Science | The Guardian

Cash incentives and gifts offered to fulfil target of vaccinating 40% of population by end of month

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 knowledgable gloom? Mary Shider, MacclesfieldPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. A selection will be published on Sunday. Continue reading...

Minister says government trying not to impose ‘imprisonment’ of restrictions longer than necessary

We studied biosecurity at the world’s most sophisticated laboratories, and found their policies often left much to be desired

Instead of cutting the aid budget – including 95% from the plan to stamp out the disease – Britain should take a global leadDespite the Covid pandemic, there have been just two recorded cases of wild polio in 2021 – in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the two remaining hiding places for the disease. But eradication is not guaranteed. Polio is virulent and spreads quickly. Even one case poses a threat to unvaccinated children everywhere, which is why a new strategy launched last week by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) outlines a plan to utilise this small window of opportunity for the world to end polio for good.A 99.9% fall in polio cases globally in recent decades is thanks in large part to the GPEI and its supporters. The British government’s recent announcement that it will slash its contributions to the GPEI by more than 95% has been a body blow. The funding cut amounts to almost a quarter of the annual World Health Organization polio eradication budget. Continue reading...

Production of chemical could help make recycling more attractive and tackle global plastic pollutionPlastic bottles have been converted into vanilla flavouring using genetically engineered bacteria, the first time a valuable chemical has been brewed from waste plastic.Upcycling plastic bottles into more lucrative materials could make the recycling process far more attractive and effective. Currently plastics lose about 95% of their value as a material after a single use. Encouraging better collection and use of such waste is key to tackling the global plastic pollution problem. Continue reading...

Vaccine thefts reported and hospitals unable to admit patients as cases leap 2,800% in a monthUganda has all but run out of Covid-19 vaccines and oxygen as the country grapples with another wave of the pandemic.Both private and public medical facilities in the capital, Kampala and in towns across the country – including regional hubs in Entebbe, Jinja, Soroti, Gulu and Masaka – have reported running out or having acute shortages of AstraZeneca vaccines and oxygen. Hospitals report they are no longer able to admit patients to intensive care. Continue reading...

Crew reportedly getting ready to blast off this week to the Tiangong on China’s longest crewed space mission to dateThe first crew for China’s new space station has reportedly begun final preparations to blast off this week.The mission is China’s first crewed spaceflight in nearly five years, and a matter of prestige for the government as it prepares to mark the 100th anniversary of the ruling Communist party on 1 July with a propaganda blitz. Continue reading...

The exponential spread of the Delta variant, and the uncertainties surrounding it, mean pausing the roadmap is justifiedSince February, when Boris Johnson unveiled a four-step roadmap to ending all Covid restrictions in England, progress has been steady and at times relatively serene compared with the periods of abject confusion and chaos that went before. The successful rollout of the vaccination programme allowed targets to be met, including the substantial “step three” easing of restrictions on 17 May.But as Boris Johnson recognised in his press conference today, the spread of the new Delta variant – which now accounts for 96% of Covid cases in the United Kingdom – has upended calculations. Latest data suggests it is 40-80% more transmissible than the Alpha variant, which originated in Kent. The variant partly evades vaccines and appears to increase the risk of hospitalisation. Hospital admission rates are increasing by 50% a week and 61% in the north-west. A significant third wave is thus under way and the government’s scientific advisers do not know the extent to which current rates of vaccination and acquired immunity will keep it in check. A summer surge in hospitalisations could overwhelm an already overstretched NHS. Continue reading...

Analysis: Even a short pause is expected to reduce the number of people going to hospital as more people are vaccinated

The solutions to today’s headbangersEarlier today I set you the following two puzzles:1. Deck dilemma Continue reading...

Researchers warn that UK’s most widely established variant may be mistaken for milder illness

Study finds Delta has nearly double risk of hospitalisation compared with previously dominant Alpha

Vaccines are reducing Covid deaths but data shows parts of the country remain unprotected

When a long-term partner cheats on you it can be devastating, but it is possible to move on in time. Here, experts and Guardian readers explain how best to rebuild your lifeSarah and her husband were anchored in a remote harbour – more than a year into their round-the-world sailing voyage, and decades into their relationship – when she read a message on his tablet that made her collapse to the floor of their boat. It was from a man on a gay pornography website. Others like it revealed six years of betrayal by her husband, including a long-term relationship with a married man.Sarah was one of many Guardian readers who responded to our invitation to share experiences of betrayal. Although every respondent’s circumstances were unique, and they were of different nationalities, backgrounds, ages and sexualities, there was one thing that linked all their experiences: mind-shattering suffering. I could understand why in his Inferno Dante reserved his ninth and deepest circle of hell for those who committed treachery. Avishai Margalit, the philosopher and author of On Betrayal, tells me that whether we are reading Dante or the Bible, Shakespearean tragedy, Greek mythology or Guardian readers’ stories, we can empathise with the pain of someone betrayed. It endures across time and space, culture and history. Continue reading...

Head-scratchers for headbangersUPDATE: To read the solutions click hereIn the immortal words of Lemmy from Motörhead: “I don’t share your greed, the only card I need is the ace of spades.”Whether or not this was in response to the following puzzle is for you to decide. Continue reading...

The reptile, named Gunggamarandu maunala, is thought to have grown up to seven metres longA prehistoric species of crocodile that roamed the waterways of south-east Queensland, and is thought to be the largest to have lived in Australia, has been identified by researchers at the University of Queensland.Gunggamarandu maunala, whose name means “river boss” and incorporates words from the languages of the First Nations peoples from the area where the fossil was discovered, is believed to have grown up to seven metres long. Continue reading...

This year, the precise moment of the solstice is 04.32 BST on 21 June, about 20 minutes before the sun rises at StonehengeThe northern hemisphere’s summer solstice arrives at the end of this week. It marks the moment at which the Sun reaches its most northerly point in the sky. As a result, the northern hemisphere experiences its longest period of daylight in a single 24-hour period.Sunrise takes place as far to the north of east as it can, and sunset occurs as far to the north of west as it can. The summer solstice has clearly held significance to humans since pre-history. At the 5,000-year-old site of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, the location of the summer solstice sunrise is marked by the Heel Stone. This year, the precise moment of the solstice takes place on 21 June at 04.32 BST, about 20 minutes before the sun rises at Stonehenge. Continue reading...

Data from major studies shows disadvantaged groups have faced greatest disruption to medical care

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Footballer’s cardiac arrest highlights importance of immediate use of CPR and defibrillation in saving livesSwift action was crucial to Christian Eriksen’s survival when the midfielder collapsed during the first half of Denmark’s opening game in the Euro 2020 championship against Finland.Denmark’s team doctor, Morten Boesen, confirmed that the 29-year-old had gone into cardiac arrest on the pitch and was brought back through a combination of CPR – the manual cardiopulmonary resuscitation that involves repeated pushing down on the chest – and an electric shock from a defibrillator. Continue reading...

Sheila Hunt, Patrick Russell, Michael Shipman and Bob Hely respond to Christian Wolmar’s letter on his non-locked-down lifeRe Christian Wolmar’s letter (8 June), at 84 my daily activity both during and after lockdown has been an hour’s walk with my dog. I am able to enjoy this partly because of knee replacements 15 years ago and partly because of a walk around where I live that is accessible to wheelchairs and anyone who has walking difficulties. It includes some lovely views and is partly along the banks of the Wear. I was part of a group that set this up years ago when, for me, a 10-mile walk was an every-weekend activity. Keeping active requires more that just wanting to.

Arts funding | NHS waiting times | Swearwords | DNA | Snow in JuneHave I got this right? All taxpayers contribute to publicly funded arts, but those arts must only represent the views of the 43.6% of voters who elected this government (How Oliver Dowden became secretary of state for the culture wars, 11 June)? Another example of Boris Johnson’s “fairness” agenda, clearly.

Renowned astrophysicist Prof Catherine Heymans hopes to broaden the appeal of her white male-dominated field“I’m always shocked that it’s 2021 and we’re still having ‘first female’ stories,” says Prof Catherine Heymans. Nevertheless, it is an unavoidable fact that, with her appointment two weeks ago, the renowned astrophysicist not only became the first female astronomer royal for Scotland, but also the only woman to have held any of the astronomer royal positions in the UK.“It’s very hard to aspire to be something if you can’t see someone who looks like you in that job,” she says, recalling that she did not encounter her first female physics lecturer, her mentor Katherine Blundell, until she began her PhD. 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 concepts

Two startling accounts of humanity’s devastating impact on the natural world make it clear that any potential solution will involve huge riskFor most of history, humans have viewed wild places as threats to their existence. The wilderness is a godless domain, “a thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions”, says the Old Testament.Only recently have we realised we had the story backwards. It is nature that has been menaced by humans and the consequences now threaten to overwhelm us. “Almost no rock, leaf, or cubic foot of air on Earth has now escaped our clumsy signature,” says US essayist Nathaniel Rich. “The natural world is gone.” Continue reading...

Conspiracy theories on origins distract from tackling the pandemic and boost tawdry blame gamesIn the storm of disinformation since the emergence of Covid-19, the assertion that the virus is human-created has lingered on the fringes. This outlandish conjecture, once confined to conspiracy theorists, has undergone a renaissance after Joe Biden’s insistence that scientists should investigate the possible lab origins of Covid. From Vanity Fair to the Washington Post, the theory has been given a veneer of respectability.But there is an essential caveat that has been overlooked – that two different hypotheses are possible does not make them equally likely. Occam’s razor is a general rule of thumb, an injunction to “keep it simple”; when confronted with competing explanations for events, it is usually sensible to adopt the interpretation that pivots on the smallest number of supplementary assertions and assumptions. Continue reading...

Hospital waiting lists rose, but traffic accidents fell – Covid-19’s consequences will emerge in time, but it’s not all quantifiable

While men over 50 tend to suffer the most acute symptoms of coronavirus, women who get long Covid outnumber men by as much as four to one

Bids in 10-minute auction started at $4.8m for 20 July trip on Blue Origin spacecraft with Bezos and his brotherJeff Bezos’s Blue Origin has sold the spare seat of the company’s 20 July New Shepard space rocket blast-off for $28m, the company announced on Saturday.Related: Rocket men: Bezos, Musk and Branson scramble for space supremacy Continue reading...

G7 summit hears move would slash the cost of jabs and accelerate rollout of programmes across the developing world

Prime minister stresses importance of being cautious, as cases of Delta variant continue to rise

Scientists call for 21 June easing to be delayed by a month as Delta variant cases and hospitalisations double

Experts say three billionaires have upended the traditional model for human spaceflight and are shaping a thriving new eraIt was a week in which two space-faring billionaires tussled again in their futuristic game of cosmic oneupmanship. And this time, for once, Elon Musk was not at the party.The declaration that Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and world’s richest man, was heading into space next month on the first crewed launch of his Blue Origin New Shepard rocket was followed quickly by an apparent leak from within Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic empire that the British tycoon might look to upstage him with a Fourth of July Independence Day spectacular of his own. Continue reading...

Driving force behind change of heart was being able to travel and see family, researchers say

Taskforce chief Kate Bingham gets damehood and Oxford research leaders also rewardedKey figures in the battle against Covid-19 and Britain’s vaccine success have been rewarded in the Queen’s birthday honours list, with vaccines taskforce chair Kate Bingham getting a damehood.Honours are also bestowed on two leaders of the research teams at the Oxford Vaccine Centre who developed and manufactured a vaccine backed by the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. Prof Sarah Gilbert, Saïd professor of vaccinology at the Jenner Institute, becomes a dame while Prof Andrew Pollard, professor of paediatric infection at the University of Oxford, gets a knighthood. Continue reading...

Monday’s announcement will come as coronavirus case are rising at fastest rate since second wave

News that the Amazon overlord is about to jet off has got the Virgin boss clamouring to get there first. You can do it, Richard!It’s famously impossible to take a bathroom break during a rocket launch, meaning Jeff Bezos will soon experience what it’s like to be one of his warehouse workers. Or, as the Amazon boss put it last week: “To see the Earth from space … changes your relationship with humanity.” That’s hugely encouraging. I feel like we’re just one successful interstellar wormhole mission to a distant galaxy away from allowing employees to unionise.Related: The tech billionaire space race: who is Jeff Bezos up against? Continue reading...

Innova tests’ performance not proven and they should be returned to manufacturer or thrown in bin, says FDA

Variant first discovered in India is thought to spread more easily and be more resistant to vaccines

Those with a certain genetic makeup more likely to develop motor neurone disease, study confirms

This month the Pentagon will release its much-awaited UFO report. Extraterrestrial buffs think they’ll be vindicated - but they’ve gotten a bit ahead of themselves

HOW FAR WE HAVE COME! (not that far actually)

Cambridge research suggests foot problem was more common after Blackadder-style shoe became popularFrom waist-squeezing corsets to crinoline skirts, fashion has rarely been about comfort – or safety. Now researchers have revealed that even in medieval times, men and women could become martyrs to fashion, linking a trend in pointy shoes to a rise in the prevalence of bunions.Bunions – or hallux valgus– are bulges that appear on the side of the foot as the big toe leans in towards the other toes and the first metatarsal bone points outwards. Studies suggest factors such as genetics probably predispose some people to the condition, but it is thought high heels and pointy shoes may exacerbate the problem or speed up its development. Continue reading...

Operators of Rosalind Franklin rover practise controlling it in preparation for Martian landing in June 2023A precise replica of the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover has begun a series of test drives at the Aerospace Logistics Technology Engineering Company’s Mars terrain simulator in Turin, Italy.Rover operators will practise controlling the rover in preparation for its landing on Mars’s Oxia Planum in June 2023. As it moves around the simulated Martian terrain, the ground test model is supported by a cradle attached to the facility’s roof, simulating Mars’s lower gravitational field, which is just a third that of Earth. Continue reading...

Huge star, 25,000 light years away, dims by 97% then slowly returns to former brightnessAstronomers have spotted a giant blinking star, 100 times the size of the sun, lurking near the heart of the Milky Way.Telescope observations revealed that over a few hundred days the enormous star, which lies more than 25,000 light years away, dimmed by 97% and then slowly returned to its former brightness. Continue reading...

This pandemic’s precise origins may never be certain. We must address both zoonotic transmission risks and lab security

Observers in north America and Europe were able to witness a morning solar eclipse, as the moon passed between the Earth and the sun. While those in Canada, Greenland and northern Russia were treated to an annular eclipse, creating a 'ring of fire', skygazers elsewhere saw a partial eclipse, creating a crescent sun

Organisation urges governments to be cautious as societies open up and Delta variant advances

From New Jersey to Milton Keynes, skygazers in the northern hemisphere were able to see a partial solar eclipse, witnessing a crescent sun in an eclipsed sunrise in some parts of the world