21 articles from SATURDAY 16.4.2022

Dr Suzie Sheehy: ‘The eureka moment may come once in your career, or never’

The Australian physicist on why research is an investment, forgotten female scientists, and the impact of the Ukraine war on scienceBorn in Australia in 1984, Dr Suzie Sheehy is an accelerator physicist who runs research groups at the universities of Oxford and Melbourne, where she is developing new particle accelerators for applications in medicine. As a science communicator, she received the...

After my sister died I didn’t know what to do with my furious pain – but poets and horses led the way

I was heartbroken and angry but horse riding and medieval poetry revealed the quest I was onThis April, I will be older than my elder sister Nell. She died of cancer in December 2019. She was 46 when she died, two years older than me. This year I will be 47. Nell will always be 46. Writing “Nell died” still disturbs me as it did in the months after her death. She was my older sister. She...

Chinese Astronauts Land After Six Months in Space

BEIJING — Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Saturday after six months aboard their country’s newest orbital station in the longest crewed mission to date for China’s ambitious space program. The Shenzhou 13 space capsule landed in the Gobi desert in the northern region of Inner Mongolia, shown live on state TV. During the mission, astronaut Wang Yaping carried out...

How archery was vital to the survival of early humans

Remains found in the Rhône Valley, dating back 54,000 years, are earliest discovered outside AfricaIt is a weapon whose effectiveness was overtaken centuries ago by the gun and rifle. Yet the bow and arrow may deserve a prize place in the history of our species, say scientists. They believe archery could have been critical to Homo sapiens’ conquest of the planet, helping modern humans emerge...

Clinical trials: how taking the pills may pay those bills

Volunteering to test new treatments can net up to £7,000 – enough to help offset the cost of living riseFancy a relaxing two-week getaway where you get your travel expenses paid, plus your own en suite room with all mod cons including a TV, PlayStation games console and free wifi? What’s more, it won’t cost you anything – in fact, they are so keen for you to come that you’ll be paid...

Vaccines are no match for long Covid. Treating it is science's next great challenge | Danny Altmann

Failure to recognise the need for a response could be a blunder we rue for decades to comeWhatever your standpoint on whether the pandemic is over, or what “living with the virus” should mean, it is clear some manifestation of Covid-19 will be with us for some time to come. Not least for the estimated 1.7 million people in the UK living with long Covid.And lest any who made a full and rapid...

In US, every dog has its... DNA test

The routine is now a familiar one: Open the kit, swirl a swab around, put it in solution and wait impatiently for the results. Except this time it's not a test for COVID—it's a DNA test for dogs.