Science | The Guardian

Who’s more likely to steal sweets from a child? According to science, it’s the rich. A study seemingly confirming our suspicions about the moral behaviour of the wealthy was one of the winners of the 2026 Ig Nobel prizes, which honour research that makes you laugh and then think. Science editor Ian Sample tells Madeleine Finlay what the researchers think could be behind the phenomenon, and they e…

Given the size and age of the universe, it should be full of species with technology far more advanced than our own. So where are they? By Adam Kirsch. Read by James Sobol Kelly Read the text version here Support the Guardian today: theguardian.com/longreadpod Adapted from We Want to Believe: How Aliens Went Mainstream and Why It Matters, published by Columbia Global Reports on 25 August. To supp…

From the Guardian Investigates team: Across the world, hundreds of people have come to believe they have made extraordinary scientific discoveries with AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. Others say their AI has ‘awakened’ or is leading them to a higher spiritual realm. The Guardian journalist Michael Safi begins investigating a phenomenon labelled ‘AI psychosis’, travelling to the US…

Study finds just one drink per day could raise risk of disease with impacts extending far beyond liver cancer Alcohol-related cancer deaths in the US have more than doubled over three decades, with new research showing that just one drink per day could raise cancer risk and that the impacts extend far beyond liver cancer. Researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the Universit…

Exhibition opens in former home of William Herschel, who discovered Uranus, and his comet-spotting sibling Caroline From the garden of their Georgian townhouse in Bath in the late 18th century, a brother and sister made a series of extraordinary astronomical discoveries. A new art show in the house where the siblings – William and Caroline Herschel – worked and lived highlights their pioneering s…

New Zealand decision follows Australian approval in 2023 of psychedelics to treat PTSD and treatment-resistant depression Two psychiatrists in New Zealand won approval on Friday to prescribe pharmaceutical-grade MDMA to people with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The move by New Zealand’s pharmaceutical regulatory body Medsafe makes the country only the second worldwide to approve t…

Prof Richard Bassed helped identify Boxing Day tsunami and victims of Australia’s catastrophic Black Saturday bushfires. ‘The randomness of this massive flood,’ he says. ‘That gets to you’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The bodies of some of those killed in the Nepal-Tibet flood disaster may never be found, and some of those that are may never be identified, a world-…

Organ kept Tim Andrews off dialysis and acted as a ‘bridge’ while he waited for a human transplant in the US A genetically modified kidney from a pig called Wilma has kept a 66-year-old man with kidney failure alive for a record nine months and successfully acted as a “bridge” to a human transplant in a world first. Tim Andrews was seriously ill with end-stage kidney disease caused by type 2 diab…

We round up this year’s winners at awards for achievements that ‘first make people laugh and then make them think’ It’s that time of year again: a select group of scientists have been summoned to a ceremony to receive coveted prizes, be showered in paper planes, and leave with a 10tn dollar bill, albeit in the form of a phased-out note from Zimbabwe. It is, of course, the annual Ig Nobel awards. …

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that traps more than 80 times as much heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period and causes 25% of global heating today. We definitely don’t want this gas spewing needlessly into the atmosphere, but in 2023 that’s exactly what environment editor Damian Carrington found was happening when he reported on 1,000 super-emitting methane leaks across the globe. Now…

Climate crisis could increase incursions of Aedes aegypti, which can transmit Zika virus and dengue, experts say An invasive mosquito capable of transmitting tropical diseases has been found breeding in homes in east London, with experts warning that the rapidly warming climate will lead to greater “incursions of invasive mosquitoes”. This is the first time the species has been identified breedin…

Helen Paterson’s work on advancing how police and courts understand memory is recognised in prestigious Eureka prizes Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Memory is an imperfect thing: research shows that recollections of single events – a purse being snatched, say – differ to those about repeated or ongoing events, such as incidents of domestic and family violence. “What …

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that traps more than 80 times as much heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period and causes 25% of global heating today. We definitely don’t want this gas spewing needlessly into the atmosphere, but in 2023 that’s exactly what environment editor Damian Carrington found was happening when he reported on 1,000 super-emitting methane leaks across the globe. Now…

Top medical groups band together to ease confusion from Trump administration’s changing immunization advice Leading US medical groups are urging people to get updated flu and Covid-19 vaccinations this fall, banding together on Wednesday to issue shot guidelines – and highlight the science behind them – saying they hope to ease confusion caused by the Trump administration’s changing advice. Flu v…

Study reveals that pesticide poisoning kills 11,000 people each year, with India accounting for nearly 60% of fatalities Almost half of the world’s farmers are poisoned by pesticides every single year, a study has found. Using publicly available data from 2006-2023, the study, which was commissioned by Pesticide Action Network , found there to be an estimated 402-433m cases of unintentional acute…

Ever since the earliest known recording of whale song was made in 1949 , researchers have been captivated by the wails, rumbles, clicks, grunts and squeals of their communication. As technology improves, scientists are decoding the intricate patterns that make different species’ vocalisations distinctive. Madeleine Finlay hears from Emma Bryce, a journalist who has spent months investigating huma…

Ever since the earliest known recording of whale song was made in 1949 , researchers have been captivated by the wails, rumbles, clicks, grunts and squeals of their communication. As technology improves, scientists are decoding the intricate patterns that make different species’ vocalisations distinctive. Madeleine Finlay hears from Emma Bryce, a journalist who has spent months investigating huma…

The solution to today’s underwater conundrums Earlier today I set you the following puzzles. Here they are again with the solutions. A fish is swimming in a tank that is two metres high, one metre across and one metre deep. The image below shows one path it swam. Continue reading...

Technology trained on millions of routine ECGs could fast-track high-risk patients for treatment Doctors have developed a “superhuman” AI tool that can spot heart disease in less than two seconds. The groundbreaking technology has been trained on millions of patients and works by extracting more information from a routine electrocardiogram (ECG) than the human eye can typically see. Continue read…

Exclusive: Dr Will Tullett says better understanding of scents can improve wellbeing and perception of the world Children need a better education in sniffing aromas, a leading historian of smells has said, noting it may improve their wellbeing and help them understand the world around them. Dr Will Tullett, of the University of York, said pollution had been found to impair people’s olfactory abil…