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40,083 articles from Guardian Unlimited Science


THURSDAY 8. JANUARY 2009


Ancient Greeks' homes may have doubled as bars and brothels

The Ancient Greeks may have made cash on the side by turning parts of their homes into bars and brothels, researchers have found.Excavations at sites across the Greek mainland have uncovered hundreds of drinking cups and erotic objects in homes dating back to the 5th and 4th centuries BC, suggesting rooms and courtyards were used for dubious commerical practices.The discovery may solve the...

Britain endures coldest snap for more than 20 years

Harbours froze over, balcony railings in Plymouth sheared away from a block of flats and a polar explorer arrived in London to test the ice in the fountains of Trafalgar Square as Britain endured the coldest snap for more than 20 years.Benson in Oxfordshire survived the coldest temperatures overnight: -11.8C, the chilliest night there for 11 years. And in the fens, near Earith, Cambridgeshire...

Met Office warns elderly may need summer aid to keep homes cool

As temperatures stay stubbornly well below freezing, it may feel like the last issue on anyone's mind, but the government has been warned it may need to start thinking about introducing emergency hot weather payments to help poorer households keep cool.The Department for Work and Pensions is studying a specially commissioned report from the Met Office which concludes that the weather may become so...

Mobile phones - not the hazard we thought

Previously, the only good thing about being in hospital, apart from staying in bed all day, was the freedom from mobile phones. Not any more. This week, the Department of Health said that NHS trusts should allow "the widest possible use" of mobile phones in hospitals. There is evidence that electromagnetic radiation emitted by mobiles can interfere with some electronic medical equipment, resulting...


WEDNESDAY 7. JANUARY 2009


Humans can survive much lower oxygen levels than thought

Scientists who climbed to the summit of Everest and took samples of their own blood have shown that the human body can survive with much lower oxygen levels than was previously thought possible. They say the findings, based on blood taken at higher altitudes than ever before, will help doctors to treat patients in intensive care more effectively.The purpose of the Caudwell Xtreme Everest...

Love potions may become marriage guidance tool, neuroscientist says

Marriage counsellors may soon be taking a more Shakespearean approach to solving troubles of the heart, by administering love potions to boost couples' feelings for one another, according to a leading scientist.Greater understanding of the brain chemistry of love has revealed hormones that could be given to couples to rekindle faded passions or diminish problematic feelings, says Larry Young, an...

Church grabs chance to attack birth control pill

Roman Catholic leaders have pounced on a "confession" by one of the inventors of the birth control pill who has said the contraceptive he helped create was responsible for a "demographic catastrophe".In an article published by the Vatican this week, the head of the world's Roman Catholic doctors broadened the attack on the pill, claiming it had also brought "devastating ecological effects" by...

Spacewatch: 7 January 2009

The planet Venus blazes in the SSW at nightfall, stands at its greatest angular distance from the Sun (47°) on the 14th and remains conspicuous as an evening star until it plunges into our evening twilight in late March. Viewed through a telescope, its dazzling cloud covered disc grows from a small almost-first-quarter phase tonight, to a large slender crescent as it moves towards the Sun's...


TUESDAY 6. JANUARY 2009