World faces ‘malaria emergency’ from resistance to insecticides, waning efficacy of drugs, funding shortfalls and climate changeAfrican leaders have warned that the world is facing the “biggest malaria emergency” of the past two decades.Heads of state and experts came together in a show of unity to call for urgent action on malaria at the UN general assembly on Friday, saying progress on...

Adjustment of behaviour shown in study suggests learning is integral function of neuronsJellyfish change their behaviour based on past experiences, researchers have revealed, in a study that suggests learning could be a fundamental property of the way nerve cells work.Unlike humans, jellyfish do not have a central brain. However, box jellyfish have clusters of neurons associated with the...

Capsule will contain some of oldest materials formed in solar systemOn Sunday morning, somewhere above the Utah desert, a parachute will open and a capsule containing about 250g of rubble will float to the ground. As it descends, four helicopters bearing scientists, engineers and military safety personnel will race across the arid landscape to recover the precious cargo.Because this is not just...

WHO says China facing ‘sustained community transmission’ of virus first detected as imported case last yearChina is fuelling a global surge in mpox cases, accounting for the majority of new cases reported in September, according to the World Health Organization.The number of weekly cases reported globally increased by 328% in the week to 10 September, data shows. Most of that rise came from...

Aditi Shankar, eight, has pioneering treatment resulting in her body accepting donor kidney as its ownAn eight-year-old girl has been spared from taking life-long drugs to stop her body rejecting her kidney transplant thanks to a UK-first treatment.Aditi Shankar’s immune system was “reprogrammed” after a stem cell transplant, resulting in her body accepting a donor kidney as its own,...

Discovery adds weight to view that Europa’s ocean could be most promising place in solar system to look for alien lifeThe vast subterranean ocean of Europa, one of Jupiter’s many moons, contains carbon, one of the crucial ingredients for life, scientists have discovered.The observations, by the James Webb space telescope, indicate that carbon dioxide ice on the moon’s surface originated from...

First comparative research of its kind finds those with lots of social interaction and supportive family coped betterSecondary school pupils in the UK experienced significantly higher rates of depression, social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, and overall worse mental wellbeing during the Covid pandemic, research shows.Cases of depression among secondary school pupils aged 11 to 13 rose...

Award for work on shapes of proteins raises prospect of AI research earning a Nobel for first timeResearchers behind Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold program have landed one of the most prestigious prizes in science for solving a grand challenge in biology that stood for half a century.Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, who led the development of AlphaFold, an artificial intelligence program, share the...

Sweden is leading in a battle to be the first European space base outside Russia to launch a satellite into orbitFirst place is “nice but it’s not necessary”, says Stefan Gustafsson, a senior official at the Sweden Space Corporation (SSC), with a telling chortle. “Other actors are more aiming to be first. Naturally, I think we will be.”It was an unconvincing show of magnanimity. There is...

Ian Sample hears from the Guardian’s Europe environment correspondent, Ajit Niranjan, about the reporting he has been doing for the launch of our new Europe edition. He talks about Osijek, a Croatian city that has the highest heat mortality rate in Europe … but no one knows whyVisit the new European digital edition, to find the best of our original journalism about Europe along with the most...

Scientists find continuous crying by mouse pups triggers release of oxytocin, which controls milk-release responseThe brain circuit that causes the sound of a newborn crying to trigger the release of breast milk in mothers has been uncovered by scientists.The study, in mice, gives fresh insights into sophisticated changes that occur in the brain during pregnancy and parenthood. It found that 30...

Exclusive: National Muscle Disease Bio-databank will store blood test and skin biopsy samples from children with diseases such as muscular dystrophyGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastBindu Shree remembers her daughter Ivani had “such a nice plump face as a baby”, but now she sees gravity pulling down her four-year-old’s cheeks as the muscles in her face...

Logs shaped with sharp tools on border of river predate rise of modern humans and may have formed walkway or platformResearchers have discovered remnants of what is thought to be the world’s oldest known wooden structure, an arrangement of logs on the bank of a river bordering Zambia and Tanzania that predates the rise of modern humans.The simple structure, made by shaping two logs with sharp...

Armed with plastic pots, probes and the science of eDNA, researchers in Gloucestershire are searching for evidence of the critically endangered fishThe astonishing secrets being revealed by the science of environmental DNA (eDNA) are revolutionising the way in which we study and protect biodiversity, from the densest tropical jungle to the deepest ocean trench. But standing beside a ditch in the...

UK not a serious player in global race for green growth, says Greenpeace, while Oxfam says move is ‘betrayal’Scientists and environmental groups have expressed anger and dismay at the U-turn on net zero expected by the prime minister. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: Black professors make up less than 1% of science academics – will a new Royal Society scheme address the imbalance?• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionOfficially there are no black chemistry or physics professors in the UK, which many scientists say is all the data needed to conclude that UK science is institutionally racist.The Royal Society, the...

Trigger hairs that close its trap contain heat-sensitive cells that react to a rapid temperature riseA “fire alarm” has been discovered in a plant. The Venus flytrap is renowned for its carnivorous trap that snaps shut on unsuspecting insects – when the prey touches sensitive trigger hairs an electrical signal is fired across the trap, and two signals in quick succession close the trap in a...

My friend Andrew Packard, who has died aged 94, was a polymath-scientist and naturalist. His major scientific contribution concerned his work on octopuses, in which he was engaged for most of his life.Andrew’s study into why cephalopods change colour in complex patterns demonstrated that it was not just about camouflage but ways of communicating and expressing feelings. Continue...

Leading British nephrologist who founded an internationally renowned kidney unit at Guy’s hospital in LondonAs a bright young doctor at Guy’s hospital in London in the 1960s, Stewart Cameron, who has died aged 89, was determined to be both clinician and researcher, but where should he focus his talents? Irreversible kidney failure – uniformly fatal until then – was just becoming treatable...

AlphaMissense’s predictions could help speed up research and diagnosis of rare disordersScientists at Google DeepMind have built an artificial intelligence program that can predict whether millions of genetic mutations are either harmless or likely to cause disease, in an effort to speed up research and the diagnosis of rare disorders.The program makes predictions about so-called missense...

Exciting scientific developments offer solutions to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The only barrier is costThe number one cause of infants being hospitalised in the US and Europe is a virus you’ve probably never heard of: RSV. Most people experience it as a mild infection resembling a cold. But it can be very serious in babies and elderly people. The tell-tale symptoms are abnormally fast...

Exclusive: Guardian has seen copy of 27-page report that Home Office attempted to keep confidentialThe UK government’s official drug advisers privately advocated for a formal repeal of the criminalisation of personal-use drug possession in 2016, a leaked document has revealed.The Guardian has seen a copy of the 27-page pro-decriminalisation report, which the Home Office ignored at the time but...

They were long derided as knuckle-draggers, but new discoveries are setting the record straight. As we rethink the nature of the Neanderthals, we could also learn something about our own humanityThere’s a human type we’ve all met: people who find a beleaguered underdog to stick up for. Sometimes, the underdog is an individual – a runt of a boxer, say. Sometimes, it is a nation, threatened by...

Asian hornets have been spotted in the UK in record numbers this year, sparking concern about what their presence could mean for our native insects, and in particular bee populations. Madeleine Finlay speaks to ecologist Prof Juliet Osborne about why this species of hornet is so voracious, how European beekeepers have been impacted by their arrival, and how scientists and the government are...