What the scientists are saying…

Why open plan means less chat Open-plan offices are meant to get workers talking – in the process boosting teamwork and creativity – but a study suggests that, in fact, they discourage face-to-face interaction. Researchers at Harvard Business School followed workers at two US companies before and after they shifted from cubicles to open-plan arrangements. Employees were fitted with specially designed “sociometric badges” that recorded where they were standing and whether they were talking, while their use of email and instant messaging was also monitored. After the companies switched to open plan, face-to-face interaction fell by 70%, but there was a surge in electronic communication: instant messaging, for example, increased by 68%. Writing in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, the researchers speculate that the loss of privacy in open-plan environments makes workers less willing to interact face-toface. “Look around open-plan offices and you can see why this might be,” said co-author Dr Ethan Bernstein. “People put on huge headphones to avoid distraction. They stare intently at their screens because they know people are watching and want to look busy.”

Babies weaned early sleep better Introducing babies to solid foods before they are six months old may improve their sleep. A new study split 1,300 healthy three-month-olds into two groups: those in one were exclusively breastfed until six months, while those in the other were introduced to solids at three months, alongside breastfeeding. Parental questionnaires revealed that at six months old, those in the early weaning group typically slept two more hours per week and woke up less frequently at night. Their parents were also reporting half the rate of very serious sleep problems. “We believe the most likely explanation for our findings... is that these babies are less hungry,” said Professor Gideon Lack, of King’s College London. However, other experts said that the findings needed to be confirmed by other studies, and that the reported improvements to sleep were in any case modest. The NHS advises parents to consult a GP or health visitor before weaning babies under six months old.

Secrets of the flying spiders It is well known that spiders use a process called ballooning to “fly” long distances. As Charles Darwin observed after spiders began landing on HMS Beagle when it was miles from land, the process involves them spooling out strands of silk, shooting upwards and then drifting through the air, in some cases for hundreds of miles. Scientists have long disputed what makes this possible: some argue the spiders are borne aloft by wind, while others claim that electrical currents ever-present in the atmosphere deliver an electrostatic charge to the spiders’ threads, drawing them up much as hair stands on end when rubbed with a balloon. To test this latter theory, scientists at the University of Bristol isolated a group of spiders from the atmospheric electrical field and exposed them to an adjustable artificial one. When the field was off, the spiders made few attempts to take off, but as it was ramped up, they did so increasingly. “You can switch off the electrical field and watch them drop, then switch it on and see them rise again,” said Dr Erica Morley, who led the research. The study suggests that air currents also have a role in ballooning.

HIV vaccine shows promise Promising results in early trials have raised hopes that an effective vaccine against HIV infection may finally be on the horizon, says The Daily Telegraph. When tested on 400 healthy adults, the “mosaic” vaccine – made from several strains of the virus – triggered in all of them some form of anti-hiv immune response, and when tested on monkeys, it was found to have protected two-thirds of them from a virus similar to HIV. The US scientists are now preparing to test the vaccine on 2,600 women at risk of HIV in southern Africa – making it only the fifth vaccine in 35 years to get as far as human trials. Antiretroviral treatments have improved hugely, and in some countries, at-risk individuals take a daily pill that protects them from infection, but a vaccine would be a major breakthrough. About 37 million people globally are living with HIV, and some 1.8 million people a year are diagnosed with it.

Theresa May lost her fourth minister in a week last Friday – but Andrew Griffiths, 47, didn’t resign in a protest over Brexit. The minister for small business stood down after it emerged that he’d sent 2,000 explicit text messages to two constituents 20 years his junior. “Take off the bra and panties... you’ve got Daddy in a frenzy,” read one. Griffiths – who recently had a baby with his wife, Kate, and who has separately been accused of bullying and harassment – has vowed to seek “professional help”.

While tens of thousands of people took to the streets to demonstrate against President Trump’s visit, the Queen held a quiet protest of her own, through her choice of brooches – or claims one eagle-eyed Twitter user. According to Julie (@ Samuraiknitter), Her Majesty wore three brooches while the president was in the UK, and each had a message for Trump. On the day he arrived, she wore a brooch that was the personal gift of the Obamas on their last visit; the next day, she turned up to tea with the Trumps at Windsor wearing the brooch that her mother had

worn to her father’s state funeral. And on the day Trump left, she wore a brooch given to her in 2017, by the Canadian people. “You know, [the ones] Trump’s been screaming about and insulting,” tweeted Julie. “The Commonwealth country and one of the UK’S greatest allies. Them.”

But if she was sending a message, Trump was clearly oblivious. The Queen, he told Piers Morgan, is “terrific. She is so sharp, so wise, so beautiful. Up close, you see she’s so beautiful. She’s a very special person... We had a great, a great feeling.”