Pure Science

The Guardian

Evidence shows that arguing our case rarely convinces others. It’s social relationships and actions that have that powerSarah Stein Lubrano is the author of Don’t Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st-Century Minds It may seem...

The Guardian

The Mayo Clinic hopes to uncover how the microbiome affects how patients react to cancer medications A leading US clinic hopes its fecal waste biobank will help researchers make new discoveries about how to treat cancer patients – one of...

The Guardian

Medications such as Ozempic have transformed obesity treatment and are now leading a healthcare revolution Obesity was once medicine’s Cinderella subject with some questioning whether the condition should even be viewed as a biological...

The Guardian

Scientific study of 3,000 dolls down the decades shows most now wear flats She walked into the world on high-heeled mules, but as Barbie’s many careers gathered pace, her feet became more planted on the ground, researchers say. A rare...

The Guardian

Coller-Dolittle award won by US team for discovering call that triggers avoidance and could be used as alarm signal A $100,000 prize for communicating with animals has been scooped by researchers who have shed light on the meaning of...

The Guardian

Gene-editing breakthrough has potential to treat array of devastating genetic diseases soon after birth, scientists say Doctors in the US have become the first to treat a baby with a customised gene-editing therapy after diagnosing the...

The Guardian

A demographic change is unfolding, and many of us can expect a long life. It’s time to provide the support needed Ethel Caterham, at the age of 115 years, is said to be the oldest person alive. She offers the sage life advice to “say yes...

The Guardian

I was told my husband would never talk again, while physiotherapy was dismissed entirely. My son was failed in similar ways, but for the brilliance of some medical staff who refuse to believe a stroke is the end On the night before the...

The Guardian

Geoengineering, the controversial set of techniques that aim to deliberately alter the Earth’s climate system, may be inching a step closer to reality with the announcement that UK scientists will be conducting real-world experiments in...

The Guardian

Kseniia Petrova, Harvard researcher arrested in February, faces deportation as lawyer calls case ‘meritless’ A Harvard scientist who has been held in US immigration detention for months was charged on Wednesday with smuggling frog embryos...

The Guardian

Fossilised footprints found in Australia provide the oldest evidence for reptiles on Earth, a discovery that suggests the group evolved in the southern rather than the northern hemisphere, and some 35-40 million years earlier...

The Guardian

Groups of large language model artificial intelligence agents can adopt social norms as humans do, report says Artificial intelligence can spontaneously develop human-like social conventions, a study has found. The research, undertaken in...

The Guardian

Dangerous indoor pollution could be tackled with air purifiers but costs are too high for many, researchers say Toxic pollution from wildfires has infiltrated the homes of more than a billion people a year over the last two decades,...

The Guardian

The discovery by two local fossil hunters on a river bank in Victoria has ‘potentially far-reaching implications’, scientists say Fossilised claw prints found in Australia suggest amniotes – the ancestors of reptiles, birds and mammals –...

The Guardian

‘Beautifully preserved’ Archaeopteryx has tertial feathers that appear to have been key to making it aerodynamic An exquisitely preserved Archaeopteryx fossil has delivered fresh insights into how the earliest birds first took flight 150m...

The Guardian

Research looking at hygiene and healthcare habits of the primates finds implications for understanding origin of human healthcare Humans are not unique in having a host of hygiene and healthcare habits, researchers have found: chimpanzees...

The Guardian

Time-lapse footage reveals cardiac cells in a mouse embryo begin to organise themselves during early development The moment a heart begins to form has been captured in extraordinary time-lapse images for the first time. The footage reveals...

The Guardian

I was recently asked to explain the media’s attitude to weight loss drugs. And the more I tried, the more sheepish I became ‘Why you might be given the ‘second-best’ weight-loss drug”, ran the i’s coverage of the most recent research...

The Guardian

For a long time the appendix was considered disposable. After all, millions of people have theirs removed each year and go on to live healthy lives. But as Heather F Smith, a professor of anatomy at Midwestern University tells Ian Sample,...

The Guardian

Liraglutide is found to have beneficial impact on weight and families report reduced conflicts around food Giving obese children weight loss jabs works and could help avoid arguments over mealtimes, according to research. Clinicians...

The Guardian

The answers to today’s puzzles Earlier today I set these two puzzles. Here they are again with solutions. 1. Go compare! Continue reading...

The Guardian

Some see the fiery root as a miracle cure for colds, but there are easier, cheaper ways to support your immune system Do you find yourself buying tiny bottles of fiery gloop at the first signs of a cold? You’re not alone. Ginger shots...

The Guardian

Don’t run out of rope! Two very different puzzles today. In the first, you have to identify two numbers. In the second, you have to escape off a roof. 1. Go compare! Continue reading...

The Guardian

While faint, the constellation still makes a big impression because of its sheer size This week, we track down one of the zodiacal constellations, Virgo, the virgin. It is a prominent constellation in the northern hemisphere’s spring night...

The Guardian

Study finds overweight children who reach healthier BMI before age six are no longer at higher risk in late teens Being overweight as a young child could double the risk of being obese in adulthood, according to research. Academics from...

The Guardian

Experts say findings are transformational and could herald new era of preventive medicine Weight-loss jabs could almost halve the risk of obesity-related cancers, a landmark study suggests. Cancer experts said the findings were...

The Guardian

Teams vie for place on shortlist for XPrize Healthspan, the richest prize yet in the longevity field Admitting its goal is “audacious”, the largest longevity-focused prize in history – offering $101m in prize money – will announce its...

The Guardian

Key programs from child-support services to HIV treatment also gutted, leaving global populations vulnerable Mass terminations and billions of dollars’ worth of cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have gutted key...

The Guardian

Swiss study finds wellbeing and life quality can be improved more than with insulin and other antidiabetic drugs Weight loss jabs may be good for people’s mental health as well as helping curb their appetite, according to research. A study...

The Guardian

Kosmos 482 has crashed back down more than a half century since launch on failed mission to Venus A Soviet-era spacecraft plunged to Earth on Saturday, more than a half century after its failed launch to Venus. The European Union Space...

The Guardian

Providing semaglutide for all those eligible may bring productivity gains as people are able to work more Giving weight loss jabs to everyone eligible for them could boost the UK economy by £4.5bn, according to research. Worldwide, about...

The Guardian

Lander probe of Kosmos 482, launched in 1972, is expected to re-enter the atmosphere some time between 9 and 10 May Part of a Soviet spacecraft is expected to crash back down to Earth this weekend, with experts still unsure of where it...

The Guardian

Research found chimpanzees drum with non-random rhythms that suggest building blocks of music may predate humans by millions of years They might not produce Gershwin hits, but chimpanzees have got rhythm, researchers have found in a study...

The Guardian

Findings show for first time how plastic chemicals throw off the body’s internal clock by up to 17 minutes Chemicals in everyday plastics may disrupt the body’s natural 24-hour sleep-wake cycle and circadian rhythm in a way similar to...

The Guardian

We know some medications work differently in men and women. Why is it taking so long for studies to reflect this? The first step, they say, is admitting you have a problem, and on that front the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products...

The Guardian

Scientists fear early emerging insects may fall out of sync with pathogens, predators or availability of food Midsummer butterflies are on the wing in early May after a sunny spring prompted one of the most advanced seasons for Britain’s...

The Guardian

Experts found 60% of the EU’s agricultural soils had been degraded, with about 40% similarly damaged in the UK More than 60% of the EU’s agricultural soils are degraded due to intensive agriculture, with similar damage to about 40% of...

The Guardian

Researchers say AI could give every developing country a vital early warning system of extreme events Weather forecasting has gradually been getting more and more sophisticated. It has also got far more important as the climate gets more...

The Guardian

And yet science cannot get rid of them. Or can it?Sign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are publishedGet all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading...

The Guardian

Small genetic changes in enzyme that prevents bad breath in humans lead to sulphurous scent in some asarum With a smell of rotting flesh the flowers of certain species of wild ginger are unlikely to be used in a wedding bouquet – although...

The Guardian

Lack of rain and floods both threaten crops. Ministers should heed the experts’ warnings It is so ingrained in British culture to celebrate sunshine that unless you are a farmer or gardener, it is unusual to complain about the lack of...

The Guardian

Eric Topol says we can prevent age-related disease and live fuller lives – but only if we reject anti-science ‘malarkey’ Dr Eric Topol’s new book examines the best evidence-based approaches to longevity, and seeks to challenge the...

The Guardian

Science correspondent Hannah Devlin joins Ian Sample to discuss three intriguing science stories from the week, from a global study that puts the UK third from bottom when it comes to flourishing, to a man who intentionally suffered more...

The Guardian

It is shocking that while illnesses specific to men are studied, those affecting women are ignored Six years after Caroline Criado Perez’s bestselling book Invisible Women drew a mass readership’s attention to the long history of sexist...

The Guardian

Superb starlings seen to build reciprocal relations in which they return favours when a ‘helper’ has offspring of its own Birds of a feather flock together, so the saying goes. But scientists studying the behaviour of starlings have found...

The Guardian

SpaceX and Starlink owner may benefit from Trump cuts to projects that could have led to regulations and costs The Trump administration is poised to kill federal research into pollution from satellites and rockets, including some caused by...

The Guardian

Feeding the world sustainably is an incredibly complex challenge, yet some people are trying to sell us a bucolic fairytale The fire that has just destroyed 500 hectares (1,230 acres) of Dartmoor should have been impossible. It should not...

The Guardian

Exclusive: doctors and patients forced to make decisions in ‘vacuum of evidence’ as women under-represented in data Health experts are calling for more UK clinical trials to focus on finding new treatments for women, as “concerning” data...

The Guardian

Crowning achievement of Alan Turing’s codebreakers is now ‘straightforward’, according to computer scientists The Enigma code was a fiendish cipher that took Alan Turing and his fellow codebreakers a herculean effort to crack. Yet experts...

The Guardian

This display caused by Earth passing through debris from Halley’s Comet will peak this week and be most visible on Wednesday – but only if you’re up before dawnGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Stargazers and...