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2,259 articles from Guardian Unlimited Science

By sleeping when everyone else is awake I cured my insomnia

Turning normal sleeping cycles upside down helped this bestselling writer recover her energy“Why don’t you go to sleep when normal people do?” This is a question asked of me on countless occasions. The last time was in a radio interview and I was about to give my usual self-deprecating comments about the joys of not being normal, when I took a breath and replied, “Because I don’t want...

Could exercise pills help create a healthier society?

Finding drugs that mimic the benefits of a workout has long been a goal of science. As a new trial begins, the hope is to assist not just the time-poor or the lazy but elderly people and those with disease or disabilityIn a hospital in northern Norway, just south of the Arctic Circle, a landmark experiment is taking place that could transform the way we treat ageing in the years to come. Called...

‘Afterwards I would feel blissful’: how exercise convinced a psychotherapist to become a personal trainer

Therapists and gyms are working both brain and body as the full benefits of fitness are increasingly recognisedTwelve years ago, when he was in his mid-40s, psychotherapist Andrew Keefe found himself in a very stressful job – working with survivors of torture – and really out of shape. Determined to improve, Keefe joined an outdoor fitness class. Hours of burpees and press-ups in London’s...

Scientists decry wasted opportunity as thousands of frozen eggs languish in IVF storage across Australia

Despite a surplus of eggs at fertility clinics around the country, very few end up being donated to research or other prospective parentsThe vast majority of eggs frozen by prospective mothers go unused, causing headaches for IVF clinics and preventing potentially groundbreaking research.Scientists are decrying a wasted opportunity as thousands of frozen eggs sit unused in storage instead of being...


SATURDAY 30. DECEMBER 2023


Sunak under fire for ‘inexplicable’ failure to appoint new climate committee chief

Experts say prolonged delay in replacing chair signals that government does not take net zero policy seriously enough and is harming investmentRishi Sunak has come under fierce attack from UK climate experts for his government’s failure over the past 18 months to appoint a new chair of the independent committee that advises ministers on emissions targets.In a letter to the prime minister leaked...

Reams of secret poetry by pioneering British scientist finally come to light

Sir Humphry Davy’s unpublished verse – including one published below for the first time – was found in notebooks alongside details of his groundbreaking experimentsHe is famous for discovering elements of the periodic table, for inventing a lamp in 1815 that would save the lives of hundreds of thousands of miners and as an electrochemical pioneer.But it is the unpublished poetry of the...

What’s ahead in 2024: calendar of the year

Dozens of elections, Ukraine and Israel-Gaza, moon missions, the climate crisis and AI• Support independent Guardian journalism in 20242024 will be a landmark year: dozens of elections across the world, unresolved conflicts in Ukraine and Israel-Gaza to address, and further milestones expected in everything from global temperatures to space exploration and artificial intelligence.Here are some...

Scientists call for review of UK’s 14-day rule on embryo research

Extending the limit could help uncover causes of recurrent miscarriage and congenital conditions, experts sayScientists are calling for a review of the 14-day rule on embryo research, saying that extending the limit could help uncover the causes of recurrent miscarriage and congenital conditions.Until now, scientists studying the earliest stages of life have been restricted to cultivating embryos...

Country diary: The wind writes its own history in broken branches | Paul Evans

The Marches, Shropshire: Gales like this have a violent beauty as they rip through trees, bending trunks and pulling at the rootsOn solstice eve, a gale came thrashing trees, strewing sticks. Around each tree in the park, particularly the limes and ash, was a leeward shadow of branches and twigs, mostly dead brash winnowed from the living boughs, cast down to rot into the earth.Before decaying and...


FRIDAY 29. DECEMBER 2023


The Guardian view on the AI conundrum: what it means to be human is elusive | Editorial

Over the holidays, this column will explore next year’s urgent issues. Today we look at the challenge to regulate science that seems to defy comprehensionIntelligent machines have been serving and enslaving people in the realm of the imagination for decades. The all-knowing computer – sometimes benign, usually malevolent – was a staple of the science fiction genre long before any such entity...

‘Psychoanalysis has returned’: why 2023 brought a new Freud revival

A new film on the doctor is weak on the facts. But it marks a year in which we’ve turned to his theories to comprehend suffering – and to get treatmentAgainst the background of the always-on sonic leak of the BBC and Hitler’s promise to annihilate the Jewry of Europe, a new film, Freud’s Last Session, hopes to capitalize on a year in which Freud – and psychoanalysis – were...

Academic paper based on Uyghur genetic data retracted over ethical concerns

Exclusive: Study published in 2019 used blood and saliva samples from 203 Uyghur and Kazakh people living in Xinjiang capitalConcerns have been raised that academic publishers may not be doing enough to vet the ethical standards of research they publish, after a paper based on genetic data from China’s Uyghur population was retracted and questions were raised about several others including one...

World will look back at 2023 as year humanity exposed its inability to tackle climate crisis, scientists say

Disastrous events included flash flooding in Africa and wildfires in Europe and North AmericaThe hottest year in recorded history casts doubts on humanity’s ability to deal with a climate crisis of its own making, senior scientists have said.As historically high temperatures continued to be registered in many parts of the world in late December, the former Nasa scientist James Hansen told the...

I’ve spent a decade studying gender and I can tell you: as a woman, ageing sets you free | Angela Saini

A figurine from one the world’s oldest known human settlements reveals much about the history and potential of female powerAs a writer, my focus has been on one of the biggest mysteries in all of history: what are the origins of patriarchy in human society? I should have known that the journey to answer that question would for ever change the way I thought about myself.What I did know was that...

SpaceX blasts US military's secretive X-37B robot spaceplane into orbit – video

The US military's X-37B robot spaceplane blasted off from Florida on its seventh mission, the first launched atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket capable of delivering it to a higher orbit than ever before. The Launch of the plane, which will carry out classified experiments, marks another development in US-China space rivalryUS military’s X-37B robot spaceplane blasts off on secret mission aboard...

US military’s X-37B robot spaceplane blasts off on secret mission aboard SpaceX rocket

Launch of plane, which will carry out classified experiments, marks another development in US-China space rivalryThe US military’s secretive X-37B robot spaceplane has blasted off from Florida on its seventh mission, the first launched atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket capable of delivering it to a higher orbit than ever before.As on previous missions, there’s no one on board the reusable...


THURSDAY 28. DECEMBER 2023


We can’t control what disasters a new year may bring. Stoicism can help us get up and try again

Social media can amplify our own helplessness and guilt – perhaps it’s time to return our focus from the global to the local, where we can truly make a changeI am a worrier. Long before I read about the stoics, I tended to begin my days with what they call a premeditatio malorum – a rumination on all the very worst things that could happen in the next 24 hours. These days, I achieve the same...

Can an app decide if a language lives or dies? Not if Welsh speakers have anything to do with it | Gwenno Robinson

Duolingo is ‘pausing’ its Welsh course despite high demand – we need robust forms of learning that aren’t driven by profitEvery 14 days, a language dies. Within the next century, about half of the 7,000 languages spoken on Earth today will have disappeared, taking with them a unique lexicon, culture and way of seeing the world.I’m lucky enough to be one of just 0.01% of the world’s...

Best of 2023, Killing the Skydancer: episode three, An Open Secret – podcast

In this special Age of Extinction mini-series from Science Weekly, which first aired in 2023, the Guardian’s biodiversity reporter, Phoebe Weston, explores the illegal killing of birds of prey on grouse moors, and asks why it is so difficult to solve these crimes. In the third and final episode, Phoebe finds out more about the pressures that drive people to commit raptor persecution, discovers...


WEDNESDAY 27. DECEMBER 2023


I collect roo poo – and our research could save many marsupial lives | Angela Russell

Monitoring what comes out of an animal is a vital part of keeping an eye on its healthI thought convincing my husband of the merits of my returning to study just as he had retired would be a tricky sell. So his enthusiasm for the idea caught me by surprise.He helpfully suggested several interesting topics: sea turtles, dugongs and coral reefs. If it involved a boat in a warm climate, he was behind...

Vaccine could cut RSV hospital admissions in babies by 80%, study finds

International research indicates giving infants nirsevimab would cause sharp drop in rates of respiratory syncytial virus infection A vaccine could reduce by 80% the numbers of babies and young children admitted to hospital with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a “groundbreaking” study has found.The study, published in the peer-reviewed New England Journal of Medicine, involved 8,058 healthy...

Tony Roth obituary

My friend and colleague Tony Roth, who has died aged 70 from a brain tumour, was an academic in the field of clinical psychology.Tony’s interest in what makes an effective therapist led to projects commissioned by the Department of Health & NHS England that resulted in the creation of new frameworks to summarise the skills and knowledge required to practise competently. These have helped to...

Felix Munkonge obituary

My father, Felix Munkonge, who has died aged 64 after a stroke, was a biochemist recognised for the key role he played in coordinating the clinical testing of gene therapy as a potential treatment for cystic fibrosis. He was also a contributor to the team at AstraZeneca that supported the manufacturing capability of the Covid-19 vaccine.Felix joined AstraZeneca as a project manager in November...

Gut microbes may play role in social anxiety disorder, say researchers

Study that involved transplanting people’s microbes into mice may show way to possible therapies, say scientistsWhile some people might relish the prospect of a new year party, for others socialising can trigger feelings of fear, anxiety and distress. Now researchers say microbes in the gut might play a role in causing social anxiety disorder, opening up fresh possibilities for...

3D-printed chip showing body’s reaction to drugs could end need for animal tests

Exclusive: Device with compartments replicating major organs could also speed up patients’ access to new medicinesScientists have developed a pioneering 3D-printed device that could speed up patient access to new medicines and eliminate the need for animal testing.Thousands of animals are used in the early stages of developing medicines worldwide every year, yet many drugs tested on animals do...