For the UK and elsewhere the pandemic’s end is in sight, but less fortunate parts of the world urgently need helpWhen Covid-19 began to spread rapidly in January 2020, governments across the world had limited strategies to deal with it. Without a vaccine or proven treatments for the disease, or even access to mass testing, the only choice political leaders faced was taking the least bad option available.There were four approaches that different governments took during the beginning of the pandemic. China, New Zealand, Vietnam and Thailand chose to eliminate the virus at the cost of stopping international travel. Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea suppressed the virus through rigorous testing, tracing and isolating while avoiding harsh lockdowns. Sweden allowed the virus to spread through the population before realising health systems could not cope with an influx of Covid-19 patients. Meanwhile, European countries including England and France controlled the virus through a cycle of lockdown measures while keeping borders largely open. This resembled a holding pattern for a plane running out of fuel: people grew tired of continual restrictions, the economy suffered and Covid-19 was never fully suppressed. Continue reading...

Scientists say geographical spread ‘entirely predictable’ and window of opportunity has been missed

Date for lifting remaining curbs may be moved amid warnings of third wave driven by India variant

Your turn to break offUPDATE: To read the solution click hereMy cultural highlight of recent weeks has been the brilliant BBC documentary Gods of Snooker, about the time in the 1980s when the sport was a national obsession. Today’s puzzle describes a shot to malfunction the Romford Robot (above left) and put the Whirlwind (above right) in a spin.Baize theorem Continue reading...

Stars in this constellation were mentioned by the ancient Babylonians and later by PtolemyThis week it’s time to track down a large but easily overlooked constellation. Boötes, the herdsman, is an ancient constellation that was catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the second century. References to the stars in this constellation date back even further, however, to the ancient Babylonians, where they represented the god Enil, the patron of farming. Continue reading...

Climate physicist and expert on thunderstorm electrification who was also a published poetHow thunderstorms are generated in clouds is still not fully understood. But John Latham, who has died aged 83, did much to explain the physical processes of cloud electrification, cloud lightning and precipitation – how water falls from clouds in various forms. Later he proposed a way in which clouds could provide a crucial if temporary role in reducing the impact of global warming.The research he began under John (BJ) Mason in 1958 at what is now Imperial College London focused on the role of ice crystals in cloud electrification. His laboratory studies of thunderstorms involved the concept of a temperature difference between graupel – soft hail – and ice crystal surfaces. He and Mason developed the Temperature Gradient Theory and provided numerical predictions of the mechanism. Like all theories of thunderstorm electrification, it proved controversial. Continue reading...

All scientific observations are likely to be superseded by later scientists, writes Ian Flintoff, while Tony Maynard-Smith says that new discoveries do not prove Einstein ‘wrong’A word of caution on the latest observations of the universe and earlier theories such as those of Albert Einstein (Astronomers create largest map of the universe’s dark matter, 27 May). All such observations and conclusions are best qualified by the understanding that even our latest technologies (brilliant as these are), enhancing our five senses plus our intelligence and reasoning (evolved as the best we know on our planet), do not, in all likelihood, amount to a full or final perception of the phenomena in question. Human capacities – sensory and rational – with whatever ingenious technological enhancements, should not be assumed to be even close to the truth of many phenomena. We are not, and will never be, omniscient.The ingenuities and perceptions of time supersede one another, as Einstein superseded Isaac Newton, and no doubt he in turn will be superseded. Meanwhile, new theories might perhaps always best be prefaced with the following warning: with the current state of human understanding, enhanced by human technologies and human reasoning, it looks as if these tentative findings might, for the time being, be discussed further. Perhaps Plato was right: we do not see things as they really are, but merely as we see them.

British aeronautical engineer who played a key role in Nasa and America’s space raceAt 11am on 20 February 1959, the Canadian prime minister John Diefenbaker announced the axing of the revolutionary Avro Arrow aircraft project. The fighter was enormously expensive, but had sustained 25,000 hi-tech Canadian jobs. By 3pm on that day Avro was telling employees (via its PA system) that they were being laid off. Among the thousands to go was John Hodge, a British engineer born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.The subsequent career of Hodge, who has died aged 92, embodied the aspiration, triumph, catastrophe – and planning – that made up the saga of space flight during the cold war years, when scientists from across the west were drawn into that vast American enterprise. By 1969, in the wake of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s moon landing, the BBC’s space correspondent Reginald Turnill, citing the “anglonaut” Hodge as an example, was telling Radio 4 listeners that the “astonishing thing about America’s post-Apollo space plans was that they were largely being drawn up by Englishmen”. Continue reading...

‘Very dangerous’ coronavirus variant is ‘more transmissible’ than previously known types

MPs call on Matt Hancock to explain ‘postcode lottery’ despite assertion that clinic network is operational

Their busy buzzing supplies the soundtrack to our summer – and by spotting them I’ve found a fresh sense of inner peaceLockdown started, or reignited, a love of nature in many people. The RSPB reported a 70% increase in visitors to its website during the first lockdown. This came as no surprise to me; stuck at home, without the usual distraction of social engagement, my interest in nature grew. During the winter, I would look up into leafless trees trying to locate a bird whose loud call I could clearly hear. I even bought myself a pair of binoculars so I could acquaint myself with some of the local avian population.But now I have a new hobby. As the warmer weather slowly arrives, I have been lowering my gaze towards the stirring flower beds and roadside verges, as well as rustling in the undergrowth in the hope of spotting my favourite insects. On a sunny day, there’s nothing better than sitting quietly by a patch of swaying flowers or under a blossoming tree to listen for the tell-tale sign of buzzing. This quintessential sound of summer connects me to the seasons and the natural world, even in the inner city, and fills me with joy. It is also a welcome break from staring at a screen all day. I wait peacefully, in anticipation and excitement of seeing different types of bees. Continue reading...

Two months ago, few had been inoculated. Now hundreds of millions have, after health warnings – and gifts

The virus is now in a race with the vaccines and the victor is increasingly uncertainThe UK’s fine performance in sequencing Sars-CoV-2 genomes allows Public Health England to publish detailed analyses on the progress of variants and the latest report represents the changing of the guard. The B.1.1.7 lineage, first identified in Kent, had been dominant in the UK, but the B.1.617.2 lineage, first identified in India, comprised 58% of the most recent sequences, up from 44% the week before. There are strong regional differences, with under 10% of cases in Yorkshire and the Humber being the Indian-identified variant, while in north-west England that share is over 60%.The main concern is about increased risk of transmission and reports also include estimates of what is known as the “secondary attack rate” (SAR), which simply means the proportion of an infected person’s contacts who also get infected. Using NHS test-and-trace data for recent non-travel cases, the estimated SAR for the B.1.1.7 variant was 8.1% (+/- 0.2%), while for the variant identified in India it was substantially higher at 13.5% (+/- 1.0%) – although these are likely to understate the true values due to the limitations of contact tracing. Continue reading...

Mission comes after China was rebuked for uncontrolled crash of rocket that launched the station itselfA Chinese cargo spacecraft carrying equipment and supplies has successfully docked with the core module of the country’s future space station, according to state media.A Long March 7 rocket carrying the Tianzhou-2 cargo craft – loaded with essentials such as food, equipment and fuel – blasted off late on Saturday from the Wenchang launch site on the tropical southern island of Hainan, the Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday. Continue reading...

Harold Pinter theatre, London

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Labour leader slams Tory ‘civil war’ and says prime minister is ‘unfit for office after errors’

The picture is a composite of 370 observations made over the past two decades and depicts billions of stars and black holesNasa has released a stunning new picture of our galaxy’s violent, super-energized “downtown”.Related: Manhattenhenge: miserable Memorial Day weather mars biannual fiery display Continue reading...

As the US and Europe approve plans to immunise teenagers, scientists in Britain advise delayLaunching a programme of Covid-19 immunisations for children should be considered only in special circumstances, leading health experts have warned.They say UK medical authorities, who are currently studying how vaccines for adolescents might be administered, should move with great care over the implementation of such a programme. Continue reading...

Both sides in the ‘natural versus manmade’ debate remain deadlocked as the search for the source of Sars-CoV-2 goes on

This live blog is now closed. For more coronavirus news, you can head to our global blog

Exclusive: Prof Sir Tim Gowers says ‘things will get bad very quickly’ after June if variant spread underestimated

Business secretary says residents ‘were protected as far as we could’ during early days of pandemic

A navigation error sent Nasa’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity on a wild ride through the Martian atmosphere. The issue is the first major problem since its maiden voyage in April. The technical issue occurred one minute into Ingenuity's sixth test flight after one of the pictures taken by onboard cameras did not register in the navigation system – confusing the helicopter about its location. It was able to land 5 metres from its planned touchdown site

The annual Milky Way photographer of the year competition features the best photos of our galaxy as selected by Capture the Atlas. This year’s images were taken from around the world by 25 photographers of 14 different nationalities. The best time to see and photograph the Milky Way is usually between May and June with maximum hours of visibility on both hemispheres Continue reading...

Trees communicate with each other, store memories and respond to attacks. They have a profoundly positive effect on our emotions … but can we know how they feel about us?Why can’t we communicate with trees the same way we communicate with, say, elephants? Both live in social groups and look after not only their young but also their elders. That famous elephant memory is also found in trees, and both communicate in languages that we didn’t even recognise at first. Trees communicate through their interconnected root systems, and elephants communicate using low-frequency rumbling below the range at which we can hear. We get a feeling of wellbeing when we run our fingers over the rough skin of both creatures, and what we would love above all is to get a reaction from them.Is such communication possible between people and trees? First we have to take a closer look at what we mean by “communicate”. It is not enough that we consciously or subconsciously eavesdrop, so to speak, on the scents trees use to communicate among themselves. We have a physical reaction when we breathe them in, but for communication to happen, the trees also need to react to our signals. Continue reading...

SpaceShipTwo rocket plane soars above Earth on successful test flight to edge of spaceVirgin Galactic has performed its third voyage to the edge of space using the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane. This flight, which took place on 22 May, was the first to take off from the company’s Spaceport America facility in New Mexico.Virgin Galactic’s system comprises two parts: the rocket ship VSS Unity and the carrier aircraft VMS Eve. Together, they travelled to an altitude of about 9.5 miles (50,000ft). Eve then released Unity, which ignited its rocket. During Saturday’s flight Unity achieved a speed of mach 3 that boosted it to an altitude of 55.4 miles. Continue reading...

Problem with camera-based navigation system saw helicopter wobble through the air in biggest tech issue Ingenuity has facedA navigation timing error sent Nasa’s Mars helicopter on a lurching ride, its first major problem since it took to the Martian skies last month.The experimental helicopter, named Ingenuity, managed to land safely after the problem occurred, officials at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said on Thursday. Continue reading...

Medical experts explain how much quarantine breaches, cold weather and pure chance contribute to the spread of coronavirus cases in Melbourne

Archaeologists say White Monument in Tal Banat was tribute to war dead of 3rd millennium BCA burial mound in northern Syria has been identified by researchers as perhaps the world’s oldest known war memorial.The site, known as the White Monument, in the town of Tal Banat had previously been thought to be an ancient mass grave of enemy fighters. However, a report published in the journal Antiquity on Friday suggests it was a memorial for the community’s battle dead from the 3rd millennium BC. Continue reading...

Health secretary dodges question about whether he told No 10 patients would be tested before hospital discharge after Cummings’ allegation. This live blog is now closed – please follow the global live blog for latest updates

International team reveal vast cosmic voids over the Earth’s skies that could challenge EinsteinWe can’t see it, barely understand it, but know that it exists because of the powerful influence it exerts on space.Dark matter makes up about 27% of the universe, and its gravitational force is enough to mesh entire galaxies together in a structure known as the cosmic web. Now, scientists have created the largest ever map of this mysterious substance – and it could imply that there’s something wrong with Einstein’s theory of relativity. Continue reading...

When getting a Covid jab you will be read a list of potential side-effects. You’ll even be given a leaflet to take home with the side-effects on them, and none of those includes changes in menstruation. After anecdotal reports of bleeding, Dr Kate Clancy and Dr Katharine Lee speak to Nicola Davis about why they launched a survey documenting events of this kind Continue reading...

Brazilian Amazon primates found to adapt their calls to get along better with their neighboursMonkeys will use the “accent” of another species when they enter its territory to enhance communication, much like a British person living in the US might forgo their ‘tomahto’ for ‘tomayto, researchers have found.Researchers investigated the behaviour of 15 groups of two roughly squirrel-sized primate species in the Brazilian Amazon: pied tamarins (Saguinus bicolor) and red-handed tamarins (Saguinus midas). Continue reading...

The super moon is notoriously hard to photograph but that doesn’t stop everyone trying. Guardian Australia’s picture editor Carly Earl asked staff to share the worst picture they took on Wednesday night and explain what inspired, or possessed, them to shoot it

The Earth's shadow crept across the full moon as people waited for a cosmic event known as a super blood moon. A total eclipse lasted about 15 minutes as Earth passed directly between the moon and the sun. As the eclipse deepened, it appeared as though half the moon had vanished. The moon's reddish-orange colour was the result of all the sunrises and sunsets in Earth’s atmosphere projected on to the surface of the eclipsed moon. From Jerusalem to Jakarta, Sydney to New York, the rare lunar event drew stargazers out in droves Continue reading...

AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson jabs have caused rare blood clots but scientists say they can be redesigned to avoid problem

Scientist’s treasure trove and personal objects to go to Science Museum and Cambridge University LibraryA vast treasure trove of papers and personal objects belonging to Stephen Hawking, from dizzying black hole theories to scripts for the Simpsons, have been acquired for the nation.It was announced on Thursday that Hawking’s archive and the contents of his university office have been acquired through the Acceptance in Lieu scheme, which allows families to offset tax. Continue reading...

Cummings compared data expert to Jeff Goldblum’s scientist in the film Independence Day, whose warnings were ignored

Guardian readers respond to our report that up to 8,700 patients died after catching Covid in English hospitals, with some sharing their own storiesThank you for your excellent article (Up to 8,700 patients died after catching Covid in English hospitals, 24 May). My wife was admitted to Basildon hospital in early September for a 10-hour heart bypass operation, and afterwards was in intensive care for three weeks before being transferred to general wards for recovery. The ward Pam went to had a Covid outbreak after a few days, and she contracted it. She was moved into a total of five wards – all had Covid at some stage – and she finally passed away on 18 November. Pam was a very nervous person and I dread to think what was going through her mind, as I was unable to have contact with her for her final seven weeks. I have yet to come to terms with her situation and passing.Pam received marvellous treatment from the medical staff, even allowing me and family and friends to send emails, which a nurse read out to her. However, early in the pandemic a Nightingale hospital was built at the ExCeL centre to accommodate a significant number of patients; it has barely been used. I contend that if all the Covid patients within a 30-mile radius had been transferred there, it would have kept all the other hospitals in the catchment area free of the virus, and allowed them to operate normally, thus preventing a significant number of deaths. I am convinced that had such a policy been adopted, Pam would still be alive today. Continue reading...

Private equity firm Carlyle to buy Vectura while Ramsay Health Care has bid accepted for Spire hospitals

PM’s former adviser says he heard Boris Johnson say he would rather see ‘bodies piled high’; Cummings says ‘tens of thousands died who didn’t need to’. This live blog is closed - for coronavirus updates, please follow the global live blog

We check claims made by Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser against the facts

International body paves way for key research as it lifts ban on growing embryos beyond 14 days

Here is the time when you can look at May’s full supermoon lunar eclipse on Wednesday night – and if skies are cloudy, where you can see the livestream

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: Scientists have identified 2 million species of living things. No one knows how many more are out there, and tens of thousands may be vanishing before we have even had a chance to encounter them. By Jacob Mikanowski Continue reading...

While on a routine patrol, Greg Francek came across bone fragments from prehistoric animals that existed millions of years before humansImagine a California with volcanoes erupting to the east and Los Angeles buried under the Pacific Ocean. Giant camels, rhinoceros and four-tusked miniature elephants graze on a lush landscape, only to be preyed upon by bone-crushing dogs.This is the prehistoric scene conjured up by a trove of new fossils discovered in California’s Sierra foothills – a hugely significant find, and one of the largest in the state’s history. Continue reading...

The May full moon, known as the flower moon, coincided with it being at its closest to the Earth during its orbit, making it appear larger and brighter. May’s supermoon also coincides with a lunar eclipse in which the moon will turn red, but that will be visible only in parts of South America, Australia and south-east Asia. This celestial incident, known as super flower blood moon, is the only full lunar eclipse of this year

In the new documentary Black Holes: The Edge of All We Know, the work of Stephen Hawking and others in trying to figure out a mystery for the age is put under the spotlightSo, what would it feel like to fall into a black hole?“Well, at the moment you crossed the horizon, you wouldn’t feel anything – there would be nothing dramatic,” Peter Galison, co-founder of the Black Hole Initiative at Harvard University, says over the phone. Continue reading...

Guardian Australia picture editor Carly Earl explains the dos and don’ts of taking photos of the supermoon