US woman Eunice Foote only now receiving credit for first identifying greenhouse effectThis year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Eunice Foote, a pioneer in climate research of whom few people have heard. She showed that water vapour and carbon dioxide helped to heat Earth’s atmosphere, and realised that when the atmosphere had higher levels of carbon dioxide it made the climate much...

As a breast cancer survivor, I understand the grip of fear. But the best thing is to talk to a doctor then make your own choicesIt was hard to avoid the story, late last week: “Breast cancer risk from using HRT is twice what was thought,” it warned. I read it, because as someone who’s experienced breast cancer I’m always interested in the latest news about it.The new research doesn’t...

A simple treatment to stave off the health problems of old age could be available in five to 12 years. Here’s how it would workThe science of extending life is a subject of morbid fascination, conjuring the image of old billionaires being cryogenically frozen. But imagine if, instead of a pill you could take to live for ever, there was a pill that could push back the ageing process – a...

Purveyors of disinformation can be caught out by the particular words they use, according to new researchThe internet represents the biggest explosion of data in human history. There’s more out there, and more access to it than ever before. The information ecosystem is a bit like a tropical rainforest: luxuriant, dense and fiercely competitive. As such, it contains its fair share of predators...