When it comes to employment, science and technology graduates fare only slightly better than ‘starving artists’Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastWe’ve experimented with a bunch of naff names here in Australia. In the 1990s, Bob Hawke wanted us to become the clever country. Two decades later, Malcolm Turnbull aspired to make us an innovation...

Exclusive: algorithm performs more efficiently and effectively than current methods, according to a studyDoctors, scientists and researchers have built an artificial intelligence model that can accurately identify cancer in a development they say could speed up diagnosis of the disease and fast-track patients to treatment.Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. It results in about 10 million...

On his wedding day, Tim Sullivan’s much-loved dad suddenly collapsed and died on what should have been the happiest of days. But what he learned has shaped his lifeIt was all set to be one of the happiest days of my life, 9 September 1989. I was getting married. Everything leading up to the date had gone smoothly. The wedding was taking place in a small church, St Teilo’s in Bishopston Valley...

Department of Health asks watchdog to assess effectiveness of giving semaglutide to obese youngsters aged 12 to 17Children as young as 12 in England could be given weight-loss injections on the NHS after the government asked medical watchdog Nice to assess the potential benefits of prescribing them to under-18s.Department of Health officials have asked the watchdog to evaluate the clinical and...

The founders of Melbourne’s Steam Room program believe scientists can make their work more accessible through humour. Will their hypothesis prove true?Get our weekend culture and lifestyle emailFive scientists walk into a theatre and try standup for the first time. Does hilarity ensue?Yes, according to the producers of the Steam Room – a program in which comedians teach a team of scientists...

While politics as usual dominates the Commons, thankfully a few people from the upper chamber are thinking about the big pictureThe most interesting TV I’ve watched recently did not come from a conventional television channel, nor even from Netflix, but from TV coverage of parliament. It was a recording of a meeting of the AI in weapons systems select committee of the House of Lords, which was...

The Juan Fernández fur seal, once thought extinct, can ingest cadmium without ill effects – though no one knows howA creature that humans came very close to obliterating now offers hope that we may be able to find ways to tackle one of the most pernicious environmental poisons, say scientists.Their research has revealed that one of the world’s most isolated aquatic mammals, the Continue...

Nation’s guidelines say no donor should father more than 25 children in 12 familiesDutch judges have ordered a man suspected of fathering more than 550 children through sperm donations to stop donating, in the latest fertility scandal to shock the Netherlands.The man, identified in Dutch media only as Jonathan M, 41, was taken to court by a foundation protecting the rights of donor children and...

From Dundee to LA, citizen scientists will document plants and animals for the City Nature ChallengeHundreds of cities are competing this weekend to collect the most plant and wildlife observations in an urban “bioblitz” as part of a global citizen science challenge.From Dundee windowsills to San Francisco parks, people are being urged to document whatever flora and fauna they can spot around...

ChatGPT rated higher in quality and empathy of written advice, raising possibility of medical assistance roleChatGPT appears to have a better ‘bedside manner’ than some doctors – at least when their written advice is rated for quality and empathy, a study has shown.The findings highlight the potential for AI assistants to play a role in medicine, according to the authors of the work, who...

Habitat loss blamed as study finds 19% of bryophyte species at risk and at least four have become extinct in Great BritainAlmost one-fifth of bryophytes – the plant group that includes mosses, liverworts and hornworts – in Great Britain are threatened with extinction, according to a new red list assessing their conservation status.The red list, published in the Journal of Bryology, was...

A sea anemone found off Japan does not just live on a species of crab, but actually grows its host’s shell like a home extensionDeep in the Kumano Sea off the south-eastern coast of Japan, hermit crabs crawl around sporting what look like pearly pink flowers on their shells. But these are not floral arrangements – they are members of a newly discovered species of sea anemone, Stylobates...

Humans with condition can have disturbed sleep, and similar symptoms in dogs indicate cognitive decline is under wayFrom loud snores to twitching paws, dogs often appear to have a penchant for a good snooze. But researchers have said elderly canines with dementia appear to spend less time slumbering than those with healthy brains – mirroring patterns seen in humans.It has long been known that...

Misguided introduction of alien predator saw partula snails driven from their habitat – but zoos have reared new populationsWhen French Polynesia was overrun by the invasive African giant land snail, another alien species, the predatory rosy wolf snail, was introduced to solve the problem.Unfortunately the rosy wolf snail devoured tiny, endemic partula snails instead, hunting down the scent of...

The environmental law charity ClientEarth and 13 other groups headed into a Flemish court this week in an effort to stop Ineos building a petrochemical plant that would be the biggest project of its kind in Europe for 30 years. Madeleine Finlay hears from correspondent Sandra Laville about how plastics are made, the environmental and health impacts of the process and what needs to be done to get a...

Study concerns Messier 87 galaxy, 55m light years away from Earth, and a black hole 6.5bn times more massive than the sunAstronomers have captured the first image showing a powerful jet being launched from the edge of a black hole’s event horizon into intergalactic space.The observations of the black hole at the centre of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87) could help reveal how black hole jets, which...

Today’s generation of older people could be last to face untreatable Alzheimer’s – but only if NHS overhauls careToday’s generation of elderly people could be the last to face the spectre of untreatable Alzheimer’s disease, according to the co-chair of the government’s new dementia mission.Hilary Evans, the chief executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK, appointed by ministers last...

‘Unprecedented’ warming indicates climate crisis is taking place before our eyes, experts sayTemperatures in the world’s oceans have broken fresh records, testing new highs for more than a month in an “unprecedented” run that has led to scientists stating the Earth has reached “uncharted territory” in the climate crisis.The rapid acceleration of ocean temperatures in the last month...

Hakuto-R may have miscalculated altitude, says company after losing contact with spacecraftJapan’s ispace said its attempt to make the first private moon landing had failed after losing contact with its Hakuto-R Mission 1 (M1) lander when it unexpectedly accelerated and probably crashed on the lunar surface.The startup said it was possible that as the lander approached the moon, its altitude...

Half of women have dense breast tissue that does not show up on mammograms and can only be seen with extra screeningIn July 2022, I was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer after having had a “normal” mammogram just nine months earlier at the age of 42. Other than a small thyroid disorder, I have been extraordinarily healthy my entire life, running half marathons, practicing yoga and doing...

Pressures on the NHS, a lack of doctors and post-Brexit delays are hampering our ability to develop cutting-edge drugsThe UK’s remarkable capability and capacity in clinical research was catapulted on to the world stage during the pandemic. The Recovery trial, led by Oxford University, studied existing drugs in seriously ill patients with Covid-19 and identified the first proven and effective...

Research points to danger of tiny metal ions breaking off from implants and leaking into the bloodPatients who have had older types of hip replacement may be at greater risk of heart damage than previously thought, researchers have said, because of cobalt leaching out of so-called metal-on-metal implants.Tens of thousands of UK patients were fitted with these devices during the 2000s, when they...

Study of seismic activity in southern Turkey shows even small fluctuations can have a big impactMost earthquake faults require a huge input of energy to make them shift but occasionally a tiny shove is enough. Recent data from the Armutlu peninsula, on the southern shore of the Sea of Marmara, Turkey, show the small stress changes associated with sea level fluctuations are enough to trigger quakes...

Ispace loses communication with Hakuto-R lunar lander, ending a mission that began more than four months agoA Japanese startup attempting the first private landing on the moon has lost communication with its spacecraft and said that it assumes the lunar mission had failed.Ispace said that it could not establish communication with the uncrewed Hakuto-R lunar lander after its expected landing time,...