A controlling partner is isolating my daughter. What can I do to help? | Ask Annalisa Barbieri

She may not realise she’s experiencing domestic abuse, or may not be ready to talk about it yet. Let her know you’re there for her no matter what

• Every week Annalisa Barbieri addresses a problem sent in by a reader

My daughter has gradually withdrawn from family events. She lives far from us all and doesn’t come home any more after being a real homebird. She hasn’t visited for over a year and didn’t see any of us at Christmas or my birthday, which is not like her.

When I visit her, it’s becoming clear she isn’t making choices for herself any more – even the simplest ones are made by her partner and she concedes to everything he wants. He is also jealous of any other male family member who is spoken about positively.

Published: July 6, 2025, 5:00 am

Parents in Britain to be granted bereavement leave after miscarriage

Mothers and partners will gain the legal right if they lose a baby before 24 weeks, in Labour workers’ rights reform

Parents in Britain will be granted the right to bereavement leave after suffering a miscarriage as part of Labour’s changes to workers’ rights, it has been confirmed.

In a change to the law made via amendments to the employment rights bill, mothers and their partners will be given the legal right to at least one week’s bereavement leave if they have suffered a pregnancy loss before 24 weeks’ gestation.

Published: July 6, 2025, 5:07 pm

Patients with ultra-rare diseases worry new FDA rules will leave them without treatment

Testing is difficult for drugs for rare diseases, and new rules may make it harder for sufferers to obtain life-saving drugs

US drug regulators have increasingly signaled a focus on faster approvals and rare diseases, but patients with ultra-rare ailments fear they are falling through the cracks, especially given challenges to conducting clinical trials.

One drug, elamipretide, garnered a narrow recommendation from independent advisers for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but the agency rejected the drug’s application in May and recommended another potential pathway for approval.

Published: July 6, 2025, 11:00 am

Weedkiller ingredient widely used in US can damage organs and gut bacteria, research shows

Diquat is banned in the UK, EU, China and other countries. The US has resisted calls to regulate it

The herbicide ingredient used to replace glyphosate in Roundup and other weedkiller products can kill gut bacteria and damage organs in multiple ways, new research shows.

The ingredient, diquat, is widely employed in the US as a weedkiller in vineyards and orchards, and is increasingly sprayed elsewhere as the use of controversial herbicide substances such as glyphosate and paraquat drops in the US.

Published: July 6, 2025, 12:00 pm

Lab-grown sperm and eggs just a few years away, scientists say

Quest to create viable human sex cells in lab progressing rapidly, with huge implications for reproduction

Scientists are just a few years from creating viable human sex cells in the lab, according to an internationally renowned pioneer of the field, who says the advance could open up biology-defying possibilities for reproduction.

Speaking to the Guardian, Prof Katsuhiko Hayashi, a developmental geneticist at the University of Osaka, said rapid progress is being made towards being able to transform adult skin or blood cells into eggs and sperm, a feat of genetic conjury known as in-vitro gametogenesis (IVG).

Published: July 5, 2025, 6:00 am

Owning dog or cat could preserve some brain functions as we age, study says

Fish or bird ownership showed no significant link to slower cognitive decline in study with implications for ageing societies

As global population ages and dementia rates climb, scientists may have found an unexpected ally in the fight against cognitive decline.

Cats and dogs may be exercising more than just your patience: they could be keeping parts of your brain ticking over too. In a potential breakthrough for preventive health, researchers have found that owning a four-pawed friend is linked to slower cognitive decline by potentially preserving specific brain functions as we grow older.

Published: July 5, 2025, 5:00 am

The Guardian view on metal detecting: hobbyists as well as experts can play a part in unearthing the past | Editorial

Detectorists and archaeologists sometimes clash, but the recent find of two Roman swords was the thrilling result of collaboration

The discovery of two swords at a dig in Gloucestershire has fuelled speculation that a Roman villa may once have stood there, at a period in the second or third century AD when Saxons were making inroads in the region. Experts think that the blades may even have been deliberately hidden – but not deep enough to conceal them from a novice metal detectorist, Glenn Manning. Next month, the public will get a chance to see the weapons when they go on display at the Corinium museum in Cirencester, to which they have been given.

The items join a growing list of striking finds by hobbyists. These include a gold nugget found in the Shropshire Hills by Richard Brock, who located it with the help of an old machine that was “only half working”. Another newcomer dug up a gold necklace bearing the initials of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, which is now in the British Museum.

Published: July 6, 2025, 4:25 pm

Can you see circles or rectangles? And does the answer depend on where you grew up? | Anil Seth

We may believe we see the world exactly as it is – but as studies of optical illusions show, it’s far more complex than that

• Anil Seth is a professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at the University of Sussex

Do people from different cultures and environments see the world differently? Two recent studies have different takes on this decades-long controversy. The answer might be more complicated, and more interesting, than either study suggests.

One study, led by Ivan Kroupin at the London School of Economics, asked how people from different cultures perceived a visual illusion known as the Coffer illusion. They discovered that people in the UK and US saw it mainly in one way, as comprising rectangles – while people from rural communities in Namibia typically saw it another way: as containing circles.

Published: July 5, 2025, 7:00 am