Category Archives: Science

Japan’s moon lander survives two-week lunar night after wonky landing

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Unmanned Slim spacecraft responds to signal from Earth after touching down at awkward angle in January

Japan’s moon lander has responded to a signal from Earth, suggesting it survived the two-week lunar night, the country’s space agency has said.

The unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) touched down last month at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way. But as the sun’s angle shifted, it powered up for two days and carried out scientific observations of a crater with a hi-spec camera.

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‘Poisoned by chemicals’: citizen scientists prove River Avon is polluted

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Charity blames the decline of invertebrates on farming, sewage and run-off from roads and homes, months after the Environment Agency told them the water in Wiltshire river was clean


A citizen science programme has revealed the decline of one of the country’s most significant chalk streams after claims by Environment Agency officials that it had not deteriorated. The SmartRivers programme run by the charity WildFish, which surveys freshwater invertebrates, reported “strong declines in relation to chemical pressure” on the River Avon in Wiltshire. It said its data indicated a decline in the condition of the river over the last five years.

The charity compiled a report on its findings after the conservation groups say they were told at a meeting by the Environment Agency in August that “the Avon has not deteriorated in water quality in the last five years”. David Holroyd, head of water quality for Wiltshire Fishery Association, said the numbers of invertebrates collected in spring and autumn samples from 2019 and 2023 at 11 sites on the upper Avon had shown a decline.

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US returns to lunar surface for first time in over 50 years: ‘Welcome to the moon’

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Intuitive Machines’ spacecraft Odysseus lands after a 73-minute descent, touching down near moon’s south pole

The United States has returned to the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years after a privately-built spacecraft named Odysseus capped a nail-biting 73-minute descent from orbit with a touchdown near the moon’s south pole.

Amid celebrations of what Nasa hailed “a giant leap forward”, there was no immediate confirmation of the status or condition of the lander, other than it had reached its planned landing site at crater Malapert A.

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Odysseus spacecraft lands on the moon as Nasa hails ‘giant leap forward’ – as it happened

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Odysseus has started its “powered descent initiative”, as it readies for a landing. The engine on the lander has started up, and it is slowing itself down. As it lowers, sensors on the it will look for a safe spot for a landing,

As an example of the mixed payloads that private space missions are taking, Nasa administrator, Bill Nelson said of today’s mission “Nasa scientific instruments are on their way to the moon, a giant leap for humanity as we prepare to return to the lunar surface for the first time in more than half a century.”

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Covid death toll in US likely 16% higher than official tally, study says

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Researchers think undercounting goes beyond overloaded health systems to a lack of awareness of Covid and low levels of testing

The Covid death toll in the US is likely at least 16% higher than the official tally, according to a new study, and researchers believe the cause of the undercounting goes beyond overloaded health systems to a lack of awareness of Covid and low levels of testing.

The second year of the pandemic also had nearly as many uncounted excess deaths as the first, the study found.

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Greener ‘water batteries’ a step closer thanks to breakthrough by Melbourne researchers

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RMIT team develops method that could replace common lead-acid batteries, offering a safer and more recyclable alternative

An RMIT-led research team has come up with an innovative way to make greener, safer, recyclable “water batteries” that could replace common lead-acid batteries.

There are three key components that make up a battery: a cathode, an anode and an electrolyte. In common lithium-ion or lead-acid batteries, the electrolyte is a liquid chemical solution that, once inserted, cannot be easily recovered.

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ADHD may have been an evolutionary advantage, research suggests

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Traits associated with the neurodevelopmental disorder could have helped early humans when foraging for food

Traits common to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), such as distractibility or impulsivity, might have been an evolutionary advantage for our ancestors by improving their tactics when foraging for food, researchers have said.

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder with symptoms including impulsiveness, disorganisation and difficulty focusing. While estimates of prevalence have varied, diagnoses have been rising in many countries, including the UK.

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Combining three healthy behaviours can lower IBS risk, study finds

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People who tick at least three out of five boxes including not smoking and good sleep are found to have 42% lower risk

Combining three healthy behaviours can reduce the risk of irritable bowel syndrome by 42%, a study suggests.

IBS affects the digestive system and its symptoms include stomach cramps, bloating, diarrhoea and constipation. People can suffer for days, weeks or months at a time, and symptoms can come and go. IBS is thought to affect up to one in 10 people worldwide.

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Japan to launch world’s first wooden satellite to combat space pollution

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The environmentally friendly LignoSat probe – set to orbit this summer – has been created to combat harmful aluminium particles

Japanese scientists have created one of the world’s most unusual spacecraft – a tiny satellite that is made of timber.

The LignoSat probe has been built of magnolia wood, which, in experiments carried out on the International Space Station (ISS), was found to be particularly stable and resistant to cracking. Now plans are being finalised for it to be launched on a US rocket this summer.

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Japan launches second flagship H3 rocket a year after inaugural flight self-destructed

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Space agency announces ‘successful liftoff’ and says rocket has already released one micro-satellite

Japan’s space agency has successfully launched a second test model of its new flagship rocket H3, in a welcome boost to its space program after last year’s inaugural flight failed.

The launch further burnishes the country’s space credentials after the historic “pinpoint” moon landing of Japan’s Slim spacecraft last month.

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Private moon lander lifts off aiming for first US lunar touchdown in 52 years

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Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander sets off on SpaceX rocket from Cape Canaveral on weeklong journey

A moon lander built by the Houston-based aerospace company Intuitive Machines was launched from Florida early on Thursday on a mission to conduct the first US lunar touchdown in more than a half century and the first by a privately owned spacecraft.

The Nova-C lander, nicknamed Odysseus, lifted off shortly after 1am EST atop a Falcon 9 rocket flown by Elon Musk’s SpaceX from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.

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Genetics journal retracts 18 papers from China due to human rights concerns

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Researchers used samples from populations deemed by experts and campaigners to be vulnerable to exploitation, including Uyghurs and Tibetans

A genetics journal from a leading scientific publisher has retracted 18 papers from China, in what is thought to be the biggest mass retraction of academic research due to concerns about human rights.

The articles were published in Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine (MGGM), a genetics journal published by the US academic publishing company Wiley. The papers were retracted this week after an agreement between the journal’s editor in chief, Suzanne Hart, and the publishing company. In a review process that took over two years, investigators found “inconsistencies” between the research and the consent documentation provided by researchers.

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Trial offers hope for millions that jab could prevent rheumatoid arthritis

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An existing drug for the chronic disease could slow or stop its progression, researchers say

Scientists have discovered a jab that could prevent rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a development experts say could offer hope to millions at risk of the disease.

RA is a chronic disease that causes inflammation in the body and triggers pain in the joints. About 18 million people globally are affected by the condition, which can lead to heart, lung or nervous system problems, according to the World Health Organization.

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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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