‘Vital for looking after the soil’: fears as UK earthworm population declines
Keystone species has potentially enormous effects on above-ground wildlife and ecosystem functioningInvertebrate of the year 2024: all hail Earth ’s spineless heroesNominate your UK invertebrate species of the yearIn 2019, 15,000 children from primary schools across the UK went out to their local playing field. Instead of kicking a ball around, they dug up worms, looked out for birds, and counted them both.“The kids were just so enthusiastic about it. It was incredible,” said Blaise Martay, lead researcher from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). Martay had worried about the data quality – she thought children...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 8, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Phoebe Weston Tags: Animals Wildlife Soil UK news Environment Source Type: news
The big idea: do our political opponents really hate us?
Not half as much as we think, according to the evidence – and there are ways to break the cycle of mutual mistrustPolitics is a firestorm, sometimes literally. In 2023 in the Berkshire mountains of Massachusetts, someone threw petrol on a pro-Trump sign nailed to a tree andset light to it. Three years earlier in the same area, a 49-year-old Trump supporter starteda huge blaze after igniting some hay bales that were emblazoned with a pro-Biden sign. This bucolic area of Massachusetts is not known for arsonists, but both here and everywhere else in the world, it ’s as though people are consumed by hate.And it ’s not ju...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 8, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Kurt Gray Tags: Society Psychology Books Culture Politics UK news Source Type: news
Starwatch: Exploding nova promises rare sight in coming months
Records show T Coronae Borealis outburst occurs every 80 years or so and is expected between now and SeptemberGet ready for a “new” star to appear in the night sky. Not really new of course, but a star that is now below the naked-eye visibility limit is gearing up for an outburst that will bring it within sight of the unaided eye for the first time since the 1940s.Such a star is called a nova, Latin for “new”. The star, T Coronae Borealis, is actually composed of two stars: a red giant and a white dwarf. The white dwarf is a dense stellar core about the size of the Earth and its gravity is pulling gas off the red g...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 8, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Stuart Clark Tags: Astronomy Space Science Source Type: news
What do animals do during an eclipse? Observers in US zoos hope to find out
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 embarked on an abrupt and tumul...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 7, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Richard Luscombe Tags: Solar eclipses Animals US news Science Source Type: news
Solar eclipse: parts of UK crane for a ‘small grazing’
The total eclipse visible in North America may be seen as a partial one in some UK areas – weather permittingMillions of people in the US, Canada and Mexico are planning to gather to watch Monday ’s solar eclipse, when the daylight skies will be momentarily engulfed in darkness as the moon passes between the sun and the Earth.More than 31 million people live in what is known as the path of totality – the area that will see a full total eclipse.Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 7, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Robyn Vinter North of England Correspondent Tags: UK news Solar eclipses Astronomy Science US news Mexico Canada Source Type: news
The French aristocrat who understood evolution 100 years before Darwin – and even worried about climate change
Georges-Louis Leclerc proposed species change and extinction back in the 1740s, a new book revealsShortly after Charles Darwin published his magnum opus,The Origin of Species, in 1859 he started reading a little-known 100-year-old work by a wealthy French aristocrat.Its contents were quite a surprise. “Whole pages [of his book] are laughably like mine,” Darwin wrote to a friend. “It is surprising how candid it makes one to see one’s view in another man’s words.”In later editions ofThe Origin of Species, Darwin acknowledged Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, as one of the “few” people who had understood...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 7, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Donna Ferguson Tags: Charles Darwin Evolution Biology Science France Europe World news Source Type: news
Bad omens and deep-state lunacy: solar eclipse brings wave of memes
TikTokers and brands are getting in on the rare phenomenon, as astrological warnings and conspiracy theories aboundFrom eclipse donuts to deep-state lunacy, the weeks-long social media buildup to a solar eclipse is birthing memes, marketing gimmicks, and more than a few conspiracy theories. As many prepare for the celestial event in person, content creators have also scrambled to commemorate the big day.“Most of the memes are jokes about people staring at the sun and going blind from not using proper protection, as well as jokes about places like Canada being almost entirely exempt from the path of the event,” said Zac...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 7, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Alaina Demopoulos Tags: Solar eclipses US news Space Science Social media Source Type: news
Scientists confirm record highs for three most important heat-trapping gases
Global concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide climbed to unseen levels in 2023, underlining climate crisisThe levels of the three most important heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere reached new record highs again last year, US scientists have confirmed, underlining the escalating challenge posed by the climate crisis.The global concentration of carbon dioxide, the most important and prevalent of the greenhouse gases emitted by human activity, rose to an average of 419 parts per million in the atmosphere in 2023 while methane, a powerful if shorter-lasting greenhouse gas, rose to an average of 1922 par...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 6, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Oliver Milman Tags: Greenhouse gas emissions Climate crisis Environment Science World news US news Source Type: news
US eclipse travelers met with sky-high prices – and reservation snafus
Travel agency rearranged lodging for dozens of people after two-year-old bookings were canceled – and resold at higher ratesHotel rates in states in the path of the solar eclipse on Monday have surged to astronomical prices, with some eclipse watchers traveling from across the country to find their reservations canceled and sold for several times the original price.Millions of Americans are expected to travel to witness one of the most spectacular celestial events in recent memory, with the moon ’s path of totalityset to sweep across 15 states, along with parts of Mexico and Canada,bringing with it more than a billion ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 6, 2024 Category: Science Authors: L éonie Chao-Fong Tags: Solar eclipses Travel & leisure Science Space New York Canada Mexico Illinois Source Type: news
Behavioural scientist Michael Norton: ‘When a tennis player ties their shoes in a particular way, they feel they can play at Wimbledon’
The Harvard professor reveals how everyday rituals can help us cope with pressure, unlock our emotions and define our identities – but can also become unhelpful and divisiveMichael Norton studied psychology and was a fellow at the MIT Media Lab before becomingprofessor of business administration at Harvard Business School. Known for his research on behavioural economics and wellbeing, Norton published his first book,Happy Money: The New Science ofSmarter Spending, withElizabeth Dunn, in 2013. For his latest,The Ritual Effect: The Transformative Power of Our Everyday Actions, out on 18 April, Norton spent more than a deca...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 6, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Killian Fox Tags: Psychology Science Society Science and nature books Source Type: news
Cheaper, quicker prostate cancer scans just as accurate ‘and can help more men’
Groundbreaking research finds dropping the third stage of standard MRI test for the disease doesn ’t hamper detection rates, and cuts costs in halfCutting the duration ofMRI scans for prostate cancer by a third would make them cheaper and more accessible without reducing their accuracy. That is the key result of a UK trial which indicates that lowering costs could ensure more men are offered scans.According to Cancer Research UK, there are about 52,300 new prostate cancer cases every year in the UK, equal to more than 140 a day.Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 6, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Robin McKie Science editor Tags: Prostate cancer Science Health UK news Source Type: news
What is the total solar eclipse and how can I watch it?
On Monday, the moon will block the sun in what many say will be one of the most spectacular celestial events in recent timesThe total solar eclipse that will traverse a large chunk of the continental US on Monday, along with parts of Mexico and Canada, will be one of the most spectacular celestial events in recent memory. Here ’s what you need to know:Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 6, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Richard Luscombe Tags: Solar eclipses Space Nasa Texas Maine Canada Mexico Americas US news Source Type: news
The Guardian view on endangered languages: spoken by a few but of value to many | Editorial
The survival of ancient dialects matters not just for scholarship, but because of the wisdom they convey about how to live with natureThe launch of a “last chance”crowdsourcing tool to record a vanishing Greek dialect drew attention back this week to one of the great extinctions of the modern world: nine languages arebelieved to be disappearing every year. Romeyka, which is spoken by an ageing population of a few thousand people in the mountain villages near Turkey ’s Black Sea coast, diverged from modern Greek thousands of years ago. It has no written form.For linguists, it is a “living bridge” to the ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 5, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Editorial Tags: Language Turkey Science Greece Europe Unesco Source Type: news
Incarcerated people in New York will get to see eclipse after settling lawsuit
Settlement in case allows six people to view the total eclipse after suing to oppose state ’s decision to lock down prisonA group of incarcerated people in New York will be allowed to watch Monday ’s totaleclipse of the sun after suing the state ’s correctional department for its decision to lock down the prison during the celestial event.Six people at the Woodbourne correctional facility in southern New York state will be allowed to view the solar eclipse in outdoor space “in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs”, according to a statement from the group’s lawyers.Continue reading... (Source: ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 5, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Gloria Oladipo in New York Tags: New York Solar eclipses US news US prisons Space Source Type: news
Fiona Wood: ‘When I’ve got a bee in my bonnet, I don’t give up’
The lauded burns pioneer and plastic surgeon on a ‘paradigm shifting’ project, coping with tragedy and the patients she will never forgetGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailRead the rest of Guardian Australia ’sWalk with … interview series hereWhen Fiona Wood moved toPerth from the UK in 1987, she was drawn to its wildlife. “Intrinsically, it’s the most beautiful place,” she says, as we wander along Matilda Bay beneath a canopy of foliage, the gnarled trunks of moreton bay figs and cape lilacs with their bursts of yellow berries. “When I first came here, I thought, ‘I can see myself sitting under t...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 5, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Rosamund Brennan Tags: Life and style Science Medical research Perth Source Type: news
