Individual who contracted H1N2 experienced mild symptoms and has fully recovered, UKHSA saysThe UK’s first human case of flu strain H1N2, which has been circulating in pigs, has been detected, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said.The individual who contracted the illness experienced mild symptoms and had fully recovered, the UKHSA added. Continue...

Reflections on the pioneering astronomer find an unexpected contemporary relevanceLosing GalileoI like to imagine Galileo,His heart swinging likea chandelier, watching Continue reading...

The ruthless pursuit of powerToday’s puzzle concerns a group of five power-hungry schemers who are all desperate to become the top boss. Your task will be to work out how the person of lowest status can triumph above all the others.The puzzle is a new variant of what are often called “pirate-division” problems, and was written by Joel David Hamkins, who is currently the O’Hara Professor of...

Make a note of Aldebaran, the brightest star of Taurus, which means ‘eye of the bull’ in ArabicSearch out one of the very oldest recognised constellations this week. Taurus – the bull of heaven – was first recorded by the Babylonians in about 1000BC but other cultures may have associated this grouping of stars with a bull much earlier. At the Lascaux network of caves, in France,...

Results challenge assumption we eat highly processed foods because they are more desirable, says study’s authorUltra-processed foods are viewed as no more appealing than less processed foods, research has found.A University of Bristol study compared the taste perception of different food types to test the theory that calories and level of processing are key factors influencing how much we like...

A23a split from the Antarctic’s Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986, but it became stuck to the ocean floor and had remained for many years in the Weddell SeaOne of the world’s largest icebergs is drifting beyond Antarctic waters, after being grounded for more than three decades, according to the British Antarctic Survey.The iceberg, known as A23a, split from the Antarctic’s Filchner Ice Shelf in...

The US reproductive health expert on being sued for $1m, and winning a top prize for her fight for free speech in the public interestDr Chelsea Polis is a reproductive health scientist based in New York City. She was sued for $1m by a medical device company after speaking out about misleading marketing claims it had made about the use of its digital fertility tracker as a contraceptive method....

I stood out as different in Llandudno but by learning about its past and mine, it became the home I loveLooking back, a good deal of my younger years seemed to be perched somewhere between if only and my fate. If only my hair was straight, if only my bum was flatter, if only our house was ordinary, if only mum didn’t speak Welsh, if only dad could settle in Wales, if only I lived somewhere else,...

The European Space Agency’s plan to build a cargo vessel that can convert to a crew ship is one giant step in its ambitions to compete with rival lunar exploration programmesAs space exploration announcements go, a recent speech at a European Space Agency (Esa) summit could hardly rival President John F Kennedy’s oration at Rice University in Houston, Texas, in 1962, when he emphatically...

US students are relearning how to chitchat after lockdown damaged social skills. Maybe Rishi Sunak could take a courseAre you having a lovely weekend? Nice jumper, is it new? Did you see Doctor Who last night? You see, it’s not difficult. Yet the younger generation seems to be struggling with the ancient art of small talk. Speaking about nothing but doing it pleasantly is an essential social...

Patients’ group says reactions to metamizole can cause sepsis and organ failure – and British and Irish people are at higher riskA patients group representing several British victims has launched legal action against the Spanish government over claims it failed to safeguard people against the potentially fatal side effects of one of the country’s most popular painkillers, involved in a...

With Covid-19 facilities being dismantled and an inquiry starting late, the nation’s ability to react quickly to future health threats has been lost, experts sayThe UK is now worse prepared for a pandemic than it was when Covid-19 first swept the country, a former government health minister has warned.Lord Bethell, an under-secretary of state at the department of health in 2020, told the...

Use of cattle from country free of mad cow disease means product is safe, experts say, and patients can still donate bloodGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastBone cows, specially bred in mad cow-free Australia, are being used instead of human donors for dental and medical bone grafts.While bovine grafts have been tested for spinal fusion, foot reconstructions...

Ingestion of particulate matter may shorten distance between anus and genitals in the womb, a sign of lower testosterone activityIn-utero exposure to common air pollutants may lower semen quality and increase the risk of reproductive system disease in men, new research finds.The peer-reviewed Rutgers University study looked at whether exposure to particulate matter called 2.5 (PM2.5) and nitrogen...

Scientific specimens and research facilities set to be rehoused in Reading University science park, alongside British Museum archiveIt is intended to be a world-leading research facility that will house some of the UK’s greatest collections of historical, botanical and zoological samples. Millions of ancient mosaics and pieces of sculpture, rare plant specimens and fossil remnants will be taken...

Australian researcher Ove Hoegh-Guldberg takes no joy in being proven right about coral bleaching. He says there’s still time to act – but only justSee the other pieces in our series Weight of the world: a climate scientist’s burdenOve Hoegh-Guldberg was just 10 years old when he first saw the Great Barrier Reef. That year, 1969, most young kids around the world were getting their...

England’s chief medical officer owned up to experts’ ignorance of psychology. If only others had been so candid in admitting their errorsIn 2002, Iain Duncan Smith notoriously declared: “Do not underestimate the determination of a quiet man.” It might have been a rather poor self-description, but it serves as a perfect representation of the chief medical officer for England, Chris...

Project aims to release hundreds into lochs and streams after centuries of habitat loss and exploitationThe medicinal leech is one of nature’s least loved hunters. Armed with three strong interlocking jaws and with a taste for blood, they will swim hungrily towards humans, deer or cattle that wander into their ponds to bathe, fish or drink.Yet this small predator is the focus of an unlikely...

Origins of Amaterasu particle, one of the highest-energy cosmic rays ever detected, are unknownAstronomers have detected a rare and extremely high-energy particle falling to Earth from space.Named Amaterasu, after the sun goddess in Japanese mythology, it is one of the highest-energy cosmic rays ever detected, according to the scientists. Continue...

Dictator seen with daughter at celebration for scientists and technicians who finally put Malligyong-1 into space after two failed attemptsThe North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un, has celebrated a “new era of a space power” with his family including daughter Ju Ae and the scientists who put the North’s first spy satellite into orbit.Pyongyang’s launch of the Malligyong-1 on Tuesday was its...

Pollution caused twice as many premature deaths as previously thought, with updated understanding of dangers of PM2.5Coal-fired power plants killed at least 460,000 Americans during the past two decades, causing twice as many premature deaths as previously thought, new research has found.Cars, factories, fire smoke and electricity plants emit tiny toxic air pollutants known as fine particulate...

In the top company in the world’s most explosive industry, the boss was fired and rehired – and no one has said why• OpenAI was ‘working on model so powerful it alarmed staff’The OpenAI farce has moved at such speed in the past week that it is easy to forget that nobody has yet said in clear terms why Sam Altman – the returning chief executive and all-round genius, according to his...

New model Q* fuelled safety concerns among staff with workers airing their fears to the board before CEO Sam Altman’s sackingOpenAI was reportedly working on an advanced system before Sam Altman’s sacking that was so powerful it caused safety concerns among staff at the company.The artificial intelligence model triggered such alarm with some OpenAI researchers that they wrote to the board of...

After a lifetime cursed with awkward social interactions, learning to take myself less seriously has been a wonderful giftI’ve gotten to know my postman. Being home during the day means I’m there to answer the door and exchange chit-chat. Sometimes about the weather, sometimes about my dogs who greet him with unfortunate stereotypical anger. Occasionally, I’ll pass him in the street and we...