Projects in jeopardy as EU revokes millions in grant offers after failure of trade talksBritish science is facing the threat of a highly damaging brain drain that could see scores of top young researchers leaving the UK. In addition, the futures of several major British-led international projects are also now in jeopardy following a delay in funding by the European Union.Senior scientists say the UK’s scientific standing is at serious risk while others have warned that major programmes – including medical projects aimed at tackling global scourges such as malaria – face cancellation. Continue reading...
Eerie photographs recovered from the 1857 wreck of the SS Central America are now being published for the first timeIt is one of the most famous treasure wrecks ever discovered, a steamer named the “ship of gold” after it sank in 1857 off the coast of South Carolina with one of the largest cargoes of gold ever lost at sea. Miners who had struck it rich in the California gold rush were among those bringing home to New York their hard-earned wealth, only to lose their lives when the SS Central America was struck by a hurricane, sinking nearly a mile and a half beneath the waves.When nuggets, ingots and coins were recovered from the seabed in various expeditions between 1988 and 2014, the world was dazzled. But, with reported values of tens of millions of pounds, it sparked a complex legal case that landed its original treasure-hunter in jail. Continue reading...
Making sure adults and older children are vaccinated, as well as mask wearing and social distancing, is the best thing to do if worried about under-fives not being eligible, expert says
by Hosted by Jane Lee. Written by Donna Lu and Bronwy on (#5WHWM)
For four extraordinary people, superpowers are not beyond the imagination – they are an ordinary reality that they smell, remember and see every dayYou can read the original articles here:‘It’s awful to be a medical exception’: the woman who cannot forget Continue reading...
The goal of a universal vaccine would have seemed a fantasy only a few years ago. But not now…This week the government announced additional vaccine booster jabs for the over-75s and suggested a further shot is likely to be needed in the autumn. But imagine if the next Covid vaccine jab you have were the last you would ever need. That’s a dream being actively pursued now by researchers, who feel it could be possible to make a “universal” vaccine against the Sars-CoV-2 virus that would work well not only against all existing variants but any that the virus could plausibly mutate into in the future.Some are thinking even bigger. In January, Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, and two other experts called for more research into “universal coronavirus vaccines” that would work not only against Sars-CoV-2 but against the many other coronaviruses in animal populations that have the potential to spill over into humans and cause future pandemics. “We need a research approach that can characterise the global ‘coronaviral universe’ in multiple species,” Fauci and colleagues wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine, “and apply this information in developing broadly protective ‘universal’ vaccines against all [coronaviruses].” Continue reading...
Marianna Spring tackles Covid misinformation; Wendy Zukerman and Rose Rimler take Joe Rogan apart; and FunKids goes boldly and delightfully into spaceDeath by Conspiracy? (BBC Radio 4) | BBC SoundsScience Vs: Joe Rogan: The Malone Interview | Gimlet Media Continue reading...
Whether it’s making a heroine’s costume or using a traditional fabric, stitching garments can guide us in lifeIt was because of the movie Labyrinth that I learned to sew.When Jennifer Connelly’s character recites the monologue that I would, in turn, recite endlessly to an audience of Vermont pine (“My will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom as great”), she is wearing a loose, cream-coloured blouse with ample, pleated sleeves. Her costume marks her as a heroine, on a heroine’s quest. I had never seen anything so captivating. With the adamantine will and romantic imagination of an eight-year-old, I vowed not to rest until I could wear this most beautiful of all garments. Continue reading...
by Michael Schur. Photographs: Steven Ahlgren on (#5WHKR)
As we slowly rediscover a world of bad wifi and slow lifts, the US Office writer and creator of Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine explains why he can’t wait to get backOne of the first things we knew back in early 2020 was that we wouldn’t be going to work for a while. We thought that we would take a quick break – a week, maybe – and then reassess. So we cleaned out our cubicles and desks, and grabbed a few snacks from the kitchen (and toilet paper from the bathroom). One week became two, which became a month, which became a series of question marks spanning endlessly into the future, as the Zooms and FaceTimes and home office conversions gradually made the very idea of spending our workdays with other people seem like a quaint memory. Like childhood birthday parties, or answering machines, or properly functioning democracy.Some of us might never go back. Every so often we will hear about companies reassessing their relationship to the office, which has been proved unnecessary or at least outdated.‘In 1987,’ photographer Steven Ahlgren says, ‘when I was bored and unfulfilled, working as a banker in Minneapolis, I began taking frequent trips to look at a painting by Edward Hopper, Office at Night. What first drew me was its setting, which I related to each and every workday at the bank. But what kept pulling me back was its ambiguous narrative – who were these two people, what was their relationship, and why was the woman looking at that piece of paper on the floor?’ Continue reading...
‘Living with Covid’ plan means government’s chief scientific adviser and chief medical officer will step backSir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, and Sir Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, became household names after they were propelled into the spotlight by the Covid pandemic. For the past two years, they have flanked Boris Johnson at Downing Street briefings armed with PowerPoint slides and exponential curves. But with the announcement this week of England’s plan for “living with Covid” the advisers are expected to take a step back. Here are some of their most memorable moments. Continue reading...
Dinosaur probably belongs to carnivorous group called abelisaurs and may have used its head to ram its preyScientists in Argentina have unearthed the remains of a previously unknown species of meat-eating dinosaur that lived about 70m years ago that had puny arms and may have used its powerful head to ram its prey.The fossil skull of the Cretaceous period dinosaur, named Guemesia ochoai, was discovered in Argentina’s north-western Salta province. The researchers said it likely belongs to a carnivorous group of dinosaurs called abelisaurs, which walked on two legs and possessed only stub-like arms, even shorter than those of North America’s Tyrannosaurus rex. Continue reading...
Readers respond to Boris Johnson’s plan for the country to ‘live with Covid’, which includes removing restrictions even for those who test positiveBoris Johnson speaks of “protecting ourselves without losing our liberties”. This is frighteningly ridiculous. If you are Covid positive and don’t self-isolate, or you refuse to wear a mask in a crowded, poorly ventilated environment, then the risk is all on me. You will, in fact, be reducing the likelihood of my being able to protect myself and with it increasing the likelihood that I will lose my liberties.I behave responsibly, and care about other people’s health. Should I catch Covid, it would never occur to me to risk the health of others by continuing as I was doing (so-called exercising my liberty) and running the risk of infecting others (who would have every right to be angry with me if I knew beforehand that I was Covid positive). Continue reading...
Everyday noises also caused me pain: the toilet flushing, plates clinkingOne night at home in Greystones, Ireland in 2003, aged 25, I was watching a movie and noticed that my left ear felt as if it had water in it. At first I didn’t think much of it. Then the feeling persisted and got worse every time I heard a loud noise.I went to my GP, who said I had a small hole in my eardrum and prescribed antibiotics. The hole healed, but afterwards I began to find certain everyday noises painful – and both ears were affected. Continue reading...
New Brunswick officials say baffling disorder that causes memory loss and cognitive decline is from known neurological conditionAfter warning medical professionals to be on the lookout for a baffling neurological condition that produced memory loss, muscle wasting and severe cognitive decline, authorities in the Canadian province of New Brunswick have concluded that no such illness exists, a finding that has prompted skepticism and disbelief as families search for answers.New Brunswick officials last year flagged a possible “cluster” of residents suffering from an unknown neurological syndrome, similar to those of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Symptoms were varied and dramatic: some patients started drooling, and others felt as though bugs were crawling on their skin. Continue reading...
More was surplus, and so this woman gave away what she didn’t need. And giving made her happyI’d never done a reverse park before, and in the empty train station car park, my instructor directed me to reverse in beside the only other car in the area – a grey van.Reverse parking is horrible. I don’t understand why anyone would do it when they can forward park. As I squeezed in beside the van (the equivalent of sitting right next to someone in an empty train carriage), I noticed a hand adjusting the curtains in the back window. Continue reading...
Research finds behaviour changes in dogs who have lost a canine companionThe loss of a loved one can have a profound impact on humans, affecting everything from sleep patterns to appetite. Now researchers say they have found similar behaviour changes in dogs who have lost a canine companion.While the team say it is not clear if the findings can be described as grief, they say the work potentially indicates an overlooked welfare issue. Continue reading...
The crisis may be passing, but there’s no return to the ‘normal’ of 2019 – and we’re no longer the same people we wereThe pandemic changed everything about our lives: how we worked, socialised, travelled. Dealing with so many changes at once was a mental challenge for us all. As Covid-19 fizzles out, and things go back to “normal”, some of these pressures will ease as life becomes more recognisable. But the end of a pandemic will require an adjustment, just as the beginning did.For a start, we are not entering the same “normal” that we left – and we are not the same people we were then. Some of us will face lingering mental health problems, including those who have developed severe, chronic grief over the loss of loved ones, or people who have developed post-traumatic stress disorder because of experiences with the disease.Steven Taylor is a professor and clinical psychologist at the University of British Columbia, and author of The Psychology of Pandemics Continue reading...
Elsevier’s work with fossil fuel companies ‘drags us towards disaster’, climate researcher saysScientists working with one of the world’s largest climate research publishers say they’re increasingly alarmed that the company works with the fossil fuel industry to help increase oil and gas drilling, the Guardian can reveal.Elsevier, a Dutch company behind many renowned peer-reviewed scientific journals, including the Lancet and Global Environmental Change, is also one of the top publishers of books aimed at expanding fossil fuel production. Continue reading...
Light pollution is a modern scourge but a concerted effort to bring the darkness to Wales is under way – with the help of astronomy strolls led by experts wielding laser pensDuring a brief window between named storms this month, 30 or so people gather in a darkened car park on a hillside east of Snowdonia. Red lights are flashing hither and yon. “Has everyone got warm hats and decent shoes?” asks Dani Robertson, dark skies officer at the North Wales Dark Skies Partnership, with the tone of a concerned mum. “We’ve got some camping mats if you need them”The group mumbles in the affirmative, before setting off for a 15-minute walk up Moel Famau in the Clwydian Range Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We’re here for an introductory astronomy session, one of a series of events organised for the first Welsh Dark Skies Week at several locations across the country – other options include a astro-archaeology lectures and astral photography courses. The red lights on torches and headlamps provided will allow night vision to develop – not just for the rocky path ahead, but hopefully for optimal stargazing, too. Continue reading...
by Presented by Ian Sample, produced by George Cooper on (#5WF49)
When the announcement came last week that all children aged five to 11 in England will be offered a Covid vaccine, emphasis was placed on parental decision-making. But with factors to consider including disease severity, transmission, long Covid and vaccine side-effects, for many parents and guardians this may not be an easy choice.Ian Sample speaks to Prof Adam Finn about how the evidence stacks up, and what parents should be thinking about when deciding whether to vaccinate their five- to 11-year-olds against Covid-19Archive: ITV News Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#5WF1X)
Oxford University research also finds pescatarians have 10% reduced risk compared with those who eat meat regularlyVegetarians have a 14% lower chance of developing cancer than carnivores, according to a large study that links meat-eating to a heightened risk of the disease.A team of researchers from Oxford University analysed data on more than 470,000 Britons and found that pescatarians had a 10% reduced risk. Compared with people who eat meat regularly – defined as more than five times a week – those who consumed small amounts had a 2% lower risk of developing cancer, the study found.Low meat-eaters – who consume meat five or fewer times a week – had a 9% lower risk of developing bowel cancer than regular meat-eaters.Vegetarian women were 18% less likely than those who ate meat regularly to develop postmenopausal breast cancer, though that may be due to their lower body mass index.Vegetarian men have a 31% lower risk of prostate cancer while among male pescatarians it is 20% lower. Continue reading...
Dozens of live-in workers have been forced to sleep rough in the Hong Kong winter after bosses refuse to allow them back in the houseLive-in domestic workers in Hong Kong have been left homeless after they were diagnosed with Covid-19 and their employers fired them or refused their return to the residence, support groups have said.Many of the workers, who are mostly women from Indonesia and the Philippines, were also left without insurance to cover their medical bills. Continue reading...
The drugmakers hope to catch up with rivals after reporting positive results from late-stage clinical trialsThe French and British drugmakers Sanofi and GSK are ready to seek approval from regulators for their Covid-19 vaccine after reporting positive results from late-stage clinical trials.The firms are hoping to catch up with rivals after falling far behind in the race to develop Covid-19 shots. Their product was delayed by an early dosing error during trials, initially disappointing results in older people and other issues. It will be available as a two-dose vaccine and as a booster. Continue reading...
Animals in northern hemisphere would have been more vulnerable to intense heat just after winterHaving an asteroid slam into Earth was catastrophic for the dinosaurs, but the season of the strike may have substantially ramped up extinction rates for others species, research suggests.Scientists have found evidence that the devastating impact 66m years ago, which wiped out three-quarters of Earth’s species and created the Chicxulub crater in modern-day Mexico, happened in the spring in the northern hemisphere. Continue reading...
Scientists report unexpected brain activity in patient, 87, as he died from heart attackWhen Harry Stamper sets off a bomb to save planet Earth in the film Armageddon, his life flashes before his eyes. Now research has revealed tantalising clues that such recall may not be Hollywood hyperbole.An international team of scientists has reported an unexpected situation in which they recorded the brain activity of an 87-year-old patient as he died. Continue reading...
Other items attracting large bids include 15g fragment of Winchcombe meteoriteWhile billionaires are battling it out in a race to colonise the moon, mere stratospherically rich mortals on Earth were able to grab a small slice of space rock for themselves on Wednesday at Christie’s annual sale of rare and unusual meteorites.Star-gazers and meteorite enthusiasts bid frantically for fragments of the “oldest matter humankind can touch” – as the auction house put it – while other objects such as a comet-cracked kennel from Costa Rica sold for tens of thousands of dollars. Continue reading...
Strategic and scientific motivations are not always neatly separable, but it’s clear Australia’s renewed interest in Antarctica is spurred in part by ChinaIn the 1950s, the Soviets came to Antarctica. As part of its contribution to the International Geophysical Year of 1957-8, a global scientific jamboree, the Soviet Union began building research stations across the great southern land – largely in areas claimed by Australia.Amid heightened cold war tensions, Australian officials were not pleased. Government records from the time reveal fears the Soviets might install defence infrastructure in Antarctica; the then foreign minister, Richard Casey, warned of missiles being launched on Sydney or Melbourne. The Australian Antarctic Territory is vast: at approximately 6m square kilometres (just shy of half of the landmass), the territory is almost the size of continental Australia itself. Plenty of room for Soviet missiles. Continue reading...
Low-income countries need access to technology and knowledge to produce their own vaccines, treatments and testsAs Australians struggle for access to rapid antigen tests (RATs) and third booster shots for the Omicron strain, spare a thought for millions in low-income countries where only 10% have had one vaccine dose, with even less access to tests or treatments.World Trade Organization (WTO) member states will meet virtually this week to decide on a proposal from India and South Africa, supported by over 100 countries, including the US and Australia, for a temporary waiver on WTO rules for intellectual property monopolies on Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatments. Continue reading...
It’s not simply a staff shortage or training delays, but a lack of political will and funds, says Dr Hadyn Williams, chief executive of the BACPThere was excess demand for psychological support before Covid hit, and your article (Millions in England face ‘second pandemic’ of mental health issues, 21 February) highlights the impact the pandemic is having on the nation’s mental health. We need investment now to expand the mental health workforce in the NHS, schools, charities and voluntary services to support the millions who are experiencing mental health problems.It’s not simply a shortage of workers or delays in training them that’s preventing people accessing services, but a lack of political will and funds to bring existing skilled and experienced professionals into the workforce in greater numbers. Continue reading...
US results also confirm previous findings that some neurons respond to speech or musicIt may not yet feature in a West End musical but scientists say they have found an unexpected response to singin’ in the brain.Researchers say they have found particular groups of neurons that appear to respond selectively to the sound of singing. Continue reading...
The ‘living with Covid’ strategy fails to provide testing, or address the impact of future variants, long Covid and inequalityOn Monday the government announced its “living with Covid” strategy, including a phasing-out of free access to rapid lateral flow tests, reduced access to the more accurate PCR tests for most of those with symptoms, an end to legal requirements to self-isolate and an end to financial support for those on low incomes needing to self-isolate.Announcing the changes, which will come into force on Thursday, Boris Johnson said the time to “compel” people was over. Now “people will be asked to exercise personal responsibility” to look after each other, he said.Christina Pagel is director of UCL’s Clinical Operational Research Unit, which applies advanced analytical methods to problems in healthcare Continue reading...
Discovery shows pterosaurs with a 2.5-metre wingspan existed about 25m years earlier than previously thoughtIt might be best known today for its otters and puffins but 170m years ago the Isle of Skye was home to an enormous flying reptile with a wingspan bigger than a kingsize bed, researchers have revealed.Fossil hunters in Scotland say they have recovered the remains of the world’s largest Jurassic pterosaur, adding the creature – known informally as a pterodactyl – also boasted a mouthful of sharp teeth for spearing and trapping fish. Continue reading...
by Presented and produced by Madeleine Finlay, sound on (#5WCMN)
Over the past week, the UK has been hit with three storms: Dudley, Eunice and Franklin. With high winds and heavy rain, they have brought death and injury, caused extensive damage to trees and infrastructure and stopped transport across the country.Madeleine Finlay speaks to Dr Fredi Otto about how rare these weather events are, and whether the climate crisis could bring us more frequent and intense storms in the futureArchive: Met Office, STV News, ITV News, Sky News, BIG JET TV Continue reading...
Analysis: several world-leading studies to guide future Covid care depend on widespread testing now threatened by government cutsAfter a bruising two years in which the UK failed to prove its resilience to a pandemic, the government hopes to re-cast the nation as a scientific superpower: a country that has built on the lessons of the crisis to deliver better research, more precision healthcare, and a more streamlined pathway to new drugs and vaccines.But the government’s decision to substantially cut back on free Covid testing, as part of Boris Johnson’s “living with Covid” strategy, already threatens to undermine pioneering trials and coronavirus surveillance that are the envy of other nations. Together, they are crucial for understanding how drugs keep patients out of hospital, how immunity is holding up in vulnerable care homes and hospitals and how the epidemic is unfolding around us. Continue reading...
The Pacific country was coronavirus-free until last month but an outbreak of thousands of cases is overwhelming the health systemFrontline health workers in Solomon Islands have warned that its health system is on the brink of collapse as the country struggles to deal with a devastating outbreak of Covid-19.A senior doctor and two nurses at the National Referral Hospital (NRH) in the capital of Honiara have told of how there are no beds for Covid patients – leading to people dying on the floor of the wards – as well as a lack of facilities and staff shortages that have led to Covid-positive nurses being recalled to work and probationary nurses tending to critically ill patients solo, when they should be supervised by a more senior nurse. Continue reading...
The answer to today’s logical teaserEarlier today I set you the following puzzle about a game show, which has been used during Oxford university admissions interviews for joint philosophy courses. The puzzle has three versions and I will discuss the solutions to all of them below, as well as how they relate to basic issues in computer science.1. The standard version Continue reading...
Hands on buzzersUPDATE: To read the answers click here.Today’s puzzle concerns contestants in a fictitious game show trying to win £1m. It was also once given to a different sort of contestant competing for a different sort of prize: candidates applying to study joint philosophy degrees at Oxford university.The teenagers were hoping to study PPE (politics, philosophy and economics), Maths and Philosophy, and Computer Science and Philosophy. They were set the puzzle in their admissions interviews, as part of a back-and-forth discussion in which the interviewer may have given hints and asked probing questions. The interviewer was focussed on how the candidates went about solving the puzzle as much as the solutions they gave. Continue reading...
Usually twinkling in summer months, the ‘rival of Mars’ will appear clearer in still winter airThis week offers early risers a chance to see the silver moon next to the deep-red star Antares. The chart shows the view looking south from London at 0500 GMT on the morning of 24 February.The moon will be low in the sky with an altitude of just 12 degrees; Antares will be even lower, so find the clearest southern horizon that you can. With 46.8% of its visible surface illuminated, the moon will be more or less at its last quarter phase, about to become a waning crescent. Continue reading...
As restrictions end in England, the Tories’ promise to ‘build back better’ is nowhere to be seenThis week, England arrives at a moment that will fit the Boris Johnson era to perfection. Even if the pandemic is not quite over – something symbolised by news of the Queen testing positive – everything is being arranged to convince us that it is. On Monday, the prime minister is expected to explain his government’s “living with Covid” strategy, and on Thursday, most remaining Covid rules and restrictions will be lifted.Although Northern Ireland seems to be taking a similar route, Scotland and Wales are once again sticking to more cautious policies, but that is presumably the way Johnson likes it. Here is an opportunity for him to show the libertarian, Brexity backbench hardcore which seems to now run the Conservative party that their home country is blazing a trail towards the dazzling uplands of freedom and easy living, and all is once again well.John Harris is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Experts are predicting demand for life-saving antiviral drugs will rapidly outpace supply. Like the vaccine, the poorest countries will be left until lastCovid-19 has quietly become the gift that keeps on giving for big pharma. The past two years has seen it reap huge profits from Covid vaccines, while simultaneously opposing wider sharing of the technology required to make them. And now there’s a new money-spinner on the rise: Covid antiviral treatment pills. Once again, we’re poised to fall into the same inequality traps we’re caught in with the global vaccine rollout.Both Pfizer and Merck have new antiviral pills rapidly arriving on the market – Paxlovid and molnupiravir respectively. As with the vaccines that came before them, both corporations have made it their business to ultimately decide who gets to make generic versions through the medical patent system – a crucial, life-saving question for millions around the world.Othoman Mellouk is a medicine access advocate with the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition Continue reading...
The global pandemic sparked a huge superhuman effort to control coronavirus. But the billions spent have also had an unexpected impact on medicine and scienceWhen Tom Pooley, 21, became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against plague as part of a medical trial last summer after tests on mice, he was inspired by the thought that his involvement could help to rid the world of one of the most brutal killers in human history.“They made it quite clear I was the first human to receive it,” says Pooley, a radiotherapy engineering student. “They didn’t dress it up, but they made it clear it was as safe as possible. There are risks, but they are talented people: it’s a big honour to be the first.” The single-shot, based on the Chadox technology developed by the Oxford Vaccine Group and AstraZeneca, took less than five seconds to painlessly administer, he says. That night, he felt a little unwell, but he was fine within three hours; and the small trial continued apace to combat the centuries-old bacteria threat, which killed 171 in Madagascar as recently as 2017. It uses a weakened, genetically altered version of a common-cold virus from chimpanzees. Continue reading...