The answer to today’s puzzleEarlier today I set you this puzzle, about the tiling of a 4x4 grid. It requires a swift preamble, so here we go again.Consider the image below, which highlights adjacent rows in the grid. Continue reading...

There are no known descriptions or drawings of object in Roman literature, making its purpose unclearThey are known as one of archaeology’s great enigmas – hollow 12-sided objects from the Roman era with no known purpose or use.Only 33 of these mysterious dodecahedrons have ever been found in Britain and now one, unearthed during an amateur archaeology dig after 1,700 years underground, is...

In a first, researchers were able to compare records of people who drank polluted water in Veneto, Italy, with neighbors who did notFor the first time, researchers have formally shown that exposure to toxic PFAS increases the likelihood of death by cardiovascular disease, adding a new level of concern to the controversial chemicals’ wide use.The findings are especially significant because...

The tortured puzzlers departmentApologies to any Antipodean Swifties arriving on this page. Today’s puzzle is about tiles, and whether or not you can solve it swiftly.The puzzle concerns black and white tiles on a 4x4 grid. Consider the image below, which highlights adjacent rows in the grid. Continue...

Ursa Major covers a little more than 3% of the entire night sky, making it the third largest constellation by areaThe seven brightest stars in Ursa Major, the Great Bear, form the shape known as the Plough, or the Big Dipper, or by a number of other names in different cultures.The association with a bear dates to antiquity, when it was listed in Ptolemy’s original 48 constellations from the...

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...

Abrupt extinction of short-faced kangaroo a reminder to protect the environment, palaeontologists sayFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesWhen a caver and Gippsland local, Joshua Van Dyk, stumbled across the fossilised remains of a kangaroo species that had been extinct for about 46,000 years, it seemed as though the macropod was making eye contact with him.“It had fallen behind...

Exclusive: Vaccinations rise amid national campaign, but reported measles cases have increased by 40% since MarchThe number of young people receiving their MMR jab is up nearly a quarter from last year, official figures show.A national campaign to boost uptake was launched in January amid concern over measles rates in England, when the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) declared a national incident...

We often have as much in common with strangers as our relatives, according to studies – so why do we still love to say our children are like us? How alike are parents and kids? Quite, right? Surely we all play that game. I, for example, am competitive like my dad (but without a shred of his energy); my sister got my mother’s compassion and I got her lust for crispy potato products and staying...

Often misused by politicians, nostalgia is a positive emotion that could do with a makeoverI have always been prone to homesickness. As a child, I didn’t really enjoy holidays, I dreaded going away on school trips and I hated sleepovers. At the beginning of 2021, when I first started thinking about the history of nostalgia, and in the midst of the pandemic, I moved across the Atlantic from...

We can get into the habit of thinking about our sibling with judgment and criticismThe question Since our mother’s death, my brother and I have had no contact. He lives more than 100 miles away. Our relationship has been very difficult for over 40 years. When we both had young children, things were better for a time. When our dad died, Mum’s health deteriorated and she moved in with me and...

Why has so little been done to make indoor spaces safer, to stop the spread of airborne viruses?Robin McKie’s article rings alarm bells for global health and our failure to control airborne pathogens (“What virus will cause the next pandemic? It’s flu, say scientists”).We are rightly looking with concern at the spread of H5N1 and the risk it poses to humans, but we have still not applied...

Documents examined by inquiry show officials knew people were being given infected blood products, but sanctioned their use• Read more: government was warned of infected blood risks in 1970s; plus: ‘My mum gave the injections that killed my brothers’On a former slave owner’s cotton plantation in Arkansas, the sprawling Cummins state farm prison covers 6,700 hectares (16,500 acres) and can...

Austrian astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger has spent her life hunting for signs of life in the universe. Here she talks about aliens, space exploration and why studying cosmology is like eating pizzaStaring into the abyss… Am I really reaching anyone out there?” Lisa Kaltenegger is laughing about the unsatisfactory experience of teaching astrophysics over Zoom during Covid lockdowns, but she could...

Scientific studies cannot agree on the relative importance of genes and environment on how we turn out as adultsThe eternal mystery of how much we are shaped by our parents – or how much we shape our children – was stirred again last week with the publication of a study that suggests that we are less like our parents than we had previously thought.Led by René Mõttus of Edinburgh...

Scientists hope studies into Boyajian’s star could lead to enhanced techniques for identifying distant planetary civilisationsIt is our galaxy’s strangest star, a flickering globe of light whose sporadic and unpredictable output has baffled astronomers for years. But now the study of Boyajian’s star is being promoted as a research model that could help in one of the most intriguing of all...

Staying close to friends isn’t always easy. From calling out flakiness to singing together in a choir, experts share their advice on how to keep the spark aliveThere is no getting around it, you have to make time to be a good friend. According to Robin Dunbar, professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of Oxford and author of Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important...

Research shows AMH is suppressed in vapers compared with non-vapers, as it is in smokersWomen should give up vaping if they are hoping to get pregnant, according to a study that suggests it may affect fertility.In the first research to demonstrate a link between fertility prospects and electronic cigarettes across a large population, analysis of blood samples from 8,340 women revealed that people...

Therapy has remarkable medical potential but experts say private clinics making far-reaching claims operate in regulatory grey zoneStem cells have become a favoured miracle treatment among the rich and famous, with Kim Kardashian reportedly a fan of stem cell facials and Cristiano Ronaldo turning to stem cell injections after a hamstring injury.The latest to extol their benefits is the Monty...

Global warming and international trade offering increasingly hospitable environment Some are small and jumpy; others are large and intimidating – if you’re a humble housefly. Exotic spiders are flourishing in Britain as international trade offers ample opportunities for spider travel and global heating provides an increasingly hospitable climate.A jumping spider new to science has been...

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...

Open letter calls for green policies that empower farmers, after months of protests jeopardise future of flagship biodiversity dealThe EU’s nature restoration law will only work if it is enacted in partnership with farmers, a group of leading scientists has said, after months of protests have pushed the proposals to the brink of collapse.In an open letter, leading biodiversity researchers from...

DeBose’s brilliant rookie astronaut navigates this moderately tense thriller about US and Russian crew fighting as Earth blazes belowAt first, the crew on board the International Space Station (ISS) mistake the tiny dot of fire on Earth for a volcano. But look: there’s another, and another. In fact, these astronauts have got a bird’s eye view of a nuclear tit-for-tat between the Russian and...

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...