Puberty makes teenagers ’ armpits smell of cheese, goat and urine, say scientists
Research into children ’s body odours also found babies smell of flowers and soap, eliciting parental affectionPuberty makes teenagers ’ armpits smell of cheese, goat and even urine, scientists in Germany have discovered.The particular chemical compounds that make up pubescent body odour have been singled out, should anyone want to bottle “eau du teenager”.Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 22, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Emily Dugan Tags: Young people Children Society Science Health Source Type: news
What we talk about when we talk about giving up – podcast
We give things up when we believe we can change; we give up when we believe we can ’t. By Adam PhillipsContinue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 22, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Written by Adam Phillips and read by Sarah Agha. Produced by Jessica Beck. The executive producer was Ellie Bury Tags: Psychology Smoking Source Type: news
‘This person saved her’: the cancer patients in need of a stem cell donor match
Four in 10 UK patients do not find a match and those from non-white backgrounds find it more difficultPete McCleave first heard about stem cells during his sciences degree in the 1990s. “I knew about them, I just didn’t know what they could be used for,” he says. “It all sounded very pie in the sky.” It wasn’t until two decades later when McCleave was diagnosed with myeloma blood cancer that he came across stem cells again. This time, he needed them to save his life.“I was told that really the only chance I have, the best chance I have in seeing beyond the seven years I was given [to live] was finding a stem ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 22, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Mabel Banfield-Nwachi Tags: Cancer Health Stem cells Biology Science Society UK news Source Type: news
Scientists name newly discovered ancient amphibian species after Kermit the Frog
Kermitops gratusare thought to be among first true amphibians and a key step in transition of life from water to landAfter achieving worldwide fame through numerous hit films and TV shows, leading to a star on Hollywood ’s Walk of Fame, Kermit the Frog has another accolade: a 270m-year-old fossil named after him.Scientists have discovered a species of an ancient amphibian ancestor, which they have namedKermitops gratus because of its resemblance to the bright green star of The Muppet Show.Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 21, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Nadeem Badshah Tags: Palaeontology Fossils Animals Science The Muppets US news World news Biology Source Type: news
I discovered why seemingly healthy amphibians were being wiped out
The mass deaths were puzzling scientists around the world – there were no signs of viruses or parasites. Then we looked closely at their skinIt was while we were sitting and talking in a hotel bar at the first global congress of herpetology that the world ’s amphibian experts realised there was a problem: frogs, toads, salamanders and newts were disappearing in their thousands around the world and nobody understood why.Not a single talk at the 1989 congress at the University of Kent had discussed the strange disappearance of the world ’s amphibians. But scientist after scientist had the same story: from Central Ameri...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 21, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Andrew Cunningham Tags: Amphibians Animals Endangered species Australia news UK news Conservation Environment World news Wildlife Zoos Zoology Biology Science Source Type: news
Havana syndrome: will we ever understand what happened? – podcast
In late 2016, US officials in Cuba ’s capital began experiencing a mysterious and often debilitating set of symptoms that came to be known as Havana syndrome. As two new studies into the condition are published, Ian Sample speaks to the Guardian’s world affairs editor, Julian Borger, who has been following the story, and to the c onsultant neurologist Prof Jon Stone, about what could be behind the conditionFollow all of Julian Borger ’s reporting hereContinue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 21, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Presented by Ian Sample, with Julian Borger; produced by Holly Fisher; sound design by Tony Onuchukwu; the executive producer is Ellie Bury Tags: Science US news Cuba US healthcare US foreign policy Americas World news Source Type: news
Medics design AI tool to predict side-effects in breast cancer patients
Trials in UK, France and the Netherlands indicate tool can predict if patient will experience problems from surgery and radiotherapyDoctors have developed an artificial intelligence tool that can predict whichbreast cancer patients are more at risk of side-effects after treatment.Worldwide, 2 million women are diagnosed every year with the disease, which is the most common cancer in females in most countries.Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 20, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Andrew Gregory Health editor Tags: Medical research Cancer research Breast cancer Artificial intelligence (AI) Technology Society Health Computing Science World news UK news Source Type: news
Scientists find skull of enormous ancient dolphin in Amazon
Fossil of giant river dolphin found in Peru, whose closest living relation is in South Asia, gives clues to future extinction threatsScientists have discovered the fossilised skull of a giant river dolphin, from a species thought to have fled the ocean and sought refuge in Peru ’s Amazonian rivers 16m years ago. The extinct species would have measured up to 3.5 metres long, making it the largest river dolphin ever found.The discovery of this new species,Pebanista yacuruna, highlights the looming risks to the world ’s remaining river dolphins, all of which face similar extinction threats in the next 20 to 40 years, acco...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 20, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Sophie Kevany Tags: Fossils Extinct wildlife Environment Dolphins Palaeontology Biology Cetaceans Science Evolution Rivers Amazon rainforest Peru Americas World news Marine life Source Type: news
Plantwatch: how does moss survive and thrive in harsh Antarctic climate?
Incredibly tough plants can tolerate intense cold and prolonged darkness, but temperature has also been risingMosses are the plant superheroes of Antarctica, steadily colonising parts of the continent, building up into plump green cushions or even deep banks on bare ground, some of it newly exposed by melting ice and snow.These are incredibly tough plants that only grow slowly in the harsh Antarctic climate, tolerating intense cold, prolonged dryness, powerful ultraviolet light and prolonged winter darkness. They often survive for nine to 10 months dormant under winter snow, using their own antifreeze to prevent their cell...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 20, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Paul Simons Tags: Antarctica Plants Science Environment World news Source Type: news
Bronze age objects from ‘Pompeii of the Fens’ to go on display
Settlement on stilts dropped into River Nene after a fire nearly 3,000 years ago and was preserved in siltA bronze age settlement built on stilts that dropped “like a coffee plunger” into a river after a catastrophic fire has provided a window on our past lives, according to the archaeologist that led the investigation of the Cambridgeshire site.Must Farm, nicknamed the Pompeii of the Fens, offers “exceptional clarity” because of a combination of charring and waterlogging, said Mark Knight, of Cambridge University’s archaeological unit.Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 20, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Harriet Sherwood Tags: Cambridgeshire Archaeology Science UK news Source Type: news
Breast cancer drug may help thousands more women than previously thought
Pembrolizumab is used to treat triple-negative form of disease but researchers say it could be used more widelyThousands more women with breast cancer could benefit from a blockbuster immunotherapy drug than previously thought, research suggests.Pembrolizumab, sold under the brand name Keytruda, targets and blocks a specific protein on the surface of certain immune cells that then seek out and destroy the cancerous cells.Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 19, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Andrew Gregory Health editor Tags: Breast cancer UK news Women Health Science NHS Source Type: news
People with hypermobility may be more prone to long Covid, study suggests
People with excessive flexibility 30% more likely to say they had not fully recovered from Covid, research findsPeople with excessively flexible joints may be at heightened risk oflong Covid and persistent fatigue, research suggests.Hypermobility is where some or all of a person ’s joints have an unusually large range of movement due to differences in the structure of their connective tissues that support, protect and give structure to organs, joints and other tissues.Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 19, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Linda Geddes Science correspondent Tags: Long Covid Coronavirus Health NHS Science World news Infectious diseases Medical research Society Source Type: news
Technology must tackle bias in medical devices | Letter
Engineers need to be sensitive to how exclusion occurs or they risk making health inequity worse, sayProf Steven JohnsonandProf Jonathan EnsorThe independent review on equity in medical devices once again highlights the multiple ways in which medical technology development can lead to solutions whereby the benefits are distributed inequitably across society, or can further exacerbate health inequalities (UK report reveals bias within medical tools and devices, 11 March). While the report is welcome, the challenge facing scientists and engineers is how to innovate medical devices differently to respond to longstanding socie...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 19, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Guardian Staff Tags: Health Artificial intelligence (AI) Technology Inequality Medical research UK news Race Gender Science Computing Source Type: news
AstraZeneca to buy Canadian cancer specialist Fusion for $2.4bn
Britain ’s biggest drugmaker’s latest acquisition will help it to develop new radiotherapy treatmentsBusiness live – latest updatesBritain ’s biggest drugmaker, AstraZeneca, is to buy a Canadian cancer specialist focused on next-generation treatments for $2.4bn (£1.9bn), the latest in a string of acquisitions made to strengthen its portfolio of new medicines.The Anglo-Swedish company struck an agreement to acquire Fusion Pharmaceuticals, which is developing next-generation radioconjugates that offer an alternative to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. It has emerged as a new type of cancer treatment in recent years, a...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 19, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Julia Kollewe Tags: AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals industry Mergers and acquisitions Cancer research Medical research Science Business UK news Source Type: news
Should forests have rights? – podcast
A growing movement of ecologists, lawyers and artists is arguing that nature should have legal rights. By recognising the rights of ecosystems and other species, advocates hope that they can gain better protection. Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian ’s global environment editor, Jonathan Watts, about where this movement has come from and why the UK government has dismissed the concept, and hears from Cesar Rodriguez-Garavito of NYU School of Law about how he is finding creative ways to give rights to natureCould 2024 be the year nature rights enter the political mainstream?UK government can never accept idea nature ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 19, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Presented by Madeleine Finlay with Jonathan Watts, produced by Holly Fisher, sound design by Joel Cox, the executive producer is Ellie Bury Tags: Science Biodiversity Environment Wildlife Conservation Law Source Type: news
