Ian Sample Science editor    Officials urge vaccination against mutated strain of virus that may be more transmissible than usualHospitals are bracing for a once-in-a-decade flu season, with a mutated version of the virus that is spreading widely in younger people expected to drive a wave of admissions when it reaches the...

Associated Press    A huge New Glenn rocket successfully took off to place two spacecraft in orbit for a later boost to the red planetBlue Origin successfully launched its huge New Glenn rocket on Thursday with a pair of Nasa spacecraft destined for Mars. It was only the second flight of the rocket that Jeff Bezos’s...

Harriet Sherwood    Well-preserved oak and maple boats used for transport and fishing to be displayed in PeterboroughAfter lying undisturbed in mud for more than 3,000 years, three rare bronze and iron age log boats have emerged to offer fresh insights into prehistoric life.The boats were among nine discovered in a...

Nicola Davis Science correspondent    Research among women finds those who eat more UPFs have greater risk of early onset of polyp that can lead to cancerWomen under 50 who have a diet high in ultra-processed foods (UPFs) stand a greater risk of having abnormal growths in their bowel that can lead to cancer, research suggests.Ultra...

Hannah Devlin Science correspondent    Data also shows an average of nearly 400 newly reported cases of antibiotic-resistant infections a week last yearThe number of deaths linked to superbugs that do not respond to frontline antibiotics increased by 17% in England last year, according to official figures that raise concerns about the...

Hannah Devlin Science correspondent    Connection of near-ubiquitous EBV to autoimmune disease affecting about 1 in 1,000 people may spur hunt for vaccineA common childhood virus appears to be the trigger for the autoimmune disease lupus, according to groundbreaking research.The study suggests that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which for...

Presented and produced by Madeleine Finlay, with Ian Sample, sound design by Ross Burns, the executive producer was Ellie Bury    Ian Sample joins Madeleine Finlay to discuss some of the most intriguing science stories from the week. They discuss the complicated legacy of James Watson, who won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the structure of DNA; a new breakthrough in the quest to understand the autoimmune disease lupus;...

Nicola Davis Science correspondent    Third series of TV drama spiked interest in anti-anxiety drug amid warnings over illicit production of benzos’In the third series of the hit TV show The White Lotus, the entitled North Carolina housewife Victoria Ratliff is often shown reaching for her lorazepam. Now researchers say internet...

Phoebe Weston    Study estimates 53,000 females have died on South Georgia since 2023, with dramatic impact’ on future of the speciesBird flu has wiped out half of South Georgia’s breeding elephant seals, according to a study that warns of serious implications for the future of the species.The remote island in the...

Anna Betts    Aurora borealis reported in over a dozen states, stretching from New York to Texas and TennesseeA powerful geomagnetic storm lit up skies across much of the US late Tuesday and early Wednesday, giving people in dozens of states a rare chance to see the northern lights, and forecasters say that more...

Aisha Down    Fascination of investors such as Elon Musk with uploading their brains to computers is hindering progress in curing disease, say scientistsIt has been an excellent year for neurotech, if you ignore the people funding it. In August, a tiny brain implant successfully decoded the inner speech of...

First Dog on the Moon    It certainly sounds like fun until you walk under a tree and...Sign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are publishedGet all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading...

Emma Kavanagh    Last weekend’s Cambridgeshire train attack brought up a question that we often ask ourselves. But the answer isn’t simple Emma Kavanagh is a psychologist who has worked for the police and the militaryThe devastating attack on train passengers in Cambridgeshire last weekend was shocking. There has...

Arwa Mahdawi    Videos about personality science are going viral on social media, but beware of giving them credence ...In the 1950s, a secretary in a San Francisco medical office noticed something weird: some of the chairs in the waiting room needed to be reupholstered more frequently than others. Patients with...

Rich Pelley    Young people are eschewing medical trials, to their own detriment. Maybe my tales of pills, tubes and paydays can inspire a generationGen Z has a reputation for being boring . Not only do they reportedly prefer going to the gym than the pub, and staying at home and going to bed at 9pm rather than...

Presented by Jonathan Watts, produced by Madeleine Finlay, sound design by Joel Cox, the executive producer was Ellie Bury    Global environment editor Jon Watts goes in search of answers to the question the journalist Dom Phillips was investigating when he was murdered: how to save the Amazon?In the final episode of this three-part series from June 2025, Jon encounters a radical new view of the Amazon’s history being...

Presented by Jonathan Watts; produced by Madeleine Finlay; sound design by Joel Cox; executive producer Ellie Bury    Jon Watts, the Guardian’s global environment editor, goes in search of answers to the question the journalist Dom Phillips was investigating when he was murdered: how to save the Amazon?In episode two of this miniseries from June 2025, Jon meets the people trying to make sure the rainforest is...

Presented by Jonathan Watts; produced by Madeleine Finlay; sound design by Joel Cox; executive producer Ellie Bury    Global environment editor Jon Watts goes in search of answers to the question the journalist Dom Phillips was investigating when he was murdered: how to save the Amazon?In episode one of this miniseries from June 2025, Jon explores what’s at stake if we fail to act in time. He hears about the...

Frank Close    Theoretical physicist who won the Nobel prize for his work on the forces acting on fundamental subatomic particlesChen-Ning Yang, the Chinese American theoretical physicist, who has died aged 103, won the Nobel prize in physics in 1957.It was during a period at the Institute for Advanced Study at...

Philip Oltermann    Blue Origin successfully launches its huge New Glenn rocket on Thursday with a pair of Nasa spacecraft destined for Mars. It is only the second flight of the rocket that Jeff Bezos’s company and Nasa are counting on to ferry people and supplies to the moon. The 321ft (98-meter) New Glenn blasts...

Alex Bellos    Was the wartime chant about his solitary testicle correct? Did he have Jewish ancestry? New documentary Hitler’s DNA is trying to answer these, and more contentious, questions - but should it have gone there at all?If a TV programme sets about sequencing the genome of Adolf Hitler - the person in...

Alex Bellos    The solution to today’s poison puzzlerEarlier today I set you the following puzzle. Here it is again with the solution.Two dead at the drink-off Continue reading...

Alex Bellos    Who poisoned whom?UPDATE: Read the solution hereToday’s puzzle is credited to Michael Rabin, the legendary computer scientist, who in the late 1980s posted it to an electronic bulletin board at Carnegie Mellon University.It has recently been brought to light by a puzzle enthusiast who thinks it...

Alex Bellos    The answers to today’s puzzlesEarlier today I set these puzzles by quizmaster extraordinaire Frank Paul. Here they are again with solutions.It strikes me that it would be a good coding challenge to find all possible examples of these puzzles using words in a standard English dictionary....

Josh Toussaint-Strauss Elena Morresi Alex Healey Joseph Pierce Steve Glew Ryan Baxter    Conundrums for the crossword connoisseurToday’s teasers come from pub quiz legend, Only Connect champion, and wizard of wordplay Frank Paul.One of his fortes is puzzles based on letter or word patterns, such as the ones below. Continue reading...

Guardian Staff    The largest supermoon of the year, the so-called beaver’ moon on Wednesday 4 November, was the biggest and brightest of 2025, just 357,000km from EarthWatch November’s beaver’ supermoon rising over Sydney’s Bondi beach - videoGlowing September supermoon lights up the sky - in pictures Continue...

   Luxembourg one of the world’s smallest nations has positioned itself at the forefront of asteroid mining. But extracting minerals and precious metals from space throws up all sorts of ethical and legal questions, such as who can lay claim to an asteroid and all of its extractive wealth, and should...

   Weevils, spores, slime mold and cells are in extreme closeup for the 51st anniversary of the Nikon Small World competition. For more than five decades, the award has brought scientific wonders under the microscope, with scientists, artists and enthusiasts from 77 countries contributing 1,925 photo...