25 articles from SUNDAY 26.3.2023
The Guardian view on how Covid began: look to the future | Editorial
The row over whether the pandemic started with a lab leak is growing. But the most important question is what we do nowWe may never know for certain how a disease that brought the world to a standstill and has killed almost 7 million people emerged. While many experts believe that Covid-19 arose through human contact with infected animals, most likely via a wet market in Wuhan, China, a...
Planets on parade: 5 will be lined up in night sky this week
Keep an eye to the sky this week for a chance to see a planetary hangout.
Does the future of medicine lie in space?
Earth’s gravity makes it harder to cultivate the proteins needed to study diseases and pathogens. And although the cost of space travel is high, private enterprise is stepping inIn a small lab, squeezed into the corner of a skyscraper in downtown Tel Aviv, Israeli entrepreneur Yossi Yamin is proudly holding what he calls “a little James Bond-style suitcase factory, powered by the sun”.As...
Researchers used DNA from Beethoven's hair to shed light on his poor health—and stumbled upon a family secret
Many astonishingly creative people have lived lives cut tragically short by illness. Johannes Vermeer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jane Austen, Franz Schubert and Emily Brontë are some famous examples.
AI expert Meredith Broussard: ‘Racism, sexism and ableism are systemic problems’
The journalist and academic says that the bias encoded in artificial intelligence systems can’t be fixed with better data alone – the change has to be societalMeredith Broussard is a data journalist and academic whose research focuses on bias in artificial intelligence (AI). She has been in the vanguard of raising awareness and sounding the alarm about unchecked AI. Her previous book,...
Satellites and space junk may make dark night skies brighter, hindering astronomy and hiding stars from our view
Since time immemorial, humans around the world have gazed up in wonder at the night sky. The starry night sky has not only inspired countless works of music, art and poetry, but has also played an important role in timekeeping, navigation and agricultural practices in many traditions.
Scientists offer 'non-alien explanation' for interstellar visitor
When the first object ever known to have visited the Earth's Solar System from outer space zoomed past in 2017, it was so strange that at least one leading astronomer was convinced it was an alien vessel.
Patients given aripiprazole ‘should be told of gambling addiction risks’
Expert urges greater monitoring of side-effect of drug used to treat depression, psychosis and schizophreniaPatients who are prescribed a common antipsychotic used to treat depression, bipolar disorder, psychosis and schizophrenia need to be told there is a risk they could develop a gambling addiction, an expert has warned.The National Problem Gambling Clinic has observed growing numbers of...
Relationships are a rollercoaster ride: here’s how to take the ups with the downs
Two married therapists reveal 10 ways to improve the many highs and lows of your love lifeWhen couples get together, there is often the unspoken expectation that you will remain the same as you were on those first dates. An assumption that your level of curiosity, generosity, adaptability and interest will endure, or even increase, throughout your relationship. Even though we all know fairytales...
After getting hit by a truck, this great horned owl has been rehabilitated and released back into the wild
An owl hit by a truck near 100 Mile House last winter has been rehabilitated and released back into the wild, much to the excitement of those who rescued...
What do the elements sound like?
In chemistry, we have He, Fe and Ca—but what about do, re and mi? Hauntingly beautiful melodies aren't the first things that come to mind when looking at the periodic table of the elements. However, using a technique called data sonification, a recent college graduate has converted the visible light given off by the elements into audio, creating unique, complex sounds for each one. Today, the...
New ways to measure curls and kinks could make it easier to care for natural hair
Black women and others with curly or kinky hair encounter a vast and confusing array of haircare options. Advice on the best products to use for a certain type of hair is often contradictory, and the results can be highly variable. Now, scientists are bringing order to this chaos by identifying properties such as the number of curls or coils in a given length of hair that could eventually help...
Two meteorites are providing a detailed look into outer space
If you've ever seen a shooting star, you might have actually seen a meteor on its way to Earth. Those that land here are called meteorites and can be used to peek back in time, into the far corners of outer space or at the earliest building blocks of life. Today, scientists report some of the most detailed analyses yet of the organic material of two meteorites. They've identified tens of thousands...
North Sea shell survey brings out volunteers
Hundreds of volunteers descended on the beaches of the North Sea coast this weekend to collect sea shells as a measure of the sea's biological diversity.
Moose Factory author brings to life the story of Oojakaduck or Fisher constellation
Norm Wesley of Moose Factory has been wanting to write a book about Oojakaduck for about 30...
Astrobiologist suggests we look for signs of life from elsewhere in the galaxy by studying space dust
Tomonori Totani, an astrobiologist with the University of Tokyo is proposing that the search for life beyond Earth be expanded to the study of space dust. In his paper published in the journal International Journal of Astrobiology, he suggests that space dust could be harboring signs of life blasted away from other planets by asteroid strikes.
The professor trying to protect our private thoughts from technology
Prof Nita Farahany argues in her new book, The Battle for Your Brain, that intrusions into the mind are so close that lawmakers should enact protectionsPrivate thoughts may not be private for much longer, heralding a nightmarish world where political views, thoughts, stray obsessions and feelings could be interrogated and punished all thanks to advances in neurotechnology.Or at least that is what...
Deep-sea mining for rare metals will destroy ecosystems, say scientists
Businesses want to trawl for nickel, manganese and cobalt to build electric cars and windfarmsAn investigation by conservationists has found evidence that deep-seabed mining of rare minerals could cause “extensive and irreversible” damage to the planet.The report, to be published on Monday by the international wildlife charity Fauna & Flora, adds to the growing controversy that surrounds...
Gut bacteria in babies may predict type 1 diabetes in later life, study finds
Researchers identify ‘microbe signature’ found to be in infants who went on to develop disease in childhood or adolescenceBacteria in the gut of one-year-old infants could be used to predict their chances of developing type 1 diabetes in later life, scientists have announced. The disease most often occurs in children and adolescents and is triggered by the body’s immune system when it...