Category Archives: Science

Stone age wall found at bottom of Baltic Sea ‘may be Europe’s oldest megastructure’

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Structure stretches for almost a kilometre off coast of Germany and may have once stood by a lake

A stone age wall discovered beneath the waves off Germany’s Baltic coast may be the oldest known megastructure built by humans in Europe, researchers say.

The wall, which stretches for nearly a kilometre along the seafloor in the Bay of Mecklenburg, was spotted by accident when scientists operated a multibeam sonar system from a research vessel on a student trip about 10km (six miles) offshore.

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Roman egg found in Aylesbury still has contents after 1,700 years

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Archaeologists and naturalists astonished to find yolk and albumen that may reveal secrets about the bird that laid it

It was a wonderful find as it was, a cache of 1,700-year-old speckled chicken eggs discovered in a Roman pit during a dig in Buckinghamshire.

But to the astonishment of archaeologists and naturalists, a scan has revealed that one of the eggs recovered intact still has liquid – thought to be a mix of yolk and albumen – inside it, and may give up secrets about the bird that laid it almost two millennia ago.

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Hurricanes becoming so strong that new category needed, study says

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Scientists propose new category 6 rating to classify ‘mega-hurricanes’, becoming more likely due to climate crisis

Hurricanes are becoming so strong due to the climate crisis that the classification of them should be expanded to include a “category 6” storm, furthering the scale from the standard 1 to 5, according to a new study.

Over the past decade, five storms would have been classed at this new category 6 strength, researchers said, which would include all hurricanes with sustained winds of 192mph or more. Such mega-hurricanes are becoming more likely due to global heating, studies have found, due to the warming of the oceans and atmosphere.

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Cern aims to build €20bn collider to unlock secrets of universe

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Research lab submits plans for next-generation model at least three times size of Large Hadron Collider

Officials at Cern, home to the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, are pressing ahead with plans for a new machine that would be at least three times bigger than the existing particle accelerator.

The Large Hadron Collider, built inside a 27km circular tunnel beneath the Swiss-French countryside, smashes together protons and other subatomic particles at close to the speed of light to recreate the conditions that existed fractions of a second after the big bang.

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‘The situation has become appalling’: fake scientific papers push research credibility to crisis point

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Last year, 10,000 sham papers had to be retracted by academic journals, but experts think this is just the tip of the iceberg

Tens of thousands of bogus research papers are being published in journals in an international scandal that is worsening every year, scientists have warned. Medical research is being compromised, drug development hindered and promising academic research jeopardised thanks to a global wave of sham science that is sweeping laboratories and universities.

Last year the annual number of papers retracted by research journals topped 10,000 for the first time. Most analysts believe the figure is only the tip of an iceberg of scientific fraud.

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‘Edible meadow’ for improved gut health to feature at Chelsea flower show

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Flowers used in the ‘microbiome garden’ can enhance gut health by being eaten or just walked past

An “edible meadow” designed to improve gut health is to be displayed at the Chelsea flower show this year.

The two gardeners behind the “microbiome garden” say it will be filled with flowers that can enhance gut health by being eaten or just walked past.

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‘Nemo’ clownfish drive away species with same stripes, study suggests

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Researchers say they have found how anemonefish identify unwelcome guests of their own kind, by counting white markings

Unlike the star of Disney’s Finding Nemo, real-life common clownfish are not keen on sharing their home with members of their own species.

Researchers say they have discovered how they kick unwelcome guests out, by counting the stranger’s vertical white markings.

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Vets urged to stop giving pesticide flea treatments after river pollution study

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Exclusive: Pet owners risk contaminating their hands with neurotoxins for at least 28 days after application, scientists find

Vets should limit the use of flea treatments containing pesticides on dogs and cats, scientists have said, after a study revealed the vast amount of toxic substances in them that end up in rivers.

Pet owners using these flea treatments risk contaminating their hands with fipronil and imidacloprid, two insecticides, for at least 28 days after the treatment has been applied, according to research by the University of Sussex and Imperial College London.

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EU to delay new green rule in bid to appease protesting farmers

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Delay to rules on setting aside land to encourage biodiversity offered as concession amid continuing protests

Farmers protesting across Europe have won their first concession from Brussels, with the EU announcing a delay in rules that would have forced them to set aside land to encourage biodiversity and soil health.

About 10,000 French farmers stepped up their protests on Wednesday, with at least 100 blockades on major roads across France, as 18 farmers were arrested for blocking traffic as they tried to reach the wholesale food market at Rungis, south-east of Paris and 79 others were detained after they managed to get inside.

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Baby shark! Researchers may have captured first image of newborn great white

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California scientist and film-maker spot apparent pup – never before seen in the wild – in drone pictures

Researchers in California may have gotten the first ever look at a newborn great white shark, which they captured in drone images taken last summer.

The newborn animal has never before been spotted in the wild. But in July, the wildlife film-maker Carlos Gauna and Phillip Sternes, a biology doctoral student at the University of California, Riverside, glimpsed something unexpected in the waters near Santa Barbara on California’s central coast.

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‘Old smokers’: astronomers discover giant ancient stars in Milky Way

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Stars sat fading quietly for years before suddenly puffing out vast clouds of smoke

Astronomers 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 smoke. The discovery was made during the monitoring of almost a billion stars in infrared light during a 10-year survey of the night sky.

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World-first blood test for brain cancer may increase survival rates, say experts

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Inexpensive test can help diagnose even ‘inaccessible’ tumours earlier, speeding up treatment and improving outcomes

Surgeons 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 of people worldwide each year, and kill more children and adults under the age of 40 in the UK than any other cancer.

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Lions making fewer zebra kills due to ‘chain reaction’ involving invasive ants

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Hunting by Kenyan lions impeded in ‘ecological chain reaction’ as big-headed ants fail to stop elephants stripping acacia trees – the cats’ ambush cover

When 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 east Africa sets off a situation leading to lions making fewer zebra kills.

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Just two northern white rhinos remain. An IVF breakthrough could save them from extinction

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The first successful embryo transfer in a southern white rhino paves the way for the technique to save their rarer northern cousins

The critically endangered northern white rhino could be saved from the brink of extinction after scientists performed the first successful embryo transfer in white rhinos.

After the last male northern white rhino, Sudan, died in 2018, the disappearance of the species looked imminent. Just two infertile female northern white rhinos – Fatu and Najin – remain, and are under 24-hour armed protection at a conservation reservation in Kenya. But a new scientific advancement means the mother and daughter may not be the last of their kind.

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Ancient ‘chewing gum’ sheds light on stone age teenagers’ diet

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Traces of DNA found on lumps of tree resin suggest trout and hazelnuts were popular 10,000 years ago

DNA from a type of “chewing gum” used by teenagers in Sweden 10,000 years ago is shedding new light on the stone age diet and oral health, according to research.

The wads of gum are made from pieces of birch bark pitch, a tar-like black resin, and carry clearly visible teethmarks.

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Australia not prepared for how Antarctic ice changes will hit economy, scientist warns

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Exclusive: Prof Matt King says accelerated melting could transform country and affect viability of some agricultural industries

A leading Antarctic scientist has urged the Albanese government to pay closer attention to abrupt changes under way in the southern continent, warning they will affect Australians in ways that are little understood and research into them is drastically underfunded.

The head of the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science, Prof Matt King, said he found it embarrassing how little was known about the local and global ramifications of changes including a historic drop in floating sea ice cover, the accelerating melting of giant ice sheets and the slowing of a deep ocean current known as the Southern Ocean overturning circulation.

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Japan’s ‘Moon Sniper’ craft makes lunar landing but is unable to generate electricity via solar power – as it happened

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Slim spacecraft landed on the moon and is communicating with earth but is not generating electricity

(I’m really enjoying the soft piano music being played in the background of this Japanese space agency live feed. Very calming in a tense situation!)

The probe is now “scanning the surface” and looking for a place to land, space agency officials say.

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The race for the moon – podcast

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The space race of the 20th century put the first person on the moon. Now a new race to the lunar surface – with new global players – is just getting going. Robin McKie reports

Robin McKie is the science editor of the Observer. Over the last 42 years, he’s covered everything from advances in genetics and new discoveries in physics to the urgent scientific issues raised by the Covid pandemic. But one topic excites him more than any other: space – and, more specifically, the moon.

He tells Michael Safi how the first crewed mission to the moon in 1969 captured the imagination of his generation and why the modern-day missions are something to be newly excited by.

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Experimental use of pig liver to filter blood externally offers hope for patients

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Surgeons at University of Pennsylvania attached modified organ from pig to brain-dead human body

Surgeons externally attached a pig liver to a brain-dead human body and watched it successfully filter blood, a step toward eventually trying the technique in patients with liver failure.

The University of Pennsylvania announced the novel experiment on Thursday, a different spin on animal-to-human organ transplants. In this case, the pig liver was used outside the donated body, not inside – a way to create a “bridge” to support failing livers by doing the organ’s blood-cleansing work externally, much like dialysis for failing kidneys.

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Remains of ‘lost’ bronze age tomb discovered in County Kerry in Ireland

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Altóir na Gréine stood for approximately 4,000 years on Dingle peninsula before vanishing in 19th century

The remnants of a bronze age tomb once thought to have been destroyed and lost to history have been discovered in County Kerry on the Atlantic coast of Ireland.

The tomb, known locally as Altóir na Gréine – the sun altar – stood for approximately 4,000 years on a hill outside the village of Ballyferriter on the Dingle peninsula before vanishing in the mid-19th century.

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