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12 articles from Guardian Unlimited Science

Success of past rewilding projects shows path to restoring damaged ecosystems

Concept is now widely accepted after initial controversy around projects such as Yellowstone wolves – though opposition remainsScientists raise £15m to bring mammoth back from extinctionThe news that scientists are planning to bring back woolly mammoths to the Arctic tundra, by splicing DNA from Asian elephants with that of their extinct ancestors, has raised a few eyebrows in the world of...

UK Covid: jabbing 12- to 15-year-olds will reduce impact of school disruption on children’s mental health – Whitty

Chris Whitty says disruption ‘extraordinarily difficult for children’ and informed decision to recommend vaccinating 12- to 15-year oldsUK children aged 12 to 15 to be offered Covid jabFully vaccinated people account for 1.2% of England’s Covid-19 deathsVaccine booster programmes not appropriate now, say global expertsStarmer insists Labour does have alternative approach to social...

Cows ‘potty-trained’ in experiment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Calves taught to use toilet area with rewards and mild punishments, limiting ammonia releaseA herd of cows has been “potty-trained” in an experiment that scientists say could pave the way for more environmentally friendly farms.Waste from cattle farms often contaminates soil and waterways and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and the acidification of soil. For this reason,...

Firm raises $15m to bring back woolly mammoth from extinction

Scientists set initial sights on creating elephant-mammoth hybrid, with first calves expected in six yearsTen thousand years after woolly mammoths vanished from the face of the Earth, scientists are embarking on an ambitious project to bring the beasts back to the Arctic tundra.The prospect of recreating mammoths and returning them to the wild has been discussed – seriously at times – for more...

Fully vaccinated people account for 1.2% of England’s Covid-19 deaths

ONS figures show 51,281 Covid deaths between January and July, with 458 dying at least 21 days after second doseCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coveragePeople who were fully vaccinated accounted for just 1.2% of all deaths involving Covid-19 in England in the first seven months of this year.The figures, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), have been seized...

Rain fell on Greenland's ice sheet for the first time ever known. Alarms should ring | Kim Heacox

Climate scientists believe that if Greenland continues to rapidly melt, tens of millions of people around the world could face yearly flooding and displacement by 2030Many people believed he couldn’t do it. Ski across the Greenland ice sheet, a vast, unmapped, high-elevation plateau of ice and snow? Madness.But Fridtjof Nansen, a young Norwegian, proved them wrong. In 1888, he and his small...

Does overhearing your spouse’s work calls put you on edge? Me too. I found out why | Sophie Brickman

A couples therapist told me: ‘It can be very shocking to encounter a person you’re unfamiliar with, especially if we don’t like that version’“Daddy, you workin’?” my two-year-old daughter asks throughout the day, as my husband saunters around the living room in a fugue state conducting back-to-back business calls, AirPods locked and loaded, eyes fixed to the middle distance.Charlotte...

Scientists identify key conditions to set up a creative ‘hot streak’

Researchers use AI to reveal runs of artistic success are commonly preceded by an experimental phaseWhether it is the director Márta Mészáros or the artist Jackson Pollock, those in creative careers often experience a particular burst of success.Now researchers have used artificial intelligence to reveal such “hot streaks” are commonly preceded by an experimental phase followed by a focus...

Vaccinating teenagers against Covid is priority, says UK epidemiologist

Neil Ferguson says immunity levels falling behind other countries that have jabbed 12- to 15-year-oldsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe scientist whose modelling was instrumental to the UK going into its first lockdown has backed vaccinating teenagers as a priority.Prof Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for...

UK’s ambition to stamp out neglected tropical diseases gets neglected

£200m project to tackle avoidable blindness and disfigurement in Africa is axed with cut to aid budgetA chandelier sparkling in the background, the grandeur of Downing Street gleaming behind him, Boris Johnson looks into the camera and speaks with solemnity. He is marking World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day, he says, to raise awareness of these “terrible afflictions … which impose an...

NHS England announces large-scale trial of potential early cancer test

More than 100,000 volunteers aged between 50 and 77 sought to take part in Galleri blood screeningThe NHS has launched the world’s largest trial of a potentially gamechanging blood test that aims to detect more than 50 types of cancer before symptoms appear.More than 100,000 volunteers are being sought to provide blood samples at mobile test clinics in regions across England from Monday to...