Stargazers will have to wait years for repeat performance with four planets also appearing in straight lineJupiter and Venus, two of the solar system’s brightest planets, will appear to almost touch in a rare celestial spectacle this weekend.Although in reality they will be millions of miles apart, for stargazers on Earth they will appear to be close enough to almost collide in a planetary...

For humanity truly to slip the surly bonds of Earth, private funds and intrepid thrill-seekers will be requiredMartin Rees is the astronomer royalI’m old enough to have watched the grainy TV images of the first moon landings by Apollo 11 in 1969. I can never look at the moon without recalling this heroic exploit. It was achieved only 12 years after the first object, Sputnik-1, was launched into...

More sophisticated AI means space agencies should not use public funds for risky human missions, says Lord Martin ReesThe world’s space agencies should scrap plans to send astronauts to the moon and Mars and leave them to explorers and billionaires who can privately fund and risk such adventures, the astronomer royal says.Lord Martin Rees said technical improvements and more sophisticated...

Therapy was like finding a key for a door that had been locked my whole life. Here are the nine things it’s taught meListen to an audio version of this article I am standing outside an ordinary house in a tree-lined street on a midsummer afternoon, about to change my life. I glance through a window and see the reassuring domestic ephemera of books, a computer monitor, a child’s drawing. Next...

Concerns rise about surge as scientists say lack of exposure to viruses during Covid restrictions could be factorThe number of children in the UK suffering from severe hepatitis has risen to 145 as concerns mount about the mysterious surge in cases.The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) announced an increase of 34 cases but said most children having recovered and no children have died. There has...

With 340m people living under lockdown or restrictions, the administration are sticking to their stance. But at what cost?Shanghai’s month under lockdown – in picturesAcross much of the world people are taking international holidays, returning to the office, and going to festivals and political rallies. Faced with the seemingly unstoppable Omicron variant, they’ve decided to live as close to...

French book and documentary coming to the UK in September seeks to ‘debunk the simplistic division’ of gender rolesFrom academic works giving women a supporting role to hunter-gather men, to Raquel Welch’s portrayal of a bikini-clad cavewoman in the 1966 film One Million Years BC, the gender division of the stone age is firmly entrenched in public consciousness.While men strode out to spear...

Exercise better than relying on painkillers to improve quality of life long term, says guidancePeople with arthritis are being urged to lose weight and exercise more rather than rely on painkillers as the main therapies for their condition.NHS guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) says people who are overweight should be told their pain can be reduced if they...

Adding oxygen to blood using ECMO process found to cause big increase in survival rate in severe casesScores of severely ill Covid-19 sufferers survived because they were given the NHS’s highest form of intensive care in which an artificial lung breathes for them, a study has found.Patients in the UK who underwent extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) were more likely to survive than those...

Three customers accompanied by former Nasa astronaut paid $55m for place on Ax-1 missionThe first private crew of astronauts has returned from the International Space Station (ISS).Michael López-Alegría, Larry Connor, Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy are not employed by a government, but are part of the Ax-1 mission from Axiom Space Inc. López-Alegría is a former Nasa astronaut with four previous...

Research shows high degree of variability between individual animals – with implications for ownersFrom sociable labradors to aggressive pitbulls, when it comes to canine behaviour there are no end of stereotypes. But research suggests such traits may have less to do with breed than previously thought.Modern dog breeds began to emerge in the Victorian era and are often physically distinct –...

More than 50 high school students working with university and industry experts to design, build and launch a CubeSatGet our free news app; get our morning email briefingStudents in south-east Queensland will be shooting for the stars as they prepare to work with space industry experts to launch a satellite into space.More than 50 high school students will take part in the Stem Program About Space...

Too much and too little sleep linked with worse cognitive performance and mental healthSeven hours of sleep each night is the ideal amount in middle to old age, research suggests.The study of nearly 500,000 adults aged between 38 and 73 found that both too much and too little sleep were linked with worse cognitive performance and mental health, including anxiety and depression. A consistent amount...

‘Zoonotic spillovers’ expected to rise with at least 15,000 instances of viruses leaping between species over next 50 yearsThere will be at least 15,000 instances of viruses leaping between species over the next 50 years, with the climate crisis helping fuel a “potentially devastating” spread of disease that will imperil animals and people and risk further pandemics, researchers have...

Research shows more than half of girls think science and technology careers are preserve of boys Brownies are to learn coding and Guides will investigate chatbots in a bid to shift stubborn attitudes among girls that science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) careers are just for boys.The drive to engage thousands more girls in technology comes after research by Girlguiding found more...

Leeds University shares library of 1950s vernacular and launches project to preserve today’s phrasesWas you or were you having your tea, dinner or supper last night? Before it, were you feeling clammish, clemmed, starving, hungry, leary or just plain clempt?Are you still whanging in Yorkshire? Haining in Somerset? Hocksing in Cambridgeshire? Hoying in Durham? Pegging in Cheshire? Pelting in...

Over the past few weeks, countries around the world have reported an unexpected increase in the number of children with hepatitis. So far about 200 cases have been reported. More than half have come from the UK, but there have also been reports from Spain, Japan and the US, among others. Although this is still a very rare disease, it is severe, with 10% of affected children needing a liver...

Unicef says virus is ‘canary in the coalmine’ that shows up the gaps in vaccination campaigns for preventable illnessMeasles cases have surged nearly 80% worldwide this year amid disruption caused by Covid-19, the UN has said, warning that the rise of the “canary in a coalmine” illness indicated that outbreaks of other diseases were likely to be on the way.The coronavirus pandemic has...

Rare fossils from three of the late-Triassic marine reptiles found in Swiss Alps include 10cm tooth – big enough to snag giant squidThe remains of a huge sea creature with enormous teeth that could have helped it capture giant squid have been found in the Swiss Alps.Ichthyosaurs were large marine reptiles with an elongated, snakey shape. They first emerged after the end of the Permian...

Face-to-face gatherings produce more ideas – and more inventive ones – than videoconferencing, say researchersAs if the endless muting and freezing, the need for shelves lined with high literature, and the constant fear of a colleague wandering on screen unclothed were not enough to worry about, researchers have found that Zoom stifles creativity.Meeting face to face produced more ideas, and...

Paolo Macchiarini, who made headlines for pioneering surgery, charged with aggravated assault over procedureAn Italian doctor who made headlines for pioneering windpipe surgery has gone on trial in Sweden, charged with aggravated assault for performing the experimental procedure.Paolo Macchiarini won praise in 2011 after claiming to have performed the world’s first synthetic trachea transplants...

Female physicists question ‘terrifying’ claims made by government commissioner Katharine Birbalsingh to MPsGirls do not choose physics A-level because they dislike “hard maths”, the government’s social mobility commissioner has claimed, prompting anger from leading scientists.Addressing a science and technology committee inquiry on diversity and inclusion in Stem subjects (science,...

Computer monitoring software is helping companies spy on their employees to measure their productivity – often without their consentWhen the job of a young east coast-based analyst – we’ll call him James – went remote with the pandemic, he didn’t envisage any problems. The company, a large US retailer for which he has been a salaried employee for more than half a decade, provided him...

Research shows largest ‘turbidity currents’ can carry more sediment than the annual output of all the world’s rivers combined over timeOn 18 November 1929, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake shook the ocean floor off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Within minutes transatlantic telephone cables started sequentially snapping, with the furthest cable – 600km from the quake – breaking 13 hours...