An unusual whale feeding technique first documented by scientists in the 2010s may have actually been described in ancient texts two millennia ago, researchers say. Researchers from Flinders University identified striking parallels between the behaviour of tread-water feeding and a sea creature named hafgufa from 13th century Old Norse texts. It is thought hafgufa can be traced back to the...

Seeing the aurora borealis so far south is highly unusual, and was thanks to very clear skiesThe northern lights are usually most visible near the Earth’s magnetic north and south poles, but thanks to clear skies across the UK over the past two nights, the light spectacle has reached as far south as Cornwall and Hertfordshire. Here, readers in Scotland and England share their recent sightings....

UK researchers received little funding from EU programme because of Brexit trade deal negotiationsScientists in the UK have breathed a “sigh of relief” amid hopes that they will now benefit from the €100bn (£88.6bn) Horizon Europe programme after Rishi Sunak’s breakthrough deal with the EU over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol.For more than two years researchers in the UK have...

New report supporting theory the coronavirus leaked from a Chinese lab has sparked the latest eruption in a long fight over how the virus started, clouding efforts to pursue a neutral, fact-based inquiryWhite House official John Kirby, standing at the podium where Donald Trump once railed against the “China virus” and praised the healing powers of bleach, faced questions on Monday about the...

Madeleine Finlay speaks to environmental journalist Rachel Salvidge about PFAS, also known as ‘forever chemicals’, which have been found at high levels at thousands of sites across the UK and Europe. Rachel explains what they are, how harmful they can be, and what can be done to mitigate their effectsClip: Roll CallYou can find Rachel’s reporting, and the map of PFAS levels in the UK and...

Existing UK fertility law should be updated to regulate modern treatments, says HFEAChildren born via sperm or egg donation would not need to wait until adulthood to find out more about their biological parents, under proposed changes to the law in the UK.At present, donor-conceived children cannot obtain information about their biological parents until they are 18. But the Human Fertilisation and...

Researchers present initial findings from study that followed thousands of US women for about 20 yearsSeven healthy habits and lifestyle factors may play a role in reducing the risk of dementia, according to a two decade-long study.Being active, eating a better diet, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, keeping normal blood pressure, controlling cholesterol and having low blood sugar in...

Department of Energy’s updated report on origins of coronavirus pandemic jars with most scientists’ assessmentsAccording to the Wall Street Journal, an updated and classified 2021 US energy department report has concluded that the coronavirus behind the recent pandemic most likely emerged from a laboratory leak but not as part of a weapons programme. Continue...

Social media has brought sky-watchers together to view an event that may be seen as far south as the home countiesCompare the bucket lists of your friends and the chances are that seeing the northern lights will be on many of them. So the news that, instead of trekking northwards to Norway or Iceland, you can just step out of your back door to see them sounds like a dream come true. In the past...

UK falls from fourth to 10th place in phase III trials amid ‘ossified’ bureaucracy and stretched health serviceThe state of clinical trials in the NHS is “much worse than it has been in years” with patients losing access to cutting-edge cancer and dementia treatments, one of the UK’s most senior clinicians has warned.Sir John Bell, the regius professor of medicine at the University of...

Exclusive: MPs say research system unfit for purpose as mother of boy who died calls for answers on ‘missing millions’Ministers have spent only £15m in five years on research into tackling brain tumours, the biggest killer of adults and children under 40, while boasting about delivering £40m, MPs have found.The revelation emerged in a damning report seen by the Guardian that is due to be...

Two jewel-like planets will reach a close conjunction on 2 March before beginning to separateAs promised last week, the two brightest planets in the night sky, Jupiter and Venus, have been closing in on each another. This week, the two jewel-like planets will meet in a close conjunction on 2 March.The chart shows the view looking west-south-west from London at 6pm GMT on 2 March. Venus will...

Focus on fungi | Not Robinson Crusoe but The Coral Island | Sleep | Lettuce play with words | Crypto fools and their moneyOne valuable benefit of purchasing cultivated mushrooms (The world is your oyster mushroom! The expert guide to cooking delicious fungi, 21 February) is that it avoids the worry of poisoning yourself from an incorrectly identified wild sample while reducing excess wild forage...

Updated finding a departure from previous studies on how the virus emerged and comes with ‘low confidence’The virus which drove the Covid-19 pandemic most likely emerged from a laboratory leak but not as part of a weapons program, according to an updated and classified 2021 US energy department study provided to the White House and senior American lawmakers, the Wall Street Journal reported on...

The former PM’s high earnings have been partly attributed to the way he speaks. But I’ll take Bill Paterson or Maya Angelou’s sonorous tones over the voice of privilege any dayWhy does Boris Johnson command stupid money for public speaking? In February he reported a £2.5m advance; that seems awfully steep for 20 minutes of “Caecilius est in Peppa Pig World”. It’s a fair, indeed...

Sensory perception is a many-splendoured thing, and without it we’d have nothingIt’s a glorious spring morning in Sydney and I’m full of nervous anticipation as I cross the university campus, heading toward the lecture theatre where I’m going to be talking to the latest group of students about the senses. I love to watch their faces when I describe the wonders of sensory biology. I want to...

Landmark judgment by family court president Sir Andrew McFarlane confirms anyone can use the title ‘psychologist’.England’s most senior family court judge has advised there is a “need for rigour” and “clarity” when instructing psychologists to give expert evidence – but has stopped short of saying the family courts should never appoint those who are “unregulated”.Instead Sir...

The rise in global antibiotic resistance means huge sums are being invested in ground-breaking treatments. But some scientists are turning back the clock in the hunt for effective alternativesFor several long months in the 1990s, Ronald Sherman travelled all over southern California catching flies. As a qualified doctor pursuing an infectious diseases fellowship, Sherman was curious about a...

As our summers get warmer and wetter even the hardy English rose is vulnerable to fungal disease, but researchers are on the caseThe velvety petals and sweet scent of a rose make it a classic of the traditional English garden.But growers and gardeners have long cursed a disease that has ravaged the delicate beauty of their favourite flowers: black spot. Now scientists at the Royal Horticultural...

Research suggests traumatic childhood experiences embed themselves in our brains and put us at risk of mental illness, but epigenetic editing may offer us hope of removing themThe way depression manifested itself in mice in the laboratory of the psychiatrist and neuroscientist Eric Nestler was hauntingly relatable. When put in an enclosure with an unknown mouse, they sat in the corner and showed...

When Jack Nunn encouraged his mother Barbara to share her DNA test results online it uncovered a vast cohort of new half-siblingsGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastJack Nunn was 21, his girlfriend a year younger, when she died suddenly while the pair were in England.Nunn had been studying literature, but that shocking tragedy in 2007 threw him on to a new path...

Artefacts, video and 3D model tell tragic story of the Gloucester, which ran aground carrying future kingThe remains of a 17th-century royal shipwreck will go on display in Norwich as part of an exhibition exploring its last voyage.The Gloucester sank off the Norfolk coast in 1682 while carrying the future king of England, Scotland and Ireland, James Stuart, then the Duke of York. Continue...

Tanya Frank’s son Zach has lived with mental illness since he was a teenager. But after years journeying through the traditional healthcare system, could radical alternatives save him from an endless cycle of hospital stays and drugs?There are nights when I wake up and, in the disorientation of those first conscious moments, I am right back there. Los Angeles, 2009. Winter. Zach has entered my...

Scientists studying the Permian-Triassic mass extinction find ecosystems can suddenly tip overThe steady destruction of wildlife can suddenly tip over into total ecosystem collapse, scientists studying the greatest mass extinction in Earth’s history have found.Many scientists think the huge current losses of biodiversity are the start of a new mass extinction. But the new research shows total...