In Kenya, the area of optimal tea-growing conditions will be reduced by more than a quarter by 2050Your morning cup of tea may never taste the same again if global heating increases and the climate crisis intensifies, according to research.Some of the world’s biggest tea-growing areas will be among the worst hit by extreme weather, and their yields are likely to be vastly reduced in the coming decades if climate breakdown continues at its current pace. Floods, droughts, heatwaves and storms are likely to have a severe impact on tea-growing areas around the world, according to a report from the charity Christian Aid. Continue reading...

Observers in the northern hemisphere can start tonight to look for the elusive targetThis May offers observers in the northern hemisphere their best chance of the year to see the planet Mercury in the evening sky. Continue reading...

Researchers create bat with similar performance from what they say is cheap and sustainable materialCricket has been bowled a googly by scientists who have suggested the traditional willow used to make bats could be replaced by bamboo to increase their sustainability and boost the sport’s reach.“Willow has been the principal material for cricket bats for centuries,” said Dr Darshil Shah at the University of Cambridge, who co-authored the study. Continue reading...

Pressure builds on Indian government to announce national lockdown; third of UK adults now fully vaccinated against Covid-19; Laos records first Covid death

Dr Shanna Swan, a professor of environmental medicine and public health at Mount Sinai school of medicine in New York City, talks to Rachel Humphreys about declining fertility in men. Over the past 40 years, average sperm counts among western men have more than halved.She tells Rachel how certain chemicals can interfere with reproductive health. Phthalates, used to make plastic soft and flexible, are of particular concern. They lower testosterone, which can affect sperm count, though they are bad for women, too, and can increase the risk of miscarriage and premature birth. The reproductive crisis is serious, she says. We need to try and limit our exposure to these chemicals otherwise human survival could be threatened.

Incandescent light, the thud of Tokyo nightclubs, particle physics … it all goes into Ryoji Ikeda’s extraordinary sensory symphonies. He talks about his upcoming show at 180 The StrandRyoji Ikeda has delivered some dazzling rushes on the senses over his 25-year career: a beach in Rio de Janeiro bathed in his unique palette of light; New York’s Times Square given over to his black and white flickering patterns. But for his next show, the Japanese artist and composer is taking things underground. Ikeda’s biggest exhibition in Europe to date concerns the exposed underbelly of 180 The Strand in London, which he has reimagined as staves, notes and bar lines – with himself as the conductor, “orchestrat[ing] everything into a symphony”.Beginning with a single light beam piercing the rafters, the exhibition carries the viewer through an incandescent corridor of white light and into a room filled with a ring of immense, super-directional speakers reverberating at concert pitch. To Ikeda, this is “opera” with light and sound. “There’s the intro, the welcome piece, then the crescendo [and] climax. It’s a long journey.” Continue reading...

When Rebecca Schiller swapped the city for a rural dream life seemed idyllic. But however far you go, you can’t escape your self…Winter has hung around this year as though even the seasons are waiting for government permission to unlock. Despite spring’s late arrival on the smallholding, Amber has gone into labour early. It’s just me and her in the kidding pen; me muttering soft, nonsensical words of encouragement, her bleating through contractions and resting against my hand. She pushes again but nothing happens. The hooves of the emerging kid have been static for too long and the out-of-hours emergency vet is on the way. I give into a two-minute power cry because I don’t know if this day will end with life or death, and then the vet arrives and I snap out of it. “I’ll give her an epidural first,” he says, getting to work matter-of-factly. A goat epidural – of course.Five years ago I lived in town, had just two cats and barely knew the difference between hay and straw. Now, somehow, I’m a person with an overdue account at the agricultural merchants and I know how to organise a spinal block for a goat. Continue reading...

US agency accuses Beijing of failing to meet expected standards regarding its space debrisRemnants of China’s biggest rocket have landed in the Indian Ocean, ending days of speculation over where the debris would hit and drawing US criticism over a lack of transparency.The coordinates given by Chinese state media, citing the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO), put the point of impact west of the Maldives archipelago. Continue reading...

Key advisers are among those who say scheme is flawed as holiday firms report huge rise in bookings

The discovery of a child laid to rest in Africa 78,000 years ago indicates a value placed on life that we shareScientists have discovered what may be the oldest known burial in Africa. The remains of a person, probably aged two or three, and buried some 78,000 years ago have been discovered in Panga ya Saidi, a cave system in Kenya. The child, given the name Mtoto, Swahili for “child”, appears to have been placed on their side with their legs tucked into the chest and the head resting on a long-perished support. The body may have been wrapped in some form of material, perhaps an animal skin, which again has perished.Mtoto is not the earliest human burial of which we know. There are several sites in the Middle East in which modern humans (Homo sapiens) were buried at least 120,000 years ago. We know also of Neanderthal burials. Some anthropologists suggest that an even earlier human species, Homo naledi, may also have buried their dead, though this is controversial. Continue reading...

Models have been useful, especially as humans are far too optimistic and confident

According to some, not factoring hormone fluctuation into women’s mental healthcare can be dangerous. For others, it feeds into outdated stereotypes“It’s my hormones, doc. It’s my hormones, and no one’s listened to that.”It was the late 1980s, in what was once Royal Park Psychiatric Hospital in inner-city Melbourne. A brash young registrar doing her training in psychiatry had arrived at her first hospital placement, full of ideas and enthusiasm. Perhaps to put a bit of scuff on that bright ambition, she was assigned to look after the female patients in the “back ward”. Continue reading...

Frustration expressed at what several leaders see as US attempt to claim moral high ground

Gene-screening, as is used to detect some breast cancer risks, could save thousands of livesScientists have begun work to create a prostate cancer screening service for the UK. In a few years, middle-aged men could be tested to reveal their genetic susceptibility to the condition, with those deemed to be under significant threat of developing it being offered treatment or surgery.The service would tackle a disease that has become the nation’s most commonly diagnosed cancer and would parallel Britain’s breast cancer screening programme. Every year, more than 47,500 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer: 129 a day on average. More than 11,500 deaths from the disease occur each year, with one in eight men being diagnosed with prostate cancer at some time in their lives. Continue reading...

China has played down fears that its Long March 5B rocket could hit a populated area or a plane in flight but there is no shortage of problem debris in orbitSometime this weekend the upper stage of a Chinese Long March 5B rocket will plunge back to Earth and most of it will burn up on re-entry – but perhaps not all.Military experts in the US expect the booster stage to come down on Saturday or Sunday, but have warned it is difficult to predict where it will land and when and how much material might hit the ground – or if it could knock a plane out of the sky. Continue reading...

Continue reading...

Sinopharm jab will also be added to Covax programme for the developing world in the coming weeksThe World Health Organization has given emergency use approval to one of the Chinese-made Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccines in a major boost to the product’s credibility.The long-awaited decision made on Friday by a WHO technical advisory group would also see the Chinese vaccine being included in the Covax programme for the developing world in the coming weeks, and distributed through UN agencies, potentially benefiting millions of people in need worldwide. Continue reading...

India has been added to the UK’s ‘red list’ for travel, with fears over a new variant influencing the decision

French president says US and UK should start exporting doses around the world instead

Could it be that I, a committed extrovert who talks to strangers, had become an introvert during the pandemic?To quote James Brown: I feel good, I knew that I would. Britain has opened up. Into a restaurant I leap, on to a beautician’s bed I spring, and into a shop I hop, to try on sunglasses and flirt with the salesperson, who is almost certainly reciprocating for money. Still, in-person interaction with strangers! These days I skip home.But recently one evening I found myself alone, properly alone, for the first time in a while. No one in the flat, and no obligation to join a Zoom, or go out to care for someone – everyone I love was busy and catered for in this new world. And it was lovely. Continue reading...

Defense secretary is hopeful rocket will crash in the ocean; Aerospace Corp said it expects debris to hit the Pacific near the equatorThe US military has no plan to shoot down the remnants of a large Chinese rocket expected to plunge back through the atmosphere this weekend, the defense secretary said on Thursday.Speaking with reporters, the US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, said the hope was the rocket would land in the ocean and that the latest estimate was that it would come down between Saturday and Sunday. Continue reading...

Government admits restrictions that had been due to end on 11 May have failed to stop rising infections

I found a ball of mud with something pointy sticking out the top. I ran into the kitchen screaming. I was so excitedI love digging in the back garden; I’ve been doing it for ages. When I was younger, I hoped to reach other countries, or at least get to my neighbour’s back garden. During lockdown me and my mummy started digging in the flowerbeds together.Sometimes, I’d dig for pottery and stuff, but I’ve always wanted to find a fossil. I like finding out about the past. At school, my favourite subject is history. I’ve been watching Andy’s Prehistoric Adventures on CBeebies since I was three (I’m now six) and I’ve seen lots of YouTube videos of a guy who searches for megalodon teeth. I knew I had a good chance of finding a fossil, because my house was built on a muddy, limestone substrate, in Walsall, which means millions of years ago, my garden wasn’t my garden at all – it was a coral reef. Continue reading...

Education secretary says lockdown easing measure will go ahead despite protests from unions and others

Expansion follows advice to allow more people to opt out of the AstraZeneca shot over clotting fears

Analysis of more than 95,000 women under 50 suggests link between heavy consumption and the diseaseHeavy consumption of sugary drinks may raise the risk of developing bowel cancer before the age of 50, according to a major study into diet and disease in US nurses.Researchers analysed dietary and medical records of more than 95,000 women tracked from 1991 to 2015 as part of the US Nurses’ Health II study and looked for evidence linking sugary drinks to early diagnosis of bowel cancer. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Leaked emails show Public Health England assessment of ongoing risk from B16172 variant is ‘high’

I was just starting my career in paediatrics at Southmead hospital in Bristol in 1963 when Peter Dunn was appointed. He quickly fired everyone’s enthusiasm for neonatology. At the time, junior staff were trying to persuade more senior staff that low-birthweight babies should be fed early, rather than the practice of not feeding for 48 hours or until they seemed hungry. He strongly supported us and we managed to establish early feeding. We founded the Bristol Perinatal Club together, which at the time was unique in allowing obstetricians and neonatologists to meet to discuss mutual problems. Continue reading...

When the Guardian began reporting on the climate crisis 70 years ago, people were worried that warmer temperatures would make it harder to complain about the weather. Today it is the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced.In the second special episode marking 200 years of the Guardian, Phoebe Weston is joined by Jonathan Watts, Prof Naomi Oreskes and Alice Bell to take a look at climate coverage over the years, how our understanding of the science has changed and how our attitudes and politics have shifted Continue reading...

Unless actions by governments and corporations cut emissions in the here and now, a dose of scepticism is in order

Health commissioner says plan is to reduce hospitalisation and tackle long-term impact of Covid

New variants are contributing factor behind country’s vicious second wave with likelihood of more emerging

New Shepard rocket-and-capsule combo aims to fly six passengers 62 miles above Earth into spaceBlue Origin, Jeff Bezos’s rocket company, aims to launch its first suborbital sightseeing trip on its New Shepard spacecraft on 20 July, a moment that could usher in an era of private commercial space travel.Blue Origin also said it would offer one seat on the first flight to the winning bidder of a five-week online auction, the proceeds of which will be donated to the space firm’s foundation. Continue reading...

Despite pandemic-enforced isolation, scientists from around the world have produced a vital climate change forecastSea levels are going to rise, no matter what. This is certain. But new

The best time to look skyward will be from 2.30am to 3am on Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning – and you won’t need a telescopeShooting stars will light up the early morning sky across Australia this coming weekend.Those willing to brave the cold over the next few days will be rewarded with a spectacular show of streaking lights. Continue reading...

SpaceX launches and successfully lands its futuristic Starship SN15 for the first time. The previous four test flights for the rocketship had ended in explosions for the vehicle that SpaceX founder Elon Musk hopes will eventually transport humans to Mars. This latest upgraded version of SpaceX’s full-scale, stainless steel, bullet-shaped rocketship reached a maximum altitude of over six miles (10km) before flipping and descending horizontally, and then going vertical again just in time for touchdown

Previous test flights of the rocketship, which Elon Musk plans to use for future missions to the moon and mars, ended in explosionsSpaceX launched and successfully landed its futuristic Starship on Wednesday, finally nailing a test flight of the rocketship that Elon Musk intends to use to land astronauts on the moon and send people to Mars.The previous four test flights ended in fiery explosions before, during or soon after touchdown at the south-eastern tip of Texas, near Brownsville. Continue reading...

Communist party newspaper claims Long March 5B should easily burn up in atmosphere but expert warns pieces will reach EarthThe White House has called for “responsible space behaviours” as a debris from a Chinese rocket, thought to be out of control, is expected to crash back to Earth on Saturday, US time.The US Space Command is tracking debris from the Long March 5B, which last week launched the main module of China’s first permanent space station into orbit. The roughly 30-metre (100ft) long stage would be among the biggest piece of space debris to fall to Earth. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. Keep up to date with all of our coronavirus coverage here.11.55pm BSTWe are closing this blog now. You can keep up to date with all our coronavirus coverage here.

Waiver yet to be approved by World Trade Organisation but Biden administration’s position will have strong influence on decision

Limited data from small test trial shows positive results against South Africa and Brazil strains

‘Quite spectacular’ discovery shows three-year-old child was carefully laid to rest nearly 80,000 years ago

Exclusive: playlist based on listeners’ backgrounds and tastes found to lower heart rate, agitation and distressBob Marley knew it when he sang on Trenchtown Rock: “One good thing about music when it hits you, you feel no pain.”Now trials are under way at an NHS trust to see if an algorithm can curate music playlists to reduce suffering in Alzheimer’s patients as well as in stressed medical staff. Continue reading...

Nasal swabs allegedly washed, repackaged and sold to passengers required to take test at Medan airport

Money for Porton Down laboratory will help to ‘future-proof’ country, says Matt Hancock

Australia needs to start flattening the mental health curve urgently. The coming budget is an opportunity for actionThe 2021 federal budget has been heralded as the point at which the Morrison government will respond, at scale, to the many failings of the mental health system. We spend only $10.6bn a year providing mental health services to over 4 million people. Importantly, there is an increasing divide between the federal government’s reporting and the independent accounting of what monies are spent on mental health. The responsible ministers claim that federal spending has already substantially increased, up from $3.5bn five years ago to $5.9bn in 2020-21. Continue reading...

On 22 June 1918, the Manchester Guardian reported that a flu epidemic was moving through the British Isles. It was noted to be ‘by any means a common form of influenza’. Eventually, it took the lives of more than 50 million people around the world. In a special episode to mark the Guardian’s 200th anniversary, Nicola Davis looks back on the 1918 flu pandemic and how it was reported at the time. Speaking to science journalist Laura Spinney, and ex-chief reporter at the Observer and science historian Dr Mark Honigsbaum, Nicola asks about the similarities and differences to our experiences with Covid-19, and what we can learn for future pandemics Continue reading...

Analysis of remains of crew on Henry VIII’s favourite warship sheds light on diversity in Tudor EnglandOne is thought to be an archer raised in the Atlas mountains in north Africa, and another may have been a carpenter who grew up in south-west Spain. Others hailed from closer to home, possibly the bustling ports of the English west country or the Thames estuary.The most in-depth study yet of a group of men who drowned when Henry VIII’s favourite warship, the Mary Rose, sank off Portsmouth has provided fresh insight into the makeup of the crew, and the diverse nature of society in Tudor England. Continue reading...

Archaeologists say findings at Old St Mary’s church in Stoke Mandeville will shed light on life dating back to Norman timesHS2 contractors are planning to disinter 3,000 bodies discovered in a churchyard in Buckinghamshire that lies in the path of the new high-speed rail link.Archaeologists excavating a site at Old St Mary’s church in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire, which was built shortly after the Norman conquest in AD1080, discovered the ancient burial site in the churchyard. The burial ground at St Mary’s was in use for 900 years, with the last recorded interment in 1908. Around 3,000 burials are expected when the graveyard is fully excavated. Continue reading...

Following health secretary’s statement last month, Public Health England confirms it is carrying out ‘targeted testing’ instead