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Total of 3,424 cases of the India variant of coronavirus B1.617.2 have now been confirmed in the UK. This live blog is now closed - please follow the global live blog for updates

Researchers say election may have increased abnormal heart rhythms and worsened high blood pressureHow stressful can an election campaign really be? Potentially life-threatening, researchers say, at least in the case of the 2016 US presidential election. The divisive campaign may have raised the risk of abnormal heart rhythms and worsened high blood pressure in people with underlying cardiovascular disease, two studies suggest.One study focused on nearly 2,500 people (mostly white, with an average age of about 71) with implanted cardiac devices in North Carolina, a swing state in the 2016 election that was subjected to fiercely negative political commercials and campaign events. Continue reading...

Pressure growing for UK and others to follow Biden’s lead at WTO to avoid ‘moral and public health failure’The UK government is in talks about a plan to waive Covid-19 vaccine patents to boost the production of shots in low and middle-income countries, the Guardian can reveal.The discussions come amid growing calls for Britain and other European countries to follow the US in supporting the proposal put before the World Trade Organization (WTO). Continue reading...

Instead of sequencing or data collection, the government is offering patriotic bluster in the face of this deadly second waveThe variant that threatens the British summer has already done far more damage in India. In October last year a sample from the western state of Maharashtra containing what would later be identified as the B.1.617.3 variant was sequenced and uploaded to Gisaid, a global database of Covid-19 samples from across the world. The variant had multiple mutations located on the virus’s spike protein that binds it to receptor cells in the human body. Some of these mutations were present in other variants, or seemed capable of evading immunity. All of this should have set off alarm bells in India and led to increased surveillance across the world.Instead, India’s genome sequencing project continued to flounder through the rest of 2020. For most of last year, India did virtually no genome sequencing, Dr Gagandeep Kang, one of India’s leading virologists, told me. While other countries submitted thousands of sequences to databases such as Gisaid for scientists across the world to study, India submitted only a few hundred. This was partly due to a lack of funding. It was also possibly the result of a lack of interest; last year, India’s Covid curve appeared to be falling. Continue reading...

Prize recognises primatologist’s contribution to work on animal intelligence and humanityThe naturalist Jane Goodall has been announced as the 2021 winner of the Templeton prize in recognition of her life’s work on animal intelligence and humanity.Goodall, 87, built her global reputation on her groundbreaking studies of chimpanzees in Tanzania in the 1960s. Her foundation, the Jane Goodall Institute, works with local communities as well as providing safe habitats for chimpanzees and gorillas, and its educational branch, Roots and Shoots, operates in 67 countries. Continue reading...

Human beings have transformed the planet. Over the last century we’ve disrupted the climate and impacted entire ecosystems. This has led some to propose that we’ve entered another chapter in Earth’s history called the Anthropocene. Anand Jagatia speaks to Dr Simon Turner from the Anthropocene Working Group, given the task of gathering evidence on whether it will become an official unit of geological time Continue reading...

French trial shows dogs were able to detect presence of coronavirus with 97% accuracy

In the absence of proposals from the government, we have a plan to ensure the world is safe now and secure in the future

Joint mission next year will try to replicate China’s recent success of landing robotic craft on planetOn Saturday 15 May, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that the country had landed a robotic spacecraft on Mars. This is an important moment and it could be a taste of things to come.Until China’s Zhurong rover touched down in the Utopia Planitia region of the Mars, only the US had succeeded in operating on the planet’s surface. Next year, however, a joint mission by the European Space Agency and Russia will attempt to replicate the success. Continue reading...

Helmed by Prof David Nutt, this documentary follows volunteers as they swap antidepressants for psilocybin ... and it’s the closest they’ve come to joy in years

Young men look for an attractive partner and young women emphasise personality but as we age, everyone agrees physical attributes are overratedThe characteristics that attract people to an ideal partner differ between men and women, but become more similar with age, a survey of more than 7,000 Australian online dating users has found.Researchers asked 7,325 Australians aged between 16 and 65 to rate the importance of nine characteristics of potential partners on a scale of 0 to 100. Continue reading...

Health secretary says government will make decision on unlocking on 14 June as cases of Indian variant rise 28% in two days. This live blog is now closed - please follow the global coronavirus live blog for updates

Health secretary says sewage testing has helped identify places where vaccinations and testing are being stepped up

Was the explorer from Italy, Spain, Portugal or elsewhere? Researchers hope to find out once and for allSpanish researchers have launched a new attempt to finally settle the dispute over the true origins of Christopher Columbus after various theories have claimed the explorer hailed from Portugal or Spain, rather than Italy as most scholars agree.“There is no doubt on our part [about his Italian origin], but we can provide objective data that can … close a series of existing theories,” said José Antonio Lorente, the lead scientist of the DNA study at the University of Granada. Continue reading...

Study finds burn area from fires that survive winter varies depending on warmth of summersIn the boreal forests of the far northern hemisphere, where the climate is warming faster than almost anywhere else, some wildfires are surviving winter snows and picking up again in spring.Now scientists from the Netherlands and Alaska have figured out how to calculate the scope of those “zombie fires” that smoulder year-round in the peaty soil. Continue reading...

Scientists to test seven vaccines for possible protection against new variants in effort to avert winter surge in infections

What would it have been like to be inside the Big Bang? We meet the ultra-hi-tech art duo who are using light, sound and sub-atomic astro data to recreate the biggest explosion ever‘Step into the heart of the Big Bang,” says the advert for Halo, a walk-in, 360-degree, audiovisual installation about to open in Brighton. Come off it, I want to retort. You couldn’t “step” into the Big Bang without first travelling 13.8 billion years back in time and then being extremely miniaturised. After all, the universe was, according to one estimate, just 17cm in diameter at its inception.What’s more, it was dark inside the Big Bang. In fact, there was no light at all. True, if you stuck around for 380,000 years, according to Nasa, you might have been able to see something because that was when free electrons met up with nuclei and created neutral atoms that would have allowed light to pass through. But who has 380,000 years to hang around waiting in the dark? Continue reading...

Study analysing brain scans of people finds psychedelic drug lowers barriers that constrain thoughtsWhen Aldous Huxley emerged from a mescaline trip that veered from an obsession with the folds in his trousers to wonder at the “miraculous” tubularity of the bamboo legs on his garden chairs, he offered an opinion on how the drug worked.Writing in The Doors of Perception, his 1954 book that took its name from a William Blake poem, Huxley declared that the psychedelic “lowers the efficiency of the brain as an instrument for focusing the mind on the problems of life”. Continue reading...

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.This week, from 2017: Luxembourg has shown how far a tiny country can go by serving the needs of global capitalism. Now it has set its sights on outer space. By Atossa Araxia Abrahamian Continue reading...

From Robert Burton’s 17th-century Anatomy of Melancholy to new insights from Ed Bullmore, these are welcome guides to one of the loneliest experiences

The world-first system can allow anyone to check if reefs known to be under heat stress have started to bleachScientists have launched a world-first system to detect in almost real time the bleaching of the planet’s coral reefs that are under severe threat from global heating.The developers of the new tool, which has been four years in the making, claim it can allow anyone to check if reefs known to be under heat stress have actually started to bleach. Continue reading...

Authorities impose mask-wearing and limit gatherings after outbreak spreads to half of island’s counties

The new division will comprise army, navy and air force officers and be based at RAAF headquarters in CanberraAustralia is assembling a new space division comprising military officers from the army, navy and air force to better protect satellites from attack.The space division will be established within the Royal Australian Air Force headquarters in Canberra early next year. Continue reading...

Pandemic fatigue and economic woes blamed for lack of action despite rapid rise in number of cases

The cuckoopint, or Arum maculatum, gives off a pungent scent to attract and trap small pollinators before releasing them

Want a booster shot of knowledge? David Olusoga and Steven Johnson’s new show will teach you about the magic, and the horrors, behind the medical breakthroughs of our time

Six fragments returned to archaeological park, some after being illegally trafficked in 1970sSix fragments of wall frescoes stolen from the ruins of ancient Roman villas have been returned to Pompeii’s archaeological park, after an investigation by Italy’s cultural protection police squad.Three of the relics, which date back to the first century AD, are believed to have been cut off the walls of two Roman villas in Stabiae, a historical site close to the main Pompeii excavations, in the 1970s before being exported illegally. Continue reading...

From deep in the bush just outside Bathurst in Australia, Rodney Watters and Niall MacNeill bring the darkness of space into the light.Using an alchemy of high-speed cameras, telescopes and computer processors, the images created for their new book overcome the multitude of challenges involved in capturing celestial bodies light years away Continue reading...

UK study of 25,000 people finds even moderate drinking is linked to lower grey matter densityThere is no safe amount of alcohol consumption for the brain, with even “moderate” drinking adversely affecting nearly every part of it, a study of more than 25,000 people in the UK has found.The study, which is still to be peer-reviewed, suggests that the more alcohol consumed, the lower the brain volume. In effect, the more you drink, the worse off your brain. Continue reading...

One-of-a-kind digital collectables, known as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), have boomed in areas ranging from music, sport and art. As the focus is on digital artists to seize this opportunity to potentially make millions for their work, the Guardian’s technology correspondent, Alex Hern, talks to Shivani Dave about the pros and cons of this emerging technology Continue reading...

Self-portraits by ultra-realistic android go on show at Design Museum in LondonShe, if it can be called a she, began her career with abstract art but has now moved to self, if they can be called self, portraits and they are alarmingly good.“She is getting better all of the time,” said Aidan Meller, the force behind Ai-Da, the world’s first ultra-realistic robot artist, who is the subject of a display at the Design Museum in London. Continue reading...

Environment secretary George Eustice said he could not rule out restrictions in India variant hotspots

Science has got us much closer to getting back to how things were, but if we don’t remember patience and kindness it will count for very littleWith the gradual easing of restrictions, we are all being faced with questions of “how”. How are we going to manage the “new normal”? How are we going to navigate the months ahead? How are we going to feel in all these unfamiliar situations?These are not easy questions to answer. We have never experienced anything like the pandemic and we can’t begin to know how we will feel as we re-engage with the world outside our front doors. We have been through so many changes and had so much uncertainty that we can feel a bit disoriented and a bit lost. And we can feel anxious. Continue reading...

Nigel Topping acknowledges world is running out of time as he lobbies businesses and lawmakers in lead-up to Cop26 summitThe UK’s climate champion, Nigel Topping, says he is stubbornly optimistic that the world will converge on an agreement to forge a transition to a net zero future at the UN climate talks later this year.Topping’s role in the run-up to the UN Cop26 climate summit, to be held in Glasgow in November, is to drive and encourage action from businesses, civil society, and local and regional government on climate change. Continue reading...

Results show Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca jabs are proving highly effective

Scientists say ice equivalent to 1-2 metres of sea level rise is probably already doomed to meltA significant part of the Greenland ice sheet is on the brink of a tipping point, after which accelerated melting would become inevitable even if global heating was halted, according to new research.Rising temperatures caused by the climate crisis have already seen trillions of tonnes of Greenland’s ice pour into the ocean. Melting its ice sheet completely would eventually raise global sea level by 7 metres. Continue reading...

Scientists’ warning comes as government comes under pressure to explain border policy

Government says it has deployed thousands more vaccine doses to areas with rising cases due to India variants

My wife, Caroline Thomas, who has died aged 79 of cancer, was an applied psychologist who worked on safety and accident prevention, championing the role of consumers in the development of standards.Known professionally as Caroline Warne, she played a pivotal role in consumer safety and accident prevention over six decades, beginning with research into industrial and household accidents, and culminating in her chairing the consumer policy committee of the International Standards Organization (ISO). She was appointed OBE in 2005. Continue reading...

The solutions to today’s puzzlesEarlier today I set three puzzles from Terms & Conditions Apply, a free online game about website deviousness (that I made with Jonathan Plackett.) The puzzles in the game exaggerate the tricks websites use to extract our data.1. Naughty negatives Continue reading...

Not enough people are vaccinated against Covid as a new variant spreads, requiring us to remain vigilant for a little longer

It’s important to recognise the vital role they’ve played in development of vaccines and treatmentsA few weeks ago, I received my first shot of a vaccine against Covid-19. As the newly vaccinated exited the clinic, there was a mix of relief and elation on people’s faces. We exchanged little smiles of solidarity. If we could have burst into spontaneous applause, I’m sure we would have done.

Sage member suggests latest Covid lockdown easing may be reversed if hospital admissions rise

Puzzles about internet deviousnessUPDATE: Solutions can be read here.It’s a depressing fact of online life that websites are often shameless in using shady practices, like misdirection and obfuscation, to get us to sign up to, or to agree to, something we do not want.Today’s puzzles exaggerate the cunning tricks websites use to extract our personal data – but only just! Continue reading...

Faint constellations representing crow, cup and serpent feature in classical Greek and Roman mythThis week offers us the opportunity to locate three of the fainter constellations that are linked by myth: Corvus, the crow; Crater, the cup; and Hydra, the serpent. Corvus is one of the oldest recognised constellations, dating back to Babylonian star charts from at least 1100BC. Hydra was also recognised by the Babylonians, although Crater is a slightly later invention. Continue reading...

Half of all adult women will experience at least one urinary tract infection in their lifetime, yet it remains misdiagnosed, mismanaged and under-researchedAs a health policy analyst and a woman who suffered for many years with a once poorly-recognised chronic disease – endometriosis – I am dismayed to have stumbled upon another public health crisis severely impacting women’s lives. Like endometriosis and the pelvic mesh scandal – to name just two women’s health conditions ignored for too long – this condition is misdiagnosed, mismanaged and under-researched.Each year thousands of Australians – mostly women – are let down by testing for a common bacterial infection, leaving them undiagnosed and unable to access effective treatment for painful, life-altering symptoms. Continue reading...

UK government proposals to recognise vertebrates as sentient beings are welcome, but this should be just the startLook a dog in the eye and a conscious being looks back. A being that feels hunger, thirst, warmth, cold, fear, comfort, pleasure, pain, joy. No one can seriously doubt this. The same is true of any mammal. You cannot watch rats playing hide and seek and doubt that they have feelings – that they are sentient creatures. But as animals become more distant from us in evolutionary terms, some doubt begins to creep in.Consider a bee sneaking past the guards of a rival colony to steal honey. Or the Brazilian ants that, in order to hide their nest at the end of each day, seal off the entrance from the outside. Left out in the cold at night, these ants will never see the morning, but their sacrifice increases the chance that their sisters will. The urge to attribute feelings to insects can be surprisingly strong. Continue reading...

Healthy immune systems work best when exposed to microbes. So what will lockdown have done to our resistance to germs?Every time you kiss another human being intimately for 10 seconds, more than 80m bacteria are transferred from mouth to mouth. If you’re at a party and double dip your tortilla chip into the salsa three times, around 10,000 bacteria will be transferred from your lips to the dip. Say “hi” to your co-workers as you sit down at your office desk and you’ll also be greeted by over 10m bacteria on its surface.Disturbing as these figures may seem, many scientists believe that exposure to these microbes helps fine-tune our immune systems – the network of cells and molecules that protect us from diseases. In 1989, epidemiologist David Strachan first proposed the “hygiene hypothesis” – the idea that being too clean causes defects in the immune system, leading to a rise in inflammatory diseases, such as asthma and allergies. While Strachan’s theory is debated and hygiene saves countless lives, decades of data support the idea that exposure to microbes helps the immune system develop. Continue reading...