Science | The Guardian

Olympians and amateurs alike swear by legal products such as probiotics and creatine for improving their performance - but does the evidence back them up? We ask the experts about four favouritesIn August, Keely Hodgkinson won Great Britain's only Olympic gold medal on the track. The foundation of the 800m star's world-beating performance came from a regime that comprises intensity over mileage, cross-training, sand-dune workouts and a 15 supplement that has been around for years but has enjoyed a breakthrough year in 2024. Hodgkinson uses sodium bicarbonate - AKA baking powder - to power up her training and races, specifically Maurten's bicarb system" that, according to one leading coach, was used by 80% of endurance athletes in Paris. I couldn't recommend it strongly enough," said Hodgkinson's coach, Trevor Painter. But why? What is it about sodium bicarbonate and the Maurten system that's had it labelled gold dust" by another leading coach? And beyond the bicarb, what other legal supplements are used? The industry is currently valued at $17.61bn (13.15bn) - that's an awful lot of pills, powders and potions that purport to improve sporting performance. Here we look at the evidence on four of them. Continue reading...

Looking through old cutlery was a safe haven for my dad after he became lost in dementia land'The days are long in Dad's house in the last year of his life. He is mostly asleep in a hospital bed in the corner of the room, while I sit quietly on the sofa hoping he sleeps a little longer. I sit watching him, worrying he's stopped breathing, listening to the radio playing pop songs that transform the room into a time machine. Catch a bright star and place it on your forehead...", T Rex's Ride a White Swan transports me back to 1970, watching Top of the Pops in this room, Dad teasing us about Marc Bolan's shoes or Noddy Holder's trousers.When he wakes up, I ask him if he remembers the song. He shakes his head slowly. I don't remember anything..." Even trying to remember is too difficult and so, as the song fades away, we fall back into silence until he asks if we can look at spoons. Continue reading...

The space scientist, 56, talks about science and diversity, being made a Barbie, dyslexia and why she told Jools Holland we'd encounter aliens by the end of the yearI said we'd find evidence of alien life by the end of 2024. But I said that when I was on Jools Holland's Hootenanny, and my thinking was that if I said something outlandish they'd invite me back - if only to humiliate me. I'm sure alien life does exist. It's just a numbers game. But we probably won't get confirmation of it in the next three months.

One craft will block the view of the sun from the other to deepen understanding of solar disruptions on terrestrial technologyEuropean scientists are preparing to launch a space mission that has been designed to create total eclipses of the sun on demand.The robot spacecraft Proba-3 will be launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in a few weeks in a mission which will involve flying a pair of satellites in close formation round the Earth. They will be linked by lasers and light sensors, with one probe blocking the view of the sun as seen from the other craft. The effect will be to create solar eclipses that will last for several hours. Continue reading...

England's chief medical officer also tells inquiry that UK's low level of intensive care provision is a political decisionAnother pandemic as big as the Covid crisis that killed 7 million people worldwide is a certainty", Prof Sir Chris Whitty has warned, as he said that the UK's lack of intensive care capacity for the sickest patients was a political choice".The NHS faced an absolutely catastrophic situation" when the virus first hit in 2020 but it could have been substantially worse" if the UK had not gone into lockdown, England's chief medical officer said. Continue reading...

Immunologists push for increase in testing and more widespread vaccine booster rollout as new variant, XEC, emergesCovid is on the rise in England, and experts have warned that more must be done to prevent and control infections after a capitulation to the virus".Prof Danny Altmann, an immunologist at Imperial College London, said those working in the field were perplexed by the current attitude to the battle against Covid, as the latest figures showed an increase in hospital admissions. Continue reading...

Pledge at UN follows warnings that antimicrobial resistance may undo century of medical progress and kill 8.2m a yearWorld leaders have committed to reduce deaths linked to superbugs by 10% before the end of the decade.The target for 2030, set during a meeting at the UN's general assembly in New York, came with warnings that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) could reverse a century of medical progress. Continue reading...

Newly discovered figures dating back to 200BCE nearly double the number of known geoglyphs at enigmatic siteArchaeologists using artificial intelligence (AI) have discovered hundreds of new geoglyphs depicting parrots, cats, monkeys, killer whales and even decapitated heads near the Nazca Lines in Peru, in a find that nearly doubles the number of known figures at the enigmatic 2,000-year-old archaeological site.A team from the Japanese University of Yamagata's Nazca Institute, in collaboration with IBM Research, discovered 303 previously unknown geoglyphs of humans and animals - all smaller in size than the vast geometric patterns that date from AD200-700 and stretch across more than 400 sq km of the Nazca plateau. Continue reading...

Fish monitor sea floor using leg-like structures covered in bumps similar to those on a human tongue, study findsA bizarre type of fish with leg-like appendages uses its limbs not only to scurry around but also for tasting" the sea floor to find buried prey, researchers have found.Sea robins have six leg-like structures that are formed from modified fins and are known to use them to walk across the sea floor and even flip over shells in a hunt for prey. Continue reading...

Poll suggests half of Congolese have not heard of deadly disease, as conspiracy theories and rumours spreadFor doctors and nurses fighting mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the virus itself is not the only enemy. They are also facing swirling rumours and misinformation.The first of millions of promised doses of mpox vaccine have finally started to arrive. Now the focus is on ensuring that people who need them will take them when the vaccination campaign begins next month, and teaching wider communities how to protect themselves. Continue reading...

Scientists say total amount of physical activity people get is more important than how frequently they trainIf exercise takes a back seat in the working week, take heart. Cramming the recommended amount of physical activity into the weekend still has significant health benefits, research suggests.A study of nearly 90,000 people enrolled in the UK Biobank project found that weekend warriors" who fit a week's worth of exercise into one or two days had a lower risk of developing more than 200 diseases compared with inactive people. Continue reading...

It used to be that Brits would complain about Americanisms diluting the English language. But in fact it's a two-way streetI am an American, New York-born, but I started to spend time in London in the 1990s, teaching classes to international students. Being interested in language, and reading a lot of newspapers there - one of the courses I taught was onthe British press - I naturally started picking up onthe many previously unfamiliar (to me) British words and expressions, and differences between British and American terminology.Then a strange thing happened. Back home in the United States, I noticed writers, journalists and ordinary people starting to use British terms I had encountered. I'll give one example that sticks in my mind because it is tied to a specific news event, and hence easily dated. Continue reading...

Industrial civilisation is close to breaching a seventh planetary boundary, and may already have crossed it, according to scientists who have compiled the latest report on the state of the world's life-support systems. They say ocean acidification is close to critical threshold, posing a threat to marine ecosystems and global liveability. Ian Sample speaks to Prof Helen Findlay, a biological oceanographer at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, to find out why the oceans have reached this state, and whether there is anything we can do to reverse the damage.Earth may have breached seven of nine planetary boundaries, health check shows Continue reading...

Women with premature ovarian insufficiency condition are more likely to develop conditions such as diabetes and lupusWomen with premature ovarian insufficiency, whose periods stop before 40, have a much greater risk of severe autoimmune diseases, according to research.Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) occurs when women under 40 no longer produce eggs because their ovaries have stopped working properly. Periods become irregular and then stop, and some women experience menopause symptoms. It affects 1% of women globally. Continue reading...

Software with database of 380,000 pictures aims to aid quick and accurate identification and ensure correct use of antivenomsThe race to treat snakebite patients in time to save them could be eased by the development of software powered by artificial intelligence.The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is trialling AI snake detection in South Sudan using a database of 380,000 pictures of snakes to identify venomous species. Continue reading...

Researchers develop grain with lower glycaemic index and more protein that could have big impact in Asia and Africa'Scientists in the Philippines have created a new variety of rice that could help reduce the growing burden of diabetes.More than 537 million adults worldwide are living with the chronic disease - a number that is expected to grow to 783 million by 2045. Being overweight, genetics and a lack of exercise contribute to type 2 diabetes, which is the most common form. Type 2 occurs when the pancreas fails to produce enough of the insulin hormone, leaving too much glucose in the blood, and cells develop a resistance to insulin. Continue reading...

Researchers find minuscule difference in the amygdala - a region of the brain linked to threat perceptionWhere does our personal politics come from? Does it trace back to our childhood, the views that surround us, the circumstances we are raised in? Is it all about nurture - or does nature have a say through the subtle levers of DNA? And where, in all of this, is the brain?Scientists have delved seriously into the roots of political belief for the past 50 years, prompted by the rise of sociobiology, the study of the biological basis of behaviour, and enabled by modern tools such as brain scanners and genome sequencers. The field is making headway, but teasing out the biology of behaviour is never straightforward. Continue reading...

Christopher Redman displayed a dedication beyond the call of duty with all his patients on the Silver Star pre-eclampsia ward. He would appear at odd times to check on someone's progress, or their baby's, having biked from his home in Oxford.We knew him from 1986-87, when our son Alex was born six weeks early, and thrived after treatment. Our second son, Chris, born in 1992, 14 weeks early, did not make it to Oxford, despite my pleas to use the air ambulance from Walsall. Christopher kept in touch with Walsall Manor hospital throughout my stay. Continue reading...

Largest brain scan study of its kind reveals differences in adult and youth severe depression, including apparent propensity to rumination among youth

Encountering nostalgia is like autoloading and hitting play on past positive experiences, elevating desire and regulating mood

Madeleine Finlay speaks to Dr Saul Newman, an interdisciplinary researcher at University College London and the University of Oxford, who has just won an Ig Nobel prize - given to scientific research that first makes people laugh, and then makes them think' - for his work showing that many claims of people living extraordinarily long lives come from places with short lifespans, no birth certificates, and where clerical errors and pension fraud abound. He tells Madeleine what happened when he went looking for the world's centenarians, and how his work has been received by the longevity research communityIg Nobel prize goes to team who found mammals can breathe through anuses Continue reading...

Global leaders are meeting to address the threat posed by antimicrobial resistance - millions will die unless solutions are found

Enclosure found under late novelist's garden is older than Salisbury monument and wins national recognitionWhen the author Thomas Hardy was writing Tess of the D'Urbervilles in 1891, he chose to set the novel's dramatic conclusion at Stonehenge, where Tess sleeps on one of the stones the night before she is arrested for murder.What the author did not know, as he wrote in the study of his home, Max Gate in Dorchester, was that he was sitting right in the heart of a large henge-like enclosure that was even older than the famous monument on Salisbury Plain. Continue reading...

Postpartum haemorrhage and severe pre-eclampsia more likely than in women who conceive naturally or with IVFWomen who act as pregnancy surrogates appear to have a higher risk of health complications than those who carry their own babies, researchers have found.The use of surrogates, or gestational carriers", has boomed in recent years, with figures for England and Wales revealing that the number of parental orders, which transfer legal parentage from the surrogate, rose from 117 in 2011 to 413 in 2020. Continue reading...

Ocean acidification close to critical threshold, say scientists, posing threat to marine ecosystems and global liveabilityIndustrial civilisation is close to breaching a seventh planetary boundary, and may already have crossed it, according to scientists who have compiled the latest report on the state of the world's life-support systems.Ocean acidification is approaching a critical threshold", particularly in higher-latitude regions, says the latest report on planetary boundaries. The growing acidification poses an increasing threat to marine ecosystems." Continue reading...

US physicists show how immense pulse of radiation could vaporise the side of asteroid and nudge it off courseScientists, as well as Hollywood movie producers, have long looked to nuclear bombs as a promising form of defence should a massive asteroid appear without warning on a collision course with Earth.Now, researchers at a US government facility have put the idea on a firm footing, showing how such a blast might save the world in the first comprehensive demo of nuclear-assisted planetary defence. Continue reading...

Beyond being in or out of control, there is an alternative - and it's one of the building blocks to living wellMy family was recently taken down by a brutal stomach bug. It took us out one by one, and although nothing could be more predictable in a household with a child who has recently started nursery, the biblical brutality of the symptoms took me by surprise. I think I had better leave it at that.While I have recovered physically, I am still reeling from the psychological vulnerability of feeling so helpless, of having no control over my own body. So I have been thinking about control, how frightening it is to feel out of it, how we kid ourselves that we are in it. People often speak of feeling out of control - of their thoughts, their emotions, their relationships - and it's something that comes up a lot in therapy, whether I am the patient or the therapist. The assumption seems to be that to build a better life, you have to be in control of it; the truth is, this desperation to be in control can destroy our lives and the lives of those we love. Continue reading...

After sun crosses celestial equator, true moment of equal light and darkness approachesWelcome to autumn! The northern hemisphere's autumnal equinox took place on 22 September. This is the day on which the sun crosses the celestial equator, moving from the northern celestial hemisphere to the southern.The celestial equator is the projection of the Earth's equator up into the sky. So, on the equinox, the sun is shining directly above Earth's equator, and this creates nearly equal hours of daylight and darkness across the globe. This is reflected in the name. The word equinox" comes from the Latin words aequus, meaning equal, and nox, meaning night. Continue reading...

Non-smokers found to have 1% chance of treatment leading to disease compared with between 2% and 6% for smokersBreast cancer patients who continue to smoke after having radiotherapy are at much higher risk of their treatment causing them lung cancer in the future, research has found.Two in three of those diagnosed with early breast cancer in the UK are given radiotherapy. It is a long-established and highly effective treatment but does also have potential side-effects. Continue reading...

The psychology term is now a political expression as Americans across party lines report feeling powerlessBiden Is Trying to Jolt Us Out of Learned Helplessness About Trump," read the headline of a New York Times op-ed in January, which argued that [Donald] Trump's exhausting provocations" were wearing out voters who saw opposing the former president's re-election as a doomed project".Six months later, the mood was slightly more optimistic. Joe Biden had dropped out of the presidential race and Kamala Harris had taken his spot as the Democratic nominee. National Democrats seem to have shaken off their perennial sense of learned helplessness," read a July op-ed from the Charlotte Observer. Continue reading...

What we wear tells the world who we are, but open any wardrobe and the clothes reveal deep memories of our true selvesOn my first birthday I was given a charm bracelet and over the years various friends and relations gave me little charms to put on it: a tiny tennis racket, a dog that looked a bit (but not very) like ours, a key for my 21st birthday. Once I earned my own money, I occasionally bought a charm and added it to the bracelet - and it slowly grew into a miniature record of my life. When it was stolen in a burglary, I felt I'd lost not just the physical object but my life story.Clothes narrate our lives in a similar way, though unfortunately you can't fit them into a tiny box. They are an autobiography in fabric, gathering emotions and memories like a non-rolling stone. When it comes to Proustian triggers, clothes can give the madeleine a run for its money: a rifle through the wardrobe can whisk you back down the corridors of time. It's little wonder that throwing out a beloved dress can feel like burning a diary. It's like giving away part of yourself. Continue reading...

Millions have always known it and now scientists agree that for health and pleasure, less is moreWhat a great feeling it is when a study by actual scientists comes along and validates something that you've been saying for years. Researchers from the behaviour and health research unit at the University of Cambridge (heard of it?!) have recommended that the traditional British pint be abandoned in favour of the two-thirds measure.After a trial in a dozen pubs, bars and restaurants in England, the study leader, Prof Theresa Marteau, concluded that the change - which led to nearly 10% less beer being sold and consumed - could reduce the impact of alcohol-related harm.Elle Hunt is a freelance journalist Continue reading...

First case of person to contract H5N1 after no known animal contact highlights federal-state agency relationshipsThe first case of a person to contract bird flu after no known contact with animals is raising questions about the possibility of human-to-human transmission and highlighting the complicated relationship between states and federal agencies in outbreak response.An extensive investigation into the case of a patient in Missouri who was hospitalized on 22 August has revealed no links to animals, officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told reporters on Thursday. Continue reading...

Tesla and others are trying to infuse robots with artificial intelligence, yet their development is dogged by technical and safety challenges. But the dream of a multipurpose domestic droid lives onIn 2013, US robotics company Boston Dynamics revealed its new robot, Atlas. Unveiled at the Darpa Robotics Challenge, the 6ft 2in humanoid could walk on uneven ground, jump off boxes, and even climb stairs. It was like a vision frequently depicted in fiction: a robot designed to operate like us, able to take on all manner of everyday tasks. It seemed like the dawn of something. Robots were going to do all of our boring and arduous chores, and step up as elderly care workers to boot.Since then, we've seen leaps forward in artificial intelligence (AI), from computer vision to machine learning. The recent wave of large language models and generative AI systems opens up new opportunities for human-computer interaction. But outside of research labs, physical robots remain largely restricted to factories and warehouses, performing very specific tasks, often behind a safety cage. Home robots are limited to vacuum cleaners and lawnmowers - not exactly Rosie the Robot. Continue reading...

Hampstead theatre; Bush theatre, London

The ex-president may not be able to explain how in vitro fertilization works, but he's had a lot to say about it latelyDonald Trump, I strongly suspect, would not be able to explain how in vitro fertilization (IVF) works if his life depended on it. Yet in recent months - and in what seems to be a disingenuous and desperate attempt to woo female voters - he has had a lot to say on the subject. Continue reading...

Illness could be treated as a physical, rather than mood, disorder, according to scientists in EdinburghIain Campbell, a researcher based at Edinburgh University, has a special perspective on bipolar depression. He lives with the condition and has lost family members who have taken their own lives because of their depression. It remains an intractable, devastating health problem, he says.More than a million people in the UK have bipolar depression, of whom a third are likely to attempt suicide. Yet the condition's roots remain unknown - despite significant efforts to understand them. Continue reading...

In a special episode recorded live at the British Science Festival, Madeleine Finlay and guests explore the question: will AI make a good companion?AI could give us new ways to tackle difficult problems, from young people's mental health issues to isolation in care homes. It also raises challenging questions about the increasing role of tech in our personal lives.To explore these questions, Madeleine is joined by the Guardian's science editor, Ian Sample; Tony Prescott, a professor of computational robotics at Sheffield University; and Dr Mhairi Aitken, an ethics fellow at the Alan Turing Institute and visiting senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London.Could AI help cure downward spiral' of human loneliness? Continue reading...

Geochemist who jointly invented a method of radioactive dating used on rock samples brought back from the moonThe argon-40/argon-39 method of radioactive dating, invented by Grenville Turner and his American colleague Craig Merrihue in the mid-1960s, provided the technique to precisely date the tiny but irreplaceable rock samples brought back by the astronauts of the Apollo moon-landing programme. Turner, who has died aged 87 from a brain tumour, pioneered the method prior to becoming one of the few British scientists to be employed by Nasa as a principal investigator on the Apollo programme.Argon-40/argon-39 dating is similar to an earlier technique called potassium/argon dating. In volcanic rocks and minerals any of the isotope potassium-40 (the parent isotope) that is present decays over time to the isotope argon-40 (the daughter isotope). Measuring the amounts and ratios of each allows geologists to calculate the age of the rock sample. However, the process was somewhat cumbersome. Continue reading...

Ipsos survey asked people in 31 countries what they thought of their health and healthcareMental health has overtaken cancer and obesity as the health problem most Britons worry about, a global survey has revealed.Experts said the shift in the public's perception reflected the sharp rise in recent years in mental ill-health caused by the Covid pandemic, the cost of living crisis and male violence against women. Continue reading...

Event heard findings of research on advertising for tobacco products and estimates of economic cost of ovarian cancerThe World Cancer Congress 2024, the biannual conference of the Union for International Cancer Control, brought together doctors, scientists and researchers, as well as current or previous cancer patients, to discuss new evidence and strategies on how to prevent, diagnose and treat the disease.Held in Geneva, Switzerland, and attended by more than 2,000 participants from about 120 countries, the event featured over 150 sessions. Here are the key takeaways. Continue reading...

As the London Museum announces a mudlarking exhibition, mudlarker Lara Maiklem says combing the foreshore can transport you back in timeEarlier this week, Lara Maiklem climbed down to the foreshore of the River Thames at low tide to spend several hours gently scrabbling at its surface in pursuit of a 20-year obsession.Known on social media as the London Mudlark and the author of three books on larking, Maiklem is at the forefront of a growing number of people spending their spare time combing through the mud of the capital's river searching for historical artefacts. Continue reading...

As state schools are called upon to improve pupils' debating skills, how can students build their confidence?This week Jonathan Noakes, the director of teaching and learning at Eton, said state schools should be doing more to improve their pupils' public speaking skills by setting up debating societies. How can students gain confidence in speaking to an audience if this opportunity isn't available at school? Four state-educated public speakers explain how they found their voice. Continue reading...

Lipid analysis using existing machines could give warning of type 2 diabetes, liver and heart disease, researchers sayScientists say a new blood test that analyses lipids could make it easier to identify children at risk of serious health conditions including type 2 diabetes, liver and heart disease.Researchers at King's College London said the test capitalised on a link between lipids and diseases affecting metabolism in children, and could serve as an early warning system for potentially life-threatening illnesses. Continue reading...

Voluntary regulations for burning wood and coal to heat homes could help tackle impact on air pollutionWhile traffic and industry have been the focus of air pollution controls for the past two decades, the old issue of pollution from home heating has crept up again.Wood- and coal-burning homes in the UK now produce more particle air pollution than the vehicles on our roads. Industry figures show that about 200,000 new stoves were sold in 2022. Continue reading...

Pickiness not down to parenting' and peaks at seven years old, according to studyParents who find themselves exasperated by their child's fussy eating, take heart: the refusal to tuck into a broader range of foods is largely down to genes rather than parenting, according to scientists.Researchers investigated eating habits in toddlers to teenagers and found that on average fussiness over food changed little from 16 months to 13 years old. There was a minor peak in pickiness at seven years, then a slight decline thereafter. Continue reading...

Earth's gravitational pull will cause a trapped asteroid to orbit around planet for about two monthsThis autumn, for a limited time, Earth will be getting a second moon.According to a study published this week, an asteroid roughly the length of a city bus will be captured by Earth's gravitational pull and orbit our planet for about two months, becoming a mini moon". Continue reading...

Stargazers around the world enjoyed the supermoon - sometimes called the harvest moon in the northern hemisphere - that coincided with a partial lunar eclipse

Ian Sample talks to Dr Laura Pritschet, a postdoctoral fellow of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, about her research using precision scans to capture the profound changes that sweep across the brain during pregnancy. She explains what this new work reveals about how the brain is reorganised in this period, whether it could it help us better understand conditions like pre-eclampsia and postnatal depression, and why women's brains have often been overlooked by neuroscience. And neuroscientist Dr Liz Chrastil whose brain was scanned, explains what the experience was likeScans capture sweeping reorganisation of brain in pregnancy Continue reading...

Scientists found 90% of young coral surveyed remained healthy compared with 25% of older corals, after mass bleaching event in the CaribbeanYoung corals bred using in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and planted in reefs around the US, Mexico and the Caribbean have surprised scientists, after most survived last year's record marine heatwave, while older corals struggled.A study has found that 90% of the young IVF-created corals surveyed remained healthy and colourful, holding on to the algae that live within them and supply them with nutrition. In contrast, only about a quarter of older non-IVF corals remained healthy. Continue reading...