Science Weekly
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Science Weekly
Twice a week, the Guardian brings you the latest science and environment news
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Why is ‘chronic’ lyme disease so controversial?
Celebrities including Bella Hadid, Justin Bieber and Miranda Hart have talked about their years-long struggles with the effects of Lyme disease, but d...
Traitor or faithful: how to spot a liar
The Traitors has returned to UK screens with its biggest viewing figures ever as 19 celebrities compete to be crowned the winner. The game depends on...
All the news and science from the 2025 Nobel prizes
This year’s Nobel prizes in chemistry, physics and physiology or medicine have celebrated work that paves the way for the next generation of quantum t...
The real science of weight loss with the US’s leading nutritional scientist
Kevin Hall spent 21 years at the US National Institutes of Health and became known globally for his pioneering work on ultra-processed foods. In April...
Remembering primatologist Jane Goodall
The renowned primatologist Jane Goodall has died aged 91. She will be remembered for her observations that revolutionised our understanding of chimpan...
Fraud, AI slop and huge profits: is science publishing broken?
Scientists are warning that academic publishing needs urgent reform in order to retain trust in the research system. Ian Sample tells Madeleine Finlay...
Does a bit of booze really make us better at languages?
The Ig Nobel prizes were awarded recently – for science that makes you laugh and then think – and the peace prize was given to a cheeky study testing...
Fact-checking Trump’s autism announcement
In a televised press conference on Monday, Donald Trump and health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr made a series of unproven claims about autism and its...
Is there hope on the horizon for patients with Alzheimer’s?
A trial is under way to find out if a £100 blood test could transform the way that the NHS diagnoses Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is the leading c...
Is the US on the brink of a new era of political violence?
The murder of political activist Charlie Kirk has prompted fears about rising levels of political violence in the US after a number of high-profile as...
Putin’s quest for longevity
At a recent ceremony for world leaders in Beijing, a hot mic picked up a surprising exchange between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping about the possibili...
Shrinking states: a positive future with fewer people?
The fertility rate in England and Wales has fallen for the third year in a row – a trend mirrored across the world, with two-thirds of the global popu...
Shrinking states: are we on a path to depopulation?
The fertility rate in England and Wales has fallen for the third year in a row. It is a story that is being repeated all over the world, with two thir...
Is curiosity the key to ageing well?
Psychologists have traditionally believed we become less curious as we age, but recent research has shown that curiosity actually becomes more targete...
RFK Jr and the chaos at the CDC
It’s been a dramatic week at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In the space of seven days, the agency’s head was sacked and rep...
‘AI psychosis’: could chatbots fuel delusional thinking?
There are increasing reports of people experiencing delusions after intensive use of AI chatbots. The phenomenon, dubbed ‘AI psychosis’, has raised co...
A decade long mystery - why were billions of starfish turned to goo?
For more than a decade, scientists have been puzzling over what was causing billions of starfish to dissolve into piles of white goo. Sea star wasting...
Can science crack the mystery of ME?
Scientists have found the first robust evidence that people’s genes affect their chances of developing myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue sy...
Why can’t the world get its act together on plastics?
After three years of negotiating, talks over a global plastics treaty came to an end in Geneva last week with no agreement in place. So why has it bee...
Staying cool in Europe’s record-breaking heat
Europe is suffering from another heatwave as deadly temperatures of up to 44C hit the continent and wildfires blazed across the Mediterranean. To find...
Is sunscreen really toxic?
For many of us, slathering on sunscreen to protect our skin in the summer months is a no-brainer. But recently social media has been awash with influe...
Summer picks: Where do our early childhood memories go?
It’s a mystery that has long puzzled researchers. Freud called the phenomenon infantile amnesia, and for many years scientists have wondered whether i...
Summer picks: what is ‘mirror life’ and why are scientists sounding the alarm?
Recently, a group of world-leading scientists called for a halt on research to create ‘mirror life’ microbes amid concerns that the synthetic organism...
Summer picks: The science of racism, and how to fight it
In this episode from January 2025, Ian Sample speaks to Keon West, a professor of social psychology at the University of London, whose new book explor...
Summer picks: Where did our attention spans go, and can we get them back?
In 2024, the Oxford English Dictionary announced its word of the year was ‘brain rot’. The term relates to the supposedly negative effects of consumin...
Why do we age in dramatic bursts, and what can we do about it?
Scientists are beginning to understand that ageing is not a simply linear process. Instead, recent research appears to show that we age in three accel...
The babies born with DNA from three parents
Doctors in the UK have announced the birth of eight healthy babies after performing a groundbreaking procedure that creates IVF embryos with DNA from...
Two black holes collide, lab-grown organs, world’s first climate visa
Madeleine Finlay is joined by Ian Sample to discuss three intriguing science and environment stories. From a breakthrough in the quest to create organ...
Why are parents using melatonin to help their kids sleep?
Guardian feature writer Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett recently wrote about the growing cohort of parents whose children are on the waiting list for an autism...
Texas floods and forecasting cuts: a sign of things to come?
In the days since the deadly floods in the Texas Hill Country, speculation has grown about whether cuts to US weather agencies may have contributed to...
What are microplastics doing to our health?
The actor Orlando Bloom recently posted a photo of himself undergoing a £10,000 procedure at a London clinic that claims to remove microplastics, fore...
Why British women are freezing their eggs abroad
The number of women choosing to freeze their eggs has increased sharply, according to figures from the UK’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authori...
What does it take to make a nuclear weapon?
In an interview last weekend, Iran’s ambassador to the UN said his country’s nuclear enrichment ‘will never stop’ because it is permitted for ‘peacefu...
‘Huge advances in cancer and rare diseases’: 25 years of the human genome
It has been 25 years since Bill Clinton announced one of humanity’s most important scientific achievements: the first draft of the human genome. At th...
Can a revolutionary new telescope solve the mystery of planet nine?
Ever since Pluto was demoted from planet to dwarf planet in 2006, astronomers have been wondering whether Neptune really is the most distant planet fr...
Do medicinal mushroom products actually work?
More of us are turning to products containing mushroom extracts, with the medicinal fungi market now worth billions of pounds. Promises of benefits to...
Does the UK need nuclear to reach net zero?
The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has promised £14bn of investment to build the Sizewell C nuclear power plant, kicking off what the energy secretary, Ed...
How to Save the Amazon part 3: ask the people that know – podcast
As a companion to the Guardian’s Missing in the Amazon podcast, global environment editor Jon Watts goes in search of answers to the question Dom Phil...
How to save the Amazon part two: the magic and mystery
As a companion to the Guardian’s Missing in the Amazon, Jon Watts, global environment editor, goes in search of answers to the question Dom Phillips w...
How to save the Amazon part one: the stakes
As a companion to the Guardian’s Missing in the Amazon, the global environment editor Jon Watts goes in search of answers to the question Dom Phillips...