Lab notes: ignore politics - we ’ve got some strong and stable science for you

It ’s been a week for overturning certainties, and the latest discovery of 300,000-year-old remains in Moroccan mine is no exception. Scientists believe that these arethe oldestHomo sapiens bones ever found and they challenge the very foundations of our understanding of human evolution. Put that alongside thediscovery of Kelt-9b, the hottest known giant planet (found using Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescopes, made with off-the-shelf components, which in itself is pretty amazing) and this week ’s been pretty damned interesting even without the distraction of a general election. But there were also a couple of quirkier excitements in store, not least afossil mushroom from the era of the dinosaurs (yes, a dino-spore! I ’ll get my coat) a unique find, believed to be 115m years old. Surprisingly, it’s similar to today’s fungi. And if your romance has bombed as badly as my jokes, help may be at hand. Cambridge University neuropsychologist Barbara Sahakian thinks thatbrain training might help you to avoid humiliation after heartbreak, by building up willpower that will prevent late-night ex-texting and other regrettable lovelorn behaviour. Finally, this is serious, kids. “Fake news” has become a bit of a buzzphrase, but we really need to start taking action against it. Former Nasa chief scientist Ellen Stofan, who left the US space agency in December, has warned thatAmericans are “under siege” from climate disinformation. She says that fake news spread by those ...

Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - June 9, 2017 Category: Science Authors: Tash Reith-Banks Tags: Science Source Type: news