Guardian Science

A mile beneath the Black Hills, scientists are building giant detectors to analyse neutrino particles – and possibly find the answer to existence For more than a century, the mining town of Lead, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, attracted workers with a taste for gold. Now, a flagship experiment being built in the old mine is drawing scientists in search of more intriguing riches: answers to the deepest mysteries of the universe. Construction of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (Dune)

Richard Dawkins’ first work has thrilled fans and frustrated critics for five decades. The science has moved on, but any writer looking to supplant its place must learn its lessons Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene was not predicted to be a success. Its initial print run, published this week in 1976, was just 5,000. It went on to sell millions, and is perhaps the most influential work of pop-science ever. For 50 years, it has been the go-to resource for the layperson seeking to understand evolut

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

Loch Insh, Cairngorms: In my three decades in Scotland I’ve adjusted to the darkness of this time of year, and found glory in the quality of light It is the one clear day in a fortnight of heavy cloud, wind and rain, so I am out by the loch, basking in the rays of light, breathing them in, hoarding for the weeks to come. This time of year makes them all the more precious. Here in the Highlands, once we are past the autumnal equinox, we can almost feel the Earth tipping away from the sun as the l

Oxford study shows Manx shearwaters lose direction when their body clocks get out of sync Seabirds returning from foraging trips can be thrown hundreds of miles off course by a form of jet lag that arises when their body clocks get out of sync with local time, researchers say. Tracking data from Manx shearwaters on the west coast of the UK revealed that when the birds returned home to their colonies after trips over the Atlantic, their rapid eastward flights disrupted their sense of time and nav

As one of the world’s leading forensic anthropologists, Dame Sue Black has acted as an expert witness in a myriad of high-profile criminal cases. Her work has taken her from the lab to active war zones and the aftermath of natural disasters to identify victims’ bodies. Speaking to Ian Sample, the professor explains why standing up in front of a judge and jury has been one of the more terrifying parts of her career, the reputational risk of presenting evidence in court and what the future of fore

NASA astronaut Anil Menon and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Joshua Kutryk perform spacewalk to install and deploy an International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA). Continue reading...

As one of the world’s leading forensic anthropologists, Dame Sue Black has acted as an expert witness in a myriad of high-profile criminal cases. Her work has taken her from the lab to active war zones and the aftermath of natural disasters to identify victims’ bodies. Speaking to Ian Sample, the professor explains why standing up in front of a judge and jury has been one of the more terrifying parts of her career, the reputational risk of presenting evidence in court and what the future of fore

Russia plans to build own version of US billionaire’s satellite communications to help attack Ukraine Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk’s genius and said he was in touch with Starlink’s controlling shareholder as Russia develops its own satellite communications for its military to use against Ukraine. The Russian president, speaking at a summit with African leaders in Moscow, was comparing the Earth-orbiting network built by Musk’s SpaceX with Russia’s gradual efforts to build its own Rassvet con

Sale makes ‘Jodi’, a smaller relative of T rex, the ‘second most valuable dinosaur ever sold at auction’, Sotheby’s says A rare skeleton of a Nanotyrannus, a smaller relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex, sold at auction in New York this week for $47.3m, making it one of the world’s most expensive fossils. The skeleton, named “Jodi” after the person who found the remains in 2019, sold at Sotheby’s on Tuesday for $47.3m, “after a twelve-minute bidding battle that saw six bidders compete online and ov

Perimenopause has become a hot topic, with celebrities sharing their experiences and doctors offering tips and advice online. But despite the benefits of growing awareness, a rising number of women are now encountering misinformation about treatments such as HRT. Madeleine Finlay hears from Dr Paula Briggs, a consultant in sexual and reproductive health, about why experts have raised the alarm. Science correspondent Nicola Davis gives the facts on symptoms, tests and treatments Continue reading.

Randomised trials of omega-6s do not show an increase in inflammation caused by the fatty acid Read more in the Antiviral series If you’ve been online lately, you’ve probably been bombarded with the discourse about seed oils. Once a completely innocuous food that no one really talked about, they have become the enemy of the moment. Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of health and human services in the US, has called them “toxic” and vowed to act against them. There are countless activewear-clad

Calf of Man, Isle of Man: Such is the wealth of Manx fungi, a map is being built to plot it all. We took a special trip as part of that project The bird observatory on the Calf of Man was sulking under a low cloud base as we stepped ashore at South Harbour. The dank mist was perfect for our surprise visit to the island, as it was not for the birds we had come across, but fungi – in particular, waxcaps. My wife, Liz, and I had taken the chance to accompany Nev Kilkenny, a visiting mycologist, who

For decades the idea of eugenics has been taboo. Now it is returning in a new commercial guise For a very long time, I dreamed of being cured. I was born in 1981. I learned to walk early enough, but I stumbled and fell more easily than other children. My parents began to worry that something was wrong, that my muscles were weaker than they should be. Eventually, at the age of three, I was diagnosed with a form of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). In the 1980s, the precise mechanics were not yet und

Perimenopause has become a hot topic, with celebrities sharing their experiences and doctors offering tips and advice online. But despite the benefits of growing awareness, a rising number of women are now encountering misinformation about treatments such as HRT. Madeleine Finlay hears from Dr Paula Briggs, a consultant in sexual and reproductive health, about why experts have raised the alarm. Science correspondent Nicola Davis gives the facts on symptoms, tests and treatments Read Nicola’s art

Founder of an international organisation to encourage research into the rare genetic disorder Prader-Willi syndrome In 1984 Jean Phillips-Martinsson, a British woman living in Sweden, came across an article in the Lancet. It was about Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), a rare genetic condition named after Andrea Prader and Heinrich Willi, two of the three Swiss paediatricians who discovered it in 1956. It was a lightbulb moment for Phillips-Martinsson, who had been in limbo for 14 years, wanting to kn

The solution to today’s puzzles Earlier today, I set a puzzle by UCLA professor Terry Tao, who is widely regarded as one of the world’s top mathematicians. Here it is again with solutions. a regular plant produces a single coin per day a mother plant produces a single coin and two seeds per day. (A seed will grow into a regular plant the following day.) Continue reading...

As all facets of our lives are optimized, the suffix has become inescapable - and experts predict it’s around to stay Maxxing is not a new concept. Dungeons and Dragons players have been “min-maxing” character stats for years; Will Smith was maxin’ and relaxin’ in the 90s; as far back as the 40s, the term was used in game theory. But in the past few years, as all facets of our lives are optimized, the suffix has become inescapable. We’re personalitymaxxing to charm our peers and sleepmaxxing to

Company imitates reflection of sun from mirrors, prompting pushback from some scientists, environmentalists and California locals Locals in a rural area of California were recently startled to see dazzlingly bright light shining down from nearby mountains at night, illuminating a swathe of the desert below. Unbeknown to them, the strange nocturnal illumination was the latest step in a company’s plan to erect thousands of giant mirrors in space to reflect sunlight on to the Earth during night-tim

Terence Tao teaser time Today’s puzzle is set by Terence Tao, who may be the world’s most famous mathematician. Tao, aged 51, has been a global phenomenon since the age of ten, when he became the youngest competitor at the International Maths Olympiad, a record he still holds. For the last three decades he has been a professor at UCLA, where he has been garlanded with prizes, and where one of his colleagues famously said: “Terry is like Mozart: mathematics just flows out of him.” a regular plant