An experimental drug that bolsters ailing brain cells has raised hopes of a treatment for memory loss, poor decision making and other mental impairments that often strike in old age. The drug could be taken as a daily pill by over-55s if clinical tr...
Nalini Nadkarni is sitting with her notebook and tape measure near the top of a strangler fig in Costa Rica’s Monteverde forest, on a branch 35 metres above the ground that is almost broad enough to walk along. Attached to the rope she has climbed t...
A handwritten missive by Albert Einstein known as the “God letter” is expected to fetch up to $1.5m (£1.2m) when it goes under the hammer. The one-and-a-half-page letter, written in 1954 in German and addressed to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, conta...
Ebola could be transformed from a terrifying disease into something that can be managed at home if drug trials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are successful, a leading scientist believes. Four experimental drugs are starting to be used as p...
Of all the ancient peoples that have been studied by scientists, none has set puzzles quite so profound as those left behind by the Denisovans. Only a few tiny pieces of bone and teeth have ever been found of this long extinct species – fragmentary...
Earlier this year, a softly spoken community-support officer named Andy Pope received the Chief Constable’s Award, an honour bestowed on police force employees who’ve shown extraordinary bravery, or remarkable dedication, or both. In Pope’s case, th...
Students in South Africa have created the world’s first brick made from human urine. The bio-brick was produced by students from Cape Town, who collected urine from specially designed male urinals at the university’s engineering building and mixed i...
High levels of tourism can lead to a dramatic reduction in the number of cheetahs able to raise their young to independence, new research has found. A study in Kenya’s Maasai Mara savannah found that in areas with a high density of tourist vehicles,...
Birds had to rediscover flight after the meteor strike that killed off the dinosaurs, scientists say. The cataclysm 66m years ago not only wiped out Tyrannosaurus rex and ground-dwelling dinosaur species, but also flying birds, a detailed survey of...
Xiao Long, the latest employee at the Jiujiang Road branch of the China Construction Bank is never late for work. “Welcome to China Construction Bank,” she chirps to customers arriving at the Shanghai branch, flashing her white teeth. “What can I he...
MDMA, the main ingredient of the party drug ecstasy, could help reduce symptoms among those living with post-traumatic stress disorder, research suggests. Post-traumatic stress disorder is commonly treated with drugs, psychotherapies or both. Howeve...
Seventy-five years ago, the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann experienced the world’s first full-blown LSD trip on his way home from his lab in Basel. Hofmann had been researching the ergot fungus, hoping to develop a drug to treat fatigue. Among the com...