Patrick Vallance, the minister for science, research and innovation, recently unveiled a plan to cut animal testing through greater use of AI and other technologies, with the eventual aim of phasing it out altogether. To understand how this will affect research and what could be used in place of animal models, Madeleine Finlay hears from science editor Ian Sample, Prof Hazel Screen of Queen...

The world’s most valuable company said it was still “a generation ahead of the industry”.

Cause of oxygen fluctuations that drove explosion of weird and wonderful inhabitants 500m years ago linked to changes in Earth’s orbit

Just over 500m years ago life on Earth got souped-up, going from simple single-celled organisms to sophisticated multicellular lifeforms. The Cambrian explosion produced an array of weird and wonderful new inhabitants, such as the five-eyed opabinia and the...

Lead singers in bands fare better than solo artists, but fame – rather than lifestyle or job itself – seems to be major factor

For those who hanker for the limelight, be careful what you wish for: shooting to stardom as a lead singer really does raise the risk of an early death, researchers say.

Their analysis of singers from Europe and the US found that those who rose to fame died on average...

Astrophysicist Prof Tomonori Totani says research could be crucial breakthrough in search for elusive substance

Nearly a century ago, scientists proposed that a mysterious invisible substance they named dark matter clumped around galaxies and formed a cosmic web across the universe.

What dark matter is made from, and whether it is even real, are still open questions, but according to a study,...

The International Association for Cryptologic Research – created to study secure communication – said it was an “honest human mistake.”

There is nothing wrong with questioning the mighty cost of the lockdowns, but we can’t let hardline libertarians rewrite Britain’s pandemic history

That number will stay fixed for ever in public memory: 23,000 people died because Boris Johnson resisted locking the country down in time. As Covid swept in, and with horrific images of Italian temporary morgues in tents, he went on holiday and took...

But critics say the regulator’s new measures need to be the law rather than guidelines to make the internet safer for women and girls.

The infection is responsible for 800,000 newborn deaths each year, but clinics in eight countries are working together to find new treatments

Just a few minutes from the turquoise waters of Kenya’s Kilifi Creek, a world away from the tourists enjoying their time on the estuary, a team of clinicians, technicians and microbiologists is helping to shape a new era of care for newborns.

NeoSep1 is a...

Study suggests human brain development has four pivotal ‘turning points’ at around the ages of nine, 32, 66 and 83

Scientists have identified five major “epochs” of human brain development in one of the most comprehensive studies to date of how neural wiring changes from infancy to old age.

The study, based on the brain scans of nearly 4,000 people aged under one to 90, mapped neural...

As David Cameron receives treatment and backs calls for NHS screening, we look at the disease and its treatment

More than 100 MPs urge Streeting to approve prostate cancer screening

David Cameron has become the latest high-profile figure to back growing calls for the NHS to start screening men, or at least those at highest risk, for prostate cancer after being treated for it himself.

He joined...

After bitter arguments, threatened walkouts and heated all-night negotiations, delegates eventually reached a deal this weekend at the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil. To unpick what was achieved and what was left out, Madeleine Finlay hears from the Guardian’s environment editor, Fiona Harvey, who has been following every twist and turn

End of fossil fuel era inches closer as Cop30 deal agreed...