too did Allies' feelings of being overwhelmed - frustrated she couldn't do the things she could before and spiralling into hopelessness that there was nothing she could do to fix it.Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading...

Advocacy groups say gutting EPA's scientific research arm would turn it into a purely political agencyAmericans' health is being put at risk after new cuts were announced by Donald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce staffing to 1980s levels and gut its scientific research arm, experts and advocacy groups warned.The EPA's administrator, Lee Zeldin, announced on Friday that the agency would slash its budget by $300m in the fiscal year 2026 as part of a broad overhaul that he said was designed to cut it to levels resembling those in the Reagan administration. Continue reading...

A British company is producing mosquitoes that carry a self-limiting' gene that kills off female offspring, limiting the spread of diseases such as malaria and dengue feverIn an unassuming building on an industrial estate outside Oxford, Michal Bilski sits in a windowless room with electric fly swatters and sticky tape on the wall, peering down a microscope. On the slide before him is a line of mosquito eggs that he collected less than an hour previously and put into position with a brush.Bilski manoeuvres a small needle filled with a DNA concoction and uses it to pierce each egg and inject a tiny amount. Continue reading...

This display caused by Earth passing through debris from Halley's Comet will peak this week and be most visible on Wednesday - but only if you're up before dawn

This display caused by Earth passing through debris from Halley's Comet will peak this week and be most visible on Wednesday - but only if you're up before dawn

Direct to consumer tests that claim to tell us our biological - as opposed to chronological - age are getting a lot of attention, but what can they really tell us about our health? Science editor Ian Sample talks to Dr Brian H Chen, an epidemiologist at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, who has conducted research into a variety of these tests called epigenetic clocks. He explains what exactly they are measuring and whether, once we have the results, there are any evidence-based strategies we can adopt to lower our biological ageReal age versus biological age: the startups revealing how old we really areSupport the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

Ink traces show text is part of work by Epicurean philosopher Philodemus, burned during AD79 volcano eruptionA charred scroll recovered from a Roman villa that was buried under ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago has been identified as the influential work of an ancient Greek philosopher.Researchers discovered the title and author on the Herculaneum scroll after X-raying the carbonised papyrus and virtually unwrapping it on a computer, the first time such crucial details have been gleaned from the approach. Continue reading...