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6 articles from Guardian Unlimited Science

Starwatch: young moon heads for encounter with Jupiter and Saturn

As the moon passes its first quarter phase this week, it will share the sky with the two largest planets in the Solar SystemAt the beginning of this week, keep a watch out for a young moon. The lunar month began on 30 August, and from tonight it should be relatively easy to see a thin crescent moon. It will appear low in the west shortly after sunset. Find an unobstructed western horizon,...

Why don’t doctors trust women? Because they don’t know much about us | Gabrielle Jackson

The medical community have known for a century that women are living in constant pain. They’ve done nothing about itIt’s frustrating to have questions that don’t get answered. It’s altogether disturbing to find out that those questions haven’t even been asked.When I was diagnosed with endometriosis at age 23, I didn’t know enough to ask the right questions. I assumed my gynaecologist...

Five ways to be sober-curious (and make a success of not drinking)

Staying alcohol-free at social events can be daunting, but be open to the new experience and own itThe most recent survey on adult drinking habits in Great Britain found that as of 2015, 29% of 16- to 24-year-olds do not drink alcohol – an increase of 18% from 2005. With so many young people abstaining from drinking altogether, there has concurrently been a rise in the “sober-curious”...

What an urban spaceman tells us about the human condition

An unusual astronaut is at the centre of a new exhibition of art and scientific artefacts designed to make us think about everything from our personal lives to the fate of humanity itself“It’s hard to think of a greater challenge to our future health than environmental breakdown,” says Clare Barlow, project curator of Wellcome Collection’s newest gallery. Opening on Thursday 5 September,...

Malcolm Gladwell: ‘I’m just trying to get people to take psychology seriously’

The Canadian writer made his name bringing intellectual sparkle to everyday subjects, and his new book - about how strangers interact with each other - is no exceptionIn the flesh, Malcolm Gladwell is exactly as I imagined him to be: engaging, polite, dauntingly cerebral and supremely self-assured in that way that the exceptionally gifted often are. At 55, there is still something of the sporty,...

The Observer view on Donald Trump’s plans to militarise space | Observer editorial

Countries must join forces and sign a peace treaty or space will become a war-fighting domainThe thought of Donald Trump as space commander-in-chief, whizzing around the Milky Way, zapping alien invaders and conquering new worlds, is both comical and terrifying. Before they began exchanging love letters, the US president ridiculed his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong-un, as “little rocket...