Researchers say ‘relatively simple, inexpensive’ means of assessing genetic risk offers hope of better screening

An at-home spit test appears to perform better at predicting prostate cancer risk than the current frontline test, a study suggests.

The test assesses 130 genetic variants to provide a risk score for prostate cancer, which is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in men in the UK.

The 3D map of a cubic millimetre of mouse brain reveals half a billion synapses and 5.4km of neuronal wiring

The most comprehensive circuit diagram of neurons in a mammalian brain has been created by scientists, providing groundbreaking insights into the mystery of how the brain works.

The map is of a speck of a mouse’s visual cortex, smaller than a grain of sand, and traces the structure of 84,000 neurons linked by half a billion synapses and approximately 5.4km of neuronal wiring. The 3D reconstruction of the cubic millimetre of brain is helping uncover how the brain is organised and how different cell types work together, and could have implications for the understanding of intelligence, consciousness and neuronal conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, autism and schizophrenia.

Billionaire Jared Isaacman has funded his own journeys into space and insists he would not abandon moon missions

The next Nasa leader will prioritize sending American astronauts to Mars if he is confirmed, a Senate panel heard on Wednesday.

But the billionaire Jared Isaacman, an entrepreneur who has privately funded his own journeys into space, insisted he would not abandon current plans to land humans back on the moon in 2027, despite placing greater emphasis on missions to the red planet.

Blue Skies Space – commissioned by Italian Space Agency – hopes faint signals from dawn of universe could be detected from far side of moon

A British space company is designing a fleet of satellites that could orbit the moon and map the early universe.

The Italian Space Agency has commissioned Blue Skies Space to design the satellites that could detect faint radio signals from the dawn of the universe. These signals are almost impossible to detect from Earth’s surface due to human-made radio interference, but the far side of the moon is shielded from this noise.

Researchers suggest troponin tests could help detect ‘silent’ harm and predict the risk of future cardiovascular events

Thousands of heart attacks and strokes could be prevented with the aid of a simple £5 blood test, research suggests.

Checking levels of troponin in patients could enable doctors to predict their risk of cardiovascular events with much greater accuracy, according to a study funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Alessandro Coatti described by former colleagues at Royal Society of Biology as ‘passionate and dedicated’

Tributes have been paid to a “passionate and dedicated� scientist after parts of his dismembered body were found in a suitcase in Colombia.

Alessandro Coatti, who worked at the Royal Society of Biology (RSB) in London, was discovered on the outskirts of Santa Marta, a port city on the Caribbean coast. The 42-year-old molecular biologist was travelling and conducting research in South America after working in London for eight years.

Fossil found off Taiwan coast adds to picture of enigmatic human species having a prominent jaw with huge teeth

An ancient jawbone dredged from the Taiwanese seabed has revealed new insights into the appearance and sweeping geographic range of an enigmatic human species called the Denisovans.

The fossil was discovered by fishers trawling the Penghu Channel off Taiwan and is thought to be the most complete fossil that has been genetically identified as Denisovan. The male individual, who lived at least 10,000 years ago, had a strong jaw and very large, powerful molars.

Exclusive: Racial disparities highlighted as researchers estimate 10 million women have conditions such as fibroids or endometriosis

More than a quarter of women in England are living with a serious reproductive health issue, according to the largest survey of its kind, and experts say “systemic, operational, structural and cultural issues� prevent women from accessing care.

The survey of 60,000 women across England in 2023, funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and analysed by academics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, found that 28% of respondents were living with a reproductive morbidity, such as pelvic organ prolapse, uterine fibroids, endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, or cervical, uterine, ovarian or breast cancer.

Nasa cuts contract that convened USGCRP, which released assessments impacting environmental decision-making

The White House is ending funding for the body that produces the federal government’s pre-eminent climate report, which summarizes the impacts of rising global temperatures on the United States.

Every four years, the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is required by Congress to release a new national climate assessment to ensure leaders understand the drivers of – and threats posed by – global warming. It is the most comprehensive, far-reaching and up-to-date analysis of the climate crisis, playing a key role in local and national decision making about agriculture, energy production, and land and water use.

As fears of a global recession continue in the wake of Donald Trump’s tariffs, Keir Starmer insists the UK should keep a cool head. But with markets in turmoil and a looming economic crisis, does the prime minister need to be bolder? John Harris asks the Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff.

Plus, he speaks to Daisy Cooper, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, about whether people should ‘buy British’ to combat the tariffs.

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Listen to John discuss how music helped him connect with his autistic son on the Today in Focus podcast here: https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2025/apr/04/how-the-beatles-helped-my-autistic-son-find-his-voice-podcast

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US political scientists’ book argues aggressive Covid policies such as mask mandates were in some cases misguided

Were conservatives right to question Covid lockdowns? Were the liberals who defended them less grounded in science than they believed? And did liberal dismissiveness of the other side come at a cost that Americans will continue to pay for many years?

A new book by two political scientists argues yes to all three questions, making the case that the aggressive policies that the US and other countries adopted to fight Covid – including school shutdowns, business closures, mask mandates and social distancing – were in some cases misguided and in many cases deserved more rigorous public debate.

As LRIs put pressure on health services, a Spanish-led study examines what role exposure to air pollution may play

The Covid crisis highlighted gaps in our understanding of the role that air pollution plays in infections.

A flurry of studies carried out during and after the crisis allowed a UK government advisory group to conclude that long-term exposure to air pollution may contribute to worse coronavirus symptoms. Later evidence included a study of more than 3 million people in Denmark that showed air pollution added to the risk of death or hospital admission with severe Covid, especially in the least well off.

Dr Peter Marks was seen as a guardrail against any future politicisation of the FDA’s approval of life-saving vaccines

A senior health official in the US, who was seen as a guardrail against any future politicisation of the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of life-saving vaccines, has resigned abruptly, citing the health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s “misinformation and lies�.

Dr Peter Marks served as the FDA’s top vaccine official. He had been lauded by Donald Trump during the US president’s first term for his role in Operation Warp Speed, the initiative that developed, manufactured and helped distribute the Covid-19 vaccines.

UK Health Security Agency’s tool highlights viruses and bacteria, many not yet seen in the country, that could pose biosecurity risk

Deadly disease-causing organisms from pathogen families that include bird flu, plague and Ebola pose a threat to health in the UK and should be prioritised for research, government experts have said.

The first tool of its kind from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) lists 24 types of viruses and bacteria where a lack of vaccines, tests and treatment, changes due to the climate crisis or growing drug resistance pose a biosecurity risk.

The pups are cute – and great for PR – but they’re modified grey wolves. The real work is being done with their red cousins

I’ve been waiting for this. Ever since researchers almost brought a wild goat species back from extinction in 2003, it was only a matter of time until someone came forward and said they had successfully “de-extincted� a species. Now, it has happened.

This week, American biotech company Colossal Biosciences announced it had resurrected the dire wolf, an animal that went extinct at the end of the last ice age. Colossal released a video that invited viewers to “experience the first dire wolf howls heard in over 10,000 years�.

Helen Pilcher is a science writer and the author of Bring Back the King: The New Science of De-Extinction and Life Changing: How Humans are Altering Life on Earth

If we stay on this administration’s course, future life-saving medicines may never be invented

Like many scientists, I came to the US as a young adult, driven by idealism and ambition. I arrived with all my belongings contained in two suitcases, and just enough cash to cover the first month’s rent on a small apartment. But I also had something of greater value: an offer to work and train in one of America’s top biomedical research laboratories, a chance to participate in the revolution that is modern biological science.

In the years that followed, I became an American scientist and raised an American family. Now, I lead a laboratory in one of the US’s great universities. I am a member of America’s National Academy of Sciences. From a scientist’s perspective, I have lived the American dream.

Paul Darren Bieniasz is a British-American virologist whose main area of research is HIV/Aids. He is currently a professor of retrovirology at the Rockefeller University

The bankruptcy of genealogy company 23andMe has resulted in a fire sale of millions of people’s genetic information – and there’s no shortage of eager buyers with questionable motives

Ever thought of having your genome sequenced? Me neither. But it seems that at least 15 million souls have gone in for it and are delighted to know that they have Viking ancestry, or discombobulated to find that they have siblings of whom they were hitherto unaware. The corporate vehicle that enabled these revelations is called 23andMe, which describes itself as a “genetics-led consumer healthcare and biotechnology company empowering a healthier future�.

Back in the day, 23andMe was one of those vaunted “unicorns� (privately held startups valued at more than $1bn), but is now facing harder times. Its share price had fallen precipitately following a data breach in October 2023 that harvested the profile and ethnicity data of 6.9 million users – including name, profile photo, birth year, location, family surnames, grandparents’ birthplaces, ethnicity estimates and mitochondrial DNA – and there have been internal disagreements between its board and the CEO and co-founder, Anne Wojcicki. So on 24 March it filed for so-called Chapter 11 proceedings in a US bankruptcy court in Missouri.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

We’re moving toward a society where genetic information is a part of everyday life – and we don’t want it in the wrong hands

With a heavy heart, I clicked on my 23andMe account on a recent morning, confirming that I wanted to delete my data. The genetic testing company filed for bankruptcy late last month and the California attorney general and others have recommended that users delete their data lest it be acquired by less scrupulous companies as the company is stripped for parts during bankruptcy proceedings.

I was one of the company’s earliest customers and had used their service to genotype not just myself but my entire extended family. I even got my kids’ babysitter a kit.

Dalton Conley is Henry Putnam university professor of sociology at Princeton University and author of The Social Genome: The New Science of Nature and Nurture

Switzerland is leading the world in purifying its water of micropollutants, a concoction of chemicals often found in bodies of water that look crystal clear. They include common medicines like antidepressants and antihistamines, but have unknown and potentially damaging consequences for human and ecosystem health.
In the second of a two-part series, Phoebe Weston travels to Geneva to find out how the country has transformed its rivers from sewage-filled health hazards to pristine swimming spots. She tells Madeleine Finlay how a public health disaster in the 1960s spurred the government to act, and what the UK could learn from the Swiss about taking care of a precious national asset.

From sewage and scum to swimming in ‘blue gold’: how Switzerland transformed its rivers

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The UK is known for its national parks: areas of outstanding natural beauty with rolling hills and crystal-clear streams and lakes. But research has shown that England’s most protected rivers are full of pharmaceuticals.

In episode one of a two-part series, biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston tells Madeleine Finlay about the problem of chemical pollution in our waterways, and how it could be contributing to what the World Health Organization has described as ‘the silent pandemic’ – antimicrobial resistance.

‘Rivers you think are pristine are not’: how drug pollution flooded the UK’s waterways – and put human health at risk

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Invertebrates don’t get the attention lavished on cute pets or apex predators, but these unsung heroes are some of the most impressive and resilient creatures on the planet. So when the Guardian opened its poll to find the world’s finest invertebrate, readers got in touch in their droves. A dazzling array of nominations have flown in for insects, arachnids, snails, crustaceans, corals and many more obscure creatures. Patrick Barkham tells Madeleine Finlay why these tiny creatures deserve more recognition, and three readers, Sandy, Nina and Russell, make the case for their favourites.

Invertebrate of the year 2025: vote for your favourite

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Meteorite falls are extremely rare and offer a glimpse of the processes that formed our world billions of years ago. When a space rock came to an English market town in 2021, scientists raced to find as much out as they could

By Helen Gordon. Read by Sasha Frost

Prof David Liu is among the winners of 2025’s ‘Oscars of science’, with honours also going to researchers for landmark work on multiple sclerosis, particle physics and ‘skinny jabs’

For the past five years, David Liu – a professor at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a biomedical research facility in Massachusetts – has marked Thanksgiving by handing over his entire annual salary, after taking care of taxes, to the staff and students in his laboratory.

It started as the pandemic broke and Liu heard that students who wanted to cycle instead of taking public transport could not afford bicycles. Given how hard they worked and how little they were paid, Liu stepped in. He couldn’t unilaterally raise their incomes, so emailed them Amazon eGift cards. This ran into problems too, however. “Everyone thought they were being scammed,� he recalls. And so he switched to writing cheques.

Have you spotted the comet? Share your pictures and tell us about your sightings

A new, bright green comet, officially designated Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN), has been discovered by an amateur astronomer. It was spotted by Michael Mattiazo using imagery from SWAN, an instrument on the European Space Agency’s SOHO spacecraft, in late March. It is now visible from the UK and elsewhere and will remain so until around 14 April.

Have you spotted the comet? You can share photos and tell us about your sightings below.

A new progressivism embracing construction over obstruction must find new allegories for technology and the future

Black Mirror is more than science fiction – its stories about modernity have become akin to science folklore, shaping our collective view of technology and the future.

Each new innovation gets an allegory: smartphones as tools for a new age caste system, robot dogs as overzealous human hunters, drones as a murderous swarm, artificial intelligence as new age necromancy, virtual reality and brain chips as seizure-inducing nightmares, to name a few. Episodes most often channel our collective anxieties about the future – or foment new ones through masterly writing, directing, casting and acting. It is a must-watch, but must we take it so seriously?

Considering everyone is a protagonist in their own narrative brought clarity for Will Storr

For nearly 20 years, I’ve been researching and writing about the human brain as a storyteller. My work has unalterably changed the way I see the human world in general, and myself in particular. It has helped me understand everything from political hatred and religions to cults to the nature of identity and suicidal thought. It has even made sense of my own lifelong struggle with making friends.

Our evolution into Homo narrans, the storytelling animal, is the secret of our success. Like other animals, humans exist in a realm of survival in which we seek sustenance, safety and procreation. But, uniquely, we also live in a second realm, a story world that’s made out of the collective imagination. The human brain has evolved to remix reality and turn it into a narrative. We are made to feel like the underdog heroes of our own lives, surrounded by allies and enemies, pursuing meaningful goals and striving towards imagined happy endings. We have a voice in our head that authors a constantly unfolding autobiography of who we are and what we’re doing. We experience, and remember, the events of our lives in three-act episodes of crisis, struggle, resolution. We think in stories, we talk in stories, we believe in stories, we are stories.

The answer to today’s puzzle

Earlier today I set you the following problem featuring Albert, Bernard and Cheryl, the protagonists in a viral puzzle from a decade ago. Here it is again with the solution.

Cheryl’s house number problem

Albert, Bernard and Cheryl return

Ten years ago I published a maths olympiad question from Singapore on the Guardian website, and it changed my life.

‘Cheryl’s birthday problem’ went viral. Its unexpected success led to the birth of this column in May 2015. And here we are, almost 250 puzzles later.

May 15, May 16, May 19

June 17, June 18

July 14, July 16

August 14, August 15, August 17

The answers to today’s triangular teasers

Earlier today I set you these mind-mangling puzzles about non-Euclidean geometry, in which the internal angles of triangles do not add up to 180 degrees.

1. Right, Right, Right.

A trio of triangle teasers

The ancient Greek geometer Euclid presented a list of five axioms he held to be self-evidently true. They are (or are equivalent to):

You can draw a line between any two points.

You can extend lines indefinitely.

You can draw a circle at any point with any radius.

All right angles are equal.

All triangles have internal angles that add up to 180 degrees.

In his first news conference since returning home, Nasa astronaut Butch Wilmore said he holds himself partly responsible for what went wrong on the space sprint-turned-marathon and – along with Suni Williams – said he would strap into Boeing's Starliner again. SpaceX recently ferried the duo home after more than nine months at the International Space Station following their bungled mission. The astronauts ended up spending 286 days in space — 278 days more than planned when they blasted off on Boeing’s first astronaut flight on June 5

• ‘We weren’t stuck’: Nasa astronauts tell of space odyssey and reject claims of neglect

An uncrewed test rocket intended to kickstart satellite launches from Europe fell to the ground and exploded less than a minute after takeoff from the Andøya spaceport in Norway. The German startup Isar Aerospace, which had warned the launch could end prematurely, said the test produced extensive data that its team could learn from

• First orbital rocket launched from Europe crashes after takeoff

The moon partly obscured the sun during an phenomenon that could be seen across the northern hemisphere