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40,040 articles from Guardian Unlimited Science
Did you solve it? Lewis Carroll for insomniacs
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...
‘We actually don’t know much’: the scientists trying to close the knowledge gap in trans healthcare
Researchers are running trials on how hormone therapies affect trans people that will also benefit healthcare for the wider populationWhen Cameron Whitley was diagnosed with kidney failure seven years ago, the news came as a shock. But the situation was about to get worse. His doctor decided the diagnosis meant Whitley’s hormone therapy had to stop.As a transgender man, now 42, who had taken...
Fridge magnets can be cool aid to holiday memory recall, study finds
Some participants in Liverpool University survey said the travel mementoes were more important to them than photographsWhether holding up shopping lists or hastily scrawled messages, fridge magnets are highly functional holiday souvenirs. Yet a new study suggests these trinkets may also provide an important means of accessing happy – and not so happy – memories of past trips.Pervasive as...
Star wars: Sri Lanka’s powerful astrologers split over auspicious dates
Group employed by government divided for first time over best date for new year ritualsSri Lanka’s government-backed traditional astrologers have failed to unanimously agree on the best date for new year rituals, with squabbling seers warning of “disaster” and accusing rivals of misinterpreting the position of stars.Astrologers are hugely influential figures consulted by the island’s...
‘Holy grail of shipwrecks’: recovery of 18th-century Spanish ship could begin in April
The San José, sunk in 1708, has been at the center of a dispute over who has rights to the wreck, including $17bn in bootySince the Colombian navy discovered the final resting place of the Spanish galleon San José in 2015, its location has remained a state secret, the wreck – and its precious cargo – left deep under the waters of the Caribbean.Efforts to conserve the ship and recover its...
Can you solve it? Lewis Carroll for insomniacs
It’s not all about AliceTodays puzzles are all penned by Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and appear in a delightful miscellany of his non-Alice scribblings, Lewis Carroll’s Guide for Insomniacs, curated by LC superfan Gyles Brandreth. They may be oldies, but they are goodies!1. The Chelsea Pensioners Continue...
Starwatch: March equinox is upon us as sun crosses celestial equator
Length of day and night roughly equal as longer summer days draw nearThe sun crosses the celestial equator this week, meaning that the March equinox is upon us.The celestial equator is the projection of the Earth’s equator up into the sky. Because Earth rotates on a tilted axis, which always points in the same direction, our orientation to the sun changes throughout the year. When we are in the...
UK researchers find way of diagnosing bowel cancer without biopsies
PET scans can examine entire bowel before and during treatment, avoiding risks associated with taking tissue samplesResearchers in Glasgow have identified a new means of diagnosing and treating bowel cancer with imaging technology, avoiding the need for biopsies.Biopsies require an invasive procedure with a number of health risks, such as infection, and are limited in what they can capture within...
UK scientists working on breast cancer monitor fitted in bra
Researchers at Nottingham Trent University hope device used at home will improve tracking of tumoursScientists are developing a device that fits inside a bra and could monitor whether a breast cancer tumour is growing.Researchers hope the device will provide a new non-invasive method of detecting tumour growth that patients can use “in the comfort of their own homes”. Continue...
SUNDAY 17. MARCH 2024
Cosmic cleaners: the scientists scouring English cathedral roofs for space dust
Mini missions are being launched amid the spires – a haven for dust particles that may contain clues about the cosmos and the early EarthOn the roof of Canterbury Cathedral, two planetary scientists are searching for cosmic dust. While the red brick parapet hides the streets, buildings and trees far below, only wispy clouds block the deep blue sky that extends into outer space.The roaring of a...
Feeling empty inside, one sociologist found answers by exploring his own traumatic childhood
Along the way Corey Keyes developed concepts of languishing and flourishing which others have found helpfulWhen he was 16, Corey Keyes was finally doing well after a brutal childhood. He got high grades at school, played quarterback on the football team, and was living with his loving grandmother in Wisconsin, USA.But, the sociologist and professor emeritus of Emory University writes in his new...
Obese teens can crash diet safely if monitored by a dietitian, study finds
Fears over the effect of rapid weight loss on physical and mental wellbeing of young people said to be unjustifiedShort-term, very low-calorie diets for obese teenagers are safe as long as they are closely monitored by an experienced dietitian, according to researchers in Australia.The study, by scientists based at Sydney University, also revealed that many adolescents involved in the...
SATURDAY 16. MARCH 2024
Brain chips: the Sydney researchers ‘miles ahead’ of Elon Musk’s Neuralink
Multiple Australian projects are on the cutting edge of neurotech breakthroughs and man-machine interfaces – raising questions of security and privacy for human mindsGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastBrain-computer interface technology is at the core of movies such as Ready Player One, The Matrix and Avatar. But outside the realm of science fiction, BCI is...
She beat a rare liver cancer – and now works with her father to find more cures
Cancer scientist decides to study the tumour that once afflicted his small daughter – and now her work is adding to his project’s successElana Simon was 10 years old when she started to experience severe pains in her abdomen. For two years, puzzled doctors put forward diagnoses including lactose intolerance, Crohn’s disease and stress. It was not until 2008 that they pinpointed the real...
Space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock: ‘I was underestimated as a child. I want to tell kids to reach for the stars’
The Sky at Night presenter on science, school and Star TrekBorn in London in 1968 to Nigerian parents, Maggie Aderin-Pocock is a scientist and presenter of The Sky at Night. She trained as a physicist – graduating from Imperial College London with a PhD in 1994, and working for the Ministry of Defence on landmine detection and missile warning systems. She has since designed a host...
Scientists divided over whether record heat is acceleration of climate crisis
Some believe global anomalies are in line with predictions but others are more concerned by speed of changeRecord temperatures in 2024 on land and at sea have prompted scientists to question whether these anomalies are in line with predicted global heating patterns or if they represent a concerning acceleration of climate breakdown.Heat above the oceans remains persistently, freakishly high,...
I feel for women misled over egg-freezing. If I’d believed doctors during my transition, my kids wouldn’t be here | Freddy McConnell
We all deserve better from healthcare providers who sell false promise to some, while shutting down options for others You can’t have missed the conversations about the rise of freezing eggs for non-medical or “social” reasons in recent years, which forms part of an explosion in the use of fertility treatments, all with the promise of giving more options to prospective parents. The starting...
Weekend podcast: teacher Michael Donkor on coming out to his pupils; finding love via small ads; and are bad habits your fault?
Should you blame yourself for your bad habits? (1m53s); author and teacher, Michael Donkor, on the dilemma of whether to come out to his pupils (7m50s); and missed connections: four extraordinary stories of couples who found love via small ads (26m05s) Continue...
FRIDAY 15. MARCH 2024
Why ME/CFS is still so poorly researched and treated | Letters
Readers respond to George Monbiot’s article on the treatment and attitude of the medical profession to the debilitating conditionI am writing to express my appreciation of George Monbiot’s perceptive article (‘You don’t want to get better’: the outdated treatment of ME/CFS patients is a national scandal, 12 March). I have lived with severe fatigue for more than three years, following a...
Younge writing on racism best since Baldwin
Racism in politics | A propulsion problem | Joy in education | Salford’s rugby winGary Younge’s article on the universal hypocrisy in relation to racism being expressed by both of our main political parties is the most honest and ruthlessly coruscating essay I’ve read since James Baldwin (In Britain’s degraded politics, fighting racism has become a cynical game, 15 March). It should be...
Plant specimens collected by Charles Darwin to be unveiled to the public
Specimens collected on Voyage of the Beagle have been in Cambridge University archive for nearly 200 yearsPlant specimens collected by Charles Darwin on the voyage of the Beagle have been unearthed in an archive at Cambridge University.The rare specimens, which have been stored in the archives of the Cambridge University herbarium for nearly 200 years, were given by Darwin to his teacher and...
Canada moves to protect coral reef that scientists say ‘shouldn’t exist’
Discovery was made after First Nations tipped off ecologists about groups of fish gathering in a fjord off British ColumbiaDeep in the hostile waters off Canada’s west coast, in a narrow channel surrounded by fjords, lies a coral reef that scientists believe “shouldn’t exist”. The reef is the northernmost ever discovered in the Pacific Ocean and offers researchers a new glimpse into the...
‘Alarming’ rise in Americans with long Covid symptoms
CDC data shows nearly 18m people could be living with long Covid even as health agency relaxes isolation recommendationsSome 6.8% of American adults are currently experiencing long Covid symptoms, according to a new survey from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), revealing an “alarming” increase in recent months even as the health agency relaxes Covid isolation...
Brazil to release millions of anti-dengue mosquitoes as death toll from outbreak mounts
Mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia bacteria that inhibit spread of disease to be introduced in six cities after successful pilot schemeA dengue-fighting strategy that involves releasing bacteria-infected mosquitoes will be rolled out to six Brazilian cities in the coming months as the country battles a severe outbreak of dengue fever, a viral disease transmitted by the Aedes aegypti...
Neurological conditions now leading cause of ill-health worldwide, finds study
Numbers living with or dying from disorders such as stroke rises dramatically to 3.4bn people – 43% of global populationNeurological conditions ranging from migraine to stroke, Parkinson’s disease and dementia, are now the leading cause of ill-health worldwide, causing 11.1 million deaths in 2021, research has revealed.The number of people living with or dying from disorders of the nervous...