Section

Science

Discoveries, research and the latest from the world of science.

27,568 stories · Page 1311 of 1313

Science stories

Shell shock shows how dinosaurs suffered stress

It was tough being a dinosaur. That long trudge through hundreds of millions of years of evolution. All that trouble adjusting your body temperature. The kill-or-be-killed world of dinosaur economics.

By Tim Radford, Science Editor19 Feb

Key GM gene is owned by Monsanto

Lord Sainsbury, the supermarket billionaire and science minister, yesterday said he did not own the patent rights of the gene used in the research which has highlighted the potential risks to human health of genetically modified food.

By Michael Sean Gillard and Laurie Flynn17 Feb

Let's not throw out the chance of gene-modified drugs with the poisoned potato

A frightening feature of the gene food coverage over the last week is not manipulation by multinationals or the risk of poisoning ourselves and our environment, but a willingness to promote conclusions based on little more than superstition.

16 Feb

Revealed: Lord Sainsbury's interest in key gene patent

Lord Sainsbury of Turville, the billionaire supermarket tycoon and science minister, owned for 11 years the company which controls the worldwide patent rights over a key gene currently used in the genetic modification process, the Guardian can reveal. The holding was switched into a blind trust last July, three days after he joined the Government.

By Laurie Flynn and Michael Sean Gillard16 Feb

Shops warning ordered on gene food

Mandatory labelling of all genetically modified food sold in shops, takeaways and restaurants is to be introduced next month in an attempt to quell growing fear of the 'Frankenstein foods'.

By Patrick Wintour, Antony Barnett and Robin McKie14 Feb

Scientist twins test to see if they are identical

Two forensic scientists are to turn their techniques on themselves - to see whether each is the other's clone.

By Tim Radford, Science Editor12 Feb

Ousted scientist and the damning research into food safety

Last week in parliament William Hague asked Tony Blair why the Government was ignoring advice from its environmental advisers to call a three-year moratorium on the commercial release of genetically modified (GM) crops until more research is done.

12 Feb

Food scandal: chronology

November 1995: Pusztai/Rowett research begins.

12 Feb

Blinded by light

Russian astronauts have failed in their first attempt to deliver a new moon. But astronomers and ecologists are furious that there has been no debate about whether it's acceptable to banish the night. Paul Evans on the new space wars

10 Feb

Why you can't lose with Darwin

Tim Radford is struck by the success of today's ultra-Darwinists in finding an evolutionary function for everything in modern society (And Darwin created us all, February 6). But this is a game where it's impossible to lose. Earlier theorists who looked for divine functions never failed to find them either, even in the toughest cases. Wasps and nettles, for instance, existed to stir humans from their apathy, trivial insects to complete the natural order. And so forth.

8 Feb

Gene foods scare rooted in confusion

In November 1989, a strange epidemic appeared in New Mexico and slowly spread across America. Victims suffered severe muscle pain and high white blood cell counts. A number died.

By Robin McKie7 Feb

Time to modify the gene debate

John R. Norris, of the Institute of Biology, who hopes that discussions on genetically modified food will be 'tackled on the basis of firm scientific understanding' is a voice in the wilderness. Any hopes of rational public debate on this subject have long gone. One only has to turn to Joanna Blythman's piece (Comment, last week) for proof of this. Blythman feels it is significant that 'more than 130 of Britain's food writers and chefs' have called for 'a ban on gene foods'. This is as significant as 130 of Britain's top astrologers banding together to issue a statement about astronomy.

7 Feb

And Darwin created us all...

Slapstick is no laughing matter: that involuntary response to a pratfall tells us something about where we come from and how we got here. The sound called laughter developed as a kin signal, according to Professor VS Ramachandran. It is a way of alerting those who share your genes that the comic tumble you have just witnessed is a false alarm. Your clan members need not waste precious energy rushing to the aid of the fallen, discomfited to find himself suddenly horizontal.

6 Feb

Gene hope to end skin cancer

Scientists are claiming a breakthrough in their understanding of malignant melanoma, the potentially fatal skin cancer, which may enable them to stop tumours from developing.

By Sarah Boseley, Health Correspondent1 Feb

Why governments can't be trusted to protect us against gene foods

Something happened on Tuesday that kicked one issue to the top of the consumer food agenda. In an unprecedented action, more than 130 of Britain's leading food writers and chefs shared a platform with Greenpeace to call for a ban on gene foods. Food writers don't agree easily on anything; we'll split arcane hairs over how much humidity should be left in a sun-dried tomato or the optimum cocoa solid ratio for dark chocolate. That's why our consensus that gene foods are a recipe for disaster is so significant.

By Joanna Blythman31 Jan

Scorpion poison hope for victims of brain cancer

Poison from an Israeli scorpion is about to be tested as a cure for the most deadly brain cancer of all. Trials on human patients dying from glioma are to begin in the US this year.

By Tim Radford25 Jan

Leader: Death's cancelled

Once again, one of humankinds most enduring fantasies is being dangled seductively the prospect of eternal (or at least much-lengthened) youth. We can junk all the creams and lotions the secret is in our genes.

24 Jan

Mystery sponsor keeps ageing Mir in orbit

It has survived old age, a fire and an almost fatal cosmic crash. Now Mir, Russia's meteor-battered outpost in space which was due to be put to sleep in the Pacific this summer, is to continue its orbit well into the next century - with the help of a mystery sponsor.

By James Meek in Moscow23 Jan

Fossil explains 'turbo-charged' dinosaur

The best preserved dinosaur fossil ever found suggests that some of these creatures were such swift and deadly hunters because their lungs were extremely powerful, according to a report in the American journal Science yesterday.

23 Jan

Satellite to keep an eye on space pollution

A new eye in the sky is about to take the measure of a pollution problem that is literally out of this world. A US satellite to be launched today will count bits of cosmic debris 500 miles above the Earth's surface.

19 Jan

Starwatch

One event, the total eclipse of the Sun on August 11, will dominate our astronomical year ahead. Not since 1927 has a total eclipse cut its swathe across mainland Britain, and southern Devon and Cornwall seem certain to be packed as the mid-morning Sun is hidden for up to 122 seconds. The rest of Britain enjoys a partial eclipse, with the depth of the eclipse decreasing as you go northwards.

18 Jan