<p>Organisation says objects consistent with ‘debris from a foreign rocket body that recently re-entered the atmosphere’ </p><p>The Australian Space Agency has said the six so-called “space balls” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jul/05/mysterious-debris-found-on-queensland-beaches-could-be-space-balls-and-may-contain-toxic-rocket-fuel">found in north Queensland</a> were likely from a “foreign rocket body” that had recently re-entered the atmosphere after being in orbit.</p><p>The six mysterious objects were found by the public washed ashore in the Forrest Beach area, north of Townsville, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and were suspected of containing hazardous chemicals.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jul/06/mysterious-space-balls-queensland-beaches-origin-source-australia">Continue reading...</a>
Vetenskapsnyheter
Conservationists hope to dramatically reduce mink numbers across Kent.
Campaigners want Les Mielles to be bought by the government and returned to nature.
Stress, dåligt väder, halsfluss, alkohol eller skärsår – det finns olika triggers som kan utlösa psoriasis. Samtidigt händer det mycket inom forskningen kring hudsjukdomen och nya...
<p>Cluster might look like a mini version of the Plough unless you grab your binoculars</p><p>In the early hours of 11 July, the waning crescent moon will be gliding past the beautiful Pleiades star cluster, which is also known as M45 or the Seven Sisters.</p><p>The chart shows the view looking east-north-east from London at 3am BST. By then, the sky will getting ready to start brightening for the coming day, so a clear, low horizon will be essential to see the pairing.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jul/06/starwatch-waning-crescent-moon-pairs-up-with-the-seven-sisters">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Study finds those who speak two languages have brains that appear around six years younger than those who speak one</p><p>Learning another language could slow ageing in the brain by up to 13 years, according to research.</p><p>People who speak more than one language seem to have younger brains and the more languages you speak and the earlier you speak them, the better, according to findings from a study being presented at the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies conference in Barcelona.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/jul/06/learning-another-language-appears-to-slow-brain-ageing-scientists-say">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Polling shows that the public supports this new technology, but the conversation must move beyond simple questions of safety</p><p>Ever since Crispr-Cas9 gene-editing technology emerged in the early 2010s, ethical questions around genetically altered humans, so-called designer babies, have become increasingly urgent. There is already a worldwide legal prohibition. No country currently allows human germline editing (meaning genetic changes to an embryo that could also be passed on to its children), and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jlb/article/12/1/lsaf007/8129080">70 have laws against it</a>, including the UK. But a series of recent discoveries and a new poll suggest that scientists and the public believe gene-edited humans are likely – even desirable – in the near future.</p><p>Two new studies use base editing – a more precise next-generation Crispr tool – on human embryos to study early development or disease (this research is legal in the UK and US as long as the embryos are destroyed within 14 days). The lead author of one study, Dieter Egli, <a href="https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/study-identifies-pitfall-correcting-mutations-human-embryos-crispr">said that</a> the technology wasn’t yet ready for the clinic, but the advances would “guide responsible research to achieve its ultimate safe and effective use”. This encapsulates the view of many scientists, who believe the regulated use of germline editing to eradicate hereditary conditions is inevitable, and the main objection is around safety.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/05/the-guardian-view-on-gene-edited-humans-darker-uses-must-be-acknowledged-alongside-medical-ones">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Humans have long sought to geoengineer the Earth’s environment. <strong>Tim Flannery</strong> outlines a few of the wildest ideas from the 20th century</p><p>An increasing number of scientists think we have let the climate crisis fester for so long that our only hope to stave off ever-intensifying catastrophes is to use technological interventions. Cloud brightening, injecting sulphur into the atmosphere and the use of tiny mirrors in space – all of which might reduce the amount of sunlight reaching Earth’s surface – are among the concepts being promoted<strong> </strong>by entrepreneurs and governments alike. Geoengineering, they argue, is now inevitable.</p><p>Ever since the God of the Old Testament granted our species dominion over the Earth, ideas of remaking the world to better suit us have been a dominant thread in human thinking. We have for centuries toyed with grand ambitions to alter and re-form the climate and environment, many of which – in retrospect – seem doomed or absurd.</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/dec/21/sign-up-for-five-great-reads-guardian-australias-wrap-of-our-best-summer-stories">Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads</a></strong></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/06/five-outlandish-plans-to-remodel-earth-climate">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Reliance on artificial-intelligence tools degrades the abilities of physicians and software engineers, studies show</p>
Chemicals from accidents that injured or killed people increased by nearly 50 percent in recent years.
<p>Finding that Norfolk butterfly has been distinct subspecies for 200,000 years could transform conservation approach</p><p>The endangered swallowtail butterfly <em>Papilio machaon britannicus</em>, which is only regularly found breeding in Britain on the Norfolk Broads, has been a distinct subspecies for at least 200,000 years, according to a study.</p><p>Smaller, darker in colour and much rarer than the continental swallowtail, <em>britannicus</em> was previously considered to have developed its distinctive form during its confinement in the wetlands of eastern England over the last 8,000 years, after the flooding of Doggerland.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/05/british-swallowtail-butterfly-distinct-subspecies-study-conservation">Continue reading...</a>
The heat of the Hadean may have come from impacts as well as the interior.
The storm is forecast to bring winds in excess of 160mph and waves nearly 11m high when it makes landfall on Monday.
<p>Australian Space Agency working to confirm origin of objects as space archaeologist says they may be connected to a rocket launch</p><p>Six pieces of suspected space debris found washed up on north Queensland beaches could be “space balls” that are often left over from rocket launches, according to one expert.</p><p>The Australian Space Agency confirmed on Sunday it was working to determine the nature and origin of the mysterious objects which police said were suspected of containing hazardous chemicals.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jul/05/mysterious-debris-found-on-queensland-beaches-could-be-space-balls-and-may-contain-toxic-rocket-fuel">Continue reading...</a>
Disturbances in this critical sense are often linked to problems with brain health.
Biology could explain the find, but there are other potential explanations.
<p>The rockets’ red glare have nothing on these images from Chandra X-ray Observatory</p>
Thousands of tonnes of non-recyclable wind turbine blades are coming to the end of their lives.
<p>As this year’s invertebrate of the year competition launches, we join scientists studying last year’s winner</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/01/nominate-your-invertebrate-of-the-year">Nominate your invertebrate of the year</a></p></li></ul><p>Witek Morek is closely inspecting an old brick-and-flint wall on the Cambridgeshire campus of the Wellcome Sanger Institute.</p><p>“We are going to use a very advanced tool designed by bioengineers and evolved over millions of years – the human hand – and grab some moss, and put it in an envelope,” he says.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/04/hunting-tardigrade-sequencing-dna-life-earth-invertebrate-year">Continue reading...</a>
Klimatförändringarna märks på många håll, även i vinproduktionen. På de grekiska öarna genomförs nu ett pilotprojekt där odlingarna bevattnas med avloppsvatten från hotell och bostäder. – Vi anpassar oss till förändringarna, säger vinbonden Yiannis Boutaris.
Temperature records have tumbled across the UK and Europe as scientists warn it is a sign of things to come.
Another heatwave is on its way and set to last significantly longer as Stav Danaos explains.
<p>Working memory is the information we need to access to complete the tasks we’re engaged in right now, and scientists think it may be closely entwined with consciousness</p>
A childhood fascination with bogs led one Welsh scientist to try and help save the planet.
An experiment that involved feeding a dead goat to a Komodo dragon as well as an analysis of thousands of ancient bones suggests that Homo floresiensis was neither a skilled hunter of big game nor a master of fire