Roscosmos says temperatures in affected unit normal after flakes of frozen coolant seen in live feedThe Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) has sprung its third coolant leak in under a year, raising new questions about the reliability of the country's space programme even as officials said crew members were not in danger.Flakes of frozen coolant spraying into space were seen in an official live feed of the orbital lab provided by Nasa on Monday, and confirmed in radio chatter between US mission control and astronauts. Continue reading...
Analyst and psychiatrist who proposed a science of human nature that embraced psychology, anthropology and medicineThe analyst and psychiatrist Anthony Stevens, who has died aged 90 after suffering a stroke, was distinctive among followers of Carl Jung in looking to evolutionary theory for a basis for the idea of a collective unconscious and archetypes affecting development and behaviour in the individual psyche. Rather than extending the archetypal concept upwards towards a spiritual dimension and inwards into the realm of inner psychic life, Anthony traced it to its biological roots and outwards into the realm of social behaviour.In his first book, Archetypes: A Natural History of the Self (1982), he compared the findings of behavioural biology with those of analytical psychology - the term that Jung used to distinguish his approach from the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud - in order to illuminate the ways in which the so-called archetypes of the collective unconscious might influence human development in fundamental areas. Continue reading...
Goalies' brains appear able to merge signals from different senses more quickly, say researchersThe former Premier League goalkeeper Brad Friedel once said that to be able to work well in the box, you have to be able to think outside the box.Now scientific data supports the idea that goalies' brains really do perceive the world differently - their brains appear able to merge signals from the different senses more quickly, possibly underpinning their unique abilities on the football pitch. Continue reading...
Scientists find feline low register when signalling pleasure is produced in a similar way to the croaky voice of some singersScientists have cracked the mystery of how cats produce the purring sound that signals their approval. It turns out they use a strikingly similar technique to vocal fry" - the croaky voice used by the singer Katy Perry and reality television star Kim Kardashian.Researchers have long puzzled over how an animal as small as a domestic cat can produce the deep resonance of a purr, when such vocalisations are usually only produced by animals with far longer vocal cords, such as elephants. For many years, they believed purrs were produced using a unique mechanism that involved the cyclical contraction and relaxation of muscles in the voice box - something that would require constant neural input from the brain. Continue reading...
Experts uncover 17th-century coins at site linked with clan chief Alasdair Ruadh Maclain' MacDonaldA hoard of coins linked to a Highland chief - which may have been stashed away as he tried in vain to escape the Glen Coe massacre - has been discovered underneath a fireplace.The 17th-century collection of 36 coins included international currency, and was hidden beneath the remains of a grand stone fireplace at a site believed to have been a hunting lodge or feasting hall. Continue reading...
Early risers across the world can witness the alignment, while an annular eclipse can be seen from the AmericasEarly risers are in for a treat this week, as a beautifully thin waning crescent moon lines up with the bright star Regulus, in Leo, and the brilliant jewel of Venus.The chart shows the view looking east from London at 5am BST on 10 October. The moon will have just 18% of its visible surface illuminated. The alignment can be seen across the world at a similar time, although from places like Cape Town, South Africa, and Sydney, Australia, the triplet will rise in the pre-dawn skies, making Regulus a little trickier to spot. Continue reading...
Excavations reveal structure that may be one of a kind below building that was used for range of leisure activitiesThe therapeutic value of ice baths or cold water immersion were recognised long before wellness gurus and celebrities extolled them on social media. Even the Romans were fond of a dip in the frigidarium.Now it has emerged that the men and women of 18th-century Bath could visit their local assembly rooms for an icy plunge, alongside indulging in other leisure and pleasure pursuits. Continue reading...
I travelled to Nordic forests and windswept archipelagos to understand the health benefits of the sauna - no wonder it's becoming popular in the UKAs I squeeze myself on to the top bench of the sauna in my local lido, I'm grateful to have a spot. It's rammed; standing room only. Next to the stove, cold water swimmers huddle and struggle to peel neoprene off shivering hands and feet, their teeth chattering. In fact, everyone is chattering. It's as noisy as the pub before closing time and as ebullient; a steamy collective fuelled by extremes of temperature rather than extremely large amounts of booze. But, unlike the pub, everyone is semi-naked, sweating and stripped back - job title, wealth, celebrity and status left firmly by the pool.Since we opened the sauna at Parliament Hill Lido six years ago, we have seen visitor numbers shoot up," says Paul Jeal, swimming facilities manager at Hampstead Heath for the Corporation of London. Once deserted and running at a loss in winter, the lido now sees queues at weekends and Jeal has to manage sell-out sauna sessions of 30 tickets an hour. Since Covid, visitor numbers have increased fourfold," he adds. Many are new to cold water swimming and they say the sauna has encouraged them to come." In spring, the sauna benches collapsed from heavy use. Continue reading...
As virus cases rise by 30% in the past week, the clinically vulnerable and medics fear they will be put at risk this winterHealthcare charities and patient groups are calling on NHS England to reintroduce Covid-19 precautions for staff, amid fears that clinically vulnerable patients and medics will be put at risk this winter.Since Covid safety measures were dropped earlier in the year, staff in NHS England are no longer required to wear a mask in clinical settings. Most healthcare workers who have symptoms of a respiratory infection are no longer asked to test for Covid. Continue reading...
The luxury fashion brand announced a collaboration with Axiom Space to outfit astronauts for the 2025 mission to the moonPrada will take its designs to the next atmospheric level as the Italian fashion house announced its latest partnership with Axiom Space to design spacesuits for astronauts.This week, the Milan-based luxury brand announced its collaboration with the Texas-based commercial space company to design Nasa's lunar spacesuits for its 2025 Artemis III mission - the first crewed flight to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Continue reading...
Ahead of the organisation's report into the state of our flora and fungi, its director of science talks about his work as a biogeographer and how our diet can make a differenceAlexandre Antonelli is director of science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and a professor of systematics and biodiversity at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He spoke to the Observer ahead of this week's launch of the organisation's seminal report The State of the World's Plants and Fungi, which last took stock in 2020. He is also the author of The Hidden Universe: Adventures in Biodiversity (Ebury Press, 14.99).What do you do at Kew - what are the best and the worst things about your job?
Quantum computers may still be years away, but it's prudent that end-to-end encryption providers are ramping up defencesA spectre is haunting our networked world. It's the prospect of quantum computers. These are machines that harness some of the weirder properties of subatomic particles in ways that would make them exponentially more powerful than the computers we use today.Existing computers are based on manipulating digital bits that can be either 1 (on) or 0 (off). Quantum machines, in contrast, work with qubits, which can be on and off simultaneously. (And, yes, I know that seems nuts, but then so does much of subatomic physics to the average layperson.) Such machines are fiendishly difficult to build, but about 80 or so small-scale ones already exist, with qubit counts ranging from five to 400. So that looming spectral presence is beginning to put on weight. And if researchers find a way of reliably scaling up these machines, then we will have moved into uncharted territory. Continue reading...
We asked experts in teen mental health how to talk about everything from the environment to screen time with adolescentsCommunication is one of the biggest issues when you've got a teenager. Conversations can be fraught, loaded - they often feel as if they're about to go ballistic - or worst of all, they're just nonexistent. Your teen seems to be a closed book - they don't want to talk and you don't seem to be able to coax them out of their shell.And yet there are effective ways to open up a conversation with your teenager - though you need to be very sensitive, and self-aware, and genuinely interested in creating a dialogue rather than just a chance to ram home what you think about an issue. Continue reading...
More resilient variants are emerging. Yet monitoring and testing have slowed, and access to vital drugs is patchyIt may feel like we should all be done with Covid-19, but sadly Covid-19 is not done with us. At the moment, cases in England are rising again, with a 10% rise overall in hospital admissions and the greatest increase in the north of England. With testing reduced, national monitoring paused, the ONS infection survey paused since spring and only recently relaunched, we have much less data about Covid than we ever had before. We know Covid hasn't stopped evolving, and we have a good idea about what sort of situations might result in new and dangerous mutations, but with less surveillance of emerging variants and spread, we are losing what used to be a near real-time picture of the situation.This makes it harder to know which variants are driving the increase in cases. The latest estimates suggest there is a soup, with several variants, including some derived from XBB, which emerged last year, as well as EG5.1 (Eris) and a small amount of BA.2.86 (Pirola), both of which were identified in the past few months. It seems as though this virus is ever-changing, and as a reflection of that, new data released in the last few days shows that the so-called Pirola variant has evolved again - and could be more immune-evasive than the XBB-derived variants.Sheena Cruickshank is an immunologist and professor in biomedical sciences and public engagement at the University of Manchester Continue reading...
Startup PLD Space says launch of Miura-1 is just the beginning' amid European drive to send satellites into orbitSpanish company PLD Space launched its reusable Miura-1 rocket early on Saturday from a site in south-west Spain, carrying out Europe's first fully private rocket launch and offering hope for its stalled space ambitions.The startup's test nighttime launch from Huelva came after two previous attempts were scrubbed. The Miura-1 rocket, named after a breed of fighting bull, is as tall as a three-storey building and has a 100kg (220-pound) cargo capacity. The launch carried a payload for test purposes but this would not be released, the company said. Continue reading...
Amazon launched its first two prototype satellites into space on Friday, as Jeff Bezos's tech firm races to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX in building a mega-constellation of broadband internet-providing satellites. The duo, called Kuipersat-1 and Kuipersat-2, will be deployed in an orbit 311 miles above Earth's surface
Pioneering physician who promoted and brought rigour to the new field of audiovestibular medicineWhen Linda Luxon, who has died aged 75 of a brain tumour, began her medical career, few had heard of audiovestibular medicine". First recognised as a medical specialty in 1975, it treats a wide range of disorders that affect hearing and balance. The vestibular system controls balance and spatial orientation through organs located in the vestibule, a bony cavity of the inner ear. These organs detect head movement and send signals to the brain so that we stay upright and balanced. When the system malfunctions, dizziness, vertigo and tinnitus can result.According to her close colleague Doris-Eva Bamiou, Luxon became the specialty's pioneer and poster child", giving it academic rigour and promoting it widely. In 1991 she was appointed professor of audiovestibular medicine at University College London (UCL). There she anchored the new specialty in evidence-based research, systematically delineating all the different disorders and setting criteria for diagnosis. She wrote or co-authored a number of key reference titles and more than 175 research papers. Continue reading...
Fossil footprints date back to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago, upending previous theory that humans reached continent laterNew research confirms that fossil human footprints in New Mexico are probably the oldest direct evidence of human presence in the Americas, a finding that upends what many archaeologists thought they knew.The footprints were discovered at the edge of an ancient lakebed in White Sands national park and date back to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago, according to research published on Thursday in the journal Science. Continue reading...
Results in the Lancet's EClinicalMedicine journal found a similar risk' of long-term symptoms as those with CovidScientists say they have found evidence that people may experience long colds", acute respiratory infections with long-term symptoms.Some of the most common symptoms include coughing, stomach pain, and diarrhoea more than four weeks after the initial infection. The severity of an illness appears to be a key driver of risk of long-term symptoms. Continue reading...
Results from study involving 50,000 women suggest even occasional wood burning can contribute to lung cancerUsing an indoor wood stove or fireplace increases women's risk of developing lung cancer by 43% compared with those that do not use wood heating, according to a US study.In the UK, one in 13 men and one in 15 women born after 1960 are expected to be diagnosed with lung cancer during their lifetimes. In the US it is one in 16 men and one in 17 women. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#6FB5F)
Research in mice reveals hormonal changes late in pregnancy trigger parenting instinct and switch in prioritiesPregnancy leads to a permanent rewiring of neurons, according to research that gives new insights into the influence of hormones on behaviour.The research, in mice, revealed that their parenting instincts were triggered by changes in the brain that occur in response to oestrogen and progesterone late in pregnancy. Similar changes are likely to occur in the human brain, according to scientists, who said the work could pave the way for fresh understanding into parenting behaviour and postpartum mental health. Continue reading...
by Presented by Madeleine Finlay , produced by Joshan on (#6FAHN)
Guardian science correspondents Linda Geddes, Nicola Davis and Hannah Devlin give Madeleine Finlay the lowdown on the Nobel Prizes for medicine, physics and chemistry that were announced this weekClips: Nobel Prize, Penn MedicineFind all the Guardian's coverage of the Nobel Prizes for Science here Continue reading...
Michelle Donelan's plan to depoliticise" science with new guidelines on sex and gender research is a chilling moveThe science secretary, Michelle Donelan, told the Conservative party conference this week that the Tories are depoliticising science". Or as a Conservative party announcement later put it, in case you didn't get the culture-war reference, they are kicking woke ideology out of science", thereby safeguarding scientific research from the denial of biology and the steady creep of political correctness".Scientists do not seem too delighted to be defended in this manner. As a scientist, I really don't know what this means," tweeted Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, professor of psychology and cognitive neuroscience at the University of Cambridge. This is totally shocking and is something I never thought I would see in the UK," said Buzz Baum, a molecular cell biologist for the Medical Research Council.Philip Ball is a science writer and the author of the forthcoming book, How Life Works: A User's Guide to the New BiologyDo 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...
After three million people tuned in for the online version of this therapy show for Black couples, Channel 4 have turned it into an explosive series. Brace for controversyIn a world where we are on our seventh series of Naked Attraction's genital unveilings, it's hard to imagine there are many boundaries left for British reality television to break. But In Love & Toxic: Blue Therapy pushes at a more subtle taboo - Black people going to therapy. That may seem relatively innocuous, but it's full of couples baring their souls on screen, admitting to infidelity and insecurities and uttering ludicrous statements such as: But I'm a bad bitch!" It's quite the way to challenge a stereotype the show's creators wanted to battle against: that therapy is exclusively for middle-class white people."Channel 4's latest series is one of the most fresh, fun and subversive reality TV debuts of the year. It is not entirely new, however. It has been adapted from the hit 2021 YouTube show Blue Therapy, an outrageous but surprisingly complex portrait of Black people's relationships that was named the most explosive reality show of the year". Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#6F9KA)
Official announcement comes after trio's names were leaked in email to Swedish newspaper earlier in the dayTwo American scientists and a Russian have been awarded the 2023 Nobel prize in chemistry for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots, which helped drive a revolution in nanotechnology.The prize is shared equally between Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexey Ekimov for discoveries on the unique properties of nano-materials, and how to make them, that paved the way for wide-ranging applications in consumer electronics, biochemistry and medicine. Continue reading...
Scientists believe luminescent quality is widespread after finding 86% of species studied had fur that glowed in UV lightFluorescence in mammals is much more common than previously thought, new research suggests.A luminous property, fluorescence has been described in recent years in Australian marsupials including platypuses, wombats, Tasmanian devils and echidnas. Continue reading...
The new R21/Matrix-M vaccine will be far more easily available than the first vaccine - but the reality of life in Africa will blunt its impactA new vaccine against malaria - which kills 600,000 people every year, mostly children - is to be injected into babies' arms in 18 countries where the disease is most deadly. That's joyous news. But the unbridled enthusiasm the announcement has generated says as much about the sorry state of malaria control as the brilliance of scientific invention.Because this is an imperfect vaccine that at best will protect 75% of those given it. That's the top figure from the clinical trials. In the reality of village life in poverty-ridden parts of Africa, it may keep fewer than half safe. It's still hugely important to get vaccination programmes going in the 18 countries that will now be funded to run them, because many deaths will be averted. But it's not the end of malaria. Nowhere near. Continue reading...
Scientists work with food companies to try to improve the health impacts of foods, says Prof Peter WildeI am writing in response to your article as one of the scientists named in it (Scientists on panel defending ultra-processed foods linked to food firms, 28 September). I am a researcher at Quadram Institute Bioscience with almost 40 years' research experience. My research focuses on the mechanisms by which food and its composition underpin health benefits or harms.As a government-supported institute, we are encouraged to engage with industry to maximise the impact of our publicly funded research, to translate the findings towards benefiting the public. We work with food companies from time to time to try to help improve the health impacts of foods. Continue reading...
Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L'Huillier share 823,000 prize for work on electron dynamics in matterThree scientists have been awarded the 2023 Nobel prize in physics for their work on creating extremely short pulses of light that can be harnessed to study processes occurring inside atoms and molecules.Pierre Agostini, of Ohio State University, Ferenc Krausz, of Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, and Anne L'Huillier, of Lund University, will each receive equal shares of the 11m Swedish kronor (823,000) prize announced on Tuesday by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Continue reading...
Silver and copper alloy disc from days of King Alfred hailed as one of the most important finds of its kindWhen it emerged from the earth it was dull, corroded and battered, the centuries it had spent lying beneath a Somerset field having taken their toll.Now restored and gleaming, the Cheddar brooch, a rare early medieval piece regarded as one of the most important finds of its kind, is going on display at a museum close to where it was found by a metal detectorist. Continue reading...
by Presented and produced by Madeleine Finlay, sound on (#6F8HX)
Madeleine Finlay meets menopause expert Dr Louise Newson to find out about some of the myths surrounding the menopause, how women can prepare for this stage in life, and why information and support can be so difficult to access Continue reading...
Dish to pay $150,000 for failing to properly dispose of satellite and violating the FCC's anti-space debris ruleThe US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued its first fine to a company that violated its anti-space debris rule, the commission announced on Monday.Dish Network has to pay $150,000 to the commission over its failure to deorbit its EchoStar-7 satellite, which has been in space for more than two decades. Instead of properly deorbiting the satellite, Dish sent it into a disposal orbit" at an altitude low enough to pose an orbital debris risk. Continue reading...
At its peak BlueWalker 3, which resembles a Tetris block, is as bright as two of brightest stars in night skyThe night sky is peppered with light from stars, planets and other celestial bodies. But now researchers have revealed one of the brightest objects visible from Earth is a communications satellite resembling a Tetris block.Scientists say while the apparent brightness of BlueWalker 3 is not constant, its peak is on a par with Procyon and Achernar, two of the brightest stars in the night sky. Continue reading...
Scientists have spotted a 2km-high dust devil on Mars. The twister was observed moving across the Martian landscape by Nasa's Perseverance rover. The six-wheeled geologist robot documented the lower portion of the twister as part of an atmospheric exploration of the Jezero crater. The whirlwind was seen moving east to west about 19 km/h (12 mph) along Thorofare Ridge on 30 August. Dust devils, which also occur on Earth, form when rising cells of warm air mix with descending columns of cooler air
The answers to today's bam-booze-lersEarlier today I set you the following questions that the authors of Headscratchers, a new puzzle book, suggest are perfect for discussion and solving in licensed premises. The first one, in particular, leads itself to heated debate.Here they are again with solutions. Continue reading...
Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman share 823,000 prize announced by Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in StockholmTwo scientists have been awarded the 2023 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine for their contributions to RNA biology that contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during the Covid pandemic.Prof Katalin Kariko and Prof Drew Weissman share the 11m Swedish kronor (823,000) prize announced on Monday by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#6F7TP)
Jupiter-mass binary objects floating freely in Orion Nebula appear to defy usual definition of planetsDozens of planet-sized objects have been discovered in the Orion Nebula via observations that could herald the existence of a new astronomical category.The free-floating entities, which have been named Jupiter-mass binary objects, or Jumbos, appear in spectacular images taken by the James Webb space telescope. The objects are too small to be stars, but also defy the conventional definition of a planet because they are not in orbit around a parent star. Continue reading...
Test yourself against the readers of New Scientist magazineUPDATE: To read the solutions click herePubs are for drinking, socialising - and doing puzzles. Or so claims Headscratchers, a new compendium of puzzles from New Scientist magazine, from which today's cranium-ticklers are taken.The first is a classic pub puzzle. (An inn-igma? a bam-booze-ler? A conun-dram?) Which is to say, it is a mathematical challenge that lends itself to being tackled in a group, and may lead to heated debate! Continue reading...
Precession of Earth's rotation pole means brightest star in Cepheus will one day function as north starThis week, track down the northern constellation of Cepheus, the king of Ethiopia in Greek mythology. Although somewhat faint, the constellation is large and relatively easy to locate because of its proximity to the W-shaped constellation of Cassiopeia, who was Cepheus's wife.The chart shows the view all week looking roughly south from London and up towards the zenith. The brightest star in Cepheus is Alderamin, located 49 light years from Earth. Because of the precession of the Earth's rotation pole, in the year 7500 Alderamin will function as the north star. Continue reading...
Recovering from the loss of his wife, Allan Brown turned his hand to an ancient craftIn 2016 textile artist Allan Brown, 54, a baker at the time, finally gave in to his four children's demands for a dog and got Bonnie, a golden labrador-cocker spaniel cross. Already exploring ways to live sustainably for a low-carbon future, Allan decided to use their country walks near his home in Brighton to forage and learn about medicinal plants and those that could be used for making cloth. He knew the names of loads of plants, but the most ubiquitous was the stinging nettle, that hated outlier that grows amidst rubble and gravestones, stinks when boiled, and had stung him very badly when he fell into a clump of them as a child.There was something about the nettle's fuck-you attitude" and its resilience and stubborn ubiquity that spoke to Allan's interest in public land for common usage. I thought, I wonder if nettles have ever been used to make clothing, and if they have been, how was it done? I just had to set about trying to do it myself,"' he recounts in The Nettle Dress, a mesmerising documentary directed by his friend Dylan Howitt about Allan's life with nettles and the devotional dress he made in honour of his late wife, Alex, a keen sewer and maker. Continue reading...
The Chilean author's assured fictionalised portrait of the visionary Hungarian scientist who contributed to the Manhattan Project and laid the foundations of modern computing is darkly intelligent and feverishly propulsiveEarly on in this darkly fascinating novel based on real people and events, the Austrian physicist Paul Ehrenfest speaks of a strange new rationality" that's taking shape as the old certainties of classical physics crumble around him. He describes it as a spectre haunting the soul of science... both logic-driven and utterly irrational... preparing to thrust itself into our lives through technology by enrapturing the cleverest men and women with whispered promises of superhuman power and godlike control".Ehrenfest is speaking from the depths of a breakdown but his warning sets the tone for the rest of Benjamin Labatut's book, which explores how these clever men and women (though mostly men) set about unleashing that spectre with dazzling and devastating consequences. After a short, riveting account of Ehrenfest's demise - he killed himself and his son in 1933 as the Nazis rose to power - we meet John von Neumann, the formidably intelligent Hungarian mathematician, physicist and computer scientist who contributed to the Manhattan Project, laid the foundations of modern computing (Maniac is the name of a computer he developed) and foresaw the possibilities of artificial intelligence. Then we flash forward to the rise of AI, whose promises enrapture its developers even as they fret over its apocalyptic potential. Continue reading...
Call it a hunch, call it intuition, sometimes we just have a feeling we can't ignore. But what happens when our instincts let us down?To escape an unresolved work challenge, Archimedes went to the local baths. As he got into the water and noticed the liquid spilling over the edge, it happened. The mathematician jumped up and ran home naked, crying Eureka! I've found it!" Over two millennia later, in 2010, it is Gwyneth Paltrow's 38th birthday weekend in Italy. Her eureka moment is involuntary, like the ring of a bell that has sounded and cannot be undone". She knew her marriage was over. Soon after I read about this incident in her infamous conscious uncoupling essay, I saw a name on an email and knew I'd date that person, without knowing who they were or what they looked like. Whether it's the Archimedes principle or a divorce from Chris Martin or love-at-first-email, intuition is a funny, evasive thing with human consequences.Following these sudden realisations or hits of intuition used to be the way I lived: a bell would ring out and I'd run fully clothed but without fear from one opportunity to the next. It's hard to quantify a just knowing" in the body. If forced to, I'd say my intuition would be instant, inexplicable and irrational. Like if you told the nearest person what you'd just learned, they'd rigidly smile, get up and change seats. For example, I've known I'd work at a specific company after hearing it mentioned in a classroom; as with Archimedes, the idea for my first book dropped into my head fully formed; and like Paltrow, I've known jarringly, in an otherwise content moment, that a relationship was absolutely over. I'd get it with small, seemingly unimportant things, too. I'd think of a loved one I hadn't spoken to in months and a minute later they'd call needing my help. This could sound like magical thinking or a collection of unremarkable coincidences. I sincerely don't know how damning this phenomenon is to write about because, until recently, I hadn't spoken in depth to anyone about it. But I do suspect that for many of us, intuition is not a completely foreign experience. Continue reading...
Celebrities, influencers and therapists have all touted the benefits of icy immersion. But last week a coroner told a different story after the death of a woman in DerbyshireNot so long ago, a cold plunge bath was used as a punishment for people considered insane. Now ice baths are feted by celebrities and social media influencers as a way to treat depression, lose weight and boost immunity. Yet immersion in cold water should be more widely recognised as a potentially lethal activity, according to academics, charities and even advocates of cold plunges.If this was people going for a gentle stroll, it would be fine," said Professor Mike Tipton, who has researched cold water immersion for four decades. Sixty per cent of deaths in cold water happen in the first minute of immersion. You're taking a tropical animal and dropping it into 12C water - that's not a risk-free activity." Continue reading...
Five higher multibeam doses found to be as effective as 20 smaller doses delivered over several weeksMen undergoing treatment for prostate cancer could be safely exposed to fewer radiotherapy sessions, a big trial has found.The trial, conducted by the Royal Marsden NHS foundation trust and the Institute of Cancer Research in London, found that radiotherapy doses can be cut by three-quarters, meaning that five higher doses of radiotherapy are just as effective as 20 smaller doses delivered over several weeks. Continue reading...
It is the size of a bedsheet, an outward display of our mood, age and identity and replaces itself completely every month - here's the lowdown on the skin you're inThe Ancient Egyptians knew all about skincare. Scrolls dating back 3,500 years describe elaborate routines to keep the face soft and smooth, the body gently perfumed. If disease and imperfections threatened to spoil the day - and they certainly did in 1550BC - there were treatments on hand for most common ailments: wrinkles and moles, eczema and itches, boils, stings and bites.How helpful the ancient therapies were is hard to ascertain. But as with the peddling of modern skincare products, it's not clear how much that mattered. Wax, olive oil and fresh milk would swiftly banish wrinkles, one scroll asserts, with the afflicted instructed to See to it!" Unsightly mole? Try berries, grain, honey and leaves crushed in water that has been used to wash the phallus. An itchy neck? A smear of chopped-up bat will heal it at once". But what about that annoying crocodile bite? Slap a lump of meat on it, declares the Ebers papyrus, one of the world's oldest known medical works. Continue reading...
I watched my father lose some of his faculties. Now any signs of my own memory loss make me a bit paranoidWe've been witnessing a burgeoning obsession in the US lately with the effect ageing has on the human brain. This came to mind again when I was reading about the latest woes of Dianne Feinstein, who may have what's politely called cognitive decline". And of course every time Joe Biden misspeaks, his critics seize on it as a symptom of dementia.I'm younger than Feinstein and Biden, but I'm also older than, gulp, almost 90% of Americans. As I plow into my 60s, I find myself awash in the boomer preoccupation over whether one has, or will eventually get, dementia. If you are in my demographic and not routinely self-examining for signs of dementia, that probably means you already have it. Otherwise, it's an introspective compulsion that, once unsealed, will soak into any aspect of everyday life. Continue reading...
by Jonathan Watts, Lucy Swan, Rich Cousins, Garry Bli on (#6F5N3)
From June to August 2023, a series of extreme weather events exacerbated by climate breakdown caused death and destruction across the globeAs the world sweltered through the hottest three month spell in human history this summer, extreme weather disasters took more than 18,000 lives, drove at least 150,000 people from their homes, affected hundreds of millions of others and caused billions of dollars of damage.That is a conservative tally from the most widely covered disasters between early June and early September, which have been compiled in the timeline below as a reminder of how tough this period has been and what might lie ahead. Continue reading...