<p>Experiments show 29 animals moved towards a treat-filled bucket 60% of the time when guided by a researcher</p><p>When it comes to following human cues, it seems the greatest of all time might actually be the goat.</p><p>Researchers have discovered that, like young children, goats are able to follow the direction of a human voice to find an item.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/17/goats-can-find-food-following-human-voice-study">Continue reading...</a>
Vetenskapsnyheter
<p>Tech is helping to identify and save new specimens and could open ‘genomic goldmine’ of fungi data</p><p>The rise of AI and digitisation could be a turning point in the “race against extinction” faced by botanists trying to identify and save vital plants before they vanish, according to a major <a href="https://www.kew.org/science/state-of-the-worlds-plants-and-fungi">report</a> from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.</p><p>New technology is enabling scientists to track how flowering times have shifted by weeks around the world, rapidly identify new specimens and even get crucial genetic data from 180-year-old fungus specimens, potentially opening a “genomic goldmine”. Digitisation and online access to millions of specimens that were until now only accessible in archives is also producing new insights, especially in the global south.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/16/ai-could-help-win-race-against-extinction-of-vital-plants-say-botanists">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Health advocates criticized Kennedy’s move demanding answers from journal that removed ‘flawed’ vaccine study</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/robert-f-kennedy-jr">Robert F Kennedy Jr</a>, the US health secretary, is demanding answers from a medical journal that recently removed a paper suggesting a link between vaccines and infant death, saying their decision was “of great interest to me”.</p><p>Public health advocates immediately criticized the move, and said Kennedy appeared to be trying to intimidate and influence the journal’s editorial process. The journal Toxicology Reports had removed the paper this spring after editors determined it was so seriously flawed it could harm patients and pose a risk to public health.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/15/rfk-jr-letter-medical-journal-vaccine-study">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Readers respond to an report on experiments that have shown a left-turn bias among humans</p><p>It is not quite true to say that no one knows why people prefer to turn left and walk anticlockwise (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/10/humans-prefer-to-walk-anticlockwise-scientists-find-reason-unclear">Report, 10 June</a>). Research by the French professor of physiology Raphaël Dubois in the 19th century revealed the existence of a phenomenon in the natural world that he called the “antikinetic gyratory movement”, caused by the rotation of the Earth on its axis.</p><p>During the 1900 Universal Exhibition<strong><em> </em></strong>in<strong><em> </em></strong>Paris, he observed a tendency among visitors to walk anticlockwise. In the years leading up to the first world war, he applied his theory to explain migration (of humans and animals) and war. I documented the latter in an article in the journal Peace & Change in 1986.<br><strong>Dr Peter van den Dungen</strong><br><em>Lightcliffe, West Yorkshire</em></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/15/raphael-dubois-knew-why-we-walk-anticlockwise">Continue reading...</a>
<p>The prime minister, Keir Starmer, has announced a social media ban for under-16s in the UK, as part of an online safety drive that aims to go even further than the world’s first ban, introduced by Australia last year. Many parents have welcomed the proposals, but scientists have pointed to the lack of strong evidence for the efficacy of bans, and some campaigners have argued that the proposal allows social media companies to avoid making meaningful changes on their platforms. Ian Sample is joined by co-host Madeleine Finlay to explore what the evidence indicates about the harms of social media and the impact of banning it outright</p><p>Support the Guardian: <a href="http://theguardian.com/sciencepod">theguardian.com/sciencepod</a></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2026/jun/15/should-we-ban-social-media-for-under-16s-podcast">Continue reading...</a>
<p>As the isolation period comes to an end for those caught up in the outbreak on a cruise ship, let’s celebrate a good news story</p><p>passengers from the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/05/mv-hondius-ice-breaking-expedition-cruise-suspected-hantavirus-outbreak">MV Hondius cruise ship</a> where the hantavirus outbreak first occurred finished their isolation periods this past Sunday. This is a public health success story worth celebrating, because so many worse results were possible. We heard so much about what went wrong during Covid and the various systems that failed, so it’s good to recognise when things go right – even if you won’t hear about it in the evening news.</p><p>There were 147 passengers and crew, and on 4 May seven cases of respiratory illness on board<strong> </strong>were identified as the Andes strain of hantavirus, which has been known to spread from human to human. This was already an extremely unlucky outcome – hantavirus is deadly, with <a href="https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2026/05/05/what-is-hantavirus-how-is-it-transmitted-and-what-are-the-symptoms/">death rates approaching 30%</a> based on recent research, but most strains only spread from animals to humans.</p><p>Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/15/mv-hondius-hantavirus-public-health-world-isolation">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Three-day-old moon will be about its own width away from luminous planet in constellation of Cancer</p><p>A silver sliver of moon joins the bright beacon of Venus this week for a delightful twilight conjunction. The moon will be just over three days old and only 11% of its visible surface will be illuminated.</p><p>Venus will be burning brightly and less than a moon’s width away from our natural satellite. The pair will be situated in the constellation of Cancer, the crab. The chart shows the view looking west from London at 21.45 BST on 17 June 2026. From the UK, the pairing will be low in the sky, so choose the clearest western horizon you can find.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/15/starwatch-sliver-of-moon-and-bright-venus-create-delightful-twilight-conjunction">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Geochronologists say Antrim coastline’s basalt columns developed over 5.5m years – 8m less than thought</p><p>For centuries, the tale has been passed from generation to generation: how the Irish giant Finn McCool built the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland to fight Benandonner, his Scottish rival, by hurling chunks of the Antrim coastline into the sea.</p><p>Now, scientists have revealed it was intense volcanic activity during a “major globally impacting volcanic event” – and not a legendary battle between two destructive giants – that led to the formation of the coastline’s 40,000 distinctive interlocking basalt columns <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/apr/12/scientists-solve-mystery-of-how-giants-causeway-was-formed">about 60m years ago</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/15/globally-significant-volcanic-event-giants-causeway-scientists">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Medications that target depression, anxiety and poor sleep could help treat pain without opioids’ addictive properties</p><p>A range of other medications could serve as alternatives to powerful opioids for pain relief in emergency departments, according <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/82r3t6bq#author">to a new study</a>.</p><p>The review paper examined non-opioid medications available in the emergency department at San Francisco general hospital and examined existing medical literature to figure out which ones might provide pain relief.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/14/other-medications-opioids-alternatives-study">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Leadership hopeful to also say tax revenues from new North Sea oil and gasfields should be used to cut energy bills</p><p>Wes Streeting’s pitch to be the next Labour leader will include a plan to increase high-skilled immigration to the UK, arguing that Donald Trump is telling scientists and AI experts they are not welcome in the US.</p><p>In a speech this coming week, the former health secretary will also say that tax revenues from new North Sea oil and gasfields should be used to cut energy bills.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/14/wes-streeting-high-skilled-immigration-labour-leadership-tax-revenue-north-sea-oil-gas">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Poolbeg Pharma to test the treatment in NHS hospitals and says it is also developing a GLP-1 weight loss pill</p><p>A London-based startup is about to trial a drug at six NHS hospitals that could stop people on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/may/22/what-are-immunotherapies-and-how-do-they-treat-cancer-and-other-conditions">cancer immunotherapy</a> getting a life-threatening side-effect.</p><p>Poolbeg Pharma said its oral drug POLB 001 could make treatment for blood cancer safer by preventing <a href="https://www.gloshospitals.nhs.uk/media/documents/Cytokine_Release_Syndrome_Guideline_eWNGGQP.pdf">cytokine release syndrome (CRS)</a>, when the immune system goes into overdrive and attacks the body, leading to organ damage.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/14/london-trial-drug-prevent-cancer-cytokine-storm-poolbeg-pharma">Continue reading...</a>
<p>The company’s response to the launchpad blast has become a key test for Artemis III</p><p>As Blue Origin tells it, the most <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/may/29/blue-origin-rocket-explodes">spectacular launchpad explosion</a> in recent memory, which destroyed its pioneering New Glenn space rocket last month and severely damaged almost everything around it, was merely a blip.</p><p>“We will fly again before the end of this year. <em>Gradatim Ferociter</em>,” Dave Limp, the company’s chief executive, <a href="https://x.com/davill/status/2061655383610114124">posted</a> on X on 1 June, using the Latin form of its motto, “Step by step, ferociously”.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/13/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-nasa-aretemis">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Junk speak, like junk food, encourages verbal littering. It has to be one of the worst things about life in Britain</p><p>I live in the Norfolk countryside, and what irritates me most about living here is the deluge of litter that gets thrown out of car windows in the lane outside my house. It is always from junk food outlets, so the question arises as to which way round things are: does junk food turn you into an antisocial moron, or is it that only antisocial morons eat junk food? Could it be an unfortunate confluence of both?</p><p>I never eat it, and never throw litter out of my window. <em>QED</em>. I do find other ways of being antisocial, I suppose, but farts disperse on their own and don’t have to be picked up by passing dog walkers and irate householders.</p><p>Louis de Bernières’s fourth novel, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, became a worldwide bestseller in 1994</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/13/the-hill-i-will-die-on-like-imprecise-redundant-speech-junk-food-britain">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Photosynthesis does not always result in wood growth, a key factor in carbon dioxide sequestration</p><p>Trees may not be able to store as much planet-heating carbon as hoped, a study suggests, with researchers finding photosynthesis does not always lead to wood growth.</p><p>Scientists studied 137 sites across the US and found trees stopped growing months before the point in the year at which photosynthesis stopped.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/13/trees-store-less-carbon-than-thought-study">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Technique that examines fragments of foetal DNA in mother’s bloodstream could limit need for invasive screening, according to researchers</p><p>A new maternal blood test that can detect thousands of serious genetic conditions in the developing foetus could limit the need for invasive screening during pregnancy, according to scientists.</p><p>The test, to be described at the European Society for Human Genetics conference in Gothenburg on Saturday, relies on detecting tiny fragments of a foetus’s DNA that circulate in the mother’s bloodstream during pregnancy. Using advanced sequencing techniques, scientists were able to identify a very high proportion of genetic conditions, such as cystic fibrosis, that are currently only reliably diagnosed using amniocentesis or other invasive tests.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/12/maternal-blood-test-detect-genetic-conditions-foetus">Continue reading...</a>
<p>The economic principles taught in school aren’t as relevant as hype, connections and total, arbitrary control</p><p>Elon Musk is now the world’s first trillionaire, after his SpaceX exploration and satellite company went public on the Nasdaq today.</p><p>With shares priced at $135 each, Musk’s aerospace and satellite maker soared to an overall market valuation of approximately $1.77tn – which raised Musk’s net worth (which had already hovered at the astronomical $813bn) into the $1tn stratosphere.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/12/spacex-ipo-elon-musk-trillionaire">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Desperate US parents pay up to $20,000 a session for a procedure scientists say could be bogus</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/autism">Autistic</a> children as young as 18 months old are being injected with human stem cells derived from umbilical cords in unapproved, unproven and potentially harmful “treatments” that scientists warn are proliferating across the US under the active encouragement of the US health secretary, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/robert-f-kennedy-jr">Robert F Kennedy Jr</a>.</p><p>Clinics in Florida, Texas and other states are selling what they bill as “regenerative medicine” to families with autistic children who have intensive care needs. Parents who have taken their children through the process talked to the Guardian about their hopes and fears for a therapy that appears to be gaining ground in the US.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/12/autism-stem-cell-infusions-rfk-jr">Continue reading...</a>
<p>UN agency head warns of ‘major threat’ as global testing and treatment falls</p><p>A funding crisis and increasing repression of human rights are making the resurgence of an HIV epidemic more likely, the international agency tackling Aids has warned.</p><p>Winnie Byanyima, head of UNAids, said: “It’s the biggest disruption since the global HIV response was put together and it poses a major threat to the progress we have had.”</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jun/12/health-aids-disease-hiv-infection-unaids-funding-tests-cuts-risk-epidemic">Continue reading...</a>
<p>I think I’ll leave new methods to measure biological age to the Kardashians. Too much knowledge about your mortality can be bad for your health</p><p>In the season 5 finale of The Kardashians, the family took a <a href="https://www.trudiagnostic.com/">commercially available blood test</a> to discover how fast their bodies were ageing. It came as little surprise, given their privileged lifestyles, that the reality TV stars were said to be ageing more slowly than most mortals of the same age. Khloé, then 39, found she had a <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1052694">biological age of 28</a>. Cue <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/07/25/entertainment/khloe-kardashian-40-learns-her-biological-age-is-28/">whoops of joy</a> and much smugness.</p><p>The Kardashians join a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goop-labs-health-span-are-vegan-fasting-diets-anti-aging-2020-1">growing list</a> of <a href="https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/entertainment/celebrity-news/katy-perry-justin-trudeau-address-age-gap">celebrities</a> who have taken similar tests and then crowed about their “biological ages”. Now, there’s a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10542-3">new test</a> on the block.</p><p>Helen Pilcher is a science writer and the author of <a href="https://guardianbookshop.com/this-book-may-cause-side-effects-9781805461432/">This Book May Cause Side Effects</a></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/12/science-ageing-test-die-impressive-mortality-molecular-clock">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Today we show our love and gratitude to the brave boffins at the coal face of existential dread</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/16/-sp-first-dog-on-the-moon-subscribe-by-email">Sign up here to get an email</a> whenever First Dog cartoons are published</p></li><li><p><a href="http://firstshoponthemoon.com/">Get all your needs met at the First Dog shop</a> if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints</p></li></ul> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2026/jun/12/hug-a-climate-scientist-today-just-dont-make-it-weird-they-are-already-dealing-with-enough">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Doctors say therapy that genetically modifies person’s T-cells could offer cure for chronic autoimmune disease</p><p>Five lupus patients in England are in remission after being treated with a revolutionary therapy that genetically modifies their own cells, in a medical breakthrough that could offer people a cure, doctors have said.</p><p>CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) T-cell therapy involves removing a type of white blood cell also called T lymphocytes, which are crucial for hunting out infected or damaged cells, and engineering them to spot and destroy disease. The T-cells are then fed back into the patient via an infusion to reset their immune system.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/12/lupus-patients-in-remission-england-nhs-trial-genentically-modified-t-cell-therapy">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Intricate tests show hair-trigger detection causes cells on outer surface of leaf to soften, prompting closure</p><p>The Venus flytrap is one of nature’s most impressive predators, luring insects with the intoxicating scent of nectar before capturing them with a snap of its jaw-like leaves.</p><p>Now, scientists have revealed the mechanism that allows the carnivorous plant to react with lightning speed, resolving a problem that stumped Charles Darwin and many researchers after him.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/11/venus-flytrap-rapid-snap-mechanism">Continue reading...</a>
<p>First ever global mapping of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi shows scale of hyphal systems that sustain plant life</p><p>Our planet’s soils contain enough of the subterranean fungi that sustain plant life and help regulate the climate to stretch from the Earth to the sun almost three-quarters of a billion times, a groundbreaking new study has found.</p><p>Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are networks of tubular cells called hyphae that sustain life on Earth by forming critical partnerships with more than 70% of plants. The networks, which have been forming for about 475 million years, provide nutrients and water in exchange for the carbon produced by the plants, and help to regulate the climate by drawing carbon into soils.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/11/arbuscular-mycorrhizal-fungi-plant-life-climate-global-mapping-study">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Analysts say IPO that could make Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire has a ‘major disconnect’ on price </p><p>Elon Musk’s SpaceX is set to launch <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/03/spacex-ipo-stock-musk">the biggest stock market float in history</a> amid warnings that it may be overvalued.</p><p>The space exploration, satellite broadband and AI company will join the US stock market on Friday at a valuation of $1.78tn, after offering at least $75bn of shares to investors through an initial public offering .</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/11/spacex-record-178tn-float-fears-overvalued-elon-musk-ipo">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Regulator approval means patients who meet criteria such as having obesity will be able to purchase pills with private prescription</p><p>Patients will soon be able to buy the Wegovy weight-loss pill, the medicines regulator announced today.</p><p>It is the first GLP-1 receptor agonist tablet for weight-loss to be approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), making the UK the third country to authorise the pills, behind the US and the United Arab Emirates.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/11/wegovy-weight-loss-pills-available-in-uk-to-buy">Continue reading...</a>