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"Mysterious Roman dodecahedron to go on display in London."

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Russ Roberts (https://hawaiisciencejournal.blogspot.com).

 

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Mysterious Roman dodecahedron to go on display in Lincoln

100+by Jessica Murray Midlands correspondent / 3h

There are no known descriptions or drawings of object in Roman literature, making its purpose unclear They are known as one of archaeology’s great enigmas – hollow 12-sided objects from the Roman era with no known purpose or use. Only 33 of these mysterious dodecahedrons have ever been found in Britain and now one, unearthed during an amateur archaeology dig after 1,700 years underground, is goin

‘We live in a golden time of exploration’: astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger on the hunt for signs of extraterrestrial life

100+by Emma Beddington / 1d

Austrian astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger has spent her life hunting for signs of life in the universe. Here she talks about aliens, space exploration and why studying cosmology is like eating pizza Staring into the abyss… Am I really reaching anyone out there?” Lisa Kaltenegger is laughing about the unsatisfactory experience of teaching astrophysics over Zoom during Covid lockdowns, but she could be

Like father, like son? The complex factors that shape a parent’s influence on their child

100+by Andrew Anthony / 1d

Scientific studies cannot agree on the relative importance of genes and environment on how we turn out as adults The eternal mystery of how much we are shaped by our parents – or how much we shape our children – was stirred again last week with the publication of a study that suggests that we are less like our parents than we had previously thought. Led by René Mõttus of Edinburgh University’s de

YESTERDAY

Starwatch: getting to know the Great Bear

by Stuart Clark / 5h

Ursa Major covers a little more than 3% of the entire night sky, making it the third largest constellation by area The seven brightest stars in Ursa Major, the Great Bear, form the shape known as the Plough, or the Big Dipper, or by a number of other names in different cultures. The association with a bear dates to antiquity, when it was listed in Ptolemy’s original 48 constellations from the sec

‘Unlike anything today’: Gippsland fossil unlocks secrets of kangaroo that died out 46,000 years ago

by Sharlotte Thou / 5h

Abrupt extinction of short-faced kangaroo a reminder to protect the environment, palaeontologists say Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates When a caver and Gippsland local, Joshua Van Dyk, stumbled across the fossilised remains of a kangaroo species that had been extinct for about 46,000 years, it seemed as though the macropod was making eye contact with him. “It had fallen behi

Can you solve it? Tiler swift

by Alex Bellos / 7h

The tortured puzzlers department Apologies to any Antipodean Swifties arriving on this page. Today’s puzzle is about tiles, and whether or not you can solve it swiftly. The puzzle concerns black and white tiles on a 4x4 grid. Consider the image below, which highlights adjacent rows in the grid. Continue reading...

The new science of death: ‘There’s something happening in the brain that makes no sense’ – podcast

by Written by Alex Blasdel and read by Parker Sawyers. Produced by Nicola Alexandrou. The executive producer was Ellie Bury / 9h

New research into the dying brain suggests the line between life and death may be less distinct than previously thought. By Alex Blasdel Continue reading...

MMR jab uptake among young people in England up by 23% since 2023, says NHS

by Anna Bawden Health and social affairs correspondent / 22h

Exclusive: Vaccinations rise amid national campaign, but reported measles cases have increased by 40% since March The number of young people receiving their MMR jab is up nearly a quarter from last year, official figures show. A national campaign to boost uptake was launched in January amid concern over measles rates in England, when the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) declared a national incid

What have I learned from 20 years of parenting? Never to underestimate how wrong I can be | Emma Beddington

23by Emma Beddington / 1d

We often have as much in common with strangers as our relatives, according to studies – so why do we still love to say our children are like us? How alike are parents and kids ? Quite, right? Surely we all play that game. I, for example, am competitive like my dad (but without a shred of his energy); my sister got my mother’s compassion and I got her lust for crispy potato products and staying in

That yearning feeling: why we need nostalgia

21by Agnes Arnold-Forster / 1d

Often misused by politicians, nostalgia is a positive emotion that could do with a makeover I have always been prone to homesickness. As a child, I didn’t really enjoy holidays, I dreaded going away on school trips and I hated sleepovers. At the beginning of 2021, when I first started thinking about the history of nostalgia, and in the midst of the pandemic, I moved across the Atlantic from Londo

APR 27, 2024

I’ve lost contact with my brother. Is it too late to reach out? | Ask Philippa

by Philippa Perry / 1d

We can get into the habit of thinking about our sibling with judgment and criticism The question Since our mother’s death, my brother and I have had no contact . He lives more than 100 miles away. Our relationship has been very difficult for over 40 years. When we both had young children, things were better for a time. When our dad died, Mum’s health deteriorated and she moved in with me and died

We must learn the lessons of Covid before another deadly disease strikes | Letters

by Guardian Staff / 1d

Why has so little been done to make indoor spaces safer, to stop the spread of airborne viruses? Robin McKie’s article rings alarm bells for global health and our failure to control airborne pathogens (“ What virus will cause the next pandemic? It’s flu, say scientists ”). We are rightly looking with concern at the spread of H5N1 and the risk it poses to humans, but we have still not applied the

‘Plasma was called liquid gold’: the true story of the UK infected blood scandal

68by Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Robin McKie / 1d

Documents examined by inquiry show officials knew people were being given infected blood products, but sanctioned their use • Read more: government was warned of infected blood risks in 1970s ; plus: ‘My mum gave the injections that killed my brothers’ On a former slave owner’s cotton plantation in Arkansas, the sprawling Cummins state farm prison covers 6,700 hectares (16,500 acres) and can hous

‘Is it aliens?’: how a mysterious star could help the search for extraterrestrial life

100+by Robin McKie Science Editor / 2d

Scientists hope studies into Boyajian’s star could lead to enhanced techniques for identifying distant planetary civilisations It is our galaxy’s strangest star, a flickering globe of light whose sporadic and unpredictable