Influencers and politicians use snappy cliches to get you on side - but you can fight fire with fireSince the moment I learned about the concept of the thought-terminating cliche" I've been seeing them everywhere I look: in televised political debates, in flouncily stencilled motivational posters, in the hashtag wisdom that clogs my social media feeds. Coined in 1961 by psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, the phrase describes a catchy platitude aimed at shutting down or bypassing independent thinking andquestioning. I first heard about the tactic while researching a book about the language of cult leaders, but these sayings also pervade our everyday conversations: expressions such as It is what it is", Boys will be boys", Everything happens for a reason" and Don't overthink it" are familiar examples.From populist politicians to holistic wellness influencers, anyone interested in power is able to weaponise thought-terminating cliches to dismiss followers' dissent or rationalise flawed arguments. In his book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, Lifton wrote that these semantic stop signs compress the most far-reaching and complex of human problems ... into brief, highly selective, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. They become the start and finish of any ideological analysis." Continue reading...
Moon will be highly illuminated when it rises in a pas de deux with the brightest star in ScorpiusWe are now well into May, and the moon is full and heading for a conjunction with the beautiful red jewel of Antares.From London, this is a really close conjunction - the chart shows the view looking south-east on 23 May 2024 at 22:00BST. The moon's visible surface will be 99.5% illuminated, and will rise virtually coincident with Antares. Continue reading...
Ability to preserve tissue in a special gel solution for at least a week will help doctors identify most effective drug treatmentsScientists say they have a made a potentially gamechanging" breakthrough in breast cancer research after discovering how to preserve breast tissue outside the body for at least a week.The study, which was funded by the Prevent Breast Cancer charity, found tissue could be preserved in a special gel solution, which will help scientists identify the most effective drug treatments for patients. Continue reading...
Ex-air force captain Ed Dwight, passed over by Nasa in 1961, now oldest person to reach edge of space with Jeff Bezo's space firmSixty-one years since he was selected but ultimately passed over to become the first Black astronaut, Ed Dwight finally reached space in a Blue Origin rocket - and set a different record.At 10.37am on Sunday, Jeff Bezos's space company launched its NS-25 mission from west Texas, marking Blue Origin's first crewed spaceflight since 2022 when its New Shepard rocket was grounded due to a mid-flight failure. Continue reading...
After drinking and making a fool of herself for 35 years, the writer realised that's not how she wanted to be rememberedHow do you know someone has stopped drinking? Don't worry, they'll tell you. The old vegan joke comes into my mind a lot as yet again I start talking about how my life has transformed since I gave up booze. But people mostly humour me, sometimes even seek me out. It's amazing the number of conversations I've had at parties where friends with whom I used to get hammered now sidle up to me between their fourth and fifth drink and mutter about how they're starting to wonder about whether they should quit, too.As long as I don't use the A-word. Alcoholic. That doesn't make anyone comfortable. You weren't that bad. And if your definition encompasses literal gutters, I wasn't (though I've fallen off a fair few pavements in my time). Leonard Cohen's words from You Want It Darker could have been written for me: I struggle with some demons, they were middle-class and tame." Making a fool of myself on one bottle too many of barolo at a dinner party is hardly alcoholism, after all. Continue reading...
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers' questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsWhy are bodies of water so calming? In my experience, this is true whether they are placid or tempestuous. Mary Vogel, VancouverPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. A selection will be published next Sunday. Continue reading...
The scientist leading a study into how the urban environment affects our wellbeing on the surprising and lasting psychological benefits of even just a small dose of natureAndrea Mechelli, a clinical psychologist and neuroscientist, is professor of early intervention in mental health at King's College London. He is the project lead on Urban Mind, a research study co-developed with arts foundation Nomad Projects and landscape architects J&L Gibbons which since 2018 has been looking at how aspects of the urban environment affect mental wellbeing globally. Its recent findings suggest that nature - and certain features such as natural diversity and birdsong - can boost our mental health.We know being outdoors - walking, jogging or playing sports - is good for our physical health, but what role does nature play in our mental health?
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers' questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsWhat was the first word that humanity uttered? There must have been one ... Raymond Simms, HullSend new questions to nq@theguardian.com. Continue reading...
Dali L Yang's critique of China's response in the early days of the Covid pandemic is thoroughgoing if academic, while poet Liao Yiwu's account mixes fact and fiction to extraordinary effectCast your mind back, if you will, to the beginning of the pandemic, before the World Health Organization had coined the term Covid-19. Back then, it was the Wuhan virus", a mysterious pathogen from a city that few people outside China had visited.On 12 January 2020, China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the virus's genome on an international database, permitting scientists anywhere in the world to see that it was a coronavirus closely related to Sars - the pathogen that had caused a mini-pandemic in 2002-2004. Continue reading...
A new exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London includes tragic' tales of species wiped out from their natural habitatsDouglas Russell, a senior curator at London's Natural History Museum, was examining a collection of nests gathered on the island of Guam when he made an unsettling discovery.The nests had been picked up more than 100 years ago, and I was curating them with the aim of adding them to the museum's main collection. They turned out to be one of the most tragic, saddest accumulations of objects I've ever had to deal with," Russell told the Observer last week. Continue reading...
Four days after my child was born, I began experiencing postpartum psychosis. What I learned changed my lifeThe first time I start hallucinating I am home, alone, with my baby. Drunk from lack of sleep I watch as his features morph in and out of shape. I take photo after photo, trying to capture what I see.A few days later, while I am pushing the pram outside, it happens again. I pull the hood down to hide my baby from prying eyes. I no longer know who I can trust.I am dead, I am dead. And because I am dead it won't matter if I take my own life. No one can miss what was never real. Continue reading...
Tal Danino's day job at Columbia University, New York, is engineering living" medicines. We program microbes for cancer therapy using synthetic biology," he says. As a side hustle he manipulates and photographs the microbial world; his images are collected in a book, Beautiful Bacteria. Taking bacteria from substances such as wastewater, dental plaque or kimchi, Danino lets them multiply in a petri dish, adding dyes. The results are artworks differing from the digital enhancements often made in scientific photography to make images more informative. Indeed, he says, the microbes deserve some credit: They do often deviate from our plans, becoming active collaborators in the creation of the work."
Extreme geomagnetic storm that lit up skies last weekend could recur as 11-year solar cycle reaches its peakAnyone who missed the northern lights last weekend may get another chance to see them as experts predict there could be more soon.Last weekend, bands of pink and green light, known as aurora borealis, lit up the night sky, with rare sightings across the UK, Europe and the northern hemisphere after an extreme" geomagnetic storm caused them to be more visible, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Continue reading...
The Lovatos relocated from Guatemala to Ohio for their son, who has the rare genetic disorder Canavan diseaseThe birth of their first child three and a half years ago completed Natalia and Juan Lovato's lives. Both from Argentina, Juan was a professional soccer player in Guatemala, where Natalia ran a successful Argentinian restaurant.Soon, however, they noticed their son Ciro couldn't hold up his head. Then, they were alarmed that he wasn't making eye contact. Continue reading...
Andy Evans was injecting his own clotting protein at three, and was 13 when he found it had given him HIV. Now he campaigns for fellow survivors - and the truth about the contamination scandal
Scientists point to loopholes in new legislation that have been closed under European Union regulationsNew rules intended to reduce the use of antibiotics in farming in the UK have been criticised as too lax and weaker than their equivalent under EU laws.The updated regulations come into force on Friday. They ban the routine use of antibiotics on farm animals, and specifically their use to compensate for poor hygiene, inadequate animal husbandry, or poor farm management practices". Continue reading...
Discovery of the branch, which ran alongside 31 pyramids, could solve mystery of blocks' transportationScientists have discovered a long-buried branch of the Nile River that once flowed alongside more than 30 pyramids in Egypt, potentially solving the mystery of how ancient Egyptians transported the massive stone blocks to build the monuments.The 40-mile-long (64km) river branch, which ran by the Giza pyramid complex among other wonders, was hidden under desert and farmland for millennia, according to a study revealing the find on Thursday. Continue reading...
Being able to detect lowest form of wit could help AI interact with people more naturally, say scientistsNever mind that it can pass the bar exam, ace medical tests and read bedtime stories with emotion, artificial intelligence will never match the marvel of the human mind without first mastering the art of sarcasm.But that art, it seems, may be next on the list of the technology's dizzying capabilities. Researchers in the Netherlands have built an AI-driven sarcasm detector that can spot when the lowest form of wit, and the highest form of intelligence, is being deployed. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#6MVME)
Glimpse of galactic merger, via James Webb telescope, may explain presence of monster black holesA pair of black holes has been observed colliding in the ancient universe for the first time. The observations, by the James Webb Space Telescope, reveal a merger of two galaxies and the monster black holes at their centres when the universe was just 740m years old, about a 20th of its current age.The discovery that massive mergers appear to have been common in the infant universe could help explain how supermassive black holes like the one at the heart of the Milky Way achieved such tremendous proportions. Continue reading...
by Presented by Madeleine Finlay, produced by Joshan on (#6MVAY)
Last week the founder of the dating app Bumble forecasted a near future dating landscape where AI dating concierges' filter out prospective partners for us. But does AI, or even science, really understand what makes two people compatible? Madeleine Finlay speaks to Amie Gordon, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, to find out what we know about why two people go the distance, and why she's designing her own dating app to learn more.Clips: BloombergRead more about Amie's app here Continue reading...
Speculoos-3b, 55 light years away, is only second planetary system to be found around an ultra-cool red dwarfAstronomers have discovered a new Earth-sized planet orbiting a small, cool star that is expected to shine for 100 times longer than the sun.The rocky world, called Speculoos-3b, is 55 light years from Earth and was detected as it passed in front of its host star, an ultra-cool red dwarf that is half as hot as the sun and 100 times less luminous. Continue reading...
by Anna Bawden Health and social affairs corresponden on (#6MTG9)
Study identifies 618 proteins linked to 19 types of cancer, which could lead to much earlier detectionProteins in the blood could warn people of cancer more than seven years before it is diagnosed, according to research.Scientists at the University of Oxford studied blood samples from more than 44,000 people in the UK Biobank, including over 4,900 people who subsequently had a cancer diagnosis. Continue reading...
by Tobi Thomas Health and inequalities correspondent on (#6MTE1)
Men with obesity offered incentives and sent healthy-eating tips in Game of Stones trial found to have lost most weightFinancial incentives of up to 400 alongside text messages could encourage men living with obesity to lose weight, research has found.The research, known as Game of Stones and presented at the European Congress of Obesity, involved a year-long trial involving 585 men living with obesity from Belfast, Bristol and Glasgow. Continue reading...
Markings include public executions and a sailing ship chiselled into door in 1790s by bored English soldiersA scratched wooden door found by chance at the top of a medieval turret has been revealed to be an astonishing" graffiti-covered relic from the French revolutionary wars, including a carving that could be a fantasy of Napoleon Bonaparte being hanged.Over 50 individual graffiti carvings were chiselled into the door in the 1790s by bored English soldiers stationed at Dover Castle in Kent, when Britain was at war with France in the wake of the French Revolution. Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: A new study suggests semaglutides reduce not just obesity but risks to your heart too. What will that mean for their availability on the NHS? Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. If you hear brand names like Ozempic and Wegovy and think of suddenly gaunt A-listers posing on the red carpet, it is surely now time to think again. There has already been substantial evidence that as well as in their initial role as a diabetes treatment, semaglutides - the kind of drug in question - can have a real impact on obesity for people for whom nothing else works. Now a new study has found that they don't just help those people lose weight - they have a major effect on their heart health, regardless of how much weight they lose.Obesity affects more than a quarter of adults, and nearly as many children - and those numbers are only going up, which brings serious consequences for public health, especially among the most deprived. So this is hugely significant news, which study author Prof John Deanfield says heralds a class of drugs as powerful as statins, that could equally transform many chronic diseases of ageing".Georgia | Tbilisi has been warned by the US not to turn towards Russia as its parliament defied mass street protests to pass a Kremlin-inspired" law. A US official said that the foreign agents" bill, which takes aim at civil society groups with funding from abroad, could jeopardise support from Washington for the former Soviet state if we are now regarded as an adversary".France | Elite French police are searching for gunmen who attacked a prison van in Normandy, killing at least two prison officers and freeing the high-security inmate being transported. The fugitive prisoner was named as Mohamed Amra, who was convicted last week of aggravated robbery and charged in a case of abduction leading to death.Education | There is no evidence of widespread abuse of the UK's graduate visa route, a major report has concluded, despite claims from Conservatives that it is being exploited to enter the jobs market. The government is expected to decide next week whether to remove the scheme, a move which would mean financial turmoil for the sector.US | Donald Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen has testified in Manhattan court that he submitted phoney invoices for legal services to cover up what were reimbursements for hush money paid to Stormy Daniels. In a second day of evidence, Cohen repeatedly identified Trump as the driver of the Daniels payoff scheme.Manchester | After a series of humiliating setbacks, the 450m Co-op Live music venue finally opened its doors on Tuesday, with a concert by Elbow that had been meant to be the 15th event on its schedule. The venue's boss, Tim Leiweke, claimed that it would be the greatest arena ever built". Continue reading...
The practice of recording firsthand observations about nature goes back centuries and provides an invaluable resourceBritain has a long tradition of volunteer naturalists dating back 250 years to the Rev Gilbert White in Selborne, Hampshire, best known for his classic book The Natural History of Selborne (1789).In recent times, Rosemary Parslow has detailed the plants of the Isles of Scilly, many found nowhere else in Britain thanks to the sub-tropical climate of the islands. Continue reading...
Seven-year-olds trusted good gossip if it came from multiple sources but the bad only had to be heard onceIn the ruthless world of the primary school playground, one bad rumour is enough to make children wary of another, new research suggests.Psychologists who studied gossip in seven-year-olds found that the children trusted good rumours when they came from several sources, but could be swayed by bad rumours they heard only once. Continue reading...
Studies show active ingredient semaglutide can reduce the risk of heart attack, improve fertility and help treat diabetesIt is a drug that has dominated headlines, first as a medication for type 2 diabetes, then as a weight-loss aid. Now it seems semaglutide - often called by its brand names Ozempic or Wegovy - could bring benefits in myriad areas of healthcare, from addiction to dementia. Continue reading...
Jim Fleming notes that the European Space Agency can wake up a satellite but his power supplier cannot wake up his smart meters. Plus letters from Andrew Warren and David RedshawRe your article (British Gas boss says all UK households should be forced to fit smart meters, 8 May), after being harassed by email, text, telephone, letters and finally doorstepping, and being told that we had to get smart meters for safety reasons, we relented and spent a fun day at home with the fitter. The smart meters don't work; they never worked. Apparently they don't work in our type of house.The European Space Agency might be able to wake up the satellite Rosetta 673m kilometres away, but our power supplier cannot wake up our smart meters. Sorry, I have to rush, they want another meter reading. You see, they are experiencing a high level of calls sono one can answer the phone.
Medical problems blamed on weight, motherhood, menopause or teenage mood swings, say womenWomen who were infected with hepatitis C as a result of the infected blood scandal say their medical problems were dismissed by doctors as being related to motherhood, the menopause or teenage mood swings.Three women who spoke to the Guardian said they struggled to get doctors to take them seriously or test them for hepatitis C, and had to suffer unexplained health problems for decades while the virus, known as the silent killer", was causing damage to their bodies.
As the trauma of apartheid, crime and violence continue to ripple through society, a counselling initiative by Tree of Life creator Ncazelo Ncube-Mlilo is helping ease the painRed curtains and ceiling drapes create a pink-tinged glow inside the run-down community centre, an hour south of Johannesburg, where Palesa Hlohlolo tells her neighbours about her experiences of domestic violence.I'm not a punching bag and I'll never be one. For anyone," she says, grabbing a tissue from a rapidly emptying box. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#6MSDB)
Hospital to take unprecedented step after drug firm pulled out despite successful trial of treatmentWhen Great Ormond Street hospital (Gosh) published the results of its gene therapy trial for bubble baby" syndrome it was hailed as a medical breakthrough. The treatment had a more than 95% success rate for treating the life-threatening disorder in which children have no immune system. But less than a year later, the therapy had been dropped by the pharmaceutical company that planned to bring it to market.Now, Gosh is taking the unprecedented step of attempting to license the therapy itself on a non-profit basis and without industry involvement, in order to make it more widely available to babies and children worldwide. Continue reading...
by Presented by Ian Sample; produced by Madeleine Fin on (#6MSCB)
As AI systems have grown in sophistication, so has their capacity for deception, according to a new analysis from researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr Peter Park, an AI existential safety researcher at MIT and author of the research, tells Ian Sample about the different examples of deception he uncovered, and why they will be so difficult to tackle as long as AI remains a black boxListen to the Guardian's Black Box series all about humans and artificial intelligenceRead Hannah Devlin's article about the MIT study Continue reading...
by Tobi Thomas Health and inequalities correspondent on (#6MS7W)
Researchers say semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic, could be biggest medical breakthrough since statinsA weight loss injection could reduce the risk of heart attacks and benefit the cardiovascular health of millions of adults across the UK, in what could be the largest medical breakthrough since statins, according to a study.It found that participants taking the medication semaglutide, the active ingredient in brands including Wegovy and Ozempic, had a 20% lower risk of heart attack, stroke, or death due to cardiovascular disease. Continue reading...
Spector said mouse study provided reason to stop using SPF 50 all year round, in post attacked as frighteningly inaccurate'The health expert Prof Tim Spector has come under fire from fellow scientists after he suggested people should stop using factor 50 sunscreen all year round.Spector cited a recent mouse study that suggests vitamin D levels may be an important factor in cancer immunity and immunotherapy success, saying the research is another reason to stop using SPF 50 all year round which blocks our natural defences". Continue reading...
The answers to today's wordplay challengesEarlier today I set you these problems from the National Puzzlers' League, the world's oldest association of word puzzle aficionados, active since 1883. Here they are again with answers.The puzzles are flats", a genre unique to the NPL, which are small pieces of light verse with some missing words. Here's an explanation of the puzzles for those who missed the original story. For those who did, please skip ahead. Continue reading...
by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent on (#6MRHZ)
Finding that clearance of fluid in mice brains is lower in sleep and anaesthesia runs counter to dominant view in neuroscienceThe restorative effect of a good night's rest is widely recognised and the popular scientific explanation has been that the brain washes out toxins during sleep.However, new findings suggest this theory, which has become a dominant view in neuroscience, could be wrong. The study found that the clearance and movement of fluid in the brains of mice was, in fact, markedly reduced during sleep and anaesthesia. Continue reading...
Aurora australis lit up skies across southern Australia days after four coronal mass ejections from the sun. While much of New South Wales missed out on the spectacle due to heavy cloud and rain, the light show was bigger than anything seen in Australia in decades. Geomagnetic solar storms occur when highly charged plasma erupts from the sun and is streamed into space. When those charged particles, known as the solar wind, hit the Earth's magnetic field, they create the stunning visual displays known as aurorasSubscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube
Wacky wordplay from the pioneers of puzzledomUPDATE: Read the answers hereThe National Puzzlers' League is the world's oldest association of word puzzle aficionados. Active in the US more or less continuously since 1883, its output includes these wonderful anagrams, which obey the constraint that the anagrams must be apposite to the original word(s):greyhound / hey, dog run! (1898) Continue reading...
Do you find it hard to budget or, conversely, difficult to spend? Vicky Reynal reveals what our financial choices reveal about our psyches - and what can be done to ease our money worriesI am a generous tipper. I've always thought, to the extent that I have thought about it at all, that this is a positive trait. Recently, however, I've begun to wonder. Is it normal to feel a deep sense of anxiety after ordering a takeaway pizza, then realising there is no change in the house? Does everyone spend their spare time searching Google to find out if one should tip the Waitrose delivery driver - or whether to do so might cause offence? Are hotel stays meant to be such a stressful experience, requiring constant calculations to determine the appropriate amount of cash to reward every personal interaction?These are the kinds of questions that arise while I'm reading Money on Your Mind: The Psychology Behind Your Financial Habits. Written by Vicky Reynal, Britain's first self-styled financial psychotherapist", the book outlines a wide range of unhelpful financial behaviours, offering something that will resonate with almost every reader, and makes a convincing case that these are rooted in our emotions - driven by fears and desires - and influenced by past experiences. Perhaps we struggle to spend money on ourselves or others. What do we fear might happen if we do? Some of us are incapable of budgeting. What do we gain from our overspending? We may see our colleagues rewarded with salary increases while we languish on the same pay grade. Why do we struggle to ask for a raise? Are we battling with doubts about our self-worth? Continue reading...
Try to steer your focus to what you want rather than what you think you should beThe question At 36, I find myself in a stable phase of life, contrasting my earlier years of nomadic renting and dead-end jobs as an artist, a passion I've abandoned. My dog is my sole source of joy, yet even that pleasure feels dulled lately. I struggle to feel real or connected, lacking focus and interest. Despite overcoming anorexia and surviving a long, violent relationship, I still battle the emotional blunting and PTSD that I've had therapy for and thought I'd conquered. I yearn for a more purposeful existence, especially considering my privileged, educated position - I should have achieved this by now.My childhood was chaotic and now, as an adult, I can see there was neglect in a household of five children, as well as addiction and instability. My father, now sober, was always drunk - we lost everything when he became bankrupt. He also had many affairs. I dread becoming like my parents and strive to reconnect with my own body and others. I used to find meaning and flow when I made art and wrote fiction, but it all feels pointless now. I wasn't good enough. Continue reading...
No indication that Richard Rick' Slayman's receipt of genetically modified kidney caused his death, says Massachusetts transplant teamThe first recipient of a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died about two months later, with the hospital that performed the surgery saying it did not have any indication the transplant was the cause.Richard Rick" Slayman had the transplant at Massachusetts general hospital in March at the age of 62. Surgeons said they believed the pig kidney would last for at least two years. On Saturday, his family and the hospital that performed the surgery confirmed Slayman's death.Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...
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