Science | The Guardian

The inspirational JWST is pushing the limits of how far back in time cosmologists can seeOn Tuesday afternoon, we were treated to some of the most detailed images of the universe that anyone has ever seen. The pictures were the first to be released from the James Webb space telescope (JWST) and were greeted with joy by astronomers and journalists. The former because the images demonstrated that the telescope was working and the latter because the pictures would be much more pleasing to view on a newspaper’s front page than the candidates for leadership of the Conservative party.The first images are, literally, wonderful. Specialist astronomers can see details of the birth and death of stars, as well as all the stages in between; and witness gravitational lensing, predicted by Einstein, previously only partially recorded by the JWST’s predecessor, the Hubble space telescope (HST). They continue to rhapsodise about the number and diversity of exoplanets – planets outside the solar system – that the JWST should find, and how instruments on the telescope will be able to detect and analyse exoplanetary atmospheres. The first signature of life on a planet beyond the solar system might be recorded by the JWST. Continue reading...

Tasmania’s giant kelp has all but vanished, but worldwide restoration efforts provide hope the precious habitats can be rejuvenated

We all know these busy insects are good for crops and biodiversity, but proof is emerging that they are also clever, sentient and unique beingsThey have been revered by the ancient Egyptians, lauded by Shakespeare, feared by Winnie-the-Pooh and, most recently, battled by Rowan Atkinson in the new Netflix hit Man vs Bee. But love or loathe them, you may be surprised to discover just how much bees know.“We now have suggestive evidence that there is some level of conscious awareness in bees – that there is a sentience, that they have emotion-like states,” says Lars Chittka, professor of sensory and behavioural ecology at Queen Mary University of London. Continue reading...

The last time a probe visited the distant ice giant was in 1986, yet learning more about this cold world could tell us a lot about the galaxyOn the night of 13 March 1781, William Herschel was peering through his telescope in his back garden in New King Street, Bath, when he noticed an unusual faint object near the star Zeta Tauri. He observed it for several nights and noted that it was moving slowly against background stars. The astronomer first thought he had found a comet but later identified it, correctly, as a distant planet. Subsequently named Uranus, it was the first planet to be discovered since antiquity. The achievement earned Herschel membership of the Royal Society, a knighthood and enduring astronomical fame.Studies have since shown Uranus to be a very odd world. While the rest of the planets in our solar system spin like tops, Uranus lies on its side. And although it is not the farthest planet from the sun, it is the solar system’s coldest. Continue reading...

Nasa and Roscosmos made the announcement of integrated flights shortly after the Russian space program leader was replacedThe US and Russia have struck a deal to fly each other’s astronauts to the International Space Station, an apparent break in tensions between the nations over the war in Ukraine that includes the removal of the Russian space program’s bellicose leader.Nasa and Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos made the announcement of integrated flights Friday, shortly after Moscow said President Vladimir Putin had replaced Dmitry Rogozin with the less confrontational Yuri Borisov, the country’s deputy prime minister and a former minister of defense. Continue reading...

Trevor Jones and Tim Watson reflect on an editorial about the mathematician and would-be poet Prof June HuhWith reference to your editorial on maths and poetry (8 July) and the mathematician and would-be poet Prof June Huh, there is a parallel with Sir Christopher Wren and Le Corbusier, as Wren was a professor of astronomy and Le Corbusier had an honorary doctorate in mathematics and philosophy. Both had discovered the art of logic and logic in art: the Stem subjects of their time not being studied at the expense of the arts and humanities.They had no problem of analysis versus synthesis – a deeply rooted schism that the psychologist Jane Abercrombie in The Nature and Nurture of Architects was critical of – it being assumed that it is easier to teach analysis than to teach synthesis, and that a student must learn to analyse before they can synthesise. She points out that in children the development of synthetic and analytic skills are simultaneous rather than sequential – not creating a divide between those who reject analysis as a basis for synthesis and those so tied down to analysis that they can never bring themselves to synthesise.

Ravishing new images of deep space, from the world’s most advanced telescope, raise as many questions as they answerThe first images from Nasa’s James Webb telescope, released this week, offer wondrous glimpses into stars and planets billions of light years away: in what is truly a space opera, the telescope shows them being born and dying, and cosmic material being sucked into black holes.The telescope is the most powerful space-based observatory ever built. It does not circle the Earth, like its predecessor, the Hubble space telescope, but is in orbit around the sun. Apart from offering stunningly beautiful images, it is a new milestone in the human understanding of the cosmos, a technological marvel that it is hoped will continue to beam down new insights for decades to come. Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including killer whales hunting a seal off Shetland and endangered mountain bongos in Kenya Continue reading...

Citizen science survey should aid knowledge of populations, including that of small tortoiseshell ‘missing’ from buddleiasThe apparent alarming absence of butterflies feeding on buddleia flowers this summer will be tested by the launch of the world’s largest insect survey.People are being urged to take part in the Big Butterfly Count today to help discover if anecdotal reports of a lack of butterflies reflect a wider reality across Britain this summer. Continue reading...

Men 69% more likely to die from melanoma than women, says Cancer Research UK, warning that lack of sun protection is a factorSkin cancer death rates among men have more than tripled since the 1970s, research reveals, prompting fresh warnings from experts to stay safe in the sun.Since 1973, death rates from melanoma – the deadliest form of skin cancer – have increased by 219% in men, compared with the rise of 76% in women, Cancer Research UK found. As many as 1,400 men are now dying from the disease each year, in contrast to 980 women. This amounts to a total of six people a day, the charity said. Continue reading...

Fears extra expense and paperwork caused by Brexit will make Britain unattractive to global drugmakersThe UK approved fewer new medicines than the EU and the US in 2021, the first year after the end of the Brexit transition period, researchers at Imperial College London have found.Their analysis shows that only 35 new drugs were approved for use in the UK by the country’s medicines regulator last year, compared with 40 approvals in the EU and 52 in the US. Continue reading...

For astrobiologists like me, the first image from Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals infinite possibilities of life beyond EarthThis week the James Webb Space Telescope made history, proving itself to be the most powerful space-based observatory humanity has ever built and revealing a tiny sliver of the vast universe around us in breathtaking detail. Astronomers the world over have been shown cheering, in floods of tears and lost for words. Astrobiologists like myself, who study the origins, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe, are getting pretty excited too. By revealing images of galaxies from the dawn of time and chemical data of planetary atmospheres, the JWST has the power to help us answer one of humanity’s oldest questions: are we alone in the universe?The first spectacular image released was of the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, known as Webb’s First Deep Field. This image covers just a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground – and yet it is crowded with galaxies, literally thousands of them. Within each galaxy, there could be on average 100 billion stars, each with its own family of planets and moons orbiting them.Louisa Preston teaches planetary science and astrobiology at the UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory

The James Webb space telescope’s pictures are impressive – but disco and Daft Punk did it firstWhat did you see when Nasa unveiled the first images from the James Webb space telescope? Your answer may hinge as much on your gasp of astrophysics as on your record collection.The Nasa administrator, Bill Nelson, a former senator and ex-astronaut, was agog at “the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe, so far”, for example. Continue reading...

This week, Nasa unveiled the first images from the James Webb space telescope – much awaited pictures that show our universe in glorious technicolour. The $10bn telescope, now 1 million miles from Earth, will allow scientists to look back to the dawn of time. Prof Ray Jayawardhana, who is working with one of the instruments onboard the JWST, speaks to Ian Sample about what these images show us, and what they mean for the very human quest of discovering our place in the cosmos.Archive: NBC News, SciNews Continue reading...

Chief scientific adviser showed similar slides to those Boris Johnson said gave him ‘road to Damascus moment’ on climatePatrick Vallance has warned MPs that the world is about to be plunged into even deeper turmoil than it was during the Covid pandemic because of the impact of climate change.The government’s chief scientific adviser gave an emergency briefing to 70 parliamentarians this week, warning of the dangers of the climate crisis and urging them to act. Continue reading...

Another day, another public figure insisting a deadly virus isn’t going to slow them down. Chuck Schumer, Anthony Fauci, Pete Buttigieg: give it a rest

Even at £30 a packet, the Myrkl ‘pre-drinking’ pill sold out before its UK launch. I spent four days finding out if it does indeed reduce the effects of alcoholWe tend to think of a hangover as the price of inebriation: a little bit of wellbeing borrowed from the future for the sake of a good time, at a cost to be confirmed in the morning. Studies show that commonly touted remedies – ginseng, Korean pear juice, prickly pear, clove extract – don’t do anything, which feels like justice.But what if a hangover cure really existed? What if you could drink too much and avoid the consequences? How would that affect your evening plans? Continue reading...

Procedures such as apheresis, or ‘blood washing’, and anti-clotting therapy are being offered in EuropeThousands of people with long Covid are travelling abroad to spend huge sums of money on unproven treatments such as “blood washing”, prompting warnings from experts and doctors.Patients are attending private clinics in Cyprus, Germany and Switzerland for procedures such as a blood filtering treatment and anti-clotting therapy, according to an investigation by the British Medical Journal and ITV News. Continue reading...

Off message | Hangry for revolution | Drifting into muesli | Big lies | On timeAs a psychotherapist, I often work with couples, one of whom has received a message out of the blue from an old flame (Old friends more grateful to receive a message than we expect, study finds, 11 July. Their reasons for entering therapy often centre around the message, jealousy on one half, doubts on the other, or a yearning to recapture past youthful feelings. Trust me, a message out of the blue is definitely not a good idea for some.

Scientists ‘thrilled and relieved’ to get first images from most powerful space-based observatory ever builtAstronomers have hailed the beginning of a new era of space observation after Nasa unveiled a flurry of full-colour images from the James Webb space telescope, the largest and most powerful space-based observatory ever built.The pictures from the sun-orbiting instrument brought delight – and no end of relief – for researchers who have waited decades for the project to come to fruition and embark on its mission to transform our view of the cosmos. Continue reading...

Researchers used AI to pinpoint the meteorite’s crater on Mars’ southern hemisphere, naming it Karratha, a city close to the Pilbara region

Analysis: astronomers are hoping future images will show ‘cosmic dawn’, the forming of the first galaxies 13.5bn years agoThe wait, it seems, was worth it. Decades after researchers proposed what became known as the James Webb space telescope, the first colour images have landed and with them a tantalising glimpse of the observatory’s power to peer back in time to the moment when the first stars lit up the universe.Major accomplishments in space observation always ride on a wave of PR and on Monday it was President Joe Biden who unveiled the first colour image, noting the deep implications for Homo sapiens. It was “an historic moment” he said, not only for science and technology, but “for America and all of humanity”. Continue reading...

Academics have long petitioned Nasa to rename the space telescope, given historical accusations linking Webb to anti-LGBT policiesThe release of the first images from the James Webb space telescope, the most powerful ever launched into space, has renewed calls from astronomers for Nasa to rename the instrument amid allegations Webb was complicit in historical persecution of LGBTQ+ people.The $10bn telescope is named in tribute to James Webb, an American official who was the second administrator of Nasa. Webb led the space agency during many of the Apollo missions in the 1960s and also served as the US undersecretary of state from 1949 to 1952. Continue reading...

Experts describe cobalt mine at Alderley Edge as ‘time capsule’ thanks to lack of oxygenA pristine 200-year-old mineshaft that had been undisturbed since it was abandoned by miners during the Napoleonic wars has been discovered by cavers in Cheshire, revealing an almost unique “time capsule” of their underground life.The cobalt mine, at Alderley Edge, was sealed by the miners when the shaft was abandoned, at a date that can be pinpointed fairly accurately thanks to one man who used candle soot to write his initials “WS” and the date 20 August 1810 on the rock wall. Continue reading...

The varroa mite, a deadly honeybee parasite, has finally found its way into Australia. Varroa destructor affects every other major beekeeping area in the world, damaging honeybees and transmitting viruses across hives. Now, in a fight to contain the mite, the state of New South Wales has destroyed 1,533 infected hives and implemented a statewide standstill on bee movement. Madeleine Finlay speaks to Dr Cooper Schouten, a beekeper and researcher, about why the mite poses such a threat to honeybees, what it means to put bees into lockdown, and what impacts this biosecurity breech could have.Archive: 7News Australia, WSPA 7News Continue reading...

The pictures show elements of the universe as they were 13bn years ago, reshaping our understanding of the cosmosNasa has released an image of far-flung galaxies as they were 13bn years ago, the first glimpse from the most powerful telescope ever launched into space, which promises to reshape our understanding of the dawn of the universe.The small slice of the universe, called SMACS 0723, has been captured in sharp detail by the James Webb space telescope (JWST), showing that particular cluster as it was 4.6bn years ago, as well as the light from many different twinkling galaxies which are among the oldest in the universe. Joe Biden, who unveiled the image at a White House event, called the moment “historic” and said it provided “a new window into the history of our universe”. Continue reading...

Bioluminescence phenomenon has long eluded scientific inquiry owing to its remote and infrequent natureWaking at 10pm, a sailor looked out from the deck of the superyacht Ganesha to see that the ocean had turned white. “There is no moon, the sea is apparently full of plankton, but the bow wave is black. It gives the impression of sailing on snow,” they wrote.For centuries, mariners have described navigating unearthly night-time waters, lit up by a mysterious glow, but such “milky seas” have long eluded scientific inquiry owing to their remote, transient and infrequent nature. Continue reading...

The answers to today’s puzzlesEarlier today I set you three problems, inspired by the 2022 Fields medals. The prizes – which every four years go to up to four mathematicians under 40 – are the most famous award in mathematics.Maryna Viazovska, from Ukraine, won for her groundbreaking work on how to pack spheres in 24 dimensions. The first puzzle was about how to pack beers in three dimensions. Continue reading...

Scientists find ghrelin levels rose in men’s blood after sun exposure, but oestrogen appears to block increase in womenSummer sunshine can leave us feeling hot, sweaty and a bit burnt – but it may also make men hungrier, by triggering the release of an appetite-boosting hormone from fat stores in their skin, data suggests.The study, which was published in the journal Nature Metabolism, adds to growing evidence that the effects of sun exposure may be more complex than first thought. Continue reading...

Whistleblower claims serious flaws in support given by official helpline, as virus continues to spreadMonkeypox is continuing to spread in the UK, with current efforts insufficient to curb the outbreak, experts have warned as a whistleblower claimed there were serious flaws in the support given to those who think they have been exposed.According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), there have been 1,552 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the UK related to the outbreak as of 7 July. Continue reading...

Research suggests our fears of contacting a former acquaintance out of the blue are unfoundedIt has happened to us all: sitting on the sofa, toying with the idea of sending an old friend an unexpected text, but worrying that a message out of the blue may seem weird, intrusive or just plain unwelcome.However, research suggests such fears are unfounded, with those on the receiving end often far more grateful than the sender may expect. Continue reading...

Parts of France and Germany likely to experience temperatures above 40C this week, while highs in Iberia could touch 47CEurope is once again entering a period of significant heatwave conditions this week, with the possibility of some record-breaking temperatures.Sweltering heat has already been affecting Iberia over the past few days, with temperatures 4-5C above the seasonal norm, leading to highs above 40C (104F). Through the rest of this week, the heat is likely to build even more intensely to about 7C above average, with maximum temperatures touching 46-47C in Seville, for instance. Continue reading...

Problems inspired by maths’ biggest prizeUPDATE: you can now read the solutions hereThe winners of maths’ most high-profile prize, the Fields Medal, were announced last week. The award, which every four years goes to up to four mathematicians under 40, is a recognition both of outstanding work and future promiseOf the 2022 medallists, Maryna Viazovska, aged 37, from Ukraine, won for her groundbreaking work on how to pack spheres in 24 dimensions. Continue reading...

Midweek full moon will be nearer to earth than any other this yearThis week is all about the moon because on 13 July, the full moon will be a supermoon.There is some debate about what constitutes a supermoon but everyone agrees on the basic principle: it occurs when the full moon takes place at or near the lunar perigee, which means its closest approach to the Earth. When the full moon occurs at or around this point in its orbit, it appears slightly larger and brighter than other full moons, and so is called a supermoon. Continue reading...

Research involving 500,000 Britons reveals link to earlier death for those who always season their mealsAdding salt to meals at the table is linked to an earlier death, according to a study of 500,000 middle-aged Britons.Researchers found that always adding salt to food knocks more than two years off life expectancy for men and one-and-a-half years for women. This does not include seasoning during the cooking process. Continue reading...

Children spend the same amount of time growing up as bowhead whales – yet they live for hundreds of yearsOne of the things that makes Homo sapiens so unique as a species seems so mundane, so everyday, that we rarely stop to question it. But seen from the perspective of every other animal on the planet, our long childhood is an extreme outlier. We remain children longer than any of them. To put us in perspective, we spend about the same time growing up as bowhead whales – perhaps 25-odd years. However, bowhead whales are many times our size and can live for hundreds of years; we’re not taking between five and 10% of our lives out to be children, but almost a quarter.Over time, our species has evolved to move the markers of what biologists call “life history” – milestones like birth, growth, maturity, death – into a radically different arrangement to other species. We do not live for ever, but comparatively we are for ever young. So much about our bodies, minds and the way we build our social and physical worlds is arranged to accommodate this long, bright teatime of growing up. And if we trace the evolutionary choices our species has made, we can see we have repeatedly chosen to invest in the slow growth of the next generation in ways no other animal has managed.Brenna Hassett, PhD, is a bioarchaeologist and author of Built on Bones: 15,000 Years of Urban Life and Death and Growing Up Human: The Evolution of Childhood Continue reading...

Study reveals what we already suspected: if we’re hungry, we’re not happy. So keep calm and eatIs this article already annoying you? I can only apologise. But also, may I ask whether you’ve skipped breakfast or lunch? Because that might explain it. You’re not really peevish. You’re just peckish.Those who get a bit snappy on an empty stomach will be pleased to know that being “hangry” – a portmanteau neologism meaning angry because you’re hungry – was last week confirmed as a genuine medical phenomenon. An actual, proper, point-at-the-newspaper-in-vindication thing. Continue reading...

The Spix macaw, a bird that had once vanished in the wild, is now thriving in its South American homeland after a successful breeding programmeTwenty years ago, the future of the Spix’s macaw could not have looked bleaker. The last member of this distinctive parrot species disappeared from the wild, leaving only a few dozen birds in collectors’ cages across the globe. The prospects for Cyanopsitta spixii were grim, to say the least.But thanks to a remarkable international rescue project, Spix’s macaws – with their grey heads and vivid blue plumage – have made a stunning comeback. A flock now soars freely over its old homeland in Brazil after being released there a month ago. Later this year, conservationists plan to release more birds, and hope the parrots will start breeding in the wild next spring. Continue reading...

Falling educational standards and immature behaviour point to a Covid deficitAt a university reunion recently, my friends and I cornered the dean in charge of pastoral care and tried to make him tell us how much cooler we had been than students these days. We had heard they had no sex, did no drugs, never went out, spent all day in the library and all night applying for internships with accountancy firms. We must have been so difficult to control, we said, in a smug, self-satisfied way. Life must be easier for him now.“Actually, you were all quite sweet,” he said crushingly. It was the new crop of first years that were the real challenge. In fact, they were tougher to manage than any group he had come across before; it started with horrendous bullying and got worse from there. The trouble was, he said, they were immature: he was having to treat them more like 16-year-olds than the 18- and 19-year-olds they were. Continue reading...

Omicron is holding the pandemic centre stage. If everyone eligible for a booster went out and had it tomorrow, we might keep a lid on the latest waveLiving with Covid has taken on a whole new meaning in 2022.We had been prepared for the virus remaining in our communities, but Omicron has taken this to a different level. This is what “vaccine-escape” looks like. Continue reading...

Symptoms can persist for weeks but work on causes and treatments is still developing. Here’s what we know so farMuch has been written about long Covid. Sufferers describe troubling ongoing symptoms on social media that persist for weeks after infection. Meanwhile, research to find a cause continues and multiple theories have emerged.So what do we now know about long Covid, the risk of getting it and how best to treat it? Guardian Australia spoke to the leading physicians working with long Covid patients, including in long Covid and post-Covid clinics, to better understand the latest evidence. Continue reading...

How lack of intimacy – and effort – can undermine male friendshipsMen have a friendship problem. You probably know this already, if only anecdotally – walk into any pub in the land and count the number of blokes sitting there drinking alone. Social scientists know this evidentially. Recent research by the mental health charity Movember, for example, suggests that one in three men have no close friends. And I know this personally – in the summer of 2020, when I was planning to propose to my girlfriend, Naomi, I realised I had no one to call on to be my best man.Loneliness doesn’t look like me. But there I was – 33 years young, outgoing, and always quick to buy my round – and yet I had no friends. And it made me feel ashamed. Suddenly I was that guy sitting alone in the school lunch hall. I was a Billy No-Mates. This bruising realisation sent me off on a quest, not only to fill a role, but to answer a question: what goes wrong for men like me? And what can we do about it? I discovered that there are three main theories. Continue reading...

Rare earth elements hold the key to a carbon-free future, but a new report reveals the UK’s shortcomings and vulnerabilitiesIn his book Electrify: An Optimist’s Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future, Saul Griffith, an American inventor, entrepreneur and engineer, sets out a plan for decarbonising the US: electrify everything. From now on, every time people replace a vehicle or renovate a building or buy an appliance, they should be buying electric. Every new roof must have solar panels, all new housing must be energy efficient and shouldn’t contain a gas cooker. All that’s required to make this happen is a collective national effort comparable to the mobilisation of the US economy for the second world war. And it could be financed with the kind of low-cost, long-term loans reminiscent of the government-backed mortgages that created the postwar American middle class. QED.Reading Griffith’s engaging, optimistic book, a wicked thought keeps coming to mind: HL Mencken’s observation: “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong.” But Griffith is too smart to be caught in that particular net. There is, though, one serious difficulty with his grand plan and it goes by the abbreviation CRM. Continue reading...

A TUC survey has revealed that employees who may have the virus have been ordered into the workplace by bossesNearly one in 10 workers with Covid symptoms are being pressured by managers to come into work, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has claimed, as a new wave of coronavirus infections and hospitalisations sweeps across the country.Polling by the TUC reveals that 9% of employees displaying symptoms have been forced into workplaces, and, in the past 12 months, 10% have been asked to work alongside colleagues who had tested positive. Continue reading...

Paleontologists believe fragment is 1.4m years old, predating previous find at same site by 200,000 yearsA jawbone fragment discovered in northern Spain last month could be the oldest known fossil of a human ancestor found to date in Europe, Spanish paleontologists said on Friday.The researchers said the fossil found at an archaeological site on 30 June in the Atapuerca mountain range was about 1.4m years old. Continue reading...

The theory needs to be updated by incorporating recent genetic breakthroughs and viewing the process through a female lens, says Heather RemoffThe question isn’t whether or not we need a new theory of evolution (The long read, 28 June); it’s why it has taken so long to bring the old one into the 21st century. Anchor bias, the difficulty of dislodging the first thing we learn about a topic, makes it challenging for biologists to accept and evaluate experimental data that doesn’t play by Darwin’s rules.Natural selection had many fathers, including Darwin’s own grandfather, Erasmus. But sexual selection is exclusively Darwin’s, and is the theory most in need of a second look. The failure to update the theory of sexual selection by incorporating recent genetic breakthroughs and viewing the process through a female lens has left us with a seriously flawed theory of human evolution. Continue reading...

Hours at a desk aren’t necessarily the key to success – ask June Huh, the would-be poet who has won the Fields medal for mathematicsJune Huh, a poet manqué who says he struggles to do more than three hours’ focused work a day, this week became one of the latest recipients of the highest honour in mathematics, the Fields medal. Rarely can a single sentence have contained so many apparent cultural contradictions. Maths is traditionally seen as a “hard” subject, requiring sustained concentration and regular practice. Some universities recommend that students do not take gap years without ensuring they follow a programme to keep up to scratch.Prof Huh’s approach is different. For a few months in 2019, the Princeton academic revealed, all he did was reread books from his youth, including the novels of the Swiss-German polymath Hermann Hesse, guru of the hippy-era search for authenticity. He emphasised the parallels between artists and mathematicians, saying that, in both cases, “it feels like you’re grabbing something that’s already there, rather than creating something in your mind”. Continue reading...

Sustainability is key to survival of billions of people, says UN study, which notes income from wild species incentivises conservation• Patrick Vallance: ‘We need to change if we’re to survive’Wild plants, animals, fungi and algae support half of the world’s population but their future use is threatened by overexploitation, according to a new assessment by leading scientists.From the 10,000 known wild species that humans harvest for food to the firewood that one in three people need for cooking, nature is key to the livelihoods and survival of billions of people in developed and developing countries, says a new UN report. Continue reading...

One in 25 people in England believed to have had the disease at the end of JuneCovid cases have risen almost 20% in a week, with one in 25 people in England thought to have had the disease at the end of June, official figures suggest, as a leading statistician said hospitalisations from the latest surge may be “topping off”.According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, based on swabs collected from randomly selected households, an estimated 2.71 million people in the UK had Covid in the week ending 29-30 June, an 18% rise on the week before, when almost 2.3 million people had the virus. Continue reading...