Health and science journalist Catherine Price investigates the science behind our relationships with our devices, and what we know about how to break the cycle. Prof Barbara Sahakian of Cambridge University explains why many of us are drawn to looking at bad news on our phones, and what it’s doing to usYou can support the Guardian at theguardian.com/fullstorysupportYou can subscribe for free to...

Sholto David has flagged thousands of papers, most because of concerns over potential image manipulationWhen Sholto David quit his job last autumn he could have looked for another post, taken time out to travel, or grabbed his tent and hopped on his bike. But David, a biologist living in Pontypridd, Wales, threw his efforts into a somewhat obscure hobby: finding flaws in scientific papers and...

US culture is an incubator of ‘extrinsic values’. Nobody embodies them like the Republican frontrunnerMany explanations are proposed for the continued rise of Donald Trump, and the steadfastness of his support, even as the outrages and criminal charges pile up. Some of these explanations are powerful. But there is one I have seen mentioned nowhere, which could, I believe, be the most...

Six stars from separate constellations form a prominent ‘asterism’ in the cold January skiesNot all star patterns are called constellations. Strictly speaking, constellations are the areas of the sky that contain familiar patterns – such as Taurus, the bull, or Orion, the hunter.The patterns themselves are called asterisms but not all asterisms are related to constellations. In the northern...

Experts say alarming projections for 2024 stem from surge in obesity, poor diets and physical inactivityThe rate at which people under the age of 50 in the UK are dying from bowel cancer is on course to rise by a third this year, according to projections that experts say are alarming and stem from a surge in obesity, poor diets and physical inactivity.Death rates among those aged 25 to 49 are...

Moon probe starts taking pictures of lunar surface after bumpy landing left its solar cells pointing in the wrong directionJapan’s Moon lander has resumed operations, the country’s space agency said on Monday, indicating that power had been restored after it was left upside down during a slightly haphazard landing.The probe, nicknamed the “moon sniper”, had tumbled down a crater slope...

An unreliable narrator gives a locked-room mystery a fresh spin; a fascinating look at our relationship with all things lunar; and ranging far and wide culturally in the company of wolvesAlex MichaelidesMichael Joseph, £18.99, pp368To order The Fury, Our Moon or Wolfish go to guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply Continue...

Archaeologists have been wowed by the early dates and the evidence, including the size of the tuyereAn iron age workshop, where blacksmiths were forging metal about 2,700 years ago, has been discovered in Oxfordshire, complete with everything from bellows protectors to the tiny bits of metal that flew off as the red hot iron was hammered into shape.Radiocarbon tests date it between 770BC and...

How leaving Beijing for Dali, home of China’s urban escapees, was a step on my route to finding serenityNine months after I moved to Dali, in the autumn of 2020, I finally set off to climb Cangshan, the high mountain which towers over this valley in southwest China. Each morning, I had looked up at the top of its imposing ridge line, 2,000m above the village of Silver Bridge, north of Dali’s...

Early risers know only too well the smug satisfaction of getting up and getting going. But what if you’re more of an owl than a lark? Here’s how to change your body clock and seize the dayI can’t actually remember when I first started thinking of myself as a “morning person”. When I was in my 20s, the only time I saw a sunrise was if I stayed up all night – I had a series of jobs that...

Astronauts content themselves with freeze-dried gruel, but plans for crewed missions to Mars mean scientists need to create more delicious, nutritious menusThree robots are growing vegetables on the roof of the University of Melbourne’s student pavilion. As I watch, a mechanical arm, hovering above the crop like a fairground claw machine, sprays a carefully measured dose of water over the...

Long live the Tory Fringe! John Crace reviews last week’s conservative ‘comedy hour’ (1m22s); Johannes Radebe on how he fought the bullies - and became a Strictly superstar (9m22s); and Zoe Williams reveals how to spot a liar in ten easy steps (26m14s) Continue...

The odd memory lapse is no big deal – so when should we start to worry? Experts explain, and share the best ways to stay sharpIsn’t it Sod’s Law? Just at the point in our lives when we start seriously considering our long-term health and mortality – perhaps after witnessing older loved ones getting an illness such as dementia – our responsibilities are piled so high that we can feel...

Frontline staff are having to make compromises to treat patients appropriately. It’s scandalous nothing is being doneMedicine shortages in the UK have been a regular feature on newspaper front pages in recent years. As a doctor on the frontline, I see how this instability in our medicine supply chain is playing out on the ground.I work in a large city hospital and am used to meeting disgruntled...

Slim probe landed metres rather than kilometres from its target, but a rocket malfunction has left it in an undignified positionA Japanese spacecraft made a historic “pinpoint” landing on the surface of the moon at the weekend, the country’s space agency has said, but there is a slight snag: the images being sent back suggest the probe is lying upside-down.Japan became only the fifth country...

Former tech demo ended up serving as scout for rover and proved powered flight was possible in thin Martian atmosphereNasa’s little Mars helicopter has flown its last flight.The space agency announced on Thursday that the 4lb (1.8kg) chopper named Ingenuity can no longer fly because of rotor blade damage. While it remains upright and in contact with flight controllers, its $85m (£67m) mission...

Stars sat fading quietly for years before suddenly puffing out vast clouds of smokeAstronomers have discovered a mysterious group of giant elderly stars at the heart of the Milky Way that are emitting solar system-sized clouds of dust and gas.The stars, which have been named “old smokers”, sat quietly for many years, fading almost to invisibility, before suddenly puffing out vast clouds of...

Inexpensive test can help diagnose even ‘inaccessible’ tumours earlier, speeding up treatment and improving outcomesSurgeons and scientists have developed a world-first blood test for brain cancer that experts say could revolutionise diagnosis, speed up treatment and boost survival rates.For years, brain tumours have remained notoriously difficult to diagnose. They affect hundreds of thousands...

Bloc plans to bulk-buy key drugs for all 27 countries, potentially leaving Britain ‘behind in the queue’The EU is to stockpile key medicines that will worsen the record drug shortages in the UK, with experts warning that the country could be left “behind in the queue”.The EU is seeking to safeguard its supplies by switching to a system in which its 27 members work together to secure...

Hunting by Kenyan lions impeded in ‘ecological chain reaction’ as big-headed ants fail to stop elephants stripping acacia trees – the cats’ ambush coverWhen a lion decides to chase down a zebra it seems as though nothing can stop it. But now researchers have discovered these enormous predators are being thwarted by a tiny foe: ants.Scientists have found the spread of big-headed ants in...

Model used by researchers in South Korea suggests early feathers may have helped creatures such as Caudipteryx to flush out preyThe problem with being an expert on dinosaur behaviour is that little can be inferred from the fossilised bones of beasts that died millions of years ago.For researchers in South Korea, however, the absence of any living creatures to observe was merely another challenge...

The woman at the heart of the PPE scandal is widely hailed as a successful businessperson. But the fate of her high-profile lingerie company raises questionsCameron broke convention when he made Michelle Mone a peer, says Tory MPThroughout the stunning interviews the Conservative peer Michelle Mone gave last month, finally admitting she had lied for years when denying her involvement in lucrative...

A study suggests communicating too much about yourself can be a bad thing – but we need to share to make connections, tooSign up to Reclaim your brain: our free email to help you spend less time on your phoneI recently made a new friend, and we became Instagram mutuals right away. From her posts, I’m getting a sense of what she does on the weekends and what she likes to cook. It’s helping me...

Everyone told me there is no water on top of this Brazilian mountain, there won’t be any frogs. Now I’ve dedicated my life to preserving this incredible speciesI remember the park rangers saying: “Why are you going up there? There is no water on the top, and you’re not going to find any frogs.” I said: “Well I’m going to check it out.”The Espinhaço mountain range in the east of...