A lung drug passed its main test and missed two others
NICE's appraisal of nintedanib shows how a trial proves a drug works: one pre-set outcome, a null hypothesis, and a p-value that either clears the bar or not.
kind archive
Explainer.
Every explainer in the edition.
A stage costume is built to come off in seconds
Broadway dressers snap layered costumes shut seam by seam, and club performers mend and wash theirs for years. Playbill and the Guardian went backstage.
Microplastics in bottled water: more particles, unclear harm
A review of 21 studies found more plastic in bottled water than tap, yet the World Health Organization says the health evidence still has gaps.
Architects are building thick walls and deep windows again
Sunlight through glass is usually a home's main summer heat source, says the Passivhaus Trust. Some architects now answer with heavy walls and deep windows.
The first treaty every country ratified is mending the ozone
The 1987 Montreal Protocol cut the chlorine reaching the stratosphere and put the ozone layer on course to heal by mid-century, by UN assessment.
GPS: a timing race between your phone and four satellites
Your phone never talks to a GPS satellite. It times radio signals from four of them, and the FAA says that fixes you to within about 7 metres.
A Basel looted-antiquities dealer walked free as charges expired
Police recovered 5,361 looted antiquities from the Swiss warehouses of a Basel dealer, but the charges against him had already expired.
Martin Luther King answered his critics in a letter from jail
In 1963, jailed in Birmingham, Martin Luther King answered eight white clergymen who had called his protests unwise and untimely.
Gerald Holtom drew the peace sign for the Aldermaston march
Gerald Holtom drew the peace symbol in 1958 for a nuclear disarmament march from London to Aldermaston, and it later spread across the world.
Gaia's star map: the position and motion of two billion stars
Gaia measured the position, distance, motion, brightness, and colour of two billion stars, over more than a decade of observing.
What is materials science and engineering?
Three US university departments explain the field behind batteries and artificial skin. Its engineers test materials, pick them, and work out why parts fail.
IBM rebuilt Deep Blue's chess chip before beating Kasparov
After losing to Garry Kasparov in 1996, IBM doubled Deep Blue's speed and taught it to bide its time before opening a file. In May 1997 it won.
Geneticists extract ancient DNA from a single tooth
Teeth outlast bone, and DNA survives in them long after death. Geneticists read it in sealed, filtered rooms, and Neanderthal plaque even shows past meals.
Two astronomers spent seven years measuring out the metre
In 1792 two French astronomers set out to measure the meridian to fix the metre. It came out 0.2mm short, and Méchain hid readings that did not agree.
Delisted: why licensed games vanish from digital stores
When a car, music or brand licence runs out, the publisher loses the right to sell the game. Forza Horizon 4 owners could still play and download theirs.
The account a UK customer described, against the one they ran
UK banks must check transactions against what they know of a customer. Santander flagged a mismatch in 2014, acted in 2015, and was fined £107.7m.
Wales's first Unesco City of Literature is not a city
Aberystwyth won the title for its literary scene and bilingual culture. Unesco judges a City of Literature on publishing, festivals, libraries and bookshops.
Flock cameras in the US: what they record and who can search
Flock plate cameras feed a shared police network. A Kentucky officer used it to track his ex-girlfriend, and a Texas detective to hunt a woman over abortion.
Göbekli Tepe may have put the temple before the farm
Klaus Schmidt argued hunter-gatherers built Göbekli Tepe before anyone farmed. Digs since his death in 2014 have found houses and signs of year-round living.
Lightning can travel through your plumbing to the shower
Lightning can reach a shower through the pipes and the water in them. Wait at least 30 minutes after the last thunder before you wash.
A small error today can spoil next week's forecast
A small starting error grows daily inside the atmosphere's chaos, limiting how far a forecast can see. A warmer ocean can ease that limit, research shows.
Two examiners judge a UK PhD in one viva
A UK PhD viva is an oral exam held after the thesis is submitted, where two examiners question the candidate before recommending a result.
A talent agency now forecasts what a product placement will do
Brands reach the screen by paid deal, free product or a writer's own choice. UTA's Jillian Raskin puts that last route at about 90% of placements.
Madhava's circle value missed by two, and no one knows why
A paper tests the series credited to Madhava of Sangamagrama and cannot explain his circle value. Almost nothing about his life is certain.