Last week, Nasa held the first public meeting of a panel established to investigate sightings of UFOs. It came just before a whistleblower former intelligence official told the Debrief that the US government had ‘intact and partially intact’ craft of non-human origin. Ian Sample talks to Prof David Spergel, the independent chair of Nasa’s panel, about why this is happening now, what they...

UK data watchdog says science of monitoring brain and nervous system is expanding fast but holds ‘real danger’ of discriminationMind-reading technologies pose a “real danger” of discrimination and bias, the Information Commissioner’s Office has warned, as it develops specific guidance for companies working in the sci-fi field of neurodata.The use of technology to monitor information...

Some patients’ health-related life quality scores worse than those of people with stage 4 lung cancerMany people with long Covid have a lower health-related quality of life than people with some advanced cancers, research suggests.Fatigue is the symptom with the greatest impact on the daily lives of long Covid patients, according to a study led by researchers at University College London (UCL)...

Reptile had been in captivity for 16 years when zookeepers discovered eggs, journal reportsScientists have recorded the first known case of a “virgin birth” in a female crocodile that had no contact with males for about 16 years.The reptile was able to produce a fully formed foetus that was 99.9% genetically identical to her. Continue...

AI-based analysis suggests the north starts at Watford Gap, where avocado wraps give way to sausage rolls, and includes Birmingham The precise location of the north-south of England divide is a fraught question that has been debated for centuries, drawing on factors ranging from economic prosperity and political views to the pronunciation of the word “scone”. Now, scientists have entered the...

An agoraphobic downloads an app that promises to turn his life around – but things begin to get sinister when it takes over his social interactionsThis disturbingly real-looking artificial intelligence sci-fi was made a couple of years ago on what looks like a budget of small change tipped out of the film-makers’ coin jars. It’s getting a release now presumably on account of AI anxiety...

Metre-long piece of timber was found in trench dug for workshop at property in Boxford, BerkshireIt could easily have gone on to the bonfire or into the skip. But Derek Fawcett decided to take a closer look at the blackened, waterlogged piece of wood found at the bottom of a 5ft trench dug for foundations for a new workshop.It turned out to be the oldest carved piece of wood to be discovered in...

Behaviour predates humans by tens of millions of years but evolutionary purpose is less clear, scientists sayEvolutionary biologists have traced the origins of masturbation to ancient primates that predate the first humans by tens of millions of years.The findings emerged from what scientists believe is the largest dataset ever compiled on the activity, and confirm that humans arose on a branch of...

Less regulation of weight-loss drug would make Wegovy accessible to more peopleMinisters are launching a £40m pilot scheme to trial wider access to the controversial slimming jab Wegovy, to examine how people could receive the drug outside hospitals.Under current advice from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence drugs regulator, Wegovy is only given via specialist weight...

Whistleblower former intelligence official says government posseses ‘intact and partially intact’ craft of non-human originThe US has been urged to disclose evidence of UFOs after a whistleblower former intelligence official said the government has possession of “intact and partially intact” alien vehicles.The former intelligence official David Grusch, who led analysis of unexplained...

Three studies add weight to growing evidence that physical activity can help patients who have the diseaseWalking for 30 minutes a day and practising yoga can help reduce fatigue in cancer patients and cut the risk of the disease spreading, coming back or resulting in death, research suggests.Globally, more than 18 million people develop cancer every year. It is well known that being inactive...

Ambition doesn’t exist outside cultural forces that shape it. Could we reframe it for the collective good?In the first few months of the pandemic, when my physical and mental health seemed to be deteriorating faster than I could patchwork fixes for them, I wrote in my journal. “I feel emptied out, like when I shake a tote and gum wrappers and two nickels and half-finished chapstick fall...

Narrow 11,000-metre shaft will reach the Earth’s crust to study internal structures as China seeks to explore new frontiersChina has begun digging its deepest borehole in an effort to study areas of the planet deep beneath the surface.The drilling of the borehole began on Tuesday in a desert in the Tarim basin in China’s north-western region of Xinjiang, according to the Chinese state-run...

Leading scientists write to PM amid campaign against expansion of clean air zone in LondonWorld-leading air pollution scientists have called on Rishi Sunak to distance himself from Conservative colleagues who are dismissing the facts on the serious health risks of toxic air.In a letter, Prof Frank Kelly and 35 other prominent air pollution scientists call on the prime minister to tell his...

Ian Sample talks to Dr Rachel Clarke about her experience working in palliative care in the NHS and now with hospices in Ukraine. She tells him what dying can teach the living, what we can learn from the Covid pandemic, and reveals the anguish and defiance of trying to provide a dignified death in the midst of warClips: BBC, Al Jazeera Continue...

Submissions at Folbigg’s trial were based in misogynistic stereotypes and had no rational relationship with a charge of murderFollow our Australia news live blog for the latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastFor more than 20 years, the Australian legal system has demonised a grieving mother as a child killer. Kathleen Folbigg was convicted in 2003...

Book based on May 2022 review ‘did lockdowns work?’ examines whether legally enforced interventions prevented deathsThe overwhelming majority of academic studies have one chance to make a splash. Once that moment has passed – which tends to be when the paper is published – the spotlight moves on in the relentless search for new material.But not all studies adhere to that trend. Some return...

Oncologists sound alarm over risk of healthcare systems buckling due to rising need for specific careThe world must urgently prepare for a global “tsunami” of millions of older cancer patients or risk healthcare systems being unable to cope, leading doctors have warned.With life expectancy increasing and a rapidly soaring population of older people, a looming increase in elderly patients with...

Monitoring stations that already test for pollution could have dual purpose of mapping declines in biodiversity, reveals new studyFrom owls to hedgehogs to fungi, genetic material from plants and animals is being inadvertently hoovered up by air-quality monitoring stations around the world, creating an untapped “vault of biodiversity data”, according to a new scientific paper.Globally,...

She was labelled a baby killer but advocates say she has suffered one of the country’s gravest injusticesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastIt was four short questions during a nine-hour police interview in 1999 that made Kathleen Folbigg fully comprehend what was happening.“Kathy, did you kill Caleb?” asks the officer sitting next to Folbigg in a small...

Move into separate rooms can mark a new beginning as couple are well rested and happier, claims expertSleeping in separate rooms due to a snoring partner could improve people’s relationships rather than marking the end, a leading sleep scientist has said.Couples moving into separate rooms can enter the “beginning of a new relationship”, where they are well rested and, ideally, happier,...

It has been said to kill E coli, reduce cholesterol, lower blood sugar and aid weight loss. But not all health experts are convinced of its powersFeeling peckish one day in 2017, Darshna Yagnik, an immunologist and lecturer in biomedical science at Middlesex University, took a punt on something that had been lurking at the back of the fridge. She soon regretted it and started feeling queasy....

Moon and planet will climb into the sky in early hours of 10 June until dawn washes Saturn from viewThose awake in the early hours of 10 June can see the last-quarter moon close to the planet Saturn.The chart shows the view looking south-east from London at 3am BST. Having cleared the eastern horizon at about 2am, the planet and the moon will continue to climb into the sky until the dawn light...

Doctors found some patients could rely on chemotherapy and surgery alone to treat the diseaseThousands of bowel cancer patients could be spared radiotherapy, a study suggests, after doctors discovered they could rely on chemotherapy and surgery alone to treat their disease.Radiotherapy has been used to treat bowel cancer patients for decades, but the side-effects can be brutal. It can cause...

Irish author Naoise Dolan on taking refuge in the German capitalI’ve lived in Berlin for nine months now and I have stopped thinking of myself as “learning German”. Instead I hunt daily for German I still don’t know. I enter new words into a flashcard app on my phone and slowly the proportion of German-yet-unknown-to-me diminishes. If I happen to emerge from this process a Germanophone,...

Taking the drug osimertinib once a day after surgery reduces chance of patients dying by 51%, trials showA pill taken once a day cuts the risk of dying from lung cancer by half, according to “thrilling” and “unprecedented” results from a decade-long global study.Taking the drug osimertinib after surgery dramatically reduced the risk of patients dying by 51%, results presented at the...

Quick and simple tests in GP surgeries could detect cancer of the oesophagus, stomach, pancreas, colon or liverSimply blowing into a bag at a GP’s surgery could show that a patient has cancer. That is the aim of an ambitious new project that is going through its final clinical trials in the UK. If successful, cancer breath tests could be used in a few years in order to pinpoint a range of...

The recent arrest of a number of high-profile scientists has led the scientific community to fear they are being targeted by the KremlinAs Russia’s war in Ukraine has grown into an existential conflict for the Kremlin over the past 15 months, its search for internal enemies has intensified, with a sharp rise in treason cases that experts have equated to a “spymania”.While many of the treason...

Since the pandemic there has been a steep rise in cases of ADHD among children. Here, experts discuss why, parents describe their struggles and campaigners say what needs to changeAttention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental condition that is shrouded in misunderstanding, uncertainty and controversy. There is, for example, no definitive agreement on how many people have...

Role of eat out to help out scheme in increased cases and Treasury hostility to scientific advice may come under spotlightAt the start of a Tory leadership debate hosted by the Sun last July, Rishi Sunak made a series of statements which, 10 months on, all ring equally hollow.Facing Liz Truss – the contest’s eventual winner – Sunak was at pains to acknowledge that Sun readers were struggling...

Leading scientist attacks prime minister as criticism mounts of government approach to science during the crisisRishi Sunak is facing a barrage of criticism in the run-up to the official Covid-19 inquiry as a leading scientist attacks his “spectacularly stupid” Eat Out to Help Out scheme, which is believed to have caused a sudden rise in cases of the virus.The prime minister’s role as...

The lessons to be learned from the government’s mistakes in handling of the coronavirus are crucial. We need all the factsIf one clear lesson is to be taken from our response to the arrival of Covid-19 three years ago, it is an appreciation of the highly effective role played by scientists in fighting the pandemic. Within weeks of the Sars-CoV-2 virus emerging, researchers had sequenced every...

The revolutionary treatment has been shown to significantly shrink tumours in almost half of patients with the diseaseThousands of women with ovarian cancer could benefit from a revolutionary drug combination after it was shown to significantly shrink tumours in almost half of patients with the disease.The new treatment blocks tumour growth, helping keep the disease at bay for years. Experts said...

The Human Cell Atlas is already helping to ensure safer pregnancies, and scientists believe it will help them understand many other conditionsIt provides oxygen and nutrients for a growing baby, removes waste products as they build up in its blood, and protects the life of the foetus. Yet the placenta, the temporary organ that cherishes the unborn, is a puzzle. It carries the DNA of the newly...

The emerging technology is causing pratfalls all over – not least tech bosses begging for someone to regulate themThis story begins on 27 August 2019, when Roberto Mata was a passenger on an Avianca flight 670 from El Salvador to New York and a metal food and drink trolley allegedly injured his knee. As is the American way, Mata duly sued Avianca and the airline responded by asking that the case...

Nice approves mavacamten, used to treat obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, in draft guidance to NHSA first-of-its-kind treatment targeting a chronic heart disease could offer a “greater hope” to thousands of people living with the condition.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has approved the use of mavacamten in draft guidance to the NHS. It would be used to...

Horizontal structures, up to 10 light years in length, appear to point in direction of galaxy’s black holeAstronomers have discovered hundreds of mysterious cosmic threads that point towards the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way, after a survey of the galaxy.The strange filaments, each of which stretches five to 10 light years through space, resemble the dots and dashes of...

Trial results presented at US oncology conference suggest ribociclib could be gamechanging and boost survival rate significantlyThousands of women with the world’s most common form of breast cancer could benefit from a blockbuster drug that helps them live longer and cuts the risk of the disease returning by a quarter.More than 2 million people globally are diagnosed each year with the disease,...

NHS trial results of liquid biopsy indicate Galleri test has potential to spot cancer in people with symptomsA blood test for more than 50 forms of cancer could help speed up diagnosis and fast-track patients for treatment, a study suggests.NHS trial results of the liquid biopsy, published at the world’s largest cancer conference in the US, suggest the Galleri blood test has the potential to...

A scheme training visually impaired women to use their heightened tactile abilities benefits patients and examinersThe most satisfying part of Ritika Maurya’s work is reassuring the anxious. “Women fear coming for breast examinations,” says Maurya. “What if a lump is found in my breast? Will that be the end of my life? These are some of the questions that haunt them all the time.”Maurya...

Using chemicals in the environment can save wildlife from deadly pathogens, but process is not without risks, say expertsJoseph Hoyt and his team first showed up to the abandoned mineshaft in Wisconsin during the late summer of 2017, personal protective equipment in hand. Long before Covid-19, the supplies were to protect them from the chlorine dioxide gas they had brought along. Their aim was to...

As tech changes the world, Ghana has the young experts to unlock the next industrial revolution, says the vice-presidentAs we see the artificial intelligence furore sweep across continents, one thing is clear: Africans have a goldmine at our fingertips. A rapidly growing population of 1.4 billion people, 70% under the age of 30, combined with huge growth in AI investments, creates a potent recipe...

Food allergies appear to be increasing globally, but as scientific understanding improves, some experts believe we may one day be able to eliminate them altogether. Ian Sample speaks to Dr Kari Nadeau, an allergy specialist at Harvard School of Public Health and author of the book The End of Food Allergy, to discuss why food allergies are on the rise and what we can do to prevent – and possibly...

Alloy 3D-printed from metal powder rivals the conventional ‘magic metal’ – used in aerospace and biomedical engineering – for strength and sustainabilityGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastScientists have created a new class of titanium alloys using laser 3D printing, which they say could improve the sustainability of the titanium industry and be used...