Science | The Guardian

"Daily pill can double survival time for world's deadliest cancer."

Views expressed in this science, technology, and health update are those of the reporters and correspondents.  Accessed on 31 May 2026, 2315 UTC.

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Science | The Guardian

Today

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts If an alien landed and asked you: “What is this thing you call music?” what would you play for them? And why? Heather, Kent Post your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com . A selection will be p
Experts hail daraxonrasib as ‘gamechanger’ for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer A daily pill can double survival time in patients with the world’s deadliest cancer, according to the results of a clinical trial that experts are saying is a “gamechanger” and one of the biggest breakthroughs in decades. Currently, there are few treatments for pancreatic cancer, and most do little or nothing

Yesterday

Jab brought ‘unprecedentedly strong responses’ in patients whose disease had become resistant to chemotherapy and immunotherapy Doctors have hailed “unprecedented” trial results that show a triple-action cancer jab can eradicate entire tumours in patients. In an international trial spanning 11 countries, the injection was offered to patients whose cancer had spread or come back and whose disease
Meteor was travelling at 75,000 miles per hour (more than 120,000 km/h) at an altitude of 40 miles when it broke apart A meteor crashing toward Earth exploded over the north-eastern United States on Saturday, Nasa said, setting off booms that echoed over the region with a blast equivalent to 300 tons of TNT. The fireball broke up over northeastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire just
Results presented at oncology conference in Chicago show Galleri test failed to reduce late-stage cancer diagnoses A blood test for more than 50 types of cancer that was billed as the holy grail of oncology has failed to achieve its main objective in a major clinical trial, according to data presented at the world’s largest cancer conference. The goal of the study involving 142,000 NHS patients i

May 29, 2026

The Canadian entrepreneur has always pushed the boundaries of gene editing, once attempting to turn horses into unicorns. Now she is set on modifying human embryos – something her controversial ex-husband was jailed for doing On a Friday evening in late April, Cathy Tie, the Canadian serial entrepreneur and self-styled “Biotech Barbie”, is centre stage at New York City’s famous Carnegie Hall, per
Findings add to growing efforts to explain why cancer rates are increasing among younger adults worldwide Poor sleep may be fuelling the global rise in under-50s being diagnosed with cancer, two large studies suggest. The number of younger people diagnosed with the disease has risen by almost 80% in three decades. Worldwide cases of early-onset cancer increased from 1.82m in 1990 to 3.26m in 2019
Trial suggests patients with a low test score could be treated with hormone therapy alone with near-identical outcomes ‘Like Christmas’: woman’s relief after test finds she can skip chemotherapy Millions of women with breast cancer could be spared chemotherapy with a groundbreaking genomic test, according to the results of a trial that could transform healthcare guidelines worldwide. Treatment fo
Karen Bonham was part of successful trial for genomic test that determines which women with breast cancer can safely avoid chemotherapy Groundbreaking genomic test could spare millions of breast cancer patients chemotherapy A landmark study shows millions of women with breast cancer could skip chemotherapy thanks to a genomic test that determines who needs the treatment and who doesn’t. The rando
Model created by researchers shows better outcomes are often more likely when people are not too ambitious It is the end of an idiom for motivational speakers. Instead of shooting for the moon when pursuing life’s goals, researchers say people should be advised to aim a little lower if they want the best outcome. The tip may lack the punch of uncompromising drive, but aiming for merely above aver
Ian Hughes is boosting one of Europe’s most at-risk species with science, his sons and some homemade T-shirts Ian Hughes and his son, Ben, are driving through the hills of north Wales with an array of homemade animal artefacts rattling around their car: diagrams, plaster casts, hand-printed T-shirts. They finally reach Llyn Tegid – Bala Lake in English – where, knee-deep in the water, Ian brandis

May 28, 2026

No personnel were harmed in the incident, the company said on social media, calling the explosion an ‘anomaly’ Nasa’s plans to build a lunar base and return humans to the moon in the next two years were thrown into jeopardy after a New Glenn rocket from Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin company exploded during a test in Florida. A massive fireball engulfed and destroyed the launchpad at the Kennedy Space
Government will consider committee’s guidance that says mass screening ‘likely to cause more harm than good’ Most men in the UK will not be offered prostate cancer screening if the government accepts the final recommendation of an expert committee. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in the UK , with more than 64,000 men diagnosed every year. There is, however, no national screening program
The insect may learn to associate the chemical Deet with a ‘blood meal’, researchers say It is a spray used worldwide to protect humans from mosquito bites, but now research suggests Deet can become attractive to the insects if they associate it with feeding. Deet – which has the chemical name N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide – is widely used in insect repellants, with the UK Health Security Agency rec

May 27, 2026

Last month at Beijing’s half marathon, a robot named Lightning beat the human world record by nearly seven minutes. It’s the latest in a string of AI-powered milestones that have got people wondering whether robots are about to enter our everyday lives, just as chatbots have. And the country leading the charge is China, where the government has pledged to invest more than £100bn in robotics over
The satellite visuals reveal vast burn scars after blaze tore through rare ecosystems on Santa Rosa Island Images from a Nasa satellite showcased the devastating scars left behind by a wildfire that consumed roughly a third of Santa Rosa Island, one of the five islands that make up Channel Islands national park off the southern California coast. Taken on 20 May, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Sp
At least nine people have died in recent days as people have tried to cool off in Britain’s waterways Water safety experts have warned about the dangers of outdoor swimming after a number of drownings in recent days as people try to escape soaring temperatures by cooling off in rivers, lakes, reservoirs and other bodies of water. Emergency services have reported at least nine deaths because of wa

May 26, 2026

Experts say climate change linked to 10% rise in salmonella antibiotic resistance genes between 1940 and 2023 The climate crisis is accelerating a global increase in antibiotic resistance that poses a serious threat to human health, experts have said as figures show a rise in salmonella antibiotic resistant genes. Antibiotic resistance is one of the fastest-growing threats to global health. It ca
Calaminarian grassland is a rare habitat where plants thrive in soils contaminated by heavy metals. But should these toxic meadows be protected or allowed to fade away? At first, the small purple flowers are hard to spot in the weak May sunshine. Slowly the drifts of delicate mountain pansies, along with the white rosettes of alpine pennycress, begin to jump out, scattered across an area little b
Two scientists have described the bright fireball, crackling noise and sonic boom of the impact 66m years ago What would it have been like to have lived through the meteorite impact that wiped out the dinosaurs 66m years ago? Writing in the Conversation , Michael Benton, of the University of Bristol, and Monica Grady, of the Open University, describe in vivid detail how it might have felt. The fi
‘Gender attractiveness gap’ appears across cultures and over centuries but difference fades away with age Women’s faces are rated as more attractive than men’s, even by other women, but the perceived gap declines with age and all but vanishes by the time people reach their 80s, researchers have said. The work appears to confirm the existence of a “gender attractiveness gap”, an observation reflec
Three lunar landings are planned for this year in preparation for the construction of a $20bn moon base Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Nasa announced on Tuesday ambitious plans for three uncrewed lunar missions this year to kickstart construction of a $20bn moon base , and said it had chosen the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin , ahead of Elon Musk’s SpaceX , to conduct

May 25, 2026

Team hope the UPatch – at present a proof-of-concept device – will aid early detection of complications and prevent stillbirths Scientists have created a wearable ultrasound patch that can continuously monitor babies in the womb, with the hope that such devices could aid the early detection of complications during pregnancy. The team behind the work say ultrasound-based techniques in place now ha
Home red-light therapy devices have exploded in popularity as masks, body wraps and mittens promise to reduce wrinkles, redness and even acne. But do the claims stack up, and what other benefits are scientists investigating? Ian Sample hears from his co-host, Madeleine Finlay, and the consultant dermatologist Dr Jonathan Kentley. Kentley explains how the potential benefits of red light were disco

May 24, 2026

Animals have tactics of their own to cope with the heat, but zoo animals also get a little help from their keepers A hot bank holiday weekend might see humans flock to the beach, don summer hats and crack open a cold beer, but when it comes to keeping big cats cool, zoos turn to a rather different treat: blood lollies. While experts note habitats within zoos are carefully tuned to their inhabitan
Because we define dates based on the stars, the full moon on 31 May will be the second one of the calendar month This week’s full moon is a blue moon. The term does not describe the colour of the moon, but instead arises from the way we define our calendar in reference to the stars rather than the moon. The moon takes almost a month to circle our planet. The exact time is 29.5 days but if we were
Mission will put first astronaut in orbit for a year, a key step in Beijing’s plan to put people on the moon by 2030 China has launched its Shenzhou-23 mission in which an astronaut will spend a full year in orbit for the first time, a crucial step in Beijing’s ambition to send humans to the moon by 2030. The Long March 2-F rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan launch centre in north-western China o
La Brea Tar Pits – the only urban, active ice age excavation site in world – gets a mammoth face lift for the first time in nearly 50 years Los Angeles is known for famous museums such as the Getty and the Lacma, but perhaps fewer people are aware that – in the heart of the city – lies a museum that contains one of the world’s most remarkable fossil sites. The La Brea Tar Pits and Museum is home
Technological interventions face huge financial or practical challenges, but there is another way In 2019, my scientific research was nearly brought to an early end when my team and I published the bombastic statement that natural forest restoration was the “best climate change solution” available in a paper for the peer-reviewed journal Science . I remember a colleague from the World Wildlife Fu

May 23, 2026

Risk of CTE in men’s sports has been widely studied, but female brains are softer and more vulnerable Cleo Pallister-Turley, a forward for Cardiff university’s women’s rugby team, winces as she recalls two major concussions from playing rugby. “Girls ask me, ‘aren’t you worried about getting injured?’,” the biomedical sciences student said. “I enjoy the physicality and the intensity. For me, no o
SpaceX launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet on a test flight on Friday. It was an upgraded version of the spacecraft Nasa is counting on to land astronauts on the moon. It blasted off from the southern tip of Texas, carrying 20 mock Starlink satellites that were released midway through the hour-long flight that stretched halfway around the world. Despite some engine trouble, the space

May 22, 2026

Exclusive: New biography uncovers Frank Hawking’s papers in which he lamented that his son had ‘little initiative’ In exploring the physics and geometry of the universe, Stephen Hawking became a world-renowned pioneer of black hole theory, writing the bestselling book A Brief History of Time, which has sold more than 13m copies, and inspiring people to “look up at the stars and not down at your f
The US supreme court has preserved nationwide access to mail-order abortion pills – for now. As Carter Sherman explains, the fight to protect this medication is far from over, as a nationwide, near-total abortion ban could be on the horizon. Carter speaks with Dr Angel Foster, co-founder of the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project, who reveals how the legal battle over abortion pills
Starship V3 blasts off in 12th test flight of rocket that Elon Musk is developing with aim of taking people to Mars SpaceX has launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet, an upgraded version that Nasa is counting on to land astronauts on the moon. The redesigned mega-rocket made its debut two days after SpaceX’s CEO, Elon Musk, announced he was taking the company public . It blasted off fro
Sink or swim? | Deep vision | Sacrificial candidate | Diverting days out Sir Christopher Ball telling people their future longevity is in their own hands and to stop blaming others ( Report, 20 May ) is akin to telling a drowning man to pull himself together and swim, without asking what were the circumstances that put him in the water in the first place. Life and longevity is a complex issue and
From infections and allergies to brain diseases and autoimmune disorders, a wave of trials offers hope Clinical trials of immunotherapies have rocketed in the past decade as researchers have turned their understanding of the body’s defences into powerful new treatments. Leading the pack are cancer therapies, but researchers have other conditions in their sights, from infections and allergies to b

May 21, 2026

IPO filing from Elon Musk’s company reveals closer look at finances, cosmic ambitions and tech empire’s quirks SpaceX publicly released an investor prospectus on Wednesday as part of its plan for a $1.75tn debut on the US stock market next month, revealing unseen details about the finances and future plans of Elon Musk ’s flagship company. In addition to new information on operating costs and rev
Eli Lilly says participants in a sizable trial of retatrutide lost much more weight compared to other weight-loss drugs A new weight-loss drug has helped participants in a sizable trial lose much more weight than other obesity drugs already on the market – up to an average of 28% of their body weight – Eli Lilly announced on Thursday. The Indiana-based pharmaceutical company in a press statement
The Kusuma Neolithic Hall, based on Durrington 68 site, will allow visitors to ‘step back in time’ into the lives of those who built the stone circle It may have been a place for ceremony or a barn for pack animals. It could have been a place for weary labourers to rest their heads. Or perhaps there was no building at all. English Heritage has unveiled a 7-metre-high reconstruction of what a 4,50
Cancer Research UK figures show number diagnosed with most serious form of skin cancer has risen above 20,000 for first time The number of cases from the most serious form of skin cancer have reached a record high across the UK, according to analysis by a leading cancer charity. Melanoma cases in the UK have risen above 20,000 for the first time ever, with 20,980 people being diagnosed with the f

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