Category Archives: Science

Typhoid outbreak on refugee ship in Netherlands traced to raw sewage

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Report finds that 72 cases of the disease on the vessel, which was housing asylum seekers, were caused by a wastewater leak

A major outbreak of typhoid among asylum seekers living on a ship in the Netherlands has been traced to raw sewage which was allowed to mix with tanks of freshwater for drinking and cooking.

A total of 72 cases of the highly contagious disease were confirmed during the spring 2022 outbreak on the Liberty Ann, an old cruise ship which was being used as emergency accommodation in Haarlem.

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Cosmic explosion last year may be ‘brightest ever seen’

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Astronomers say gamma-ray burst may have been result of star collapsing to form black hole

A cosmic explosion that blinded space instruments last year may be the brightest ever seen, according to astronomers.

The blast took place 2bn light years from Earth, producing a pulse of intense radiation that swept through the solar system in October last year.

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Planets aligned: how to see the astronomical phenomenon set to light up Australia’s sky

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Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus will be in alignment near the moon and visible using binoculars from Tuesday evening

A planetary alignment is set to light up Australia’s night sky.

Five planets – Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus – will be in alignment near the moon from Tuesday evening.

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‘In awe’: New Zealand aurora hunters entranced by unusually bright southern lights display

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Recent auroras have been so intense they have been visible as far north as Auckland

The lure of unusually vibrant views of the southern lights in New Zealand has prompted aurora-hunters to drive for hours through the night to capture the “elusive” sight on camera, with social media groups devoted to swapping tips growing in size.

The aurora australis is always more visible in New Zealand and Australian skies during autumn and winter – beginning in March in the southern hemisphere – but this month, the southern lights have been more visible than usual, analysts say. Auroras – beautiful light shows in the night sky – are seen when sunspots erupt, causing solar storms which send material from the sun towards Earth.

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Rise of slimming jabs could lead to overseas trips to remove excess skin, UK surgeons warn

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Exclusive: Surgeons raise concerns that people using jabs are unaware of risks of redundant skin

From unbearable side-effects to cravings curbed: readers on weight-loss jabs

A surge in the number of people using slimming jabs to lose weight could lead to a rise in patients travelling abroad for tummy tucks or other surgery to remove excess skin, surgeons have said.

Drugs such as liraglutide and semaglutide, which could help people reduce their weight by more than 10%, have been approved for use on the NHS for certain groups of people with obesity, although supplies of the latter under the brand name Wegovy have yet to arrive in the UK.

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Novartis scraps cholesterol drug trial in blow to UK life sciences ambitions

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Swiss firm’s withdrawal from Leqvio trial with NHS dents government plans to attract post-Brexit research and investment

The Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis has ditched plans for a large clinical trial in the UK, in a further blow to the government’s efforts to make Britain an attractive place for research and investment after Brexit.

The company decided to scrap the Orion-17 trial of its cholesterol-lowering drug Leqvio, involving 40,000 patients in partnership with NHS England.

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Newly released Chinese Covid data points to infected animals in Wuhan

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Previously unseen genomic samples suggest animals at Huanan market were potential source

Newly released data from early in the Covid-19 pandemic has offered a crucial insight into the outbreak’s origins, suggesting that Covid-infected animals were present at a market in Wuhan and could have been a “potential source of human infections”.

A pre-print report on Monday by a team of international researchers fleshed out analysis of previously unseen genomic samples collected by Chinese scientists at the Huanan market in Wuhan in the early days of the pandemic.

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Fate of 1,000 trafficked lab monkeys at center of US investigation in limbo

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Long-tailed macaques at risk of being killed, or laundered or re-trafficked if returned to Cambodia, animal welfare groups say

More than a thousand Cambodian monkeys at the center of a US government investigation into wildlife trafficking are at risk of being killed or returned to their country of origin, laundered and re-trafficked, animal welfare groups say.

The monkeys’ plight first came to light last year when the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) asked the animal rights organization Peta about finding a sanctuary for 360 monkeys. Born Free USA, and the US Department of Justice (DoJ) later joined the discussions and the number of monkeys increased to over 1,000 as talks progressed.

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Two new species of yeast named after Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips

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Discoveries that could help diabetics titled in honour of activist and journalist murdered in Amazon

Scientists in Brazil have found two new species of fermenting yeasts and named them after journalist Dom Phillips and activist Bruno Pereira, the two men murdered last year in the Amazon rainforest.

The discovery came from four isolates of the Spathaspora species, according to a paper published in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.

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Neo-Nazis and trans rights protesters clash in Melbourne; bushfire alert for parts of Great Ocean Road – as it happened

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Melbourne forecast to reach 37C while northern regions of the state could exceed 40C. This blog is now closed

Federal government welcomes decision to hear MH17 case

The federal government has welcomed the International Civil Aviation Organization Council’s decision to hear Australia and the Netherlands’ case against Russia for the downing of flight MH17.

We have maintained since May 2018 that the Russian Federation is responsible under international law for the downing of Flight MH17.

We now look forward to presenting our legal arguments and evidence to the ICAO Council as we continue to seek to hold Russia to account.

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New data links Covid-19’s origins to raccoon dogs at Wuhan market

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Analysis of gene sequences by international team finds Covid-positive samples rich in raccoon dog DNA

Newly released genetic data gathered from a live food market in Wuhan has linked Covid-19 with raccoon dogs, adding weight to the theory that infected animals sold at the site started the coronavirus pandemic, researchers involved in the work say.

Swabs collected from stalls at the Huanan seafood market in the two months after it was shut down on 1 January 2020 were previously found to contain both Covid and human DNA. When the findings were published last year, Chinese researchers stated that the samples contained no animal DNA.

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Parasitic fungus that infects and kills spiders discovered in Brazil

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Exclusive: rare purple organism preys on trapdoor spider in behaviour reminiscent of its ‘zombie’ relatives that feature in apocalyptic TV show The Last of Us

Scientists believe they have discovered a new parasitic fungus which preys on trapdoor spiders in Brazil’s Atlantic rainforest.

The rare organism, which is purple, belongs to a group of fungi that infect invertebrates and take over the host. A closeup image shows the fungus wrapped around the body of a trapdoor spider, poking out of the burrow from which the arachnid grabs insects.

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Contest launched to decipher Herculaneum scrolls using 3D X-ray software

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Global research teams who can improve AI and accelerate decoding could win $250,000 in prizes

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79 laid waste to Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum where the intense blast of hot gas carbonised hundreds of ancient scrolls in the library of an enormous luxury villa.

Now, researchers are launching a global contest to read the charred papyri after demonstrating that an artificial intelligence programme can extract letters and symbols from high-resolution X-ray images of the fragile, unrolled documents.

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Virus outbreak in West Bengal leaves 19 children dead and thousands in hospital

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Indian state in crisis after adenovirus hits 12,000 people this year and families with sick children camp outside Kolkata hospital

Nineteen children have died of acute respiratory infections in West Bengal this year, and thousands more are in hospital as India grapples with an adenovirus outbreak.

More than 12,000 cases of adenovirus have been recorded in the state since January. More than 3,000 children have been admitted to hospital with severe flu-like symptoms.

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1,100 scientists and students barred from UK amid China crackdown

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Exclusive: Foreign Office rejected record number of academics in 2022 on national security grounds

More than 1,000 scientists and postgraduate students were barred from working in the UK last year on national security grounds, amid a major government crackdown on research collaborations with China.

Figures obtained by the Guardian reveal that a record 1,104 scientists and postgraduate students were rejected by Foreign Office vetting in 2022, up from 128 in 2020 and just 13 in 2016.

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Tasmanian devils slash population of brushtail possums that ‘overwhelmed’ tiny island

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Possums on Maria Island expanded beyond usual habitat and had become ‘pretty significant predator’

The introduction of Tasmanian devils to Maria Island halved the population of brushtail possums, according to new research that suggests restoring top predators to ecosystems could help limit the number of overabundant prey.

In 2012, the carnivorous marsupials were introduced to the island off the east coast of Tasmania to create a geographically isolated insurance population free from devil facial tumour disease.

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Caffeine may reduce body fat and risk of type 2 diabetes, study suggests

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Findings could lead to use of calorie-free caffeinated drinks to cut obesity and type 2 diabetes – but more research needed

Having high levels of caffeine in your blood may lower the amount of body fat you carry and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, research suggests.

The findings could lead to calorie-free caffeinated drinks being used to reduce obesity and type 2 diabetes, though further research is required, the researchers wrote in the BMJ Medicine journal.

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Florida surgeon general’s Covid vaccine claims harm public, health agencies say

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‘Fueling vaccine hesitancy undermines effort’ to protect lives, warns letter to Dr Joseph Ladapo sent by FDA and CDC

US health agencies have sent a letter to the surgeon general of Florida, warning that his claims about Covid-19 vaccine risks are harmful to the public.

The letter was sent to Joseph Ladapo on Friday by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It was a response to a letter Ladapo wrote to the agencies last month, expressing concerns about what he described as adverse effects from Covid vaccines.

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Superb fairywrens more likely to help family members in distress than strangers, like humans

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Beloved Australian songbird will risk life and limb for its breeding group but ignore cries for help from unfamiliar birds, scientists say

What do superb fairywrens have in common with humans? They are more likely to help a family member in distress than a stranger.

The study, from scientists at Monash University and the Australian National University, tracked the beloved songbirds in the first research to focus on understanding how animals that live in a multi-level society, like humans, decide to help one another when in need.

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Sphinx-like statue and shrine discovered in southern Egypt

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It is thought the Roman emperor Claudius could have inspired work found in the temple of Dendera

Archaeologists have unearthed a sphinx-like statue and the remains of a shrine in an ancient temple in southern Egypt.

The artefacts were found in the temple of Dendera, in Qena province, 280 miles (450km) south of Cairo, Egypt’s antiquities ministry said.

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