Methane’s climate impact was just one truth finally accepted at COP26

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REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque via Alamy One of the positives to come out of last month’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow was official recognition of the central role that climate science must play both in understanding and solving the problem. That might seem an odd thing to say – surely science has always been at the heart … Read more

Plastic food packaging gets a bad rap, but does it always deserve it?

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By James Wong DigiPub/Getty Images Social media can be a powerful force for positive change, especially when it comes to environmental issues. A seemingly perfect example is the drive to stem the tide of single-use plastic, particularly when it comes to food packaging. Huge campaigns – including organised groups descending on supermarkets to strip and … Read more

Guano doping: Can a dash of bird poo make graphene great again?

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Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more Humans 1 December 2021 Josie Ford Load of old… The stereotype of scientists as unfeeling automatons is lazy and, in Feedback’s experience, entirely inexplicable. On the contrary, the passions the pursuit of knowledge bring to the boil often froth over … Read more

How human height has changed: Our ancestors were relatively short – and only started reaching modern heights 150 years ago

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Until around 150 years ago, humans were relatively short – but our recent growth spurt may have more to do with social factors than dietary ones Humans 2 December 2021 By Michael Marshall A man measures a woman’s height Image Point Fr/Shutterstock For most of our history, humans have been short, a study has found. … Read more

Impossible Foods in talks with UK farmers to swap livestock for trees

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Exclusive: CEO of plant-based “meat” firm plans to show economic and climate change benefits of planting trees on land used for cattle and sheep production Environment 2 December 2021 By Adam Vaughan Pat Brown with Impossible Foods’ plant-based burger ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images The chief executive of Impossible Foods is in talks with UK … Read more

How do stars form? Stellar outbursts may help explain how sun-like stars develop

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Computer modelling supports the idea that nascent stars brighten dramatically during growth spurts, which could explain an astrophysical mystery Space 2 December 2021 By Will Gater Newborn stars appear as pink and red specks in the centre of this image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope NASA/JPL-Caltech/P.S. Teixeira (Center for Astrophysics) Powerful outbursts of energy from … Read more

Exoplanets: Small Jupiter-like worlds hint we need to rethink gas giant formation

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We thought young gas giant planets would be large and low-density, but the gas giants around a star that is just 20 million years old don’t fit this model Space 2 December 2021 By Chen Ly An artist’s impression of a Jupiter-like exoplanet Alexandr Yurtchenko/Alamy Two Jupiter-like planets that orbit a young star are much … Read more

Exoplanets: Extremely dense world with an enormous iron core has an 8-hour year

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By Leah Crane The exoplanet GJ 367b orbits its star in an extremely short time SPP 1992 (Patricia Klein) An extraordinarily dense exoplanet seemingly made mostly of iron has joined a group called the ultrashort-period planets that orbit so close to their stars that their years are less than one Earth day long. Kristine Lam, … Read more

Heart disease: Rare mutation in Old Order Amish people may lower heart disease risk

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A genetic mutation may cause lower levels of cholesterol and a blood clotting protein associated with heart disease, and the hope is to design drugs that have the same effect Health 2 December 2021 By Michael Le Page CT scan of a human heart K H FUNG/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY A rare genetic mutation first identified in … Read more