Vetenskapsnyheter

<p>This word for outdoing or outshining others originated in the manosphere, but is now thoroughly mainstream. Why is it so popular – and should we be worried about slang that arises from toxic subcultures?</p><p>Until recently, if someone had said “mog” to me, I probably would have assumed they were talking about the children’s book cat created by the late great Judith Kerr. If asked about “mogging” or being “mogged,” I would have been completely baffled. But for many members of gen Z and gen Alpha (or anyone who is just a bit too online), the slang term, which means to outdo or outshine others, is everywhere.</p><p>Mogging’s origins are in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2025/oct/21/why-the-manosphere-clicked-for-young-men-a-visual-deep-dive">manosphere</a>, where it began as a verb derived from the acronym “Amog” (alpha male of the group). In misogynistic forums in the 2010s, to “mog” came to mean to outdo someone in terms of sexual desirability. Mogging has been adopted by “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/feb/15/from-bone-smashing-to-chin-extensions-how-looksmaxxing-is-reshaping-young-mens-faces">looksmaxxing</a>” influencers such as Braden Peters, known online as Clavicular, who encourage men to try to alter their looks – sometimes in extreme ways – to increase their “sexual market value”. Such an influencer might talk of “frame mogging” another person in a photo or video – a variation on mogging that specifically refers to being more muscular.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/06/mogging-is-suddenly-everywhere-is-that-a-problem">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Drug that stops cancer cells hiding and a breakthrough for pancreatic cancer among highlights from Asco conference – but there were also notes of caution</p><p>Doctors, scientists and researchers shared new research about ways to tackle cancer at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) annual meeting, the world’s largest cancer conference.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.asco.org/annual-meeting">event in Chicago</a>, attended by 40,000 health professionals, featured more than 200 sessions and 2,700 poster presentations on this year’s theme, “the science and practice of translation: improving cancer outcomes worldwide”. Here are the five biggest takeaways.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/06/new-weapons-war-on-cancer-asco-conference-takeaways">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Experts stress need for transparency while aiming to prevent premature announcements and protect scientists</p><p>Alien hunters have released fresh guidelines on how to handle potential signals from intelligent life beyond Earth, in the hope of avoiding an outburst of panic, misinformation and confusion if any are detected.</p><p>While the idea of little green men may be a thing of the past, the possibility of intelligent civilisations elsewhere in the universe remains a serious topic among astronomers.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/05/alien-hunters-seti-guidance-signals-intelligent-life">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Team now plans to see if they can use yeast strains harvested from Ötzi the Iceman to brew beer too</p><p>Scientists have baked a sourdough loaf of bread using yeast strains harvested from a 5,000-year-old mummy and now plan to see if they can use them to brew beer too.</p><p>The yeast came from Ötzi the Iceman, a famous corpse remarkably preserved by being frozen in Alpine ice near the Italy-Austria border until he was discovered in 1991. Ötzi has been the subject of intense study since he was found and has shed much light on pre-historic European people and their way of life.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/05/scientists-sourdough-bread-yeast-strains-mummy">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Russian crew member attempting to fix a worsening leak of air on its portion of the orbital laboratory, NASA said</p><p>The <strong>International Space Station</strong> is an orbital laboratory located about 250 miles above Earth.</p><p>It is operated by five partner space agencies: the American <strong>National Aeronautics and Space administration (Nasa)</strong>, the <strong>Canadian Space agency (Csa)</strong>, the <strong>European Space Agency (Esa)</strong>, the <strong>Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa)</strong> and the Russian <strong>State Space Corporation “Roscosmos”</strong>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/live/2026/jun/05/international-space-station-astronauts-evacuation-air-leak-latest-news-updates">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Nasa says Russian crew trying to fix worsening air leak in its portion of orbital laboratory</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/live/2026/jun/05/international-space-station-astronauts-evacuation-air-leak-latest-news-updates">International Space Station air leak: latest updates</a></p></li></ul><p>Astronauts onboard the International Space Station have been ordered to shelter in their spacecraft and prepare for potential evacuation as a Russian crew attempts to fix a worsening leak of air in its portion of the orbital laboratory, Nasa has said.</p><p>The four astronauts of Nasa’s Crew-12 mission on the station – two US astronauts, a French astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut – received orders from Nasa mission control at 9.04am ET (2pm BST) on Friday to enter their Crew Dragon spacecraft docked to the station and don their spacesuits in case the air leak warranted an emergency evacuation, a Nasa official said.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/05/international-space-station-astronauts-under-evacuation-orders">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Experts say dismantling the ocean observation system will ‘severely degrade’ the accuracy of weather predictions</p><p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/02/trump-administration-ocean-observatories-initiative">Trump administration’s plan</a> to dismantle an ocean observation system vital to understanding the climate crisis and marine ecosystems would “severely degrade” the accuracy of weather predictions and El Niño forecasts, with economic consequences for the US, European and American scientists have warned.</p><p>Decommissioning the US system, which plays a major part in a global ocean observation network, would lead to a massive increase in error in the annual estimates of ocean heating rates, according to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-026-02661-6">research published last month</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/05/trump-plan-ocean-monitoring-system-concern-scientists">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Insects join list of species capable of solving simple ‘box-and-banana’ problem that demonstrates basic intelligence</p><p>Bumblebees can use tools to solve a problem, according to experiments that demonstrate their remarkably advanced cognitive abilities.</p><p>The bees were given an adapted version of an experiment that, 100 years ago, first demonstrated chimpanzees could work out how to retrieve an out-of-reach banana by stacking boxes. Since then, various other primates, elephants and crows have joined an elite cohort of species known to be capable of this level of insight and spontaneous problem solving.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/04/bees-use-tools-to-solve-problems-study-finds">Continue reading...</a>

<p>IPO could raise up to $75bn, giving SpaceX market value of $1.77tn as it sets up Musk for extraordinary wealth</p><p>Elon Musk’s SpaceX is looking to raise $75bn (£55bn) from its blockbuster stock market listing next week as the rocket company aims for the largest initial public offering ever.</p><p>If the stock market launch – primed for 12 June – goes as planned, founder Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, could make history as the first trillionaire.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/03/spacex-ipo-stock-musk">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Scientists praise moves to investigate, retract or remove controversial studies. The authors stand by their work</p><p>Three scientific papers that raised questions about vaccine safety and were used by the Trump administration to justify <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/16/judge-blocks-rfk-jr-vaccine-policy-changes">controversial changes to US vaccine policies</a> have over the last two months been removed, retracted or placed under investigation by the journals that published them.</p><p>In some cases, the actions occurred years after scientists first raised alarms about the studies’ scientific merits.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/04/vaccine-studies-rfk-jr">Continue reading...</a>

<p>With the Bundibugyo strain of the disease spreading across the DRC and Uganda, scientists and researchers are trying to find rapid solutions</p><p>There is no vaccine or treatment available for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola that is spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, but this week three vaccine developers were awarded $60m (£45m) in emergency funding as the race to halt the outbreak ramps up.</p><p>Security issues in the affected region of the DRC, where conflict has displaced tens of thousands, have made it challenging to set up trials to test drugs. Militias operate in the area and some Ebola treatment centres <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/24/suspected-ebola-cases-congo-health-workers-attacks">have been attacked</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jun/04/the-race-to-combat-ebola-what-vaccines-and-treatments-are-being-developed-and-how-long-will-it-take">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Light from nearly 4m galaxies measured as it twisted and travelled through intergalactic space</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2026/jun/04/australia-politics-live-capital-gains-tax-property-prices-economy-budget-jim-chalmers-anthony-albanese-angus-taylor-pauline-hanson-senate-estimates-question-time-ntwnfb">Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates</a></p></li><li><p>Get our <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/email-newsletters?CMP=cvau_sfl">breaking news email</a>, <a href="https://app.adjust.com/w4u7jx3">free app</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/series/full-story?CMP=cvau_sfl">daily news podcast</a></p></li></ul><p>A cosmic map of magnetic fields – the largest ever produced – could help scientists delve into one of the major and most mysterious forces in the universe.</p><p>A global team led by Australia’s national science agency, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/may/20/csiro-job-cuts-climate-australia-projections-to-global-reports">the CSIRO</a> charted the magnetic fields by measuring light from nearly 4m galaxies as it twisted and travelled through intergalactic space.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jun/04/space-universe-science-cosmic-map-of-magnetic-fields">Continue reading...</a>

<p>It’s just a week until the first whistle of the 2026 World Cup. To mark the occasion, Madeleine Finlay talks to Ian Sample about the science behind the tournament. It’s likely to be one of the hottest ever World Cups, and scientists have written to Fifa asking it to reconsider its heat mitigations for players and referees. Dr Oliver Gibson of Brunel University outlines their concerns. Also on the agenda is the huge fossil-fuel impact of the tournament, and the effect of VAR on the psychology of referees and fans</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/series/footballweekly">Subscribe to Football Weekly for coverage of all the World Cup games</a></strong></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/04/heatstroke-sports-washing-and-var-psychology-the-science-of-the-world-cup-podcast">Continue reading...</a>

<p>The neurologist Orlando Swayne doesn’t suggest everyone can recover. But he does argue that early, targeted and intense therapy can sometimes bring about life-changing improvements – and we have a moral obligation to provide it</p><p>Claire was in bad shape. She had been brought to the ward on a stretcher and hoisted on to a bed where she lay curled up in a ball. She was unable to speak, her eyes flat and face expressionless. While she could move her right arm a little, her left arm and both legs were immobile.</p><p>Life had changed dramatically for Claire, a mother of three in her late 30s, many months earlier, when she collapsed while on a night out with friends. A weakness in an artery at the base of her brain had ruptured, spilling blood around her frontal lobe. She was taken to hospital, where surgeons removed two side plate-sized pieces of bone from her skull to relieve the pressure on her brain. She spent months in intensive care.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/03/orlando-swayne-neurologist-stroke-head-injury-recovery-doctor-interview">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Understanding whale sounds could help prevent strikes from ships and even aid in search for extraterrestrial life</p><p>If you stand on certain shorelines and listen carefully you might just hear deep rumbling noises. Sharp-eared fishers, lighthouse keepers and sea kayakers have been haunted by these late-night sounds for centuries and now, for the first time, scientists have recorded these thrums and pinpointed them to humpback whales, proving that whales have a far larger vocabulary than previously thought.</p><p>Fred Sharpe from the <a href="https://www.alaskawhalefoundation.org/">Alaska Whale Foundation</a> and his colleagues set up land-based microphones to tune in to the mysterious ocean noises. Tip-offs from Alaskan coastal communities helped to narrow down the best recording locations. Along with the previously documented trumpets, blows and shrieks that humpback whales make, the researchers recorded very low frequency rumbles, a bit like distant thunder, and new sounds including pizzle, howl and hooting noises. The night thrums travelled through the air and could be heard up to 6 miles (10km) away.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/03/haunting-thrums-sea-humpback-whales-specieswatch">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Three studies add to evidence that jabs could be part of cancer-fighting toolkit to cut risk of developing or dying from disease</p><p>Weight-loss drugs can cut the risk of developing or dying from cancer by 30%, doctors have said.</p><p>Millions of people already use the drugs to treat obesity. Now a series of studies presented at the world’s largest oncology conference suggest the drugs could play a role in preventing and treating cancer.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/02/weight-loss-drugs-cut-cancer-risk-studies">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Exclusive: First shipwrecks found in Nassau harbour on New Providence, once the hideout of Blackbeard and Calico Jack</p><p>The first shipwrecks linked to the real pirates of the Caribbean in the Bahamas have been discovered by an international team co-directed by a British marine archaeologist.</p><p>Blackbeard and Calico Jack Rackham were among pirates who, between the 1690s and 1720s, turned Nassau on the island of New Providence into a hideout where they plotted their next heists on the high seas and divided up their plunder.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/02/shipwrecks-evidence-real-pirates-of-the-caribbean-nassau-harbour-bahamas">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Kevin Minto’s discovery near Ilminster, showing goddess Victoria, has been acquired with coin hoard for £78,000</p><p>When Kevin Minto, a lorry driver, former soldier and keen metal detectorist, came upon something glinting in a Somerset field, he thought at first it was a coin – potentially quite interesting, probably not amazing.</p><p>But the object turned out to be extraordinary: a gold Roman ring, unusually large and exquisitely crafted, set with a finely engraved gemstone depicting the goddess Victoria driving a two-horse chariot.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/02/somerset-detectorist-roman-ring-find-ilminster">Continue reading...</a>

<p>John McFall prepares for mission to Haven-1 space station after UK Space Agency signs deal with US startup Vast</p><p>A British Paralympian and surgeon could become the first person with a physical disability to live in orbit after the government signed a deal with a US company that is building a small commercial space station.</p><p>John McFall, a member of the European Space Agency (Esa) astronaut reserve, was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/feb/14/british-paralympian-first-person-physical-disability-space-mission">cleared for activities in orbit last year</a> and could take part in a mission to the Haven-1 space station soon after its proposed launch in 2027.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/02/british-paralympian-john-mcfall-astronaut-disability-space-station-haven-1-vast">Continue reading...</a>

<p>For tens of thousands of years, these Palaeolithic artworks were unseen. When they were rediscovered, onlookers marvelled at their vivid beauty. One of the world’s leading experts took me up close</p><p>The aurochs, the mammoth and the steppe bison are long extinct, but their painted likenesses still look relatively fresh across the walls and roofs of Altamira. Or so said Diego Garate Maidagan, who is one of the very few humans allowed to enter that exalted cave in northern Spain.</p><p>I met Garate last summer in a small Basque village called Gautegiz Arteaga. A professor of prehistory and Palaeolithic art at the University of Cantabria, he told me he’d been inside Altamira as recently as the week before, furthering his lifelong investigations of the prep work, tools and methodologies developed by early Homo sapiens painters.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/02/journey-into-spain-palaeolithic-cave-paintings-altamira">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Humans have been wondering why we sleep for thousands of years. Is sleep’s purpose rest and relaxation, memory consolidation or maybe cognitive processing? In the last 15 years, scientists have discovered another possible explanation – waste disposal. In 2012 neuroscientist Maiken Nedergaard’s lab discovered that the brain has its own cleaning process, the glymphatic system, which clears away unhelpful proteins and metabolic byproducts, and only switches on at night. Since that groundbreaking discovery we’ve learned more about what drives this system and, importantly, how it could be impacting dementia. To understand more, Ian Sample talks to Prof Nedergaard about how she made the original discovery and how subsequent work is building a picture of sleep as anything but a quiet and inactive state</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/mar/13/the-battle-to-boost-our-deep-sleep-and-help-stop-dementia">The battle to boost our deep sleep – and help stop dementia</a></strong></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/02/the-incredible-science-of-the-sleeping-brain-podcast">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Company asks US government to release army of sterile male mosquitoes to lower number of illness-spreading bugs</p><p>Google wants to “stop bad bugs with good bugs”, and it’s not talking about coding. The tech company has asked the US government for permission to release up to 32 million sterilized mosquitoes in California and Florida.</p><p>As part of its successful <a href="https://debug.com/">“Debug” program</a>, Google is tapping into its tech expertise to raise an army of sterile male mosquitoes to lower the number of illness-spreading bugs. Mosquitoes – the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/global-health/impact/fighting-the-worlds-deadliest-animal.html">world’s deadliest animal</a> – kill more people than any other creature in the world every year by spreading lethal diseases such as dengue, West Nile virus, Zika, chikungunya and malaria.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jun/01/google-permission-release-mosquitoes-california-florida">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Late physicist turned issue of when to stop searching for a better place to eat into mathematical problem</p><p>When it comes to exploring a new city, it can be tricky to know when to stop searching for a different restaurant to try every night, or to visit the first place you love on repeat.</p><p>Now researchers have found that the late physicist and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman devised a mathematical equation that can tackle the conundrum – at least when the range of options is known – and they believe the approach is similar to tactics people use intuitively.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/01/scientists-uncover-feynmans-formula-for-finding-best-holiday-restaurant">Continue reading...</a>

<p>Remains of Los Alamos employee Melissa Casias found alongside handgun in case that stirred online speculation</p><p>Authorities in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/newmexico">New Mexico</a> have identified human remains which they recently discovered as those of a Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) employee who had been missing for more than a year.</p><p>In a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DBKjCCjum/">statement</a> released over the weekend, state police said the remains belonged to Melissa Casias, a 53-year-old resident of Taos, New Mexico, who was last seen walking eastbound along a state highway on 26 June 2025.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/01/melissa-casias-remains-found-new-mexico">Continue reading...</a>

<p>It’s natural to focus on breakthroughs, but there are many challenges in Britain and around the world. There is no magic bullet, but there’s room for optimism</p><p>Cancer causes nearly <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer">one in six deaths worldwide every year</a>, some 10 million all told. That is a stunning number, but it also masks the reality that some cancers are more deadly than others. We have become remarkably good at detecting and treating <a href="https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/melanoma-skin-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/survival-rates-for-melanoma-skin-cancer-by-stage.html">melanoma</a> and <a href="https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/prostate-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/survival-rates.html">prostate cancer</a>, for example, and today five-year survival rates for those cancers are well over 90% in most rich countries. Others, such as pancreatic cancer, are more difficult. In the UK, just <a href="https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/pancreatic-cancer/survival">over one in 20 people</a> with pancreatic cancer are still alive five years after diagnosis.</p><p>That is why a new drug for pancreatic cancer, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/31/daily-pill-daraxonrasib-double-survival-time-pancreatic-pancreas-cancer-clinical-trial">called daraxonrasib</a> and announced at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (Asco) annual meeting in Chicago at the weekend, has been met with such jubilation. The drug – taken as a pill once a day – doubled the survival time of those enrolled in a 500-person trial, with fewer side effects compared to traditional chemotherapy. The drug works by shutting down a protein, Kras, that causes cancer cells to grow and divide. One longtime cancer researcher reported that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/31/daily-pill-daraxonrasib-double-survival-time-pancreatic-pancreas-cancer-clinical-trial">she cried reading</a> the results. With …