2 h. ago Scientists have birthed a ‘super cannibal’ that never grows up. Could it be key to combating Australia’s cane toad menace?

There’s quiet optimism that gene-edited ‘Peter Pan’ tadpoles could help control one of the world’s worst invasive speciesThe toad’s eyes seemed to glow red, its warty and poison-soaked skin – normally splodged in browns – instead a porridge of creamy whites. This albino toad was produced by a team of scientists with one foot in a Sydney university laboratory and the other in a research station on the vast tropical savannahs and wetlands far away to the north near Humpty Doo.It was September 2023 and for the man who dreamed it into being, the toad was but an opening act in a radical new play against one of the world’s worst invasive species.Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading...

Politics

9 h. ago ‘Now we have options’: the scientists trying to cure our allergies

This week’s oral immunotherapy breakthrough is part of wider surge of interest in developing treatmentsA severe food allergy is among the few conditions that can propel a person from robust health to unconsciousness within minutes, and the risk of accidental exposure often casts a shadow of anxiety over those affected.But change is afoot, with a groundbreaking trial this week showing that two-thirds of adults with severe peanut allergies can be desensitised through clinically supervised daily exposure. The approach – oral immunotherapy – is already successfully used in children and is among a wave of treatments on the horizon aimed at reducing the burden of allergies – and potentially curing them. Continue reading...

Politics

15 h. ago Eubank Jr v Benn feels like a mistake – bad TV pretending to be good sport | Barney Ronay

Without their fathers’ surnames there is zero chance the mixmatched catchweight contest would take placeBack in his pomp as an era-defining, generational dog-torturer, the great Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov did an interesting experiment with shapes. This involved showing a dog called Vampire a combination of circles and ovals. Circles meant he was about to be fed. Ovals meant no food and possibly, maybe, at a push, being electrocuted.Before long Vampire was showing the familiar conditioned response, salivating when he saw a circle, shying away from the oval. At which point Pavlov began to show him shapes that were weirdly pitched between the two, not quite an oval, not quite a circle, half a food promise, half something else, until eventually Vampire snapped, yelping and running around in circles, unable to interpret the truth of the thing in front of him. So, top work there everyone. Another dog successfully confused. Continue reading...

Politics

15 h. ago Valerie the sausage dog finally captured after 529 days in the wild

Valerie went missing in November 2023 while holidaying with her owners, who have been stunned by her survival in the wild

Politics

16 h. ago ‘Worked perfectly’: how wildlife team finally caught Valerie the dachshund after 529 days on the lam

Kangala Wildlife Rescue revealed the strategies and remote-controlled trap that secured the capture of tiny 4kg sausage dogValerie the dachshund safe and well after 529 days on the run on South Australian islandGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastExhausted and relieved, the Kangala Wildlife Rescue team have revealed precisely how they finally caught Valerie the dachshund, after 529 days on the run in Kangaroo Island, South Australia.The Kangala directors, Jared and Lisa Karran, were excited to share the news that Valerie had been secured, but they were also extremely careful not to let the small dog escape from a specially designed cage. Continue reading...

Events

16 h. ago Who’s a clever boy: the average dog has a mental age of about two. But what are they really thinking?

They can learn hundreds of words, count to five and read humans like a book, so why do we struggle to understand them? Scientists reveal the truth about our pets – and whether they ever feel guilty for eating our slippersThe thing that made me think my dog may be a genius was the word monkey. We’d developed a game where I’d hide her monkey toy – a sad, lifeless being, long lobotomised by my golden retriever puppy – and, when I asked her to find it, I realised she could differentiate the word monkey from other objects. A woman in the park had a similar story. On holiday in an unfamiliar cottage, she had misplaced the car keys. After hunting for them for over an hour, her dog, a border collie, overheard her and her husband talking about it, recognised the word “keys” and immediately went and found them.So maybe my dog, Rhubarb, isn’t a genius after all. Dogs, says Vanessa Woods, director of the Puppy Kindergarten project at Duke University in North Carolina, US, and writer of sev...

Politics

17 h. ago Harvard researcher held in Louisiana awaits judge's decision on deportation to Russia

Russian-born scientist Kseniia Petrova has been detained by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement since February when she failed to declare frog embryo samples at Boston's Logan Airport

Events

19 h. ago ‘You saw he was listening to you’: people Pope Francis met in their hour of need

The late pontiff embraced those traditionally on the margins of the church and society. Here, some of those he met describe his impactPope Francis announced his pastoral intentions from the very beginning of his papacy, saying he preferred a church that was “bruised, hurting and dirty” from being on the streets to one that was cautious and complacent. Although he never strayed from doctrine – to the annoyance of many optimistic liberals – his 12 years as pope were marked by a deliberate embrace of those historically on the margins of the church and society. He wanted a church, he said, for “todos, todos, todos” – which translates into: “Everyone, everyone, everyone.”Here, some of those who met him recall what his pontificate meant to them. Continue reading...

Politics

22 h. ago ‘People can’t imagine something on that scale dying’: Anohni on mourning the Great Barrier Reef

The Anohni and the Johnsons singer is collaborating with marine scientists for two special shows at Sydney’s Vivid festival that will show the reef’s plight Anohni Hegarty is about to go to the Great Barrier Reef for the first time. “I feel like I’m going to Auschwitz,” she says nervously. “On the one hand, I’m so excited to go because the landscape is so beautiful, and I know there’s going to be so much that’s gorgeous. And yet, I’m also scared.”In a week, the British-born, New York-based avant garde singer of Anohni and the Johnsons is flying to Lizard Island, a paradise of powdery sands on the reef, 1,600km north-west of Brisbane. Its luxury villas and bluest of blue waters are a stark contrast to the grim nature of Anohni’s assignment: documenting the current state of the world’s biggest coral reef. Continue reading...

Events

23 h. ago Valerie the dachshund is found safe and well after 529 days on the run on South Australian island

Rescuers on Kangaroo Island say they are ‘overjoyed’ after the dog walked into one of their trapsElection 2025 live updates: Australia federal election campaignGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastAfter 529 days on the run, Australia’s favourite fugitive has been caught at last.Valerie the miniature dachshund, who went missing on Kangaroo Island way back in 2023, has been rescued by conservationists. Continue reading...

Politics

26 h. ago Scientists believe they can 'turn down' the sun's brightness in climate change battle

One idea is that aerosolised particles could be sprayed into the Earth’s stratosphere to deflect some of the energy from the sun away from our planet in an effort to 'turn down' the sun's brightness

Events

28 h. ago Whales and dolphins keep washing up dead in Southern California — scientists say this is responsible

Sea lions, dolphins, whales and other animals have been struck down

Events

28 h. ago Scientist reveals the five foods to eat that burn fat better than Ozempic

Dr William Li, whose book Eat to Beat Your Diet is a New York Times bestseller, says the most dangerous type of fat is visceral fat (also known as belly fat), which is stored deep inside the abdomen.

Events

29 h. ago Truth behind 'alien skull' uncovered 1,500 years later as scientists rebuild face

The face that would have belonged to an "alien skull", which was found in a Swiss village in the 1970s, has now been remade for the first time after the woman died around 1,500 years ago

Politics

29 h. ago The giant plan beside the M60 that could create 10,000 new jobs

Employment space, leisure facilities and a hotel are all earmarked

Politics

30 h. ago Fact check: Shipped liquid gas is more carbon intensive than UK gas

Additional emissions come from the energy required to chill the gas into liquid form and to ship it across the oceans.

Politics

31 h. ago Man who ordered pizza after stamping on ‘gentle giant’ friend’s head jailed

Caine Lonsdale, 34, has been jailed for a minimum of 15 years for the murder of his friend Jonathan Dittia, 40, in his flat in Nottinghamshire.

Events

32 h. ago Marks & Spencer suspends online shopping after cyber attack that crippled contactless payments

The high street giant admitted on Tuesday that it was responding to an 'incident' after customers began reporting problems over the busy Easter bank holiday weekend.

Economics

32 h. ago Your next jacket could be made from a DINOSAUR: Scientists are using fossilised collagen to create the world's first T.Rex leather

Most fashionistas like to try and stay ahead of the curve. But a new style involves going quite far the other way - around 70 million years back in time.

Politics

32 h. ago Scientists issue 'do not' warning as they reveal what you should do in a shark attack

A new study suggests that some shark bites may be "survival instinct" rather than planned attacks

Events