Category Archives: Science

Space mission aims to map water on surface of the moon

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A probe to be launched this week aims to pinpoint sites of lunar water, which could help plan to colonise the Earth’s satellite

Space engineers are set to launch an unusual mission this week when they send a probe built by UK and US researchers to the moon to map water on its surface. Lunar Trailblazer’s two year mission is scheduled to begin on Thursday when the probe is blasted into space from Florida on a Space X Falcon rocket.

Its goal – to seek out water on the lunar surface – may seem odd given that the moon has traditionally been viewed as an arid, desiccated world. However, scientists have recently uncovered strong hints that it possesses significant quantities of water. It will be the task of Lunar Trailblazer to reveal just how much water there is near the lunar surface and pinpoint its main locations.

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‘You dream about such things’: Brit who discovered missing pharaoh’s tomb may have unearthed another

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Archaeologist believes his ‘find of the century’ – of Pharaoh Thutmose II – could be surpassed by ongoing excavation

To uncover the location of one long-lost pharaoh’s tomb is a career-defining moment for an archaeologist. But to find a second is the stuff of dreams.

Last week British archaeologist Piers Litherland announced the find of the century – the first discovery of a rock-cut pharaoh’s tomb in Egypt since Tutankhamun’s in 1922.

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Alarm as bird flu now ‘endemic in cows’ while Trump cuts staff and funding

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Experts say current US outbreak is unlikely to end without intervention with further mutation of virus likely

A newer variant of H5N1 bird flu has spilled over into dairy cows separately in Nevada and Arizona, prompting new theories about how the virus is spread and leading to questions about containing the ongoing outbreaks.

The news comes amid a purge of experts at federal agencies, including employees who were responding to the highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US Department of Agriculture.

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Outcry as Trump withdraws support for research that mentions ‘climate’

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US government stripping funds from domestic and overseas research amid warnings for health and public safety

The Trump administration is stripping away support for scientific research in the US and overseas that contains a word it finds particularly inconvenient: “climate.”

The US government is withdrawing grants and other support for research that even references the climate crisis, academics have said, amid Donald Trump’s blitzkrieg upon environmental regulations and clean-energy development.

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Critics say Trump’s executive orders to reshape the NIH ‘will kill’ Americans

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Executive orders’ impact on premier medical research agency has resulted in delayed projects and frozen funding

Academics and scientists who work with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said the Trump administration’s orders have severely disrupted work – delaying projects and casting the future of research funding and jobs into doubt as chaos in the agency reigns.

An array of orders seeks to fundamentally reshape the NIH, the world’s largest public funder of biomedical and behavioral research, in the Trump administration’s image. The agency’s work is the wellspring of scientific advancement in the US, and helped make the country a dominant force in health and science.

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What are sinkholes, how are they formed and why did one appear in a Surrey street?

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Failed water main or mineshaft most likely culprits as hole opens up in the village of Godstone

Residents of Godstone in Surrey have been evacuated from their homes amid fears that two large sinkholes in their high street could trigger a gas explosion. Here we look at what causes sinkholes, whether they are becoming more common and what can be done to prevent them.

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Life expectancy growth stalls across Europe as England sees sharpest decline, say researchers

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Poor diet, obesity and inactivity blamed on decline with Norway the only country seeing a rise

Life expectancy improvement is stalling across Europe with England experiencing the biggest slowdown. Experts are blaming this on an alarming mix of poor diet, mass inactivity and soaring obesity.

The average annual growth in life expectancy across the continent fell from 0.23 years between 1990 and 2011 to 0.15 years between 2011 and 2019, according to research published in the Lancet Public Health journal. Of the 20 countries studied, every one apart from Norway saw life expectancy growth fall.

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First patient in UK tests new treatment for loss of sense of smell

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Chrissi Kelly, who says anosmia is a ‘like a bereavement’, is trialling a simple procedure that could help those who lost sense of smell during Covid or other viral infections

Smell loss was a defining symptom of Covid, and for some people, a curse. Most people regain their sense of smell as their infection fades, but some never recover. It means not being able to tell if milk is off, if there’s a gas leak or what your newborn baby smells like.

But for victims of anosmia and its crueller sibling, parosmia, where ordinary smells are transformed into the stench of rotting flesh or sewage, there is new hope. Researchers have discovered that a simple procedure can help people recover their sense of smell years after losing it to viral infections such as Covid, or even decades later.

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British Paralympian is first person with physical disability cleared for space mission

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Sprinter and surgeon John McFall given medical certification for mission lasting up to six months

A British Paralympic sprinter and surgeon has become the first person with a physical disability to be cleared to fly to the International Space Station in a landmark for human space exploration.

John McFall, 43, is a member of the European Space Agency’s astronaut corps and is now waiting to be assigned a mission after a feasibility study concluded there were no technical or medical reasons why he should not fly.

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Bacteria transferred during intercourse could help identify sexual assault perpetrators, scientists say

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Genital microbiome or ‘sexome’ leaves specific signature even when barrier protection is used, which could be traced in absence of DNA material

Bacteria transferred between people during sexual intercourse could be used in forensic testing to help identify sexual assault perpetrators, an Australian study suggests.

Genital bacteria, similar to the microorganisms that make up the gut microbiome, vary between individuals. They are transferred to sexual partners during intercourse and leave specific signatures that can subsequently be detected, researchers found.

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Weight-loss jabs may help reduce alcohol intake, study finds

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Semaglutide, active ingredient of Wegovy and Ozempic, found to reduce cravings and cut drinking by 40%

Weight-loss drugs could be used to help people reduce their intake of alcohol, researchers have said, after a study found they can cut cravings and curb heavy drinking.

The medicines, originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes, have revolutionised the treatment of obesity, and evidence suggests they could have benefits in other areas of health, such as reducing risk of heart attacks and strokes.

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Many birds-of-paradise species emit light through their plumage, study finds

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Researchers found that most birds-of-paradise are biofluorescent – meaning they absorb light through their bodies

Birds-of-paradise are known for their bright and colourful plumage, but it turns out they are even more dazzling than previously thought.

Researchers have found 37 of the 45 species show biofluorescence – in other words, patches of their plumage or other body parts absorb UV or blue light, and emit light at lower frequencies.

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Cockatoos show appetite for dips when eating bland food, find scientists

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Birds observed going to lengths to flavour food, with particular penchant for blueberry-flavoured soy yoghurt dip

Whether you savour Ottolenghi’s recipes or prefer a feast from Nigella’s cookery books, humans enjoy mixing flavours and textures when preparing food. Now research suggests some cockatoos do too.

Researchers have previously discovered that some of the birds dunk dry rusks in water before eating them, just as some people enjoy dunking a biscuit in tea, apparently reflecting a penchant for a soggy texture.

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Trump’s anti-diversity executive orders threaten Americans’ health, experts say

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As certain terms are scrubbed from US health agency websites decades of vital data is vanishing, advocates warn

After Donald Trump signed executive orders ordering for mentions of race, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities and other terms to be scrubbed from US health agency websites, experts say the implications for health and scientific research are vast.

All pages at US health agencies were told to take down these mentions after Trump signed certain executive orders on his first day in office.

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Mystery behind Viking-age treasure find in Scotland may finally have been solved

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A runic inscription on one of the Galloway hoard’s elaborately decorated arm rings has been deciphered

When the Galloway hoard was discovered in a ploughed field in western Scotland in 2014, it proved to be the richest collection of Viking-age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland. Now the long-standing mystery of who might have owned it when it was buried more than 1,000 years ago may have been solved.

The spectacular silver and gold treasure had in fact belonged to everybody – “the community” – just as it does today, having been acquired in 2017 by National Museums Scotland (NMS).

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Australian scientists produce kangaroo embryos using IVF for first time

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Team has produced more than 20 embryos using method used in humans, though there are no plans for live joeys

Scientists have produced kangaroo embryos through in vitro fertilisation for the first time, in a development they say could help conservation of endangered animals.

Australian researchers at the University of Queensland made the eastern grey kangaroo embryos using intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), a technique widely used in human IVF, in which a sperm is injected into a mature egg.

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Farewell potholes? UK team invents self-healing road surface

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Researcher at Swansea University says tiny plant spores mixed into bitumen can extend surface lifespan by 30%

For all motorists, but perhaps the Ferrari-collecting rocker Rod Stewart in particular, it will be music to the ears: researchers have developed a road surface that heals when it cracks, preventing potholes without a need for human intervention.

The international team devised a self-healing bitumen that mends cracks as they form by fusing the asphalt back together. In laboratory tests, pieces of the material repaired small fractures within an hour of them first appearing.

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‘Groundbreaking’: scientists develop patch that can repair damaged hearts

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Cells taken from blood and ‘reprogrammed’ into heart muscle cells may help patients with heart failure

Damaged hearts can literally be patched up to help them work, say researchers, in what has been hailed as a groundbreaking development for people with advanced heart failure.

According to a recent study, heart failure affects more than 64 million people worldwide, with causes including heart attacks, high blood pressure and coronary artery disease.

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Study of more than 600 animal and plant species finds genetic diversity has declined globally

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Analysis by dozens of scientists internationally notes urgent conservation efforts could halt or even reverse losses

Genetic diversity in animals and plants has declined globally over the past three decades, an analysis of more than 600 species has found.

The research, published in the journal Nature, found declines in two-thirds of the populations studied, but noted that urgent conservation efforts could halt or even reverse genetic diversity losses.

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Ancient British coins found in Dutch field likely to be spoils of Roman conquest

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Archaeologists hail discovery of very rare hoard featuring 44 gold coins bearing name of Celtic king Cunobelinus

A hoard of British coins bearing the inscription of King Cunobelin and found in a Dutch field have been identified as very likely to be the spoils of war of a Roman soldier from the conquest of Britain.

The 44 gold coins, known as staters, were discovered alongside 360 Roman coins, by two amateur archaeologists with metal detectors in a field in Bunnik, near Utrecht. The coins are believed to have been given as military pay.

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