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The country’s infections, the worst in south-east Asia, have passed two million

UK analysis shows people who drank coffee had 49% reduced risk of dying from the conditionFrom espresso to instant, coffee is part of the daily routine for millions. Now research suggests the brew could be linked to a lower chance of developing or dying from chronic liver disease.Chronic liver disease is a major health problem around the world. According to the British Liver Trust, liver disease is the third leading cause of premature death in the UK, with deaths having risen 400% since 1970. Continue reading...

Mayor of Greater Manchester writes open letter to Scotland’s first minister about decision ban on non-essential travel to and from city. This live blog has closed – please follow the global coronavirus live blog for updates

US study finds households with recent birthdays about 30% more likely to have positive diagnosis

Rest and pacing, rather than graded exercise, seem the most effective treatments to prescribe widely to long Covid patientsWithin a few days of being discharged from the hospital in March last year, it was clear I was not improving in any sort of recognizable way. My Covid symptoms morphed, and any attempt to push through the fatigue, migraines and flu-like symptoms failed, often exacerbating their intensity. By late March, one thing became clear: Covid-19 was not going away – for me, or for many of the people I knew – and the road to recovery that lay ahead would be a marathon, not a sprint. I would have to pace myself accordingly.I devised a daily schedule. I’d sleep as much as possible, and allow myself hours to complete my morning routine. Activities like making breakfast or brushing my teeth often had to be done while seated, with time allotted for rest afterward. This slow morning routine allowed me a few hours of work at my computer each afternoon, which I usually had to cease by 3 or 4pm when I began to feel the beginnings of a “crash”. I’d then spend the rest of the evening napping or watching television, or – during periods of intense light and sound sensitivity, which typically followed afternoons when I did on-air interviews or more exhausting tasks – lying still in darkness. Continue reading...

Casual vaccine chat is today’s only form of small talk, so it’s not surprising it would take a lightheartedly tribal turn. Ultimately, of course, gratitude is at the heart of the conversationLast week, I had cause to go searching for images of men getting vaccinated (it’s not a fetish – it was for work) and I turned up a photo from a flu vaccination drive in 2012. I tried to think back nine years: did we have anti-flu-vaxxers? Were there different types of vaccine and did we care which one we got? These are rhetorical, by which I mean stupid, questions. Even when I think I don’t remember, I remember perfectly well. We never thought about the flu vaccine, because we didn’t really feel anything about flu.There’s something endearing about the intensity of opinions about Covid vaccinations, as though we’re all trying to wrestle every untamed feeling about the giant, untoward event of the pandemic into more manageable shapes and sizes: tribes and allegiances, preferences and views. It’s like being a teenager again – the emotions are just too vast to comprehend, too volatile to make sense of. But maybe if I scratch “AstraZeneca” on to my desk, someone else might like AstraZeneca, too, and then at least there would be two of us. Continue reading...

UK ufologists are worlds apart on the importance of a hotly anticipated US intelligence releaseNearly 75 years after Roswell, the possibility that we are not alone in the universe is once again the talk of mainstream politics.The impending release of a Pentagon report on the activities of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) has sparked a wave of interest and recent pronouncements from the programme’s former director, Luis Elizondo , have raised the eyebrows of ufologists worldwide. Continue reading...

Night owls with clear skies will be able to chart procession during moon’s waning gibbous phaseConsider this a heads up for next weekend, when the moon is going to glide past Jupiter and Saturn in the early hours of the morning. Continue reading...

French and American astronauts have completed a six-hour spacewalk as they installed new solar panels to boost power supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). In time lapse footage taken at 10x speed, Earth pulls into frame as astronauts float outside the station on Sunday 20 June as they begin the 19-metre panels, which will power daily operations and the research and science projects carried out on the ISS. The panels are expected to have a 15-year lifespan. Continue reading...

Successful International Space Station installation followed an attempt on Wednesday that ran into several problemsFrench and American astronauts have completed a six-hour spacewalk as they installed new solar panels to boost power supplies to the International Space Station (ISS), Nasa said.“It is a huge team effort each time and couldn’t be happier to return with @astro_kimbrough,” Frenchman Thomas Pesquet tweeted on Sunday, referring to his American colleague Shane Kimbrough. Pesquet is with the European Space Agency, Kimbrough with Nasa. Continue reading...

Condition also known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy is brought on by an acute emotional shockTwo molecules associated with high stress levels have been implicated in the development of broken heart syndrome, a condition that mainly affects post-menopausal women and is usually brought on by severe stress, such as the loss of a loved one.The syndrome, formally known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy, is characterised by weakening of the heart’s main pumping chamber and was first identified in 1990 in Japan. It looks and sounds like a heart attack and is consequently often confused for one. Continue reading...

Biden’s 70% vaccination target by Fourth of July likely to fall short as efforts to entice people to get shots have lost their initial impactWith Covid vaccination penetration in the US likely to fall short of Joe Biden’s 70% by Fourth of July target, pandemic analysts are warning that vaccine incentives are losing traction and that “two Americas” may emerge as the aggressive Delta variant becomes the dominant US strain.Efforts to boost vaccination rates have come through a variety of incentives, from free hamburgers to free beer, college scholarships and even million-dollar lottery prizes. But of the efforts to entice people to get their shots have lost their initial impact, or failed to land effectively at all. Continue reading...

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsHappier people live longer, more pleasant lives. Informed people are weighed down with the woes of the world. So, is ignorant bliss better than knowledgeable gloom? Mary Shider, MacclesfieldSend new questions to nq@theguardian.com. Continue reading...

Researchers say influences in the womb may play a role in increasing the risk of developing the conditionChildren of obese mothers have a greater risk of developing fatty liver disease in their 20s, according to researchers who say policymakers need to do more to tackle the promotion of poor-quality food and drink.Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) can be caused by obesity. If it progresses it can lead to serious health problems such as cirrhosis and liver cancer, while high levels of fat in the liver are also associated with a greater risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Continue reading...

Unvaccinated children have potential to drive third wave of highly transmissible Delta variant, says virologistThe drive to vaccinate all adults over the age of 18 in the UK could lead to the concentration of Covid-19 cases in schoolchildren, a leading British virologist has warned.Under-18s would then become reservoirs in which new variants of the virus could arise, said Julian Tang, of Leicester University. Continue reading...

The scientist and broadcaster discusses the drawbacks of calorie-counting and BMI in measuring obesity, and how our growing understanding of genetics is leading to new treatmentsSince the dawn of the 20th century, almost all weight loss guidelines have used calories as a simple measure of how much energy we’re consuming from our food. But according to Giles Yeo, a Cambridge University research scientist who studies the genetics of obesity, there’s one problem: not all calories are created equal. In his new book, Why Calories Don’t Count, Yeo explains that what really matters is not how many calories a particular food contains, but how that food is digested and absorbed by your body.Can you explain why you feel calorie-counting is a flawed approach to weight loss?

As psychotherapist and author Philippa Perry becomes our new agony aunt, she reveals why helping you with your worries will help us all. Plus, a special welcome from Jay RaynerJohn Dunton founded the Athenian Mercury in the 1690s. A paper that consisted of readers’ questions and the answers. His idea was that readers could send in dilemmas to be answered by a panel of experts, the Athenian Society. But his great innovation was that they could do so anonymously and this has remained a feature of problem pages ever since. Poor old Dunton could have done with some advice himself, because he ended his days in poverty as he was a better innovator than he was a business person. He blamed his woes on other people rather than taking responsibility for his own failings. I think an agony aunt today might have spotted that for him and possibly saved him from destitution.His panel of experts, depicted as 12 learned men with him in the centre in an engraving at the top of the pages, were largely fictitious. It was just Dunton and a couple of mates who went through all the letters in a coffee shop. Continue reading...

The astronaut reveals why he likes nothing more than a nice and relaxed down-to-earth day with the kidsWhat time do you get up? Whatever time my youngest comes bouncing into the room. He’s nine and has an uncanny ability to sleep in on school days and wake up early on weekends.What’s for breakfast? We’ll make pancakes with blueberries and raspberries. We’ve got a little pancake maker – it’s fun and our two boys like getting involved. Continue reading...

Sir David King hopes to emulate success of British Covid advisory body by issuing monthly reports on environmental crisisSeveral of the world’s leading scientists plan to launch an independent expert group this week to advise, warn and criticise global policymakers about the climate and nature crises.The new body has been inspired by Independent Sage – the cluster of British scientists who have held UK ministers and civil servants to account for their lack of transparency and mishandling of the Covid pandemic. Continue reading...

At the age of just 22, the very last thing you want to hear is that you have stage 4 cancer, but for some people the only response is to tackle it head on – which is just what Ellie Edna Rose-Davies didI barely noticed it at first. A bump on the right side of my neck, small but definite. I was 22 and had no health issues (I’d never even broken a bone), so I didn’t think much of the lump. But my boyfriend was concerned, so I made an appointment to go to the GP.For the next few months, I would see and feel more lumps spreading up my neck, and even larger ones under my armpits. I went to the doctor three times, where I was told: “It’s not cancer” and that I had “nothing to worry about”. Continue reading...

The moss scientist and bestselling author reveals the secrets of these primitive plants – and what they might teach us about surviving the climate crisisRobin Wall Kimmerer can recall almost to the day when she first fell under the unlikely spell of moss. “It’s kind of embarrassing,” she says. “I’ve always been engaged with plants, because I grew up in the countryside. That was my world. But mosses I’d set aside in my mind as not worthy of attention. I was studying to be a forest ecologist. That little green scum on the rocks: how interesting could it really be? Only then there came a point when I’d taken every botany class our university had to offer, except one: the ecology of mosses. I thought I’d do it, just so I could say that I’d taken them all. It was love at first sight. I remember looking with a lens at these big glacial erratic boulders that were covered in moss, and thinking: there’s a whole world here to be discovered.” Ever since, she has rarely left her house for a walk without such a lens on a string around her neck.Kimmerer, a professor of environmental biology and the director of the Centre for Native Peoples and the Environment at the State University of New York in Syracuse, is probably the most well-known bryologist at work in the world today. She may be, in fact, the only well-known bryologist at work today (bryology is the study of mosses and liverworts), at least among the general public. But her unlikely success – her fans include the writer Robert Macfarlane and the Pulitzer prize-winning novelist Richard Powers, who gives daily thanks for what he calls her “endless knowledge” – hardly arrived overnight. In 2013, Kimmerer, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation of Oklahoma, quietly published a book called Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants – a (seemingly) niche read from a small US press. Continue reading...

Scientists find fossilised footprints of multiple dinosaur species preserved by sediment in FolkestoneFootprints of what could be the last dinosaurs to have walked in Britain have been found in Kent, researchers say.About 66m years ago, an asteroid hit the Earth and wiped out much of the Earth’s dinosaurs. But flooding rendered Britain’s dinosaurs extinct much earlier: about 110m years ago. Continue reading...

Sipping water through an L-shaped ‘suction and swallow tool’ cured 92% of attacks, according to studyFrom holding your breath to having a friend shout “boo!”, there is no shortage of alleged cures for hiccups. Now scientists say they have found a better solution: a drinking straw device.When you get hiccups – or singultus as they are known in medicine – the diaphragm and intercostal muscles suddenly contract. The subsequent abrupt intake of air causes the opening between the vocal folds – known as the glottis – to shut, resulting in a “hic” sound, often to the embarrassment of the afflicted and the amusement of others. Continue reading...

Figures show Delta is more transmissible and more resistant to vaccine than Alpha

Female Olympic athletes have been fitted with individually designed sports bras to enhance performanceAs Tokyo hopefuls debate the marginal gains afforded by Vaporfly running shoes, Britain’s sportswomen have been keeping another secret weapon close to their chests.In the drive for marginal performance gains, British female athletes have been fitted with specially designed sports bras, to hoist, sculpt and support their path to victory. Continue reading...

Amid the heavily politicised debate, a lot of evidence now points to a natural spillover event – but other causes cannot be ruled out

A Chinese spaceship carrying a three-person crew has docked with the country’s new space station at the start of three-month mission, marking a milestone in its ambitious space programme. The mission is China’s first manned spaceflight in almost five years Continue reading...

Research sheds more light on the giant ‘living fossils’ once thought extinct but which have survived since the age of the dinosaursThe coelacanth – a giant, mysterious fish that has survived since the time of the dinosaurs – can live for 100 years, a study has found.The slow-moving fish, which grow to be the size of a human, are nicknamed a “living fossil”, and also grow at a very slow pace. Continue reading...

Pause will allow 500,000 more vaccine doses to be given to curtail spread of Delta variant

Scientists from agency and Noaa say Earth’s ‘energy imbalance’ roughly doubled from 2005 to 2019 in ‘alarming’ wayThe Earth is trapping nearly twice as much heat as it did in 2005, according to new research, described as an “unprecedented” increase amid the climate crisis.Scientists from Nasa, the US space agency, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), reported in a new study that Earth’s “energy imbalance approximately doubled” from 2005 to 2019. The increase was described as “alarming”. Continue reading...

Whitty says a Covid surge is under way and that cases would continue to rise for the next few weeks; UK records 11,007 new cases. This live blog is now closed – please follow the global coronavirus live blog for updates

Research found marked differences in immune response of medical staff six months after contracting virus

Research suggests humans cannot slow the rate at which they get older because of biological constraintsImmortality and everlasting youth are the stuff of myths, according to new research which may finally end the eternal debate about whether we can live for ever.Backed by governments, business, academics and investors in an industry worth $110bn (£82.5bn) – and estimated to be worth $610bn by 2025 – scientists have spent decades attempting to harness the power of genomics and artificial intelligence to find a way to prevent or even reverse ageing. Continue reading...

Shenzhou-12 carrying three astronauts docks with Tiangong space station after seven-hour flightAstronauts on board China’s first crewed spacecraft in nearly five years have reached the new Tiangong space station after blasting off from the Gobi desert.A Long March-2F rocket launched the three astronauts in the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft, which docked with Tianhe – the main section of the Tiangong station – just over seven hours later. Continue reading...

Analysis: Lockdown extension brings questions on when and how UK can draw a line under social distancingThe Commons vote to delay step four of England’s roadmap out of lockdown has focused attention on when and how the country can draw a line under social distancing and, in the words of the prime minister, “learn to live with the virus”.While the surge in cases in Blackburn – one of the original Delta variant hotspots – may have peaked for now, Public Health England expects recent rises in the north-west to be mirrored across the UK. What that means for hospitals and lives will become clearer in the next four weeks. Continue reading...

China has launched three astronauts intoorbit ahead of their arrival to the country's partially-constructed space station. The trio will spend three months in lowEarth orbit in what is China's firstcrewed mission in nearly five years and will dock with themain section of the Tianhe spacestation that was launched in late-April. The astronauts' stay will coincide withmarking the 100th anniversary of theruling Communist party on 1 July.

Latest updates: 60 MPs vote against government plans while former special adviser Dominic Cummings publishes messages purporting to show PM’s criticism of health secretary Matt Hancock

Figures come as Matt Hancock confirms the government plans to make it mandatory for staff to get jab

Piece featuring bagpipe solo by one of government’s scientific advisers aims to capture collaborative nature of experts’ work

Harry has said that living with the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales makes him feel ‘helpless’ and ‘hunted’. I’ve been there

Covid-19 cases have fallen far below the winter peak, but the Delta variant has roughly doubled every two weeks in the USScientists in the United States are anxiously watching the Delta variant of Covid-19, as it spreads through an unevenly vaccinated American public and an economy that is rapidly reopening.The Delta variant, first identified as B.1.617.2 in India, is believed to be more transmissible than both the original strain of Covid-19 and the Alpha strain, first identified in the United Kingdom. Continue reading...

Combination of rise in demand for products as some countries reopen and lockdowns in some port cities mean prices could climbAn outbreak of Covid-19 in southern China has combined with the rapid reopening of the world economy and a shortage of shipping containers to cause a surge in transport costs that could fuel inflation and cause shortages of goods across the globe.China reported 21 new coronavirus cases in the mainland on Wednesday with 15 of them in the vital industrial province of Guangdong where restrictions have been in place for several weeks to contain an outbreak linked to the Delta variant first detected in India. Continue reading...

Species on Lord Howe Island shows remarkable collaboration, with some plants deflecting water to colony and others soaking it up

Oxford University trial reports cocktail of manmade antibodies reduces fatalities by a fifth

Brancepeth, County Durham: These small flowers are prone to an extraordinary parasiteA wild tangle of brambles covers this section of embankment beside a former railway line. A wren scolds from the undergrowth. Drone flies hover in the sun flecks filtered through overhanging branches of wild cherry. Butterflies chase through dappled shade. But what has stopped us in our tracks today are drifts of red campions.It’s a glorious display, although something strange is happening to many of the flowers. Where there should be stamens, shedding white pollen, there is brown powder resembling cocoa, staining the petals. They have a sexually transmitted fungal disease, a type of red campion “anther-smut” called Microbotryum silenes-dioicae. Continue reading...

Study found increase in people with DNACPR decisions compared with before pandemic

Developed by Australian and European researchers, the film works by converting infrared light into light visible to the human eyeA transparent metallic film allowing a viewer to see in the dark could one day turn regular spectacles into night vision googles.The ultra-thin film, made of a semiconductor called gallium arsenide, could also be used to develop compact and flexible infrared sensors, scientists say. Continue reading...

Ireland to double to 10 days its quarantine period for UK travellers who are not fully vaccinated

We often think of the illegal trade in wildlife as involving charismatic megafauna such as elephants and big cats. But some of the biggest victims are more inconspicuous. Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield from the Guardian’s age of extinction project explore wildlife crime in a two part series Continue reading...

Analysis: what protection do they offer against infection, hospital admission and death?