Experts produce clusters of enamel-like calcium phosphate to crack age-old problemScientists say they have finally cracked the problem of repairing tooth enamel.Though enamel is the hardest tissue in the body, it cannot self-repair. Now scientists have discovered a method by which its complex structure can be reproduced and the enamel essentially “grown” back. Continue...

Same sex attraction isn’t genetic. It’s humanThe argument that some behaviour is “in our genes” is distrusted by the left. Too often it is used to whitewash terrible injustices. Yet it cannot be entirely dismissed. Certain patterns of behaviour and thought, such as the faculty of language acquisition, are very clearly a part of our genetic inheritance as a species. The instinct for justice...

Below-inflation pay rises have left staff with 13% real-terms wage cut since 2010, says unionStaff at Science Museum sites across England have begun a 24-hour strike in protest over low pay.The action comes after the group’s directors refused to increase a below inflation 1.5% pay rise offered to more than 75% of staff this year. Continue...

Gender norms imprison us all, dictating our behaviour for fear of abuse – and that extends to who we sleep or fall in love withIt turns out that genetics is almost as complicated as love and sex. New research has shown that the long fabled “gay gene” does not exist; that a variety of different genes contribute to same-sex attraction, and that several other factors are in the mix too.For many...

Do you know what noise a hungry sea anemone makes? Soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause does. Armed with over 5,000 hours of recordings, he takes Ian Sample on a journey through the natural world and demonstrates why sound is a powerful tool for conservationFirst broadcast on 15 June 2018Do you know what noise a hungry sea anemone makes? This is one of the 15,000 species that the soundscape...

Over the past few hundred years in the UK all compass needles have pointed west of true northAt some point over the next two weeks, compasses at Greenwich will point true north for the first time in about 360 years.And for some parts of the UK, this may not happen for another 20 years. Either way, it is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Continue...

Donald Trump has said the newly formed US Space Command will 'defend America's vital interests in space, the next war-fighting domain'. Speaking at a ceremony in Washington, Trump said Space Command would protect US satellites orbiting the planet and detect missile launches abroad, and would be followed by the establishment of the Space Force, 'the sixth branch of the United States armed...

Individual action can’t fight climate crisis. These Americans know we need a collective responseLast fall, as I landed in New Orleans, a seed of existential anxiety lodged itself deep in my gut. It was my fifth flight in just over a week. I was in the middle of a tour to promote a book on how coastal communities around the US were already responding to the climate crisis in surprising, often...

Shutting parliament is the latest wheeze from the trigger-happy Vote Leavers in power. Don’t buy into their politics of divisionWhat did you feel? Maybe it was anger, fury, fear. Perhaps it was excitement, hope, a certain thrill. It is unlikely that you experienced the announcement of parliament’s prorogation in purely cerebral, intellectual terms: it is hard to remain numb in the face of such...

President detailed operations in ceremony, including defending against Chinese and Russian anti-satellite weapons, and promised space force will soon followIt was one small step for man, one giant leap for Trumpkind.Donald Trump made the short journey on Thursday from the Oval Office to the White House Rose Garden, then promised to unleash an army of space warriors to infinity and beyond. Continue...