Science Weekly

Sauna and cold plunge: where does the evidence stand?

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Saunas and cold plunge pools are popping up everywhere in the UK, bringing fiery heat and icy cold to a beach, city farm or park near you. Their users...

Does going to the moon still matter?

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

If all goes to plan, Artemis II, Nasa’s mission to return humans to the moon, will launch this week. The mission will mark the farthest that humans ...

Transporting the most expensive and volatile substance on Earth

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A box the size of a filing cabinet was lifted by crane, slowly moved and placed very carefully in the back of an unassuming lorry earlier this week. W...

What sets human consciousness apart in the age of AI?

24 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Why is it like something to be ourselves and how do physical processes create our subjective experience? These questions get to the heart of the knott...

Off Duty: The Crime

21 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On the evening of 29 December 2011, police officer Clifton Lewis was moonlighting as a security guard at a Chicago minimart when two men walked in. Th...

Meningitis explained: who is most at risk?

18 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Over the weekend, news emerged of an outbreak of meningitis among university and school students in Kent in south-east England. The outbreak has kille...

What’s behind the injectable peptide craze?

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Grey-market injectable peptides – a category of substances with obscure, alphanumeric names such as BPC-157, GHK-Cu, or TB-500 – have developed a ...

Exercise and brain function, hedgehog hearing, and can AI change our minds? – podcast

12 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample, talks to Madeleine Finlay about three eye-catching science stories from the week, including a study that ...

Was Iran really building a nuclear weapon?

10 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Among the many justifications Donald Trump has presented for the US and Israel attacking Iran has been the supposedly imminent threat posed by its nuc...

Will China own the green energy future?

05 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The conflict in the Middle East has sent energy prices soaring, and for countries that import a high proportion of their fuel, it’s a reminder of th...

Does Trump want to wage an AI-powered war?

03 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the past three months, Donald Trump’s White House has reportedly used AI twice to effect regime change – once in its capture of Venezuela’s p...

Can degrowth save the climate?

26 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Since the 1960s, global GDP has been rapidly rising and living standards have reached record highs. But something else has been rocketing up too – c...

The truth about fat, and its complex role in our health

24 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

For a long time fat was seen simply as an inert yellow substance wrapping around our bodies, but now that’s changing. Scientists are beginning to un...

Psychedelics for depression, dart frog poison and why do we have chins?

19 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Madeleine Finlay sits down with science editor Ian Sample and science correspondent Nicola Davis to discuss three eye-catching stories, including the ...

Should we really all be taking magnesium supplements?

17 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Testimonials about the beneficial health effects of magnesium supplements abound online, with influencers claiming that a daily pill can help with eve...

What bots talk about when they think humans aren’t listening

12 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In late January a new social media site took a certain corner of the internet by storm. Moltbook was conceived as a space where AI assistants could le...

Jeffrey Epstein and the scientists

10 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The release of the latest batch of documents relating to the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has shed further light on his close relationship ...

‘Everything is quagga mussel now’: can invasive species be stopped?

05 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On a recent trip to Lake Geneva in Switzerland, biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston witnessed the impact of one of the planet’s most potent invasive...

Why are women turning to testosterone?

03 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Just like men, women are increasingly being told by online influencers that the classic symptoms of middle age could be down to low testosterone. In t...

Are men being misled over testosterone?

29 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

If TikTok influencers are to be believed, testosterone, or T, is the answer to everything from fitness frustrations and fatigue to low libido. But doc...

Has the world entered an era of ‘water bankruptcy’?

27 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, a UN report declared that the world has entered an era of ‘global water bankruptcy’ with many human water systems past the point at whi...

How positivity affects health, the rise of scabies and bovine intelligence

22 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample, talks to Madeleine Finlay about three eye-catching science stories from the week, including a study that ...

Is your body really full of microplastics?

20 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Studies detecting microplastics throughout human bodies have made for alarming reading in recent years. But last week, the Guardian’s environment ed...

Unlocking the secrets of dreams and nightmares

15 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Ian Sample puts listeners’ questions on dreams and nightmares to Dr Michelle Carr, director of the Dream Engineering Laboratory in Montreal’s Cent...

How to sleep well in 2026

13 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Ian Sample puts listeners’ questions on sleep to Dr Allie Hare, consultant physician in respiratory and sleep medicine at Guy’s and St Thomas’ h...

Our science predictions for 2026

08 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Last year was full of unexpected science news, from the discovery of a new colour, to the interstellar visitor 3I/Atlas passing by our solar system, a...

Crude appeal: why Trump wants Venezuela’s oil

05 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The US capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on Saturday left many people wondering why? Donald Trump hinted at an answer when he cla...

Revisited: the real science of weight loss

01 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Kevin Hall spent 21 years at the US National Institutes of Health and became known globally for his pioneering work on ultra-processed foods. In April...

Revisited: do medicinal mushroom products actually work?

30 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

More of us are turning to products containing mushroom extracts, with the medicinal fungi market worth billions of pounds. Promises of mental and phys...

Revisited: is curiosity the key to ageing well?

25 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Psychologists have typically believed that we become less curious as we age, but recent research has shown curiosity actually becomes more targeted an...

Revisited: why do we age in dramatic bursts, and what can we do about it?

23 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists are beginning to understand that ageing is not simply a linear process and we age, according to recent research, in three accelerated burst...

Life beyond Earth? Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock on the mysteries of space

18 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock is a space scientist and science educator who has worked on a number of instruments that are revolutionising our view of the...

What’s worse for us, sugar or sweeteners?

16 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We all know eating too much sugar is bad for our health – but would we be better off replacing it with artificial sweetener? It’s a question Scien...

The Birth Keepers: I choose this, episode one

13 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Free Birth Society was selling pregnant women a simple message: they could exit the medical system and take back their power by free birthing. But...

Social media and ADHD diagnosis, new mpox strain in England and early firestarters

11 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample, sits down with co-host Madeleine Finlay to discuss three eye-catching stories from the week, including a ...

Rage room or yoga class? How to beat anger

09 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

At this time of year when stress levels are high, we can find ourselves being sent over the edge by frustrating post office queues, infuriating traffi...

The brain’s 5 eras, the vaccine that protects against dementia, altruistic ants

04 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Science editor Ian Sample sits down with co-host Madeleine Finlay and science correspondent Hannah Devlin to hear about three eye-catching stories fro...

Is AI making us stupid?

02 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Artificial intelligence can execute tasks in seconds that once took humans hours, if not days to complete. While this may be great for productivity, s...

Is it the beginning of the end for animal testing?

27 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Patrick Vallance, the minister for science, research and innovation, recently unveiled a plan to cut animal testing through greater use of AI and othe...

Bitter rows and overnight talks: how a fragile Cop30 deal was agreed

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After bitter arguments, threatened walkouts and heated all-night negotiations, delegates eventually reached a deal this weekend at the Cop30 climate s...

‘Chunks of earth just disappear’: life on a collapsing island

20 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As the Cop30 climate talks continue in Brazil, Madeleine Finlay hears about a landscape at the opposite end of the planet facing the direct impacts of...

Should the UK brace for a brutal flu season?

18 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This year’s flu season has begun more than a month earlier than usual, with a mutated strain spreading widely among younger people and expected to d...

Why everyone’s talking about 3I/Atlas, a lupus breakthrough, James Watson’s legacy

13 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ian Sample joins Madeleine Finlay to discuss some of the most intriguing science stories from the week. They discuss the complicated legacy of James W...

Never forget a face? You could be a super recogniser

11 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Do you have an uncanny recall for faces? Have you ever recognised the same extra in TV shows that are decades apart? If so you could be part of the sm...

Revisited: How to save the Amazon episode three: ask the people that know

07 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Global environment editor Jon Watts goes in search of answers to the question the journalist Dom Phillips was investigating when he was murdered: how ...

Revisited: How to save the Amazon episode two: the magic and mystery

06 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jon Watts, the Guardian’s global environment editor, goes in search of answers to the question the journalist Dom Phillips was investigating when he...

Revisited: How to save the Amazon episode one: the stakes

05 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Global environment editor Jon Watts goes in search of answers to the question the journalist Dom Phillips was investigating when he was murdered: how ...

‘We must change course’: a stark climate warning from the UN chief

04 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As global leaders and environmental activists descend on Brazil for next week’s Cop30 climate summit, Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian’s gl...

A Scottish tea mystery: a bag for life – episode three

30 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Science correspondent Nicola Davis investigates the strange story of Tam O’Braan and his attempts to grow tea in Scotland. In episode three, all of ...

A Scottish tea mystery: the list – episode two

29 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Science correspondent Nicola Davis investigates the strange story of Tam O’Braan and his attempts to grow tea in Scotland. In episode two, Nicola he...

A Scottish tea mystery: green shoots – episode one

28 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Science correspondent Nicola Davis investigates the strange story of Tam O’Braan and his attempts to grow tea in Scotland. In episode one, Nicola lo...

The ‘remarkable’ implant that can restore sight

23 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

An electronic eye implant half the thickness of a human hair has helped people with incurable sight loss to see again, opening up a potential ‘new e...

The seed bank storing the planet’s future

21 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As biodiversity declines, locating and conserving the planet’s plant life is becoming more important. The Millennium seed bank in Wakehurst, West Su...

Why is ‘chronic’ lyme disease so controversial?

16 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Celebrities including Bella Hadid, Justin Bieber and Miranda Hart have talked about their years-long struggles with the effects of Lyme disease, but d...

Traitor or faithful: how to spot a liar

14 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Traitors has returned to UK screens with its biggest viewing figures ever as 19 celebrities compete to be crowned the winner. The game depends on ...

All the news and science from the 2025 Nobel prizes

08 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This year’s Nobel prizes in chemistry, physics and physiology or medicine have celebrated work that paves the way for the next generation of quantum...

The real science of weight loss with the US’s leading nutritional scientist

07 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kevin Hall spent 21 years at the US National Institutes of Health and became known globally for his pioneering work on ultra-processed foods. In April...

Remembering primatologist Jane Goodall

02 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The renowned primatologist Jane Goodall has died aged 91. She will be remembered for her observations that revolutionised our understanding of chimpan...

Fraud, AI slop and huge profits: is science publishing broken?

02 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists are warning that academic publishing needs urgent reform in order to retain trust in the research system. Ian Sample tells Madeleine Finlay...

Does a bit of booze really make us better at languages?

30 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Ig Nobel prizes were awarded recently – for science that makes you laugh and then think – and the peace prize was given to a cheeky study test...

Fact-checking Trump’s autism announcement

24 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In a televised press conference on Monday, Donald Trump and health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr made a series of unproven claims about autism and its...

Is there hope on the horizon for patients with Alzheimer’s?

23 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A trial is under way to find out if a £100 blood test could transform the way that the NHS diagnoses Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is the lead...

Is the US on the brink of a new era of political violence?

18 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The murder of political activist Charlie Kirk has prompted fears about rising levels of political violence in the US after a number of high-profile as...

Putin’s quest for longevity

16 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

At a recent ceremony for world leaders in Beijing, a hot mic picked up a surprising exchange between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping about the possibili...

Shrinking states: a positive future with fewer people?

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The fertility rate in England and Wales has fallen for the third year in a row – a trend mirrored across the world, with two-thirds of the global po...

Shrinking states: are we on a path to depopulation?

09 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The fertility rate in England and Wales has fallen for the third year in a row. It is a story that is being repeated all over the world, with two thir...

Is curiosity the key to ageing well?

04 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Psychologists have traditionally believed we become less curious as we age, but recent research has shown that curiosity actually becomes more targete...

RFK Jr and the chaos at the CDC

02 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been a dramatic week at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In the space of seven days, the agency’s head was sacked and...

‘AI psychosis’: could chatbots fuel delusional thinking?

28 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There are increasing reports of people experiencing delusions after intensive use of AI chatbots. The phenomenon, dubbed ‘AI psychosis’, has raise...

A decade long mystery - why were billions of starfish turned to goo?

26 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For more than a decade, scientists have been puzzling over what was causing billions of starfish to dissolve into piles of white goo. Sea star wasting...

Can science crack the mystery of ME?

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists have found the first robust evidence that people’s genes affect their chances of developing myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue ...

Why can’t the world get its act together on plastics?

19 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After three years of negotiating, talks over a global plastics treaty came to an end in Geneva last week with no agreement in place. So why has it bee...

Staying cool in Europe’s record-breaking heat

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Europe is suffering from another heatwave as deadly temperatures of up to 44C hit the continent and wildfires blazed across the Mediterranean. To find...

Is sunscreen really toxic?

12 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For many of us, slathering on sunscreen to protect our skin in the summer months is a no-brainer. But recently social media has been awash with influe...

Summer picks: Where do our early childhood memories go?

07 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s a mystery that has long puzzled researchers. Freud called the phenomenon infantile amnesia, and for many years scientists have wondered whether...

Summer picks: what is ‘mirror life’ and why are scientists sounding the alarm?

05 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Recently, a group of world-leading scientists called for a halt on research to create ‘mirror life’ microbes amid concerns that the synthetic orga...

Summer picks: The science of racism, and how to fight it

31 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode from January 2025, Ian Sample speaks to Keon West, a professor of social psychology at the University of London, whose new book explor...

Summer picks: Where did our attention spans go, and can we get them back?

29 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2024, the Oxford English Dictionary announced its word of the year was ‘brain rot’. The term relates to the supposedly negative effects of cons...

Why do we age in dramatic bursts, and what can we do about it?

24 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists are beginning to understand that ageing is not a simply linear process. Instead, recent research appears to show that we age in three accel...

The babies born with DNA from three parents

22 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Doctors in the UK have announced the birth of eight healthy babies after performing a groundbreaking procedure that creates IVF embryos with DNA from ...

Two black holes collide, lab-grown organs, world’s first climate visa

17 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Madeleine Finlay is joined by Ian Sample to discuss three intriguing science and environment stories. From a breakthrough in the quest to create organ...

Why are parents using melatonin to help their kids sleep?

15 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Guardian feature writer Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett recently wrote about the growing cohort of parents whose children are on the waiting list for an autism...

Texas floods and forecasting cuts: a sign of things to come?

09 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the days since the deadly floods in the Texas Hill Country, speculation has grown about whether cuts to US weather agencies may have contributed to...

What are microplastics doing to our health?

08 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The actor Orlando Bloom recently posted a photo of himself undergoing a £10,000 procedure at a London clinic that claims to remove microplastics, for...

Why British women are freezing their eggs abroad

03 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The number of women choosing to freeze their eggs has increased sharply, according to figures from the UK’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Autho...

What does it take to make a nuclear weapon?

01 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In an interview last weekend, Iran’s ambassador to the UN said his country’s nuclear enrichment ‘will never stop’ because it is permitted for ...

‘Huge advances in cancer and rare diseases’: 25 years of the human genome

26 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It has been 25 years since Bill Clinton announced one of humanity’s most important scientific achievements: the first draft of the human genome. At ...

Can a revolutionary new telescope solve the mystery of planet nine?

24 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ever since Pluto was demoted from planet to dwarf planet in 2006, astronomers have been wondering whether Neptune really is the most distant planet fr...

Do medicinal mushroom products actually work?

19 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

More of us are turning to products containing mushroom extracts, with the medicinal fungi market now worth billions of pounds. Promises of benefits to...

Does the UK need nuclear to reach net zero?

17 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has promised £14bn of investment to build the Sizewell C nuclear power plant, kicking off what the energy secretary, E...

How to Save the Amazon part three: ask the people that know – podcast

12 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As a companion to the Guardian’s Missing in the Amazon podcast, global environment editor Jon Watts goes in search of answers to the question Dom Ph...

How to save the Amazon part two: the magic and mystery

11 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As a companion to the Guardian’s Missing in the Amazon, Jon Watts, global environment editor, goes in search of answers to the question Dom Phillips...

How to save the Amazon part one: the stakes

10 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As a companion to the Guardian’s Missing in the Amazon, the global environment editor Jon Watts goes in search of answers to the question Dom Philli...

Missing in the Amazon: the disappearance – episode 1

06 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The British journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian indigenous defender Bruno Pereira vanished three years ago while on a reporting trip near Brazil...

Into the photic zone: does a darkening ocean threaten marine life?

05 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Vast areas of the ocean are getting darker, according to research based on satellite imaging. Marine ecosystems are governed by faint light changes –...

The incredible world of animal medicine

03 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ian Sample meets Jaap de Roode, professor of biology at Emory University in Atlanta, and author of the book Doctors by Nature: How Ants, Apes and Othe...

Your microbiome questions answered: part two

29 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ian Sample is joined by Dr James Kinross, colorectal surgeon and author of the book Dark Matter: The New Science of the Microbiome, to answer all your...

Your microbiome questions answered: part one

27 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ian Sample is joined by James Kinross, colorectal surgeon and author of the book Dark Matter: The New Science of the Microbiome, to answer all your qu...

The extraordinary promise of gene editing

22 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Doctors in the US have become the first to treat a baby with a customised gene-editing therapy after diagnosing the child with a severe genetic disord...

The latest twist in a Canadian medical mystery

20 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In March 2021, the Toronto-based reporter Leyland Cecco heard about a memo sent by New Brunswick health officials that warned about a possible unknown...