A mysterious 4,000-year-old wall is rewriting North Africa’s history

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have uncovered a crucial missing link between a common gut bacterium and colorectal cancer, solving a mystery that has puzzled researchers for nearly two decades. The bacterium, Bacteroides fragilis, produces a toxin that damages the colon’s protective lining, triggers chronic inflammation, and promotes tumor formation.

Environmental campaigners have staged a Halloween themed demonstration outside the first minister's official residence over "scary" fossil fuels. Climate groups gathered outside Bute House in Edinburgh to protest against the Scottish government's decision to give the go-ahead for a new, gas-fired, power station at Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. The decision has been branded a "catastrophic failure" by environmental campaigners, who said burning fossil fuels is the key driver of extreme weather such as recent storms, record heat and flooding.

Scientists have recreated a primordial state of matter from the dawn of the universe by colliding oxygen nuclei at nearly the speed of light. The surprising results show that this exotic substance can form in smaller, lower-energy collisions than previously demonstrated, challenging the known boundaries of early-universe physics.

With high pressure developing across the UK, the start of November is looking very settled with no significant rain in the forecast.