AlphaFold breakthrough may bolster work in fields from antibiotics and cancer therapy to resilient cropsResearchers have hailed another “leap forward” for artificial intelligence after Google DeepMind unveiled the latest version of its AlphaFold program, which can predict how proteins behave in the complex symphony of life.The breakthrough promises to shed fresh light on the biological machinery that underpins living organisms and drive breakthroughs in fields from antibiotics and cancer therapy to new materials and resilient crops. Continue reading...

It’s the first time a medieval animal has been identified as a host for the disease.

It is the first time a creature in the wild has been seen using a medicinal plant to treat a wound.

Scientists make a self-destructing plastic using plastic-eating bacteria in a sci-fi like development.

New research into the dying brain suggests the line between life and death may be less distinct than previously thought. By Alex Blasdel Continue reading...

Plan to break up Noaa claims its research is ‘climate alarmism’ and calls for commercializing forecasts, weakening forecastsClimate experts fear Donald Trump will follow a blueprint created by his allies to gut the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), disbanding its work on climate science and tailoring its operations to business interests.Joe Biden’s presidency has increased the profile of the science-based federal agency but its future has been put in doubt if Trump wins a second term and at a time when climate impacts continue to worsen. Continue reading...

Excitement among patients and researchers as custom-built jabs enter phase 3 trialDoctors have begun trialling in hundreds of patients the world’s first personalised mRNA cancer vaccine for melanoma, as experts hailed its “gamechanging” potential to permanently cure cancer.Melanoma affects about 132,000 people a year globally and is the biggest skin cancer killer. Currently, surgery is the main treatment although radiotherapy, medicines and chemotherapy are also sometimes used. Continue reading...

Many report symptoms lasting two years or longer and about 1.5m say disease affects day-to-day activitiesAbout 2 million people in England and Scotland say they are experiencing long Covid, figures reveal, with many reporting their symptoms have lasted two years or longer.The findings were released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and cover the period from November 2023 to March 2024, revealing of those who reported having long Covid, about 1.5 million people – about three-quarters– felt their day-to-day activities were affected, while 381,000 people – about a fifth – said...

Dabrafenib with trametinib can halt growth of some tumours for more than three times as long as standard chemotherapy, study showsThe NHS is to offer children with brain tumours in England a groundbreaking new targeted drug therapy to tackle the disease – a development charities are hailing as the biggest breakthrough in decades.Gliomas are the most common type of brain cancer in children but experts say the standard treatment of chemotherapy can be brutal and gruelling, and also carries the risk of side-effects such as weight loss, seizures and headaches. Continue reading...

Nasa says its most distant probe is once again sending usable information back to Earth.

The European Space Agency's latest intake of astronauts complete their basic training.

Research that aims to explain why some people experience intense visual imagery could lead to a better understanding of creativity and some mental disordersWilliam Blake’s imagination is thought to have burned with such intensity that, when creating his great artworks, he needed little reference to the physical world. While drawing historical or mythical figures, for instance, he would wait until the “spirit” appeared in his mind’s eye. The visions were apparently so detailed that Blake could sketch as if a real person were sitting before him.Like human models, these imaginary figures...

People in routine and repetitive jobs found to have 31% greater risk of disease in later life, and 66% higher risk of mild cognitive problemsIf work is a constant flurry of mind-straining challenges, bursts of creativity and delicate negotiations to keep the troops happy, consider yourself lucky.Researchers have found that the more people use their brains at work, the better they seem to be protected against thinking and memory problems that come with older age. Continue reading...

Scientists say a fossilised jawbone found in Somerset may be from one of the biggest sea creatures ever.

The US space agency is seeking a cheaper, faster solution to bring Martian rocks to Earth for study.

The material, discovered in 2004, was meant to be revolutionary. But only now is the technology coming of ageTwenty years ago, ­scientists announced they had created a new miracle material that was going to transform our lives. They called it graphene.Consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexa­gonal pattern, it is one of the strongest materials ever made and, for good measure, it is a better conductor of electricity and heat than copper. Continue reading...

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that a group of Swiss women partially won their climate case.

More consensual touch helps ease or buffer against mental and physical complaints, meta-analysis showsWhether it is a hug from a friend or the caress of a weighted blanket, the sensation of touch appears to bring benefits for the body and mind, researchers say.The sense of touch is the first to develop in babies and is crucial in allowing us to experience the environment around us as well as communicate. Indeed, the loss of touch from others during the Covid pandemic hit many hard. Continue reading...

Total solar eclipse will be visible along ‘path of totality’ that measures about 115 miles wide, sweeping across 15 US states beginning at 1:30pm CTFull story – Millions gather across US, Mexico and Canada for total solar eclipseHow and when to watch today’s total solar eclipseTotal solar eclipses occur when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, blocking the sun’s face completely, and causing the bright sky to darken to twilight in just seconds. The track of the moon’s shadow is called the path of totality.The most recent total solar eclipse in the US was in 2017, but an...

Frantic giraffes, barking gibbons, randy tortoises … previous solar eclipses have revealed varied responses to sudden onset of darknessNot every scientist’s attention will be focused on the skies during Monday’s solar eclipse. Animal behaviorists at several zoos across its pathway will be watching creatures great and small for their reactions to the sudden, unexpected darkness.The research is an extension of their observations from 2017’s most recent total eclipse in the US, when usually sedentary tortoises started rutting, frantic giraffes ran around aimlessly, and siamang gibbons...

Researchers have found fresh evidence that may connect the mysterious Denisovans to the early human species Homo longiThey remain one of the most elusive groups of humans to have walked on earth. Evidence from the DNA traces left by Denisovans shows they lived on the Tibetan plateau, ­probably ­travelled to the Philippines and Laos in south Asia and might have made their way to northern China more than 100,000 years ago. They also interbred with modern humans.What Denisovans looked like or how they lived has remained a­ ­mystery, however. Only a jaw ­fragment, a few bits of bone and one&...

Mechanism unpicked that allows black-capped chickadees to stash and relocate huge quantities of foodWhile adults might be spending the weekend trying to remember where they have hidden a hoard of Easter eggs, the black-capped chickadee has no trouble recalling where its treats are stashed. Now researchers have discovered why: the diminutive birds create a barcode-like memory each time they stash food.Black-capped chickadees are known for tucking food away during the warmer months – with some estimates suggesting a single bird can hide up to 500,000 food itemsa year. But more remarkable still...

Farmers from across the UK are driving into central London on a 'go-slow' to protest a lack of support for British food production.

The benefits of drugs such as donanemab, aducanumab and lecanemab are proving harder to quantify than potential harms, experts sayIt was heralded in news articles as a “breakthrough”, a “turning point” and a “gamechanger” for Alzheimer’s disease. Some experts went so far as to call the drug, donanemab, the “beginning of the end” for the debilitating condition.Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly in May 2023 released data from a clinical trial they said showed donanemab slowed cognitive and functional decline in people with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease by 35% over 18...

Anti-abortion researchers ‘exaggerate’ and ‘obfuscate’ in their scientific papers – but by the time they’re published, it’s too lateExplainer: the mifepristone caseTell us: have you used an abortion pill in the US?A pharmacy professor who strenuously avoids heated political discussions is an unlikely candidate to get involved in a fight over abortion, particularly one as high stakes as a case now before the supreme court: the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) v the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM).But when the professor Chris Adkins of South University in Georgia...