Astronomers deeply concerned that darkest, clearest skies in world will be compromised by proposed facility nearby
In the Atacama desert, the driest non-polar region on Earth, the sky shines when the sun sets.
Up in the arid hills 130km south of the Chilean city of Antofagasta, comets burn brightly and flawless trails of stars and nebulae streak the night sky.
Continue reading...USAid cuts to clinics dispensing antiretroviral drugs will be ‘death sentence for mothers and children’, expert warns
Sweeping notices of termination of funding have been received by organisations working with HIV and Aids across Africa, with dire predictions of a huge rise in deaths as a result.
After the US announced a permanent end to funding for HIV projects, services across the board have been affected, say doctors and programme managers, from projects helping orphans and pregnant women to those reaching transgender individuals and sex workers.
Continue reading...Bumblebees declined by almost a quarter compared with the 2010-2023 average, according to conservation charity
Figures show 2024 was the worst year for bumblebees in the UK since records began.
Bumblebee numbers declined by almost a quarter compared with the 2010-2023 average, according to data from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. The researchers said the drop was probably due to the cold and wet conditions in the UK last spring.
Continue reading...Workers at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fear crackdown will have global fallout
The Trump administration has set its sights on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the US’s pre-eminent climate research agency, with significant cuts and a political crackdown on climate science. As Trump takes aim at the agency, the impact is likely to be felt across the US and around the world.
Noaa provides essential resources to the public and has helped make the US a scientific leader internationally. Operating 18 satellites and 15 research and survey ships, the agency’s scientists, engineers and policy experts issue forecasts relied on by aviation, agriculture and fishing industries; ocean floor mapping depended upon for shipping; advises on species protection, and increasingly precise and accurate modeling on what to expect as climate crisis unfolds.
Continue reading...Health department orders NIH to hold Federal Register submissions – critical step in process for funding studies
The Trump administration has blocked a crucial step in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) process for funding medical research, likely in violation of a federal judge’s temporary restraining order on federal funding freezes.
The NIH has stopped submitting study sections – meetings in which scientists peer review NIH grant funding proposals – to the Federal Register after the Trump administration paused health agency communications. By law, study sections must appear on the register 15 days in advance of meetings.
Continue reading...All 24 jobs at Dundee University’s Leverhulme research centre could be axed because of £30m budget deficit
Dundee University’s world-leading forensic science research centre, which inspired the hit BBC drama Traces, is under threat of closure as the institution attempts to plug a £30m budget deficit.
It is feared all 24 jobs will be axed at the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science, the largest interdisciplinary team in the UK dedicated to improving the science used to investigate crimes and prosecute those responsible.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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