Reform’s rise speaks to a deep crisis in Establishment parties – but relies on appealing to social and economic grievances the left should make its own, argues NICK WRIGHT
Deep-sea discovery challenges theories of oxygen as an alien life marker
ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT explore how metal nodules producing oxygen on the ocean floor complicate the search for extraterrestrial life and our understanding of Earth's early atmosphere
MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS: Field of polymetallic nodules of type C in the north equatorial Pacific, photo taken from the submarine Nautile - NODINAUT campaign. The formations can be found as deep as 20,000 feet below the ocean's surface
This year’s Bristol Radical History Festival focused on the persistent threats of racism, xenophobia and, of course, our radical collective resistance to it across Ireland and Britain, reports LYNNE WALSH
A maverick’s self-inflicted snake bites could unlock breakthrough treatments – but they also reveal deeper tensions between noble scientific curiosity and cold corporate callousness, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
The FBU is demanding 52 weeks of full pay for women firefighters, highlighting the unique health risks they face — and the continuing need to recruit and retain more women if policies like this are still not in place, writes SEONA HART
Israel continues to operate with impunity in what seems to be a brutal and protracted experiment, while much of the world looks on, says RAMZY BAROUD
A new report by Amnesty International pulls no punches in highlighting the Labour government’s human rights violations of those on benefits, says Dr DYLAN MURPHY
With Reform UK surging and Labour determined not to offer anything different from the status quo, a clear opportunity opens for the left, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
SOME astrophysicists try to understand the composition of planets that go round other stars — so-called “exoplanets.” They do so by looking at how light from the star is absorbed as the planet orbits around it, which allows them to find out the compounds that make up the planet’s atmosphere.
The technique allows scientists to understand something about these distant planets, though they are separated by many light years.
Some scientists believe that by identifying specific molecules in the atmospheres of these planets, we will be able to observe the signature of life. These signatures would be “biomarkers” — molecules that can’t be produced by simple chemistry, but can only be made by living organisms.
The difficulty in assessing these molecules and the remoteness of the planets make others sceptical that any biomarker would, by itself, ever be enough to categorically say that life exists.
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A maverick’s self-inflicted snake bites could unlock breakthrough treatments – but they also reveal deeper tensions between noble scientific curiosity and cold corporate callousness, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
Science has always been mixed up with money and power, but as a decorative facade for megayachts, it risks leaving reality behind altogether, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
A small Japanese trial has reported some positive results for stem cell therapy to treat spinal-cord injuries
Man-made canals like Panama and Suez face unprecedented challenges from extreme weather patterns and geopolitical tensions that reveal the fragility of our global trade networks, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
