Category Archives: Science

Paleontology ‘a hotbed of unethical practices rooted in colonialism’, say scientists

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The study of fossils and prehistoric species is exploitative of local communities, says international team

The public image of palaeontologists as dusty, but rather affable academics, could be due an update. The study of ancient life is a hotbed of unethical and inequitable scientific practices rooted in colonialism, which strip poorer countries of their fossil heritage, and devalue the contributions of local researchers, scientists say.

Writing in the journal Royal Society Open Science, an international team of palaeontologists argue that there has been a steady drain of plesiosaurs, pterosaurs, prehistoric spiders, and other fossils from poorer countries into foreign repositories or local private collections – despite laws and regulations introduced to try to conserve their heritage.

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Tyrannosaurus rex may have been three species, scientists say

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Experts say there is enough variation in samples to argue there was also a Tyrannosaurus imperator and a regina

With its immense size, dagger-like teeth and sharp claws, Tyrannosaurus rex was a fearsome predator that once terrorised North America. Now researchers studying its fossils have suggested the beast may not have been the only tyrannosaurus species.

Experts studying remains thought to belong to T rex have suggested their variation shows evidence of not one species but three.

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Possible case of deer-to human Covid infection identified in Canada

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Researchers say its unlikely that the variant found in deer could bypass vaccines, but urge better monitoring of Covid in animals

Canadian researchers believe they have found the first-ever instance of a deer passing the coronavirus to a human, warning that broader surveillance of wildlife is needed to prevent further mutations from developing and spreading undetected.

In a paper published last week, but not yet peer reviewed, scientists say at least one case of Covid-19 in humans can be traced to a strain of the virus found in hunted deer.

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Concussion in sport: CTE found in more than half of sportspeople who donated brains

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Groundbreaking findings by Australian Sports Brain Bank reveal prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, including in younger players

Groundbreaking research into the long-term ramifications of concussion in sport has found chronic traumatic encephalopathy in the brains of more than half of a cohort of donors, including three under the age of 35.

The Australian Sports Brain Bank on Monday reported its preliminary findings after examining the 21 brains posthumously donated by sportspeople since the centre’s inception in 2018.

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UK scientists fear brain drain as Brexit rows put research at risk

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Projects in jeopardy as EU revokes millions in grant offers after failure of trade talks

British science is facing the threat of a highly damaging brain drain that could see scores of top young researchers leaving the UK. In addition, the futures of several major British-led international projects are also now in jeopardy following a delay in funding by the European Union.

Senior scientists say the UK’s scientific standing is at serious risk while others have warned that major programmes – including medical projects aimed at tackling global scourges such as malaria – face cancellation.

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Doomed ship of gold’s ghostly picture gallery is plucked from the seabed

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Eerie photographs recovered from the 1857 wreck of the SS Central America are now being published for the first time

It is one of the most famous treasure wrecks ever discovered, a steamer named the “ship of gold” after it sank in 1857 off the coast of South Carolina with one of the largest cargoes of gold ever lost at sea. Miners who had struck it rich in the California gold rush were among those bringing home to New York their hard-earned wealth, only to lose their lives when the SS Central America was struck by a hurricane, sinking nearly a mile and a half beneath the waves.

When nuggets, ingots and coins were recovered from the seabed in various expeditions between 1988 and 2014, the world was dazzled. But, with reported values of tens of millions of pounds, it sparked a complex legal case that landed its original treasure-hunter in jail.

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Will we get a single, variant-proof vaccine for Covid?

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The goal of a universal vaccine would have seemed a fantasy only a few years ago. But not now…

This week the government announced additional vaccine booster jabs for the over-75s and suggested a further shot is likely to be needed in the autumn. But imagine if the next Covid vaccine jab you have were the last you would ever need. That’s a dream being actively pursued now by researchers, who feel it could be possible to make a “universal” vaccine against the Sars-CoV-2 virus that would work well not only against all existing variants but any that the virus could plausibly mutate into in the future.

Some are thinking even bigger. In January, Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, and two other experts called for more research into “universal coronavirus vaccines” that would work not only against Sars-CoV-2 but against the many other coronaviruses in animal populations that have the potential to spill over into humans and cause future pandemics. “We need a research approach that can characterise the global ‘coronaviral universe’ in multiple species,” Fauci and colleagues wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine, “and apply this information in developing broadly protective ‘universal’ vaccines against all [coronaviruses].”

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Vallance and Whitty to step out of spotlight as Covid restrictions end in England

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Chief scientific adviser and England’s chief medical officer will focus on health inequalities and emerging technologies

The government’s two most senior advisers in the pandemic will turn their attention to health inequalities, the state of the UK’s air and emerging technologies following the milestone decision to end all legal Covid restrictions in England this week.

While the pandemic is far from over, Boris Johnson’s announcement on Monday of the “living with Covid” plan is expected to be the last time Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, and Sir Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, will flank the prime minister to explain the UK’s response.

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Argentina scientists unearth dinosaur with ‘puny arms’ and hard head

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Dinosaur probably belongs to carnivorous group called abelisaurs and may have used its head to ram its prey

Scientists in Argentina have unearthed the remains of a previously unknown species of meat-eating dinosaur that lived about 70m years ago that had puny arms and may have used its powerful head to ram its prey.

The fossil skull of the Cretaceous period dinosaur, named Guemesia ochoai, was discovered in Argentina’s north-western Salta province. The researchers said it likely belongs to a carnivorous group of dinosaurs called abelisaurs, which walked on two legs and possessed only stub-like arms, even shorter than those of North America’s Tyrannosaurus rex.

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Covid live news: Sweden ‘should have clamped down harder’ as pandemic hit; US set to ease mask guidelines

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Latest updates: Swedish report says government should have shown better leadership at start of crisis; new US mask guidelines expected on Friday

At least 5.2 million children around the world have lost a parent, grandparent or family member who helped care for them to Covid, according to a new study.

The research looked at coronavirus mortality data across 21 countries from the start of the pandemic between March 2020 and October 2021.

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Victims dismayed as Canadian inquiry finds mystery syndrome does not exist

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New Brunswick officials say baffling disorder that causes memory loss and cognitive decline is from known neurological condition

After warning medical professionals to be on the lookout for a baffling neurological condition that produced memory loss, muscle wasting and severe cognitive decline, authorities in the Canadian province of New Brunswick have concluded that no such illness exists, a finding that has prompted skepticism and disbelief as families search for answers.

New Brunswick officials last year flagged a possible “cluster” of residents suffering from an unknown neurological syndrome, similar to those of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Symptoms were varied and dramatic: some patients started drooling, and others felt as though bugs were crawling on their skin.

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Hong Kong domestic workers left homeless after being fired for contracting Covid-19

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Dozens of live-in workers have been forced to sleep rough in the Hong Kong winter after bosses refuse to allow them back in the house

Live-in domestic workers in Hong Kong have been left homeless after they were diagnosed with Covid-19 and their employers fired them or refused their return to the residence, support groups have said.

Many of the workers, who are mostly women from Indonesia and the Philippines, were also left without insurance to cover their medical bills.

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Springtime asteroid hit ramped up extinction rates, say scientists

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Animals in northern hemisphere would have been more vulnerable to intense heat just after winter

Having an asteroid slam into Earth was catastrophic for the dinosaurs, but the season of the strike may have substantially ramped up extinction rates for others species, research suggests.

Scientists have found evidence that the devastating impact 66m years ago, which wiped out three-quarters of Earth’s species and created the Chicxulub crater in modern-day Mexico, happened in the spring in the northern hemisphere.

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Does life flash before your eyes? Brain scan of dying man suggests it’s possible

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Scientists report unexpected brain activity in patient, 87, as he died from heart attack

When Harry Stamper sets off a bomb to save planet Earth in the film Armageddon, his life flashes before his eyes. Now research has revealed tantalising clues that such recall may not be Hollywood hyperbole.

An international team of scientists has reported an unexpected situation in which they recorded the brain activity of an 87-year-old patient as he died.

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Black carbon pollution from tourism and research increasing Antarctic snowmelt, study says

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Pollution generated by burning fossil fuels causes snow to darken, absorb more solar energy and melt faster

Black carbon pollution from tourism and research activities in Antarctica is likely increasing snowmelt on the continent by an estimated 83 tonnes for each visitor, according to new research.

Scientists have estimated that the black carbon produced by vessels, planes and diesel generators results in 23mm of additional snowmelt each summer in the most frequently visited areas of the ice-covered landmass.

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Scientists find part of brain responds selectively to sound of singing

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US results also confirm previous findings that some neurons respond to speech or music

It may not yet feature in a West End musical but scientists say they have found an unexpected response to singin’ in the brain.

Researchers say they have found particular groups of neurons that appear to respond selectively to the sound of singing.

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Remains of ‘world’s largest Jurassic pterosaur’ recovered in Scotland

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Discovery shows pterosaurs with a 2.5-metre wingspan existed about 25m years earlier than previously thought

It might be best known today for its otters and puffins but 170m years ago the Isle of Skye was home to an enormous flying reptile with a wingspan bigger than a kingsize bed, researchers have revealed.

Fossil hunters in Scotland say they have recovered the remains of the world’s largest Jurassic pterosaur, adding the creature – known informally as a pterodactyl – also boasted a mouthful of sharp teeth for spearing and trapping fish.

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Covid cost-cutting will put blinkers on our best Covid research

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Analysis: several world-leading studies to guide future Covid care depend on widespread testing now threatened by government cuts

After a bruising two years in which the UK failed to prove its resilience to a pandemic, the government hopes to re-cast the nation as a scientific superpower: a country that has built on the lessons of the crisis to deliver better research, more precision healthcare, and a more streamlined pathway to new drugs and vaccines.

But the government’s decision to substantially cut back on free Covid testing, as part of Boris Johnson’s “living with Covid” strategy, already threatens to undermine pioneering trials and coronavirus surveillance that are the envy of other nations. Together, they are crucial for understanding how drugs keep patients out of hospital, how immunity is holding up in vulnerable care homes and hospitals and how the epidemic is unfolding around us.

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‘People are dying on the floor’: healthcare workers tell of Covid devastation in Solomon Islands

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The Pacific country was coronavirus-free until last month but an outbreak of thousands of cases is overwhelming the health system

Frontline health workers in Solomon Islands have warned that its health system is on the brink of collapse as the country struggles to deal with a devastating outbreak of Covid-19.

A senior doctor and two nurses at the National Referral Hospital (NRH) in the capital of Honiara have told of how there are no beds for Covid patients – leading to people dying on the floor of the wards – as well as a lack of facilities and staff shortages that have led to Covid-positive nurses being recalled to work and probationary nurses tending to critically ill patients solo, when they should be supervised by a more senior nurse.

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Covid antivirals an option for the Queen under care of medical household

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Monarch said to have mild symptoms, but staff may look to drugs recently approved in UK

With the Queen approaching her 96th birthday in April, there was always going to be concern about her contracting Covid, but the monarch has tested positive against a radically different backdrop from when the virus arrived in the UK.

In addition to the protection afforded by her vaccinations – and she is understood to have had a booster – she could also be given antiviral drugs approved by UK authorities as recently as December.

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