Six great reads: rebels in Nazi Germany, how creativity works and Europe’s biggest pornography conference
Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the past seven days Continue reading…
Science
Britain is ‘a terrible place’ to sell medicines, says drug firm executive
Sanofi’s market access chief urges ministers to come up with a roadmap to raise spending on new treatmentsBusiness live – latest updatesNils Pratley: UK must heed Bell’s big pharma warningA senior pharmaceuticals executive has called on the government …
Fiji ant study provides new evidence of insects’ decline on remote islands
DNA analysis of endemic specimens in museums finds 79% of ant populations in Pacific archipelago are shrinkingIsland-dwelling insects have not been spared the ravages of humanity that have pushed so many of their invertebrate kin into freefall around t…
Big pharma will stop investing in UK, warns eminent scientist Sir John Bell
Warning follows news of US drugmaker Merck’s decision to scrap planned £1bn London research centreSir John Bell, a prominent scientist who brought business and government together during the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, has warned that other big pharmaceu…
‘The chaos is the point’: tumult as Covid vaccine boosters deployed under RFK Jr
People attempting to obtain vaccine report major hurdles amid new limitations brought in by Trump health secretaryThe first deployment of updated Covid shots under the Trump administration has been plagued by access issues and misinformation amid confu…
Interstellar overhype: Nasa debunks claim about alien-made comet
Nasa dismisses theory by Harvard astronomer who suggested an object from beyond the solar system could be a relic from a distant civilization Skywatchers at Nasa have discounted a Harvard astronomer’s hypothesis that a rare interstellar object hurtling…
Weatherwatch: Forecasting’s astrological origins
Weather forecasting was still banned under the 1735 Witchcraft Act when the Met Office was founded in 1854Forecasting the weather used to be less scientific and more magical, to the point that practitioners could be accused of witchcraft.The mathematic…
US drugmaker Merck scraps £1bn London research centre and cuts 125 science jobs
New blow to UK’s key life science sector as industry body says country is losing ground on investment and researchThe US drugmaker Merck has scrapped a £1bn London research centre and is laying off 125 scientists in the capital this year, in a big blow…
People gathered for great meat feasts at end of British bronze age, study shows
Evidence of millions of animal bones at sites in West Country and Surrey points to ‘age of feasting’These days, revellers converge on the West Country from all parts of the UK and beyond to take part in the wonderful craziness of the Glastonbury festiv…
Doctors trial £100 blood test that could transform how NHS detects Alzheimer’s
More than 1,000 patients to take part in trial to see if the approach leads to faster and more reliable diagnosesDoctors have launched a clinical trial of a £100 blood test for Alzheimer’s disease in the hope of transforming diagnosis of the devastatin…