22 articles from SATURDAY 11.1.2020

Beware a closing of the British mind if we abandon European endeavours | Nick Cohen

Post-Brexit, we should be wary of spurning joint projects in science and educationLeaving the EU will produce the greatest loss of freedom since the Second World War. The freedom of businesses to trade with Europe dominates politics. But I suspect the loss of the freedom of the individual to live and work where they want in the EU, to fall in love and bring home whoever they choose and, above all,...

How astrology paved the way for predictive analytics

Astrology has influenced science for millennia, argues a new book – and it endures in algorithmic data modellingIf you type “Why are millennials” into Google, the top result completes the question with “obsessed with astrology”. Never mind the answer; the question alone is likely to incite exasperation among scientists, most of whom would condemn astrology as pseudoscience at its most...

I thought I needed alcohol to enjoy sex… but being sober made it so much better

Drunk sex was the only kind I could have with a new guy – until I quit drinking and focussed on sexual satisfactionI never expected I’d be proud of myself for having a one-night stand. Before I quit drinking, I’d always say I “loved dating”. Truthfully, I loved drinking and drunk sex was often the logical conclusion of the evening. I’d convince myself that having four or five drinks on...

Fossil Reveals Earth's Oldest Known Animal Guts

They say you should trust your gut, which is what Emmy Smith did when she went hunting for fossils in 2016. Smith, a field geologist, had a hunch she would find something interesting at a site north of Pahrump, Nevada, and she did. But what her gut hadn't told her was that some of those fossils would turn out to contain the oldest known animal guts on the planet."It was just really...

Climate at mercy of politics in 2020, experts warn

2020 is the most crucial year yet for humanity's plan to dodge the bullet of catastrophic global warming, experts said Saturday, warning that the narrow path to safety was riddled with pitfalls, from the US election to Brexit.

Paleolithic diet may not have been that 'paleo', scientists say

Researchers at Wits University suggest humans in southern Africa were eating carbs up to 170,000 years ago – a blow to gym vloggers everywhereIn a blow to gym vloggers who pretend to be scientists everywhere, the paleo diet may not be all that paleo. According to a new study, humans were eating carbs up to 170,000 years ago.The paleo diet is based on the assumption that modern farming and...

Voyager scientist Ed Stone on the search for extraterrestrial life: 'We need to get back to Enceladus'

Physics professor reflects on career ranging from most distant object to closest approach to the sunThe Voyager mission has not lacked for highlights, having beamed back the first glimpses of methane oceans, erupting volcanos on a Jovian moon and a thunderstorm on Saturn. But Prof Ed Stone, who has been at Voyager’s scientific helm since 1972, says there is one place above all that he longs to...

Specific insulin-like peptide regulates how beetle 'weapons' grow

A scientist from Tokyo Metropolitan University and coworkers have discovered that a specific insulin-like peptide called ILP2 regulates the size of 'weapons' in Gnatocerus cornutus beetles in different nutritional environments. They found diminished mandible size when expression of the peptide was suppressed, and that it was specifically expressed in the 'fat body', where beetles store nutrients....