The behavior, documented in footage from researcher Chris Law, is most seen in females and sheds light on the threatened speciesFloating on its back in the waters of California's Monterey Bay, a sea otter takes a shelled animal and strikes it against a rock sitting on its chest to break open the prey.This behavior, documented in footage from researcher Chris Law, is seen in relatively few animals and allows the otter to access food without damaging its teeth. A new study, which will be published in the journal Science on Friday, sheds light on the threatened species' tactics. Continue reading...
Discovery of the branch, which ran alongside 31 pyramids, could solve mystery of blocks' transportationScientists have discovered a long-buried branch of the Nile River that once flowed alongside more than 30 pyramids in Egypt, potentially solving the mystery of how ancient Egyptians transported the massive stone blocks to build the monuments.The 40-mile-long (64km) river branch, which ran by the Giza pyramid complex among other wonders, was hidden under desert and farmland for millennia, according to a study revealing the find on Thursday. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#6MVME)
Glimpse of galactic merger, via James Webb telescope, may explain presence of monster black holesA pair of black holes has been observed colliding in the ancient universe for the first time. The observations, by the James Webb Space Telescope, reveal a merger of two galaxies and the monster black holes at their centres when the universe was just 740m years old, about a 20th of its current age.The discovery that massive mergers appear to have been common in the infant universe could help explain how supermassive black holes like the one at the heart of the Milky Way achieved such tremendous proportions. Continue reading...
by Presented by Madeleine Finlay, produced by Joshan on (#6MVAY)
Last week the founder of the dating app Bumble forecasted a near future dating landscape where AI dating concierges' filter out prospective partners for us. But does AI, or even science, really understand what makes two people compatible? Madeleine Finlay speaks to Amie Gordon, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, to find out what we know about why two people go the distance, and why she's designing her own dating app to learn more.Clips: BloombergRead more about Amie's app here Continue reading...
Speculoos-3b, 55 light years away, is only second planetary system to be found around an ultra-cool red dwarfAstronomers have discovered a new Earth-sized planet orbiting a small, cool star that is expected to shine for 100 times longer than the sun.The rocky world, called Speculoos-3b, is 55 light years from Earth and was detected as it passed in front of its host star, an ultra-cool red dwarf that is half as hot as the sun and 100 times less luminous. Continue reading...
by Anna Bawden Health and social affairs corresponden on (#6MTG9)
Study identifies 618 proteins linked to 19 types of cancer, which could lead to much earlier detectionProteins in the blood could warn people of cancer more than seven years before it is diagnosed, according to research.Scientists at the University of Oxford studied blood samples from more than 44,000 people in the UK Biobank, including over 4,900 people who subsequently had a cancer diagnosis. Continue reading...
by Tobi Thomas Health and inequalities correspondent on (#6MTE1)
Men with obesity offered incentives and sent healthy-eating tips in Game of Stones trial found to have lost most weightFinancial incentives of up to 400 alongside text messages could encourage men living with obesity to lose weight, research has found.The research, known as Game of Stones and presented at the European Congress of Obesity, involved a year-long trial involving 585 men living with obesity from Belfast, Bristol and Glasgow. Continue reading...
Markings include public executions and a sailing ship chiselled into door in 1790s by bored English soldiersA scratched wooden door found by chance at the top of a medieval turret has been revealed to be an astonishing" graffiti-covered relic from the French revolutionary wars, including a carving that could be a fantasy of Napoleon Bonaparte being hanged.Over 50 individual graffiti carvings were chiselled into the door in the 1790s by bored English soldiers stationed at Dover Castle in Kent, when Britain was at war with France in the wake of the French Revolution. Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: A new study suggests semaglutides reduce not just obesity but risks to your heart too. What will that mean for their availability on the NHS? Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. If you hear brand names like Ozempic and Wegovy and think of suddenly gaunt A-listers posing on the red carpet, it is surely now time to think again. There has already been substantial evidence that as well as in their initial role as a diabetes treatment, semaglutides - the kind of drug in question - can have a real impact on obesity for people for whom nothing else works. Now a new study has found that they don't just help those people lose weight - they have a major effect on their heart health, regardless of how much weight they lose.Obesity affects more than a quarter of adults, and nearly as many children - and those numbers are only going up, which brings serious consequences for public health, especially among the most deprived. So this is hugely significant news, which study author Prof John Deanfield says heralds a class of drugs as powerful as statins, that could equally transform many chronic diseases of ageing".Georgia | Tbilisi has been warned by the US not to turn towards Russia as its parliament defied mass street protests to pass a Kremlin-inspired" law. A US official said that the foreign agents" bill, which takes aim at civil society groups with funding from abroad, could jeopardise support from Washington for the former Soviet state if we are now regarded as an adversary".France | Elite French police are searching for gunmen who attacked a prison van in Normandy, killing at least two prison officers and freeing the high-security inmate being transported. The fugitive prisoner was named as Mohamed Amra, who was convicted last week of aggravated robbery and charged in a case of abduction leading to death.Education | There is no evidence of widespread abuse of the UK's graduate visa route, a major report has concluded, despite claims from Conservatives that it is being exploited to enter the jobs market. The government is expected to decide next week whether to remove the scheme, a move which would mean financial turmoil for the sector.US | Donald Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen has testified in Manhattan court that he submitted phoney invoices for legal services to cover up what were reimbursements for hush money paid to Stormy Daniels. In a second day of evidence, Cohen repeatedly identified Trump as the driver of the Daniels payoff scheme.Manchester | After a series of humiliating setbacks, the 450m Co-op Live music venue finally opened its doors on Tuesday, with a concert by Elbow that had been meant to be the 15th event on its schedule. The venue's boss, Tim Leiweke, claimed that it would be the greatest arena ever built". Continue reading...
The practice of recording firsthand observations about nature goes back centuries and provides an invaluable resourceBritain has a long tradition of volunteer naturalists dating back 250 years to the Rev Gilbert White in Selborne, Hampshire, best known for his classic book The Natural History of Selborne (1789).In recent times, Rosemary Parslow has detailed the plants of the Isles of Scilly, many found nowhere else in Britain thanks to the sub-tropical climate of the islands. Continue reading...
Seven-year-olds trusted good gossip if it came from multiple sources but the bad only had to be heard onceIn the ruthless world of the primary school playground, one bad rumour is enough to make children wary of another, new research suggests.Psychologists who studied gossip in seven-year-olds found that the children trusted good rumours when they came from several sources, but could be swayed by bad rumours they heard only once. Continue reading...
Studies show active ingredient semaglutide can reduce the risk of heart attack, improve fertility and help treat diabetesIt is a drug that has dominated headlines, first as a medication for type 2 diabetes, then as a weight-loss aid. Now it seems semaglutide - often called by its brand names Ozempic or Wegovy - could bring benefits in myriad areas of healthcare, from addiction to dementia. Continue reading...
Jim Fleming notes that the European Space Agency can wake up a satellite but his power supplier cannot wake up his smart meters. Plus letters from Andrew Warren and David RedshawRe your article (British Gas boss says all UK households should be forced to fit smart meters, 8 May), after being harassed by email, text, telephone, letters and finally doorstepping, and being told that we had to get smart meters for safety reasons, we relented and spent a fun day at home with the fitter. The smart meters don't work; they never worked. Apparently they don't work in our type of house.The European Space Agency might be able to wake up the satellite Rosetta 673m kilometres away, but our power supplier cannot wake up our smart meters. Sorry, I have to rush, they want another meter reading. You see, they are experiencing a high level of calls sono one can answer the phone.
Medical problems blamed on weight, motherhood, menopause or teenage mood swings, say womenWomen who were infected with hepatitis C as a result of the infected blood scandal say their medical problems were dismissed by doctors as being related to motherhood, the menopause or teenage mood swings.Three women who spoke to the Guardian said they struggled to get doctors to take them seriously or test them for hepatitis C, and had to suffer unexplained health problems for decades while the virus, known as the silent killer", was causing damage to their bodies.
As the trauma of apartheid, crime and violence continue to ripple through society, a counselling initiative by Tree of Life creator Ncazelo Ncube-Mlilo is helping ease the painRed curtains and ceiling drapes create a pink-tinged glow inside the run-down community centre, an hour south of Johannesburg, where Palesa Hlohlolo tells her neighbours about her experiences of domestic violence.I'm not a punching bag and I'll never be one. For anyone," she says, grabbing a tissue from a rapidly emptying box. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#6MSDB)
Hospital to take unprecedented step after drug firm pulled out despite successful trial of treatmentWhen Great Ormond Street hospital (Gosh) published the results of its gene therapy trial for bubble baby" syndrome it was hailed as a medical breakthrough. The treatment had a more than 95% success rate for treating the life-threatening disorder in which children have no immune system. But less than a year later, the therapy had been dropped by the pharmaceutical company that planned to bring it to market.Now, Gosh is taking the unprecedented step of attempting to license the therapy itself on a non-profit basis and without industry involvement, in order to make it more widely available to babies and children worldwide. Continue reading...
by Presented by Ian Sample; produced by Madeleine Fin on (#6MSCB)
As AI systems have grown in sophistication, so has their capacity for deception, according to a new analysis from researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr Peter Park, an AI existential safety researcher at MIT and author of the research, tells Ian Sample about the different examples of deception he uncovered, and why they will be so difficult to tackle as long as AI remains a black boxListen to the Guardian's Black Box series all about humans and artificial intelligenceRead Hannah Devlin's article about the MIT study Continue reading...
by Tobi Thomas Health and inequalities correspondent on (#6MS7W)
Researchers say semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic, could be biggest medical breakthrough since statinsA weight loss injection could reduce the risk of heart attacks and benefit the cardiovascular health of millions of adults across the UK, in what could be the largest medical breakthrough since statins, according to a study.It found that participants taking the medication semaglutide, the active ingredient in brands including Wegovy and Ozempic, had a 20% lower risk of heart attack, stroke, or death due to cardiovascular disease. Continue reading...
Spector said mouse study provided reason to stop using SPF 50 all year round, in post attacked as frighteningly inaccurate'The health expert Prof Tim Spector has come under fire from fellow scientists after he suggested people should stop using factor 50 sunscreen all year round.Spector cited a recent mouse study that suggests vitamin D levels may be an important factor in cancer immunity and immunotherapy success, saying the research is another reason to stop using SPF 50 all year round which blocks our natural defences". Continue reading...
The answers to today's wordplay challengesEarlier today I set you these problems from the National Puzzlers' League, the world's oldest association of word puzzle aficionados, active since 1883. Here they are again with answers.The puzzles are flats", a genre unique to the NPL, which are small pieces of light verse with some missing words. Here's an explanation of the puzzles for those who missed the original story. For those who did, please skip ahead. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#6MRHZ)
Finding that clearance of fluid in mice brains is lower in sleep and anaesthesia runs counter to dominant view in neuroscienceThe restorative effect of a good night's rest is widely recognised and the popular scientific explanation has been that the brain washes out toxins during sleep.However, new findings suggest this theory, which has become a dominant view in neuroscience, could be wrong. The study found that the clearance and movement of fluid in the brains of mice was, in fact, markedly reduced during sleep and anaesthesia. Continue reading...
Aurora australis lit up skies across southern Australia days after four coronal mass ejections from the sun. While much of New South Wales missed out on the spectacle due to heavy cloud and rain, the light show was bigger than anything seen in Australia in decades. Geomagnetic solar storms occur when highly charged plasma erupts from the sun and is streamed into space. When those charged particles, known as the solar wind, hit the Earth's magnetic field, they create the stunning visual displays known as aurorasSubscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube
Wacky wordplay from the pioneers of puzzledomUPDATE: Read the answers hereThe National Puzzlers' League is the world's oldest association of word puzzle aficionados. Active in the US more or less continuously since 1883, its output includes these wonderful anagrams, which obey the constraint that the anagrams must be apposite to the original word(s):greyhound / hey, dog run! (1898) Continue reading...
Do you find it hard to budget or, conversely, difficult to spend? Vicky Reynal reveals what our financial choices reveal about our psyches - and what can be done to ease our money worriesI am a generous tipper. I've always thought, to the extent that I have thought about it at all, that this is a positive trait. Recently, however, I've begun to wonder. Is it normal to feel a deep sense of anxiety after ordering a takeaway pizza, then realising there is no change in the house? Does everyone spend their spare time searching Google to find out if one should tip the Waitrose delivery driver - or whether to do so might cause offence? Are hotel stays meant to be such a stressful experience, requiring constant calculations to determine the appropriate amount of cash to reward every personal interaction?These are the kinds of questions that arise while I'm reading Money on Your Mind: The Psychology Behind Your Financial Habits. Written by Vicky Reynal, Britain's first self-styled financial psychotherapist", the book outlines a wide range of unhelpful financial behaviours, offering something that will resonate with almost every reader, and makes a convincing case that these are rooted in our emotions - driven by fears and desires - and influenced by past experiences. Perhaps we struggle to spend money on ourselves or others. What do we fear might happen if we do? Some of us are incapable of budgeting. What do we gain from our overspending? We may see our colleagues rewarded with salary increases while we languish on the same pay grade. Why do we struggle to ask for a raise? Are we battling with doubts about our self-worth? Continue reading...
Try to steer your focus to what you want rather than what you think you should beThe question At 36, I find myself in a stable phase of life, contrasting my earlier years of nomadic renting and dead-end jobs as an artist, a passion I've abandoned. My dog is my sole source of joy, yet even that pleasure feels dulled lately. I struggle to feel real or connected, lacking focus and interest. Despite overcoming anorexia and surviving a long, violent relationship, I still battle the emotional blunting and PTSD that I've had therapy for and thought I'd conquered. I yearn for a more purposeful existence, especially considering my privileged, educated position - I should have achieved this by now.My childhood was chaotic and now, as an adult, I can see there was neglect in a household of five children, as well as addiction and instability. My father, now sober, was always drunk - we lost everything when he became bankrupt. He also had many affairs. I dread becoming like my parents and strive to reconnect with my own body and others. I used to find meaning and flow when I made art and wrote fiction, but it all feels pointless now. I wasn't good enough. Continue reading...
No indication that Richard Rick' Slayman's receipt of genetically modified kidney caused his death, says Massachusetts transplant teamThe first recipient of a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died about two months later, with the hospital that performed the surgery saying it did not have any indication the transplant was the cause.Richard Rick" Slayman had the transplant at Massachusetts general hospital in March at the age of 62. Surgeons said they believed the pig kidney would last for at least two years. On Saturday, his family and the hospital that performed the surgery confirmed Slayman's death.Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...
Aurora australis has proven to be the weekend's must-see event, offering the most extreme' celestial display in two decades. While people flocked to viewing spots from Tasmania to Argentina to glimpse the out-of-this-world geomagnetic event, warnings came of some very real-world repercussions
Although dogged by controversy, the firm's coronavirus jab saved the lives of millions and helped avert humanitarian crises in nations unable to access costly alternativesLast week's announcement that AstraZeneca would no longer market its Covid vaccine brings an end to one of the century's most remarkable medical stories. Created within a year of the arrival of the pandemic, the AZ vaccine was cheap, easily stored and transported, and helped stave off humanitarian crises in Asia and Latin America, where many countries could not afford the more expensive mRNA vaccines that were being snapped up by rich western nations. It is estimated that it saved 6.3 million lives in 2021 alone.Yet from the start the vaccine - created by research teams led by Professor Andy Pollard and Professor Sarah Gilbert at the Oxford Vaccine Centre - was dogged by controversy. It was linked to blood clots, US observers criticised protocols for its trials, and French president Emmanuel Macron claimed it was quasi-ineffective" for people over 65. In fact, the vaccine is particularly effective for the elderly. Continue reading...
After one final dig, Ness of Brodgar is to be covered up to protect it for future generationsIn a few weeks, archaeologists will gather at the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney and for the next two months excavate at one of Europe's greatest prehistoric sites.For the last 20 summers, scientists and volunteers have dug here, revealing wonders that include 5,000-year-old remains of temples, hearths, a ceramic figurine, and elegant pottery. Continue reading...
Videos filmed across the northern hemisphere show skies illuminated by the aurora borealis.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the US said the 'very rare event' was caused by a large sunspot cluster that has produced several moderate to strong solar flares since Wednesday morning. That meant the lights could be seen further south than usual
by Amy Hawkins Senior China correspondent on (#6MQP6)
Citizen journalist Zhang Zhan's search for the truth during the early days of the pandemic was seen as a threat by the authoritiesA Chinese citizen journalist who has been in prison for four years after reporting on the early days of the Covid-19 epidemic in Wuhan is due to be released on Monday.Zhang Zhan, a former lawyer, travelled to Wuhan in February 2020 to document the Chinese government's response to what became the start of a global pandemic. She shared her reports on X (then known as Twitter), YouTube and WeChat. She was one of the few independent Chinese reporters on the ground as Wuhan and the rest of China went into lockdown. Continue reading...
The H5N1 virus has been devastating bird populations, and is now infecting mammals too. Is human-to-human transmission next? And are we ready for another pandemic?Over the past four years, a silent pandemic has been raging. One in which the death toll is believed to number in the hundreds of millions, but which has received remarkably little attention until now.The pandemic in question is bird flu, the H5N1 strain of influenza, which since 2020 has moved far beyond the avian world and into mammals ranging from dairy cattle to domestic pets, and species that live on our doorsteps, such as foxes. The virus's presence has been detected on every continent, even Antarctica. While it has yet to evolve the capability of spreading between humans, alarm bells were raised last month after a dairy farm worker in Texas contracted H5N1, seemingly from cattle. Continue reading...
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says geomagnetic storm could affect satellites and power gridA ferocious solar storm powerful enough to knock out or disrupt satellite and communications systems, the power grid and radio signals was raging on Friday, space weather researchers warned.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) issued a rare warning for extreme G5 geomagnetic storm conditions when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week. The last extreme G5 event was in 2003. Continue reading...
In a revolutionary approach, scientists are hoping that modifying the marsupial's genes to resist cane toads' toxin will save it from extinctionIn a laboratory in the University of Melbourne earlier this year, PhD student Pierre Ibri was running an experiment that could prove to be a critical step in an audacious plan to save Australia's endangered northern quoll.In plastic trays were groups of tissue cells of another Australian marsupial - the common and mouse-like fat-tailed dunnart - that he was subjecting to the toxin of the cane toad, an invasive amphibian that has cut a swathe through populations of native animals in Australia's north. Continue reading...
George Monbiot's conversation with Jason Liosatos got Patrick Cosgrove and Alison Carter thinkingLike George Monbiot, I am puzzled by the contradiction of likeable, otherwise rational people who promote conspiracy fantasies (You're going to call me a Holocaust denier now, are you?': George Monbiot comes face to face with his local conspiracy theorist, 4 May). George's explanation that they lack rigour in trying to make sense of the world is a good one, but on its own insufficient for such a varied community".There are probably many overlapping reasons. My favourite, ironically, is that there is a real, but probably diffuse conspiracy by rightwing activists to sow the seeds of distrust, fear and division at a time of political upheaval in order to garner support for populist solutions. In recruiting those who lack rigour" to this worldview, they also convince them that they are special, almost anointed (there is a frequent cross-over with fundamental Christianity). Continue reading...
A fifth of female climate scientists who responded to Guardian survey said they had opted to have no or fewer childrenI had the hormonal urges," said Prof Camille Parmesan, a leading climate scientist based in France. Oh my gosh, it was very strong. But it was: Do I really want to bring a child into this world that we're creating?' Even 30 years ago, it was very clear the world was going to hell in a handbasket. I'm 62 now and I'm actually really glad I did not have children."Parmesan is not alone. An exclusive Guardian survey has found that almost a fifth of the female climate experts who responded have chosen to have no children, or fewer children, due to the environmental crises afflicting the world. Continue reading...
by Tobi Thomas Health and Inequalities Correspondent on (#6MPMF)
Accessible screening tool piloted by NHS England includes braille instructions and a better guide for stool sampleThousands of blind or partly sighted people could find it easier to participate in bowel cancer screening from home owing to a new NHS tool aiding accessibility.The standard test used to screen for bowel cancer requires an at-home stool sample in a tube, which is sent off and examined for any possible cancer signs. Continue reading...
Science | The Guardian