20 articles from SUNDAY 14.11.2021

Musk Says Number of People That Have Walked on Moon Will Grow ‘Soon’

Bloomberg — Responding to another Twitter user, Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk says the list of people who have walked on the Moon will soon “grow much longer as humanity reaches new heights.” Soon, that list will grow much longer as humanity reaches new heights! — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2021 The original post lists all astronauts that have reached and walked on...

I used to hate exercise, but with support from my parents, I’m now jumping for joy

I was turning 40 and very unfit. Now my super-healthy parents, both in their 70s, have inspired me to exercise and I love itIt’s Saturday morning and I’m standing in the middle of Osterley Park, west London, between my mum and dad, getting ready for the weekly parkrun. My dad is jogging on the spot, my mum is doing the same. I am thinking how do I get out of this? Both of them are full of...

Try, try and try again. Why did modern humans take so long to settle in Europe?

Homo sapiens migrated to the continent in waves – but the reasons for their early failures to overcome Neanderthals are a mysteryModern humans made several failed attempts to settle in Europe before eventually taking over the continent. This is the stark conclusion of scientists who have been studying the course of Homo sapiens’s exodus from Africa tens of thousands of years ago.Researchers...

Can lucid dreaming help us understand consciousness?

The ability to control our dreams is a skill that more of us are seeking to acquire for sheer pleasure. But if taken seriously, scientists believe it could unlock new secrets of the mindMichelle Carr is frequently plagued by tidal waves in her dreams. What should be a terrifying nightmare, however, can quickly turn into a whimsical adventure – thanks to her ability to control her dreams. She can...

From the archive: a colourful personality test, 1970

Six well-known public figures take the colour test. Who chose calming blue?The Observer Magazine of 8 March 1970 had a bit of fun with a colour test developed by the psychologist Dr Max Lüscher that supposedly revealed personality and character traits (‘Showing your true colours’), despite his stern warning that ‘it is not a parlour game or a horoscope’.Robert Shields, the Observer’s...

On Covid, we need to be careful when we talk about numbers

A recent wave of mistakes shows how misinterpreting data risks misrepresenting the impact of the virusSince we have just had Maths Week in England, it seems appropriate to look at a wave of recent errors when communicating numbers.First, the statistics may be described wrongly. The chief executive of NHS England recently claimed: “We have had 14 times the number of people in hospital with Covid...

COP26 Ends With Nobody Really Happy

Six years ago, when the hammer was gaveled and the Paris Agreement agreed upon, the negotiators gathered at the massive conference complex on the outskirts of Paris erupted in applause and left the city with a sense of optimism. Celebration ensued in bars across the city for the thousands who had traveled to Paris to push for a deal. The mood at the conclusion of COP26 in Glasgow was notably...