My parents weren’t rich but they always made me feel I could have exactly what I dreamed ofI was three and Christmas 1969 was approaching. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon that summer and I wanted what millions of kids must have wanted for Christmas: the Apollo 11 rocket. I announced this and went off to listen yet again to my favourite record: Puff, the Magic Dragon.Our house on a nice new estate in Wrexham was full of craft furniture. My dad, who taught woodwork at the town’s grammar school, made our tables and chairs and the abstract copper-wire artworks on the walls. The space age was...

Experts monitoring the loss of Scythian artefacts have been shocked at scale of theft by Putin’s forcesThe people the Greeks called Scythians were formidable warriors and nomads who dominated the Eurasian steppe for more than 1,000 years from about 800BC – long before the creation of national borders.The fabulous gold weapons and ornaments they left behind ended up in museums across the region, many of them in Ukraine. Since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February, however, much Scythian gold – along with millions of other priceless artefacts – has been looted or “evacuated...

Coolant leak on Soyuz capsule forced last-minute cancellation of spacewalk by two cosmonautsThe temperature in the Soyuz capsule docked with the International Space Station has risen but the crew was not in danger, the Russian space agency said on Friday.On Thursday, Roscosmos and the US space agency Nasa said a coolant leak had been detected on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft. The leak forced the last-minute cancellation of a spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Nasa footage showed a torrent of snowflake-like particles spraying from the rear section of the Soyuz MS-22 capsuleA planned spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station has been cancelled after mission controllers noticed “significant leaking” from a docked Soyuz spacecraft.A “visible stream of flakes” was first observed about 7.45pm EST (12.45am GMT Thursday) prompting Russian flight controllers to abort the mission, a Nasa livestream showed. Continue reading...

As the party season kicks in, so will the effects of having one too many. Here are the sobering facts behind hangovers and tactics that might help you avoid them“Alcohol is a ‘dirty drug’,” says Emily Palmer, a researcher at Imperial College London, who studies hangovers. “It impacts multiple systems in the brain.”Scientists are not exactly sure what is going on in our bodies during a hangover, but they do know it is caused by a variety of biochemical and neurochemical changes. “It doesn’t just affect the liver or the brain,” says Palmer, “it affects almost every organ...

It’s important for patients to know past relapses don’t define you, and ongoing help from professionals and friends is critical to recoveryThe modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their workBen* has been battling a drug and alcohol addiction for more than a decade. At 32 years old, he has experienced more than the average person his age.Ben suffered a horrific injury in a car accident when he was 21 and became dependent on painkillers. From there, he tells me in his first group therapy session in rehab that he began experimenting with a range...

Manipulating your body clock can improve health and productivityIt’s 8.30pm on a gloomy November evening and I’m sitting on the sofa under a tartan blanket and wearing a pair of orange-lensed specs. My other half regards me with bemusement. A man who disapproves of paracetamol and plasters, Tim has lived through my audio-bathing phase, my steps-tracker phase and the notorious 2015 installation of our bedroom air-quality monitor, a period during which I informed him he should breathe out less carbon dioxide (could he, I asked, just tape his mouth in bed at night so I didn’t wake up groggy...

The stress-reducing, life-extending benefits of religion can offer useful strategies even for non-believers, say scientistsIn his Pensées, published posthumously in 1670, the French philosopher Blaise Pascal appeared to establish a foolproof argument for religious commitment, which he saw as a kind of bet. If the existence of God was even minutely possible, he claimed, then the potential gain was so huge – an “eternity of life and happiness” – that taking the leap of faith was the mathematically rational choice.Pascal’s wager implicitly assumes that religion has no benefits in the...

The UK is in the middle of its worst outbreak of bird flu. The current strain of H5N1 avian influenza has devastated wild bird populations, killing thousands and affecting threatened species such as puffins and hen harriers. Bird flu has also been wreaking havoc on poultry, and since 7 November, all captive birds in England have been kept indoors to prevent them catching the virus.How are both wild and captive bird populations coping with the current strain of avian flu? And is the UK prepared to deal with another major animal disease outbreak? Ian Sample speaks with Phoebe Weston, a...

With digital bioacoustics, scientists can eavesdrop on the natural world – and they’re learning some astonishing thingsScientists have recently made some remarkable discoveries about non-human sounds. With the aid of digital bioacoustics – tiny, portable digital recorders similar to those found in your smartphone – researchers are documenting the universal importance of sound to life on Earth. By placing these digital microphones all over Earth, from the depths of the ocean to the Arctic and the Amazon, scientists are discovering the hidden sounds of nature, many of which occur at...

In Melbourne’s family court, Lucy visits hearings, legal interviews and mediations – all to relieve people’s stress as they navigate the justice systemGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastWhen Lucy enters a court-room at the federal circuit and family court in Melbourne, she bows to the judge – as is customary. Only Lucy is no ordinary court attender. She is a five-year-old chocolate labrador deployed as a “court facility dog” as part of a pilot program to provide support for people in court .Lucy, who is Instagram-famous through her handle @...

Attacks on satellites could take out GPS systems, banking systems, power grids, and impact on military operations, panel at space conference saysIt would no longer be “life as we know it” if a space war destroyed the satellites that the world now relies on, space commanders have warned, and China and Russia have demonstrated that they’re capable of doing just that.Top brass from the US and Canada are in Sydney for an Australian Strategic Policy Institute conference on space as the new frontier in “commerce, industry, competition and war”. They have discussed the importance of working...

It’s supposed to be the first ever carbon neutral World Cup. Organisers Fifa and host Qatar say they have implemented sustainability initiatives, taken measures to limit carbon output and will offset greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing credits. Fifa has admitted, however, that the tournament’s carbon footprint will bigger than any of its predecessors, and experts believe emissions have been underestimated, calling into question the claim of carbon neutrality.Madeleine Finlay speaks to sports reporter Paul MacInnes about the environmental burden of building stadiums, flying in players and...

Civil Aviation Authority gives regulatory approval for Newquay site to send satellites into spaceThe prospect of a “historic” space mission being launched from the far south-west of Britain before Christmas has taken a giant leap forward after an operating licence was granted to Spaceport Cornwall.There had been growing concern at the time it was taking for the issuing of licences that will allow the first launch of satellites from UK soil, but on Wednesday morning the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced that the site in Newquay could be used for sending satellites into space. Continue...

Rocket blasts off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, on its way to send its Orion capsule on a 25-day crewless test flight around the moon and backWe are now four minutes into the flight.The Artemis 1 is travelling at more than 5,000 miles an hour. Continue reading...

The Vascones, an Iron Age tribe from whose language modern Basque is thought to descend, were previously viewed as largely illiterateMore than 2,000 years after it was probably hung from the door of a mud-brick house in northern Spain to bring luck, a flat, lifesize bronze hand engraved with dozens of strange symbols could help scholars trace the development of one of the world’s most mysterious languages.Although the piece – known as the Hand of Irulegi – was discovered last year by archaeologists from the Aranzadi Science Society who have been digging near the city of Pamplona since...

Countries are promising new funds to help protect 30% of the planet for nature but will it secure a deal?

US researchers have overcome a major barrier to achieving low-carbon nuclear fusion.

Industry watchdog Ofwat, said that despite some improvements it remains deeply concerned.

Genetic material extracted from soil has revealed the ancient plants and animals of North Greenland.

About 600,000 birds have been culled or have died in the UK's worst avian flu outbreak.

Scientists are searching through a museum's wheat collection to find the crop of the future.

A British man is one of 17 new recruits to Europe's space agency's astronaut training programme

The American space agency is trying once again to get its giant new Moon rocket off Earth.

Changes to our planet's shine is just one of the stranger side effects of rising temperatures.