Cabinet papers 2002: PM lifted ban despite opposition of conservatives and religious leaders, including then Archbishop PellGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastJohn Howard’s decision to allow stem cell research using surplus IVF embryos might surprise people “who saw Howard as only a rightwing person”, the former senator and cabinet minister Amanda...

Chris Stringer, who has just received a CBE for his work on human evolution, tells how his remarkable quest as a young researcher transformed understanding of our speciesAs with so many other careers, chance played a major role in my pursuit of science. After a childhood in which I displayed a disquieting interest in skulls and stories about Neanderthals, I was – after a challenging stint as a...

It was a great year for a slight lifting of the veil on the final frontier – from redirecting an asteroid to a glimpse into creationThe year has been a blast in space exploration, from Nasa’s big step in returning to moon missions, to glimpses at the origins of the universe and hope that humanity could survive the doomsday scenario of an asteroid hurtling towards Earth.These are the events...

It’s not easy being a ‘good’ person – what can we learn from the people who have thought about it the most?I used to think I was a good person. I was caring to my friends, my partner, my family; I gave to charity and I volunteered; I wasn’t racist, homophobic or sexist. Boxes: ticked. But when I started training to become a therapist in the NHS, I began to understand that however much we...

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says WHO officials stressed to Beijing the importance of sharing data ahead of easing of travel restrictions on 8 JanuaryThe World Health Organisation again urged China’s health officials to regularly share specific, real-time information on the country’s Covid surge, as the UK joined other countries in bringing in travel restrictions, citing a lack of data as the...

Our approach to the pandemic has always been science-led, and that’s still the case with our new, more lenient guidelinesZheng Zeguang is the Chinese ambassador to the UKNews: China Covid: experts estimate 9,000 deaths a dayOver the past weeks, Beijing has become the first city to go through the infection peak, and life and work are returning to normal in the capital. The Covid-19 situation in...

A trawl of terms used for the first time or with fresh significance reveals the annus horribilis that was 2022It has been an extraordinary year, so extraordinary, in fact, it required a new word to sum it up: “permacrisis”. This entered the Guardian’s lexicon for the first time in March, an apt word for the annus horribilis that was 2022.“Permacrisis” went on to become Collins...

Meganne Christian is training for the ‘coolest job in the world’. It’s a long way from Wollongong for the 35-year-old scientistSign up for a weekly email featuring our best readsIn mid-November Dr Meganne Christian was cycling home from her work at the Italian National Research Agency in Bologna when her phone rang.“I wasn’t going to answer because I was riding,” the Australian...

It’s the potential of individuals to change the world which is at the heart of democratic liberalism – but their actions must be matched by global supportAs we farewell 2022, many of the world’s citizens will be hoping for a better new year. It is hard to look back on the past year – indeed couple of years – without a high degree of angst about the direction of our global community.We...

Two years of barely being exposed to such bugs seems to have disrupted their usual patterns New Year’s Eve gatherings, drinks with the neighbours: with zero restrictions on mixing, and almost three years of catching up to do, it’s perhaps no surprise that many of us have been struck down with a mysterious lurgy that causes fever, sore throat, headache and other decidedly Covid-like symptoms...

Whether there are more crises or we’re just more aware of them, a sense of our shared fate is key to surviving themAndré Spicer is professor of organisational behaviour at the Bayes Business School at City, University of LondonIn 1940, as the Nazis were closing in on Paris, Walter Benjamin, the German Jewish literary critic and avid collector, knew he had to flee the city. Before leaving, he...

Further studies under way as ‘remarkable’ results offer new hope in treating biliary tract cancerA man given a year to live after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer is now disease-free thanks to a UK trial of a personalised drug regime.Robert Glynn, 51, a welder from Worsley in Greater Manchester, said he “wouldn’t be here” if it were not for the remarkable results of the...

The largest group of new discoveries was the wasp, including miniature varietiesEighty-five new species of wasp are among more than 350 new species identified in 2022 by the Natural History Museum, and scientists say there are many more to come.By combing through its collections, as well as sending scientists on research trips, curators and researchers have managed to describe a total of 351 new...

The decision to stop reporting the Covid growth rate is the latest in a series of attempts to limit the available information about the current spread, writes Dr Brian Ramsden, while Susan Treagus has been keeping a Covid diaryWith a predictable adherence to the principle of burying bad news, the government’s UK Health Security Agency announced on the Friday before Christmas that it is now...

After long pursuing a strict zero-Covid regime, restrictions have been lifted in China as new variants emergeAfter long pursing a zero-Covid policy, China has relaxed many restrictions including quarantine rules for travellers. But some experts have raised concerns the U-turn may cause problems. We take a look at why.What has happened in China? Continue...

Friederike Otto, a member of the world’s only rapid reaction force of climate scientists, on looking into the apocalypse of extreme weatherCycling over London Bridge as the dry heat pushed the temperature above 40C and a hot wind gusted down the River Thames, Friederike Otto paused to look at the monument to the city’s great fire more than 350 years earlier.“The heat was intense, the...

Scientists setting up ‘post-detection hub’ in Scotland are concerned humans would react ‘like headless chickens’The moment has been imagined a thousand times. As astronomers comb the cosmos with their powerful telescopes, they spot something that makes them gasp. Amid the feeble rays from distant galaxies lies a weak but persistent signal: a message from an advanced civilisation.It would...

Friendships won’t save the world. But they can sure save your sanity, shore up your health and make your life a lot betterHere is a much-needed resolution for many of us in the new year: make new friendships and shore up old ones.Americans are an increasingly lonely bunch, spending more time solo and on our devices than with others. A decade ago, the average American spent about six and a half...

Back in November, researchers hailed the dawn of a new era of Alzheimer’s therapies. After decades of failure, a clinical trial finally confirmed that a drug, lecanemab, was able to slow cognitive decline in patients with early stages of the disease. The result may have been modest – a reduction in the decline in patients’ overall mental skills by 27% over 18 months – but it could not be...

In the northern hemisphere five planets can be seen by the naked eye, and Uranus and Neptune with a telescope or binocularsEvery planet in the solar system will be visible in the night sky simultaneously on Wednesday, which is regarded by experts as a rare astronomical event.Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars can all currently be seen in that order in the northern hemisphere with the naked...

There are 2.5m of these tiny creatures for each human and they play a big role as ecosystem engineers, as well as providing insights on everything from the climate to ageingAnts can be better than pesticides for growing healthy crops, study findsRead more in our series Biodiversity: what happened next?To most of us, they are small, uninteresting and sometimes annoying, but 2022 revealed just how...

Study shows sea level rise on Amalfi coast over last 20 years is twice that on Costa del SolOver the last 20 years, there has been twice as much sea level rise on Italy’s Amalfi coast as on Spain’s Costa del Sol, a study shows.Researchers combined data from tide gauges and satellites with ice melt measurements to model sea level change across the Mediterranean basin since 1960. To their...

Scientists say test could replace a costly brain scan or painful lumbar puncture and enable earlier detection of diseaseScientists have developed a blood test to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease without the need for expensive brain imaging or a painful lumbar puncture, where a sample of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is drawn from the lower back. If validated, the test could enable faster diagnosis of...

Call for UK government ban of chemical in processed meat such as bacon and ham after mice tumours studyA leading scientist has urged ministers to ban the use of nitrites in food after research highlighted the “clear” risk of developing cancer from eating processed meat such as bacon and ham too often.The study by scientists from Queen’s University Belfast found that mice fed a diet of...