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Latest Science news, comment and analysis from the Guardian, the world’s leading liberal voice
Last feed update: Tuesday April 16th, 2024 06:32:08 PM
Bumblebee species able to survive underwater for up to a week
Wednesday April 17th, 2024 04:00:05 AM Nicola Davis Science correspondent
Common eastern bumblebee queens’ ability while hibernating could help it endure flooding, scientists sayBumblebees might be at home in town and country but now researchers have found at least one species that is even more adaptable: it can survive underwater.Scientists have revealed queens of the common eastern bumblebee, a species widespread in eastern North America, can withstand submersion for up to a week when hibernating. Continue reading…
Plantwatch: why does a rainforest vine turn into a part-time carnivore?
Wednesday April 17th, 2024 05:00:08 AM Paul Simons
Scientists have finally discovered why this remarkable plant becomes hungry for bugsIt sounds like a science fiction horror movie – a carnivorous plant that grows up to 60 metres high reaching up through the canopies of tropical trees, feasting on bugs using sticky leaf glands that ooze digestive enzymes to absorb its catch of prey.Triphyophyllum peltatum is a woody vine that grows in the rainforests of west Africa, although strangely it is a part-time carnivore that develops into a killer only at certain times. What turns this seemingly ordinary plant into a carnivore has been a mystery, largely because the plant is rare and difficult to cultivate. Continue reading…
Astronomers discover Milky Way’s biggest stellar black hole – 33 times mass of sun
Tuesday April 16th, 2024 07:00:32 AM Ian Sample Science editor
BH3 spotted when scientists chanced upon star in Aquila constellation ‘wobbling’ under its gravitational forceAstronomers have discovered an enormous black hole which formed in the aftermath of an exploding star a mere 2,000 light years from Earth.BH3 is the most massive stellar black hole yet found in the Milky Way and revealed itself to researchers through the powerful tug it exerts on a companion star that orbits the object in the constellation of Aquila, the Eagle. Continue reading…
Rare lunar event to shed light on Stonehenge’s links to the moon
Monday April 15th, 2024 06:32:35 AM Steven Morris
Archaeologists and astronomers to study Wiltshire site’s lesser understood connection to the moonThe rising and setting of the sun at Stonehenge, especially during the summer and winter solstices, continues to evoke joy, fascination and religious devotion.Now a project has been launched to delve into the lesser understood links that may exist between the monument and the moon during a rare lunar event. Continue reading…
I earned more as a bin worker than a veterinary nurse | Letters
Monday April 15th, 2024 04:27:29 PM Guardian Staff
One former nurse describes the poor pay and working conditions she experienced at a vet practiceDebates surrounding the veterinary industry rage on while vet support staff and nurses, forever caught in the crossfire of abuse and accusations of heartlessness or money-grubbing, go unrecognised yet again (‘The vet presented it as: if you care, you pay’: who really profits from poorly pets?, 6 April).I believed I’d found my calling when I qualified as a registered veterinary nurse (RVN), but the job’s stresses and thanklessness eventually overwhelmed me and I quit before the resultant depression, anxiety and accompanying eating disorder finished me off. My hourly pay was significantly less as an experienced RVN than I earned as a refuse collector just months later, and most vet support staff receive only minimum wage. Continue reading…
Starwatch: Lyrids meteor shower returns to the skies
Monday April 15th, 2024 05:00:13 AM Stuart Clark
Annual event promises between five and 20 meteors an hour with a few rare cases becoming much brighter ‘fireballs’The Lyrids are a meteor shower that derive from the tail of the comet Thatcher.Discovered by AE Thatcher in 1861, the comet is on a 422-year orbit of the sun and will not be returning to the inner solar system until 2283. Every year between 15 and 29 April, the Earth encounters the dust particles that it has left behind, with the peak of activity usually occurring on the night of 22 April, leading into the 23rd. The chart shows the view looking north-east from London at 22.00 BST on 22 April. The meteors radiate from the area labelled Lyrids and can shoot in any direction away from this point. Continue reading…
Experts warn GPs on prescribing antipsychotic drugs for dementia
Wednesday April 17th, 2024 10:30:11 PM Andrew Gregory Health editor
Use of powerful medications linked to elevated risk of serious adverse outcomes including heart failureDoctors are being urged to reduce prescribing of antipsychotic drugs to dementia patients after the largest study of its kind found they were linked to more harmful side-effects than previously thought.The powerful medications are widely prescribed for behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia such as apathy, depression, aggression, anxiety, irritability, delirium and psychosis. Tens of thousands of dementia patients in England are prescribed them every year. Continue reading…
Mentally stimulating work plays key role in staving off dementia, study finds
Wednesday April 17th, 2024 08:00:11 PM Ian Sample Science editor
People in routine and repetitive jobs found to have 31% greater risk of disease in later life, and 66% higher risk of mild cognitive problemsIf work is a constant flurry of mind-straining challenges, bursts of creativity and delicate negotiations to keep the troops happy, consider yourself lucky.Researchers have found that the more people use their brains at work, the better they seem to be protected against thinking and memory problems that come with older age. Continue reading…
Fossils found in Somerset by girl, 11, ‘may be of largest-ever marine reptile’
Wednesday April 17th, 2024 06:00:09 PM Nicola Davis Science correspondent
Experts believe remains belong to a type of ichthyosaur that roamed the seas about 202m years agoFossils discovered by an 11-year-old girl on a beach in Somerset may have come from the largest marine reptile ever to have lived, according to experts.The fossils are thought to be from a type of ichthyosaur, a prehistoric marine reptile that lived in the time of dinosaurs. The newly discovered species is believed to have roamed the seas towards the end of the Triassic, about 202m years ago. Continue reading…
Gene editing crops to be colourful could aid weeding, say scientists
Wednesday April 17th, 2024 03:00:05 PM Helena Horton Environment reporter
Creating visually distinctive plants likely to become important as more weed-like crops are grown for foodGenetically engineering crops to be colourful could help farmers produce food without pesticides, as it would make it easier to spot weeds, scientists have said.This will be increasingly important as hardy, climate-resistant “weeds” are grown for food in the future, the authors have written in their report published in the journal Trends in Plant Science. Continue reading…
Covid boosters are a gamechanger – if they are free for everyone
Wednesday April 3rd, 2024 06:00:20 AM Linda Geddes Science correspondent
Only private jabs are available to most, but annual shots could reduce healthcare costs and prevent deathsCheaper private Covid jabs may end up as costly as pricier ones, say expertsPrivate Covid boosters are available for people who do not qualify to receive these vaccines on the NHS. But is it worth paying for a shot?With most people now having been exposed to Sars-CoV-2 through previous vaccination and/or infection, our immune systems are generally well equipped to recognise and kill the virus if we become infected. Continue reading…
Cheaper private Covid jabs may end up as costly as pricier ones, say experts
Tuesday April 2nd, 2024 02:32:54 PM Nicola Davis Science correspondent
Exclusive: Multi-dose vials could push up charge per patient, with experts warning cost could widen inequalitiesCheaper private Covid jabs could end up being just as expensive as their pricier alternative because the vaccine must be given in groups of five, experts have warned.Boots and pharmacies that partner with the company Pharmadoctor are offering Pfizer/BioNTech jabs to those not eligible for a free vaccination through the NHS, with the former charging almost £100 a shot. The latter is also offering the latest Novavax jab, a protein-based vaccine, at a cost of about £50. Continue reading…
Boots to offer Covid vaccines in England for nearly £100 a jab
Tuesday March 26th, 2024 03:41:40 PM Nicola Davis Science correspondent
Pharmacy to offer Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to those not eligible for NHS booster shot from next weekBoots is to offer Covid vaccinations for almost £100 a shot, making it the latest provider to sell the jabs to those not eligible for a booster through the NHS.The company has confirmed it will offer the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to healthy customers in England aged 12 and over from next week, at a cost of £98.95 a jab. Continue reading…
I helped advise the US government on the next likely pandemic. What I learned is alarming | Devi Sridhar
Monday March 25th, 2024 08:00:14 AM Devi Sridhar
The 100-day challenge, to be able to contain a virus while a vaccine is approved, manufactured and delivered, looks ever more remoteFour years on from the first Covid lockdown, life feels to be largely back to normal, although legacies of the pandemic remain. Collective amnesia seems to have set in. Politicians seem eager to move forward and not relive the decisions, delays and deaths that characterised public policy and press briefings. Yet we can’t forget such a brutal event, when Covid is estimated to have killed nearly 16 million people worldwide in 2020 and 2021, and caused life expectancy to decline in 84% of countries, including Britain. Pandemics aren’t a one-off event. There’s still a risk of another happening within our lifetimes.Fortunately, what to do about the next pandemic is still very much at the top of the global health agenda. In 2021, I was asked to co-chair the US National Academy of Sciences’ committee on advancing pandemic and seasonal influenza vaccine preparedness and response. This group was sponsored by the US government to provide recommendations on how to improve preparedness for influenza, which is seen as one of the most likely candidates for the next pandemic. I was also involved with the Lancet Covid-19 taskforce, which brought together global experts to look at how to improve on the Covid response, and what challenges there were going forward. These groups represent some of the world’s best thinkers on global health and pandemic preparedness. Here’s what I learned.Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh Continue reading…
The media industry is dying – but I can still get paid to train AI to replace me | Arwa Mahdawi
Wednesday April 17th, 2024 10:00:30 AM Arwa Mahdawi
According to an automated missive, I have the perfect set of skills to help write the first draft of AI history. It’s not a job for life, thoughSay what you like about the Germans, you can always count on them to find just the right word for anything. Take “weltschmerz”, for example, which roughly translates to “world pain”. It signifies despair at the suffering in the world – and a deep anguish that stems from knowing that a better world is possible. Is there a more apt encapsulation of the current moment?For the past six months I, like many others, have been suffering from an acute case of weltschmerz. As someone of Palestinian heritage I have been weighed down by survivor’s guilt as I’ve watched the unfolding genocide in Gaza. For a while, I didn’t have the emotional energy to write. The only way I could get out of bed and make it through the day was by avoiding the news completely. Which … isn’t an ideal scenario when you largely write about the news for a living. So, at one point, I decided on a career pivot and applied for various non-writing jobs, including one at a dog food manufacturer. Reader, I was rejected. In fact, I didn’t even make it to the first round of interviews; I was humbled by a dog’s dinner. Continue reading…
Dead satellites are filling space with trash. That could affect Earth’s magnetic field | Sierra Solter
Tuesday April 16th, 2024 10:01:37 AM Sierra Solter
Our ozone is pennies thick – and soon we’ll put at least an Eiffel Tower’s worth of metallic ash into the ionosphere every yearA dead spacecraft the size of a truck ignites with plasma and pulverizes into dust and litter as it rips through the ionosphere and atmosphere. This is what happens to internet service satellites during re-entry. When the full mega-constellation of satellites is deployed in the 2030s, companies will do this every hour because satellite internet requires thousands of satellites to constantly be replaced. And it could compromise our atmosphere or even our magnetosphere.Space entrepreneurs are betting on disposable satellites as key to a new means of wealth. There are currently nearly 10,000 active satellites and companies are working as fast as possible to get tens of thousands more into orbit – for a projected 1m in the next three to four decades.Sierra Solter is a plasma physicist, engineer, and inventor who studies the intersection of heliophysics and aerospace Continue reading…
Yes, total eclipses are very nice. But have you ever smelled bacon? | Zoe Williams
Tuesday April 9th, 2024 10:00:05 AM Zoe Williams
I’d love to feel the beautiful mysteries of the universe. But I have other interestsThe total solar eclipse, visible in parts of Mexico, the US and Canada yesterday, was experienced in the UK only as a “small grazing” (that’s what the astronomers call it), and then only in the north and west of the country. Happily, I went to Lewis in the Outer Hebrides for the eclipse of 2015, where coverage was 98% and people (not just me) had travelled for it from all over the country.It was news to me that people even existed who were that into eclipses. In further news: it doesn’t even have to get that dark to fill “eclipse-heads” with wonder, and it duly didn’t – it just looked like a sad, wintry day. People talk of eclipse winds, whipping up at no notice and going in weird directions; it was quite windy, but that turned out to be normal for March. I’d heard tell that animals take on an expression of intense concentration – some call it wonder – and this I couldn’t verify, as there were only dogs there and not enough of them (two). But fair play, there are never enough dogs for me anywhere. Continue reading…
The Guardian view on endangered languages: spoken by a few but of value to many | Editorial
Friday April 5th, 2024 05:25:10 PM Editorial
The survival of ancient dialects matters not just for scholarship, but because of the wisdom they convey about how to live with natureThe launch of a “last chance” crowdsourcing tool to record a vanishing Greek dialect drew attention back this week to one of the great extinctions of the modern world: nine languages are believed to be disappearing every year. Romeyka, which is spoken by an ageing population of a few thousand people in the mountain villages near Turkey’s Black Sea coast, diverged from modern Greek thousands of years ago. It has no written form.For linguists, it is a “living bridge” to the ancient Hellenic world, the loss of which would clearly be a blow. But some languages are in even bigger trouble, with 350 that have fewer than 50 native speakers and 46 that have just one. A collaboration between Australian and British institutions paints the situation in stark colours, with a language stripes chart, devised to illustrate the accelerating decline in each decade between 1700 and today. Its authors predict that between 50% and 90% of the world’s 7,000 languages will be extinct by 2150. Even now, half of the people on the planet speak just 24 of them. Continue reading…
Soundscape ecology: a window into a disappearing world – podcast
Tuesday April 16th, 2024 04:00:31 AM Presented by Madeleine Finlay with Phoebe Weston, produced by Madeleine Finlay and Joshan Chana, sound design by Joel Cox, the executive producer is Ellie Bury
What can sound tell us about nature loss? Guardian biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston tells Madeleine Finlay about her visit to Monks Wood in Cambridgeshire, where ecologist Richard Broughton has witnessed the decline of the marsh tit population over 22 years, and has heard the impact on the wood’s soundscape. As species lose their habitats across the world, pioneering soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause has argued that if we listen closely, nature can tell us everything we need to know about our impact on the planetFind more reporting from the Soundscapes project hereBernie Krause audio by Bernie Krause, courtesy of Wild Sanctuary. © 2024 Wild Sanctuary. All rights reserved Continue reading…
The senior Swiss women who went to court over climate change, and won – podcast
Thursday April 11th, 2024 04:00:23 AM Presented by Ian Sample, with Ajit Niranjan, produced by Madeleine Finlay, sound design by Tony Onuchukwu, the executive producer is Ellie Bury
This week, in a landmark case, the European court of human rights ruled that Switzerland’s weak climate policy had violated the rights of a group of older Swiss women to family life. Ian Sample talks to Europe environment correspondent Ajit Niranjan about why the women brought the case and what the ruling could mean for future climate policy.Read Ajit Niranjan’s article about the court case Continue reading…
Remembering physicist Peter Higgs – podcast
Wednesday April 10th, 2024 07:30:10 PM Presented by Madeleine Finlay with Ian Sample, produced by Joshan Chana, the executive producer is Ellie Bury
The Nobel prize-winning British physicist Peter Higgs has died aged 94. The confirmation in 2012 of the existence of the Higgs boson particle, five decades after Higgs had first theorised its existence, paved the way for his 2013 Nobel win. Nicknamed ‘the god particle’, the Higgs boson was part of an attempt to explain why the building blocks of the universe have mass. Ian Sample and Madeleine Finlay look back on the life and legacy of a giant of scienceRead an obituary of Peter Higgs Continue reading…
Nasa confirms metal chunk that crashed into Florida home was space junk
Wednesday April 17th, 2024 02:51:40 PM Gloria Oladipo
Cylinder slab that tore through Naples home last month was debris released from International Space Station in 2021A heavy chunk of metal that crashed through the roof of a Florida home is, in fact, space junk, Nasa has confirmed.The federal space agency said that a cylinder slab that tore through a house in Naples, Florida, last month was debris from a cargo pallet released from the international space station in 2021, according to a Nasa blogpost. Continue reading…
Tasmanian devil facial tumour research challenged: disease may not be declining after all
Wednesday April 17th, 2024 03:00:08 PM Sharlotte Thou
Cambridge scientists critique study that concluded the cancer was no longer a threat to species’ survivalFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastCambridge researchers have challenged a previous study which had concluded that a facial cancer that devastated the Tasmanian devil population was on the decline.Devil facial tumour disease, a fatal cancer spread through biting and sharing of food, emerged in the 1980s. The spread of DFTD led to the species being listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2008.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading…
Is writing down my rage the secret to resolving it? | Emma Beddington
Monday April 15th, 2024 10:00:46 AM Emma Beddington
New research reveals that listing your grievances on a piece of paper, then throwing them away may make you less angry. So I gave it a try …A lifetime enveloped in a benign, insulating cloud of oestrogen left me ill-prepared to be this nakedly, shockingly angry as it ebbs away in perimenopause. It is occasionally exhilarating, but mainly awful, being furious about so many things: the government, contradictory dental advice, inaction on climate breakdown, whatever cat keeps defecating at my back door. I exist at an exhausting, irrational rolling simmer that periodically comes to a head with me inappropriately venting, realising I’m being unreasonable, shamefacedly having a word with myself, then getting cross again.Help may be at hand, however, according to research from Japan, which suggests that writing your grievances on paper then throwing it away may make you less angry. Study participants were deliberately angered by researchers criticising their work and adding gratuitous insulting comments. Participants then wrote down how they felt and either threw the paper away, shredded it or kept it. The ones who disposed of the paper “completely eliminated their anger”. Continue reading…
Did you solve it? Art thou smarter than Shakespeare?
Monday April 15th, 2024 04:00:14 PM Alex Bellos
The answers to today’s problemsEarlier today I set you these puzzles, set by the author of Much Ado About Numbers, a new book about mathematics in Shakespeare’s day. Continue reading…
Did you solve it? Best pub quiz questions ever
Monday April 1st, 2024 04:00:11 PM Alex Bellos
The answers to today’s questionsEarlier today I set you the following mini-pub quiz, based on wordplay puzzles from The Cryptic Pub Quiz Book by Frank Paul. Here they are again with answers. Continue reading…
Can you solve it? Best pub quiz questions ever
Monday April 1st, 2024 06:10:04 AM Alex Bellos
Get a few rounds inUPDATE: Swap papers. Answers up hereIn the world of pub quizzes, Frank Paul is a legend. Today’s puzzles are taken from the fabulously fiendish quiz he has run at The Mill in Cambridge, and which appear in his latest book.I’ve chosen questions that involve wordplay rather than general knowledge. Like all great pub quiz conundrums, you will be able to work them out if you think hard enough (and maybe ask a friend for help.) Continue reading…
Did you solve it? Lewis Carroll for insomniacs
Monday March 18th, 2024 04:57:25 PM Alex Bellos
The answers to today’s puzzlesEarlier today I set these puzzles by Lewis Carroll, who as well as writing books like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, was also a prolific puzzle setter.1. The Chelsea Pensioners Continue reading…
Millions watch as total solar eclipse sweeps across Mexico, US and Canada – video
Monday April 8th, 2024 09:06:14 PM
People in 15 US states, Mexico and Canada witnessed the awe-inspiring spectacle of a a total solar eclipse on Monday. Cities were plunged into sudden darkness and their inhabitants experienced a sharp drop in temperatures. The first such eclipse to cross the US in seven years swept ashore at the Mexican beach resort Mazatlán before crossing the Texas border at Eagle Pass and heading north-east towards CanadaMillions across US, Mexico and Canada witness rare total solar eclipseTotal solar eclipse over Mexico, US and Canada – in pictures Continue reading…
Total solar eclipse over Mexico, US and Canada – in pictures
Monday April 8th, 2024 08:51:26 PM Compiled by Julius Constantine Motal
The moon blocks the sun along a path that cuts across several countriesIf you missed the total solar eclipse just wait … until 2044 Continue reading…
Rare total eclipse of the sun darkens Mexico’s skies – video
Monday April 8th, 2024 06:45:46 PM
Observers in Mazatlan were the first to witness a rare solar eclipse as the moon obscured the sun over Mexico. People in the US and Canada were also able to enjoy the spectacle. The most recent total solar eclipse in the US was in 2017, but an interval of only seven years is unusual. The previous one before that took place in 1979, and the next one visible in the US will not be until August 2044Solar eclipse 2024: latest updates Continue reading…
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