Science | The Guardian

Last week, testing at a private Covid lab in Wolverhampton was halted, after the UK Health Security Agency found tens of thousands of people may have been falsely given a negative PCR result. But since the start of September, scientists had been alerted to strange patterns in the testing data which suggested something was out of the ordinary. Anand Jagatia speaks to Dr Kit Yates, a mathematical biologist, about why it took so long for these errors to be traced back to the lab, and what the consequences could be

Dr Jo Fayram hopes the apathy of the British public will not last; Professors Joe Sim and Steve Tombs condemn the government’s lamentable failures; Professor Patricia Deps reports on Brazil’s Covid inquiry; and Margaret Farnworth highlights a super-spreader football matchLast week the government’s response to Covid was criticised in a report by two Commons committees for apparently pursuing herd immunity by infection at the start of the pandemic. Continuing high Covid rates indicate that nothing has changed except the public’s ability to react. According to experts (Why Britons are tolerating sky-high Covid rates – and why this may not last, 15 October), a reason for this is the “normalisation” of Covid infection and deaths by the government. In reality, there is nothing normal about this “normalisation”.The UK is known as “plague island” in Europe. Surely it’s time we realised that the use of protective measures against Covid are working well across the Channel, while the UK government’s lack of action continues to lead to unnecessary illness, suffering and death. Let’s hope that the experts quoted in your article are right and that the apathy of the British public will not last.

Metre-long relic, encrusted with marine organisms, is believed to be about 900 years oldA sword believed to have belonged to a crusader who sailed to the Holy Land almost a millennium ago has been recovered from the Mediterranean seabed thanks to an eagle-eyed amateur diver, the Israel Antiquities Authority has said.Though encrusted with marine organisms, the metre-long blade, hilt and handle were distinctive enough to notice after undercurrents apparently shifted sands that had concealed it. Continue reading...

Disarmament ambassador casts doubt on ability to defend against technology after reports of testThe United States is “very concerned” about China’s development of hypersonic technology, the US disarmament ambassador, Robert Wood, has said, after reports that Beijing had recently launched a hypersonic missile with a nuclear capacity.“We are very concerned by what China has been doing on the hypersonic front,” Robert Wood told reporters in Geneva. Continue reading...

The solutions to today’s puzzlesEarlier today I set you two puzzles based on Hamiltonian paths in a square grid. A Hamiltonian path is one which visits every cell exactly once. (If you want a print out of the puzzles, click here.)1. The Hamiltonian path Continue reading...

Vaccine produced by French company uses inactivated Sars-CoV-2 virus and can be stored in fridge

Mental chicaneryUPDATE: the solutions are now up.No, not that Hamilton. I meant William Rowan Hamilton, the nineteenth century Irish mathematician.And not that sort of grid. I meant a square grid, like a chessboard or a Sudoku. Continue reading...

Two applications were made to amend poisons legislation so that the pill would not need ongoing prescriptions from doctor

At least eight types of bird flu, all of which can kill humans, are circulating around the world’s factory farms – and they could be worse than Covid-19One day last December, 101,000 chickens at a gigantic farm near the city of Astrakhan in southern Russia started to collapse and die. Tests by the state research centre showed that a relatively new strain of lethal avian flu known as H5N8 was circulating, and within days 900,000 birds at the Vladimirskaya plant were hurriedly slaughtered to prevent an epidemic.Avian flu is the world’s other ongoing pandemic and H5N8 is just one strain that has torn through thousands of chicken, duck and turkey flocks across nearly 50 countries including Britain in recent years and shows no sign of stopping. Continue reading...

Copernicus never saw it, so the story goes, but here’s your chance to chase the elusive planetThis coming week, there is a chance to spot the elusive inner planet Mercury in the morning sky. It will be tricky as the solar system’s smallest planet will only appear low in the dawn sky before the sunrise washes it away.The chart shows the view looking east from London at 0700 BST on 25 October. The sky will already be twilit and Mercury will be at its greatest distance from the sun. Continue reading...

A Russian actor and a film director have returned to Earth after spending 12 days on the International Space Station, shooting scenes for The Challenge, the first movie filmed in orbit. Actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko joined cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky in a Soyuz capsule that landed as scheduled on Kazakhstan’s steppe. The film, if completed on time, will beat a Hollywood production announced by Tom Cruise, Nasa and SpaceX

75% rise in referrals for first suspected episode of psychosis between April 2019 and April 2021

Scientists treating depression and a range of other mental illnesses have been running controlled trials using MDMA and psychedelic drugs such as LSD, and the results have been encouraging.Dr Robin Carhart Harris, head the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, discusses his work showing how psilocybin (or magic mushrooms) can be used to assist psychotherapy for difficult-to-treat depression.Dr Rachel Yehuda, director of the Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research at Mount Sinai school of medicine in New York, discusses her success in trials using MDMA as a treatment for PTSD Continue reading...

Modelling shows increased risk of outbreaks if a mutation similar to the transmissibility of Delta were to circulate with international arrivals

One day a year our daughter does as she pleases and it’s always great fun… and a good education for us allWe call it her “in-charge day”. A day when our nine-year-old daughter Flora is in charge, and we are, effectively, hers to command. A day when all the traditional hierarchies between parent and child are reversed, when she can fulfil her fantasies, refuse to do anything she doesn’t want to and experience a taste of power, authority and absolute freedom.OK, not absolute freedom. There are some ground rules. She can’t do anything we deem to be unsafe or illegal. She can’t ask us to buy anything “too expensive” (we keep this part deliberately vague). And, this year, we realised we needed to add one more sentence of small print to our contract: she cannot purchase any new pets. Continue reading...

The first child born using the technique arrived last year. But can it really help reduce diseases in a new generation, or is it ‘techno-eugenics’?The birth of the first IVF baby, Louise Brown, in 1978 provoked a media frenzy. In comparison, a little girl named Aurea born by IVF in May 2020 went almost unnoticed. Yet she represents a significant first in assisted reproduction too, for the embryo from which she grew was selected from others based on polygenic screening before implantation, to optimise her health prospects.For both scientific and ethical reasons, this new type of genetic screening is highly controversial. The nonprofit California-based organisation the Center for Genetics and Society (CGS) has called its use here “a considerable reach by the assisted-reproduction industry in the direction of techno-eugenics”. Continue reading...

Expectant mothers tell helpline that midwives are advising them against vaccines despite threat posed by virus• Coronavirus – latest updates• See all our coronavirus coveragePregnant women are being advised by some health professionals not to have the Covid vaccine despite an edict from the NHS that they should encourage them to get the jab. One in six of the most critically ill Covid patients requiring life-saving care are unvaccinated pregnant women, figures released last week show.Yet messages sent to the Vaccines and Pregnancy helpline, launched on 20 August to help pregnant women navigate information about the vaccine, suggest that some midwives are advising against the jab. Continue reading...

Actor and director land safely in Kazakhstan after spending 12 days on the International Space Station shooting the first movie in orbitA Russian actor and a film director have returned to Earth after spending 12 days on the International Space Station shooting scenes for the first movie in orbit.Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko landed as scheduled on Kazakhstan’s steppe early on Sunday, according to footage broadcast live by the Russian space agency. Continue reading...

A 3,500-year-old image tablet of a ‘miserable male ghost’ gives up its secretIts outlines are faint, only discernible at an angle, but the world’s oldest drawing of a ghost has been discovered in the darkened vaults of the British Museum.A lonely bearded spirit being led into the afterlife and eternal bliss by a lover has been identified on an ancient Babylonian clay tablet created about 3,500 years ago. Continue reading...

Covid has turned us into pandemic experts, all too ready to gainsay scientists and distorting our reasoning, but psychology can help us understand how our prejudices are formedAs I wasted an hour’s worth of petrol trying to find more petrol last month, Justin Webb poked at the chief secretary to the Treasury, Simon Clarke, on the Today programme, seeking a reason why much of the country is running on fumes and why HGV drivers are currently more elusive than dark matter. Clarke explained that the problem is “driven in part by workforce demographics” – no doubt – and is “worsened by Covid restrictions”. Agreed. “And worsened by Brexit,” Webb helpfully chipped in. “That’s just a fact.”But no, Clarke was having none of it. “Well, no. It’s not a fact.” Continue reading...

Life’s too short for bad literature, so let’s follow the writer’s exampleDo you ditch a book if it does not immediately grab your attention or do you trudge through it joylessly, weighed down by some invisible obligation to complete it, no matter how arduous the task? The writer Mark Billingham got stuck into this endless debate at the Cheltenham literature festival last week, admitting that he gives up on five out of 10 books that he starts, because “life’s too short” and “there are so many great books out there”. If genre fiction, in particular, doesn’t grab you after 20 pages, he said, “then, for God’s sake, throw it across the room angrily”.The thought of it! It is so bold, so cavalier. There are two books in particular that I went on to adore, after several abandoned attempts to read them. It quite literally took me years to get into both Wolf Hall and The Luminaries and it was only a combination of very lazy, pool-based holidays and dogged perseverance that finally got me to stick with them. I am very glad I did. They rewarded patience and in a culture of instant gratification this seems increasingly rare. Continue reading...

Ignorance about the basic biology of vulvas is still shockingly high – yet there are huge health benefits, physical and emotional, to be won with better understandingIf you have a vulva between your legs, could you identify the seven separate structures in a mirror? If your partner has a vulva, can you identify theirs?For over half the population, the vulva is a significant part of their body; an exit and an entrance, a site of pleasure and, often, pain, that speaks to core human function and need. In 2021, it can feel as if we’re on the cliff-edge of emancipation from the history of oppression and ick surrounding female genitalia. The booming sex toy market, a growing awareness of hormonal cycles and the messy reality of periods, a sharper focus on female pleasure and evolving conversations about menopause all point to real progress. Yet there remains a well of misunderstanding in society about what’s down there (clitoris, labia majora, labia minora, urethral opening, vaginal opening, perineum and anus, by the way), with tangible consequences. Continue reading...

The Beatles drummer, Ringo Starr, was among those asked to add their messages to a Lucy mission plaque. The spacecraft has set off on a 12-year quest to explore eight asteroids, mostly around Jupiter's orbit. The mission was named after the 3.2m-year-old skeletal remains of a human ancestor found in Ethiopia nearly a half a century. Dr Donald Johanson discovered the remains while the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds was playing, passing on the name to his discovery Continue reading...

Spacecraft with name inspired by a skeleton and the Beatles, and with lab-grown gems, starts 12-year questA Nasa spacecraft named Lucy has rocketed into the sky with diamonds on a 12-year quest to explore eight asteroids.Seven of the mysterious space rocks are among swarms of asteroids sharing Jupiter’s orbit, thought to be the pristine leftovers of planetary formation. Continue reading...

The company employs the world’s top engineers and has access to unlimited money but is plagued by safety concerns and toxic workplace cultureThe billionaire space race is only a race by name. In actuality, there is SpaceX – and everyone else.Only the company founded by Elon Musk nearly two decades ago has sent an orbital rocket booster into space and landed it safely again. Only SpaceX has landed a rocket the size of a 15-storey building on a drone ship in the middle of the ocean. Only SpaceX has carried both Nasa astronauts and private citizens to the International Space Station. Only SpaceX is producing thousands of its own table-sized communication satellites every year. Only SpaceX has the almost weekly launch cadence necessary to single-handedly double the number of operational satellites in orbit in less than two years. Only SpaceX is launching prototypes of the largest and most powerful rocket ever made, a behemoth called Starship that is destined to carry humans to the moon. Continue reading...

The Shenzhou-13 vessel docked at its space station to kick off a record-setting six-month stayThree astronauts successfully docked with China’s new space station, state media said, on what is set to be Beijing’s longest crewed mission to date and the latest landmark in its drive to become a major space power.The three blasted off shortly after midnight on Saturday (1600 GMT) from the Jiuquan launch centre in northwestern China’s Gobi desert, state-run news agency Xinhua said, with the team expected to spend six months at the Tiangong space station. Continue reading...

Archaeologists find remains of fugitive during first dig at site near Pompeii in almost three decadesThe partially mutilated remains of a man buried by the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius at Herculaneum, the ancient Roman town close to Pompeii, have been discovered in what Italy’s culture minister described as a “sensational” find.Archaeologists said the man, believed to have been aged between 40 and 45, was killed just steps away from the sea as he tried to flee the eruption. Continue reading...

Analysis: as Covid cases reach 40,000 a day, scientists think normalisation is partly to blame for the lack of public reaction

An estimated 43,000 people may have been given false negative results. Here are the key issues

Health Security Agency suspends operations at privately run lab in Wolverhampton

International advisers say it is unfair people who’ve taken part in clinical trials need more jabs to go abroad

Six-year voyage to Trojans could reveal vital information on history of solar systemNasa is gearing up to launch the Lucy mission on Saturday for a voyage that could revolutionise our knowledge of planetary origins and the formation of the solar system.A space probe will fly atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Continue reading...

Experts warn findings do not prove cholesterol-lowering drugs can reduce death ratesMillions of people who take statins may be less likely to die from Covid, research suggests.The cholesterol-lowering drugs are one of the world’s most popular medications. They can also reduce inflammation in blood vessels, which has prompted questions over whether they could help with outcomes in coronavirus patients. Continue reading...

Space travel | Books | Duels in filmAmazing though William Shatner’s short journey into near space was, I think it’s a bit of a stretch to call him an astronaut (William Shatner in tears after historic space flight: ‘I’m so filled with emotion, 13 October). You’ll be calling us letter writers journalists next.

Drug’s potential as Covid treatment, since dispelled, affected availability for people with proven medical need

‘I’ve never been so scared in my life,’ says Ruth Hamilton after meteorite shower above a western Canadian regionA woman in Canada awoke in shock earlier this week when a rock crashed through the ceiling of her home and landed on her bed, narrowly missing her but spraying grit and other debris on her face, as her dog barked frantically.Police were called and the culprit was initially suspected to be a construction site nearby, where work must have sent the fist-sized projectile onto the woman’s pillow. But when the construction workers said they had not set any blasts – but had just seen an explosion in the sky – the consensus quickly became that the rock was a meteorite, the Canadian Press reported. Continue reading...

Last week the World Health Organization approved the world’s first malaria vaccine. It’s been hailed as a historic breakthrough that could save tens of thousands of lives each year. But researchers have been trying to create one for more than a century – so why has it taken so long? Anand Jagatia speaks to Dr Latif Ndeketa and Prof Chris Drakeley about how the new RTS,S vaccine works and why it’s been so difficult to produceArchive: WHO, ITV News Continue reading...

The Duke of Cambridge has criticised the space race and space tourism, saying the world’s greatest minds need to focus on fixing the Earth instead. In an interview with Newscast on BBC Sounds before his Earthshot prize awards, Prince William also warned about a rise in ‘climate anxiety’ among younger generations. His comments come the day after William Shatner, 90, made history by becoming the oldest person in space

Duke of Cambridge says world’s greatest minds need to focus on trying to fix the Earth insteadThe Duke of Cambridge has criticised the space race and space tourism, saying the world’s greatest minds need to focus on trying to fix the Earth instead.Prince William’s comments, in an interview with Newscast on BBC Sounds, will be aired the day after William Shatner made history by becoming the oldest person in space. Continue reading...

Only one in five people sought medical attention but half reported anxiety, depression and sleep loss

Study shows protection against Covid starts to wane several months after full vaccinationScientists have urged eligible people to have Covid booster shots after a major survey in England found evidence of “breakthrough infections” more than three months after full vaccination.Researchers at Imperial College London analysed more than 100,000 swabs from a random sample of the population and found that Covid infection rates were three to four times higher among unvaccinated people than those who had received two shots. Continue reading...

Austrian Alps salt miners had a ‘balanced diet’, with an analysis of bronze and iron age excrement finding the earliest evidence of cheese ripening in EuropeIt’s no secret that beer and blue cheese go hand in hand – but a new study reveals how deep their roots run in Europe, where workers at a salt mine in Austria were gorging on both up to 2,700 years ago.Scientists made the discovery by analysing samples of human excrement found at the heart of the Hallstatt mine in the Austrian Alps. Continue reading...

Research tying Māori activity 700 years ago to Antarctic changes sparks debate in New Zealand over Indigenous inclusion in scienceDeep in the ice of a remote Antarctic peninsula, a group of researchers found evidence that fires started by early Māori wreaked changes in the atmosphere detectable 7,000km away. In New Zealand, the research sparked a heated controversy of its own – over Indigenous inclusion in scientific enterprise, and what scientists owe the people whose history becomes a subject of their research.The research, published this month, examined ice cores from the Antarctic peninsula. Scientists found high concentrations of black carbon, dating back 700 years. Atmospheric modelling narrowed the possible sources to New Zealand, Patagonia or Tasmania – but only in New Zealand did charcoal records match the timeframe. The deposits coincided with Māori arrival in New Zealand, and showed downstream effects of Māori using fire to clear the land. Continue reading...

Jair Bolsonaro’s comments called ‘stupid and selfish’ in country where 600,000 people have died of Covid

Actor William Shatner soared aboard a Blue Origin rocketship on a suborbital trip on Wednesday to become, at the age 90, the oldest person ever in space - an experience he called profound - as US billionaire businessman Jeff Bezos's company carried out its second tourist flight

New technique temporarily allows drugs to cross blood brain barrier to treat tumoursA technique has been developed that could revolutionise the treatment of brain cancers and neurodegenerative diseases by temporarily allowing drugs and other substances to cross the blood brain barrier – a structure that separates the brain’s blood vessels from the rest of its tissues.A trial in four women whose breast cancer had spread to the brain showed that magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) could safely deliver the antibody therapy Herceptin into their brain tissue, causing the tumours to shrink. Continue reading...

Star Trek actor, 90, says ‘I hope I never recover from this’ after becoming oldest human in space on Jeff Bezos rocket New ShepardThe Star Trek actor William Shatner declared himself “overwhelmed” at becoming the oldest human in space, at the age of 90, during a brief but successful second crewed flight on Wednesday of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket ship from the west Texas desert.The Canadian, who for four decades played Captain James Kirk, the fearless commander of the USS Enterprise, broke down in tears at the landing site as he described to the private space company’s founder, the Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos, the profundity of his almost 11-minute leap to the stars. Continue reading...

Poll of 321 scientists found 15% received death threats after speaking publicly on the pandemic

The entire premise of Star Trek was utopian: it pushed the limits of diversity, progressivism and inclusion on television and the science fiction genreThe 90-year-old actor William Shatner, best known for his leading role as Captain James Tiberius Kirk of Star Trek: The Original Series, is headed to space, for real this time. Shatner will be launched off this Wednesday by on-again-off-again richest man in the world Jeff Bezos’s private aerospace company Blue Origin.The entire premise of Star Trek was utopian: it pushed the limits of diversity, progressivism and inclusion on television and the science fiction genre. That Shatner would be affiliated with Bezos feels like a contradiction. And yet, colonialism and capitalism are too embedded within the culture of the United States for even sacred projects like space travel or Star Trek to remain unsullied. Continue reading...

India, Egypt and Cuba among first states to develop and make their own vaccines as Covax falls behindDeveloping countries are increasingly turning to homegrown Covid vaccinations as the UN-backed Covax programme falls behind.While western countries roll out booster jabs to their own populations, Covax, which was set up by UN agencies, governments and donors to ensure fair access to Covid-19 vaccines for low- and middle-income countries, has said it will miss its target to distribute 2bn doses globally by the end of this year. Continue reading...