Science | The Guardian

Governments urged to prioritise obese people for vaccinations over greater risk of death from coronavirus

The chancellor would like Britain’s relief response to be seen like Joe Biden’s in the US. But President Biden believes in the power of government, Mr Sunak does notRishi Sunak, the chancellor, has emerged in recent months with the plausible aura of a future Tory leader. This budget was a crucial one for two reasons. First, it was the biggest fiscal event since the UK left the orbit of the European Union. Second, it is dawning on Britons that they can see beyond the shadow of coronavirus. Both beg the question: what sort of country could we expect to live in post-pandemic? Mr Sunak did not have an answer, which exposes him as a man of style, not substance.In doing less than he had promised, the chancellor revealed more about the government than he perhaps wanted. Brexit’s dividend is barely visible in an age of coronavirus. The climate emergency was noticeable by its absence. It is good news that part of the Treasury and a national infrastructure bank will be in the north. Britain is far too centralised a state. But there was a wider, troubling pattern of pork-barrel spending that saw Mr Sunak shower “red wall” seats that voted Tory with free ports and town deals, as well as thinly disguised bids to buy off independence demands in Scotland. The most tangible result of Brexit seems to be an elevated trade deficit. Continue reading...

Government reportedly considering making jab mandatory for health and care workers in England

There are all sorts of different vaccines but many of them share specific types of ingredients. Josh Toussaint-Strauss talks to Prof Adam Finn to find out what is in most conventional vaccines, as well as what's going on in our bodies when we take them – and why the Covid jabs work differently Continue reading...

Confining rivers creates valuable agricultural land but can lead to greater flood risk downstreamFor many of us across the UK it has felt like another wet winter; yet again homes have flooded and politicians are under pressure to improve flood protection. Engineering our rivers and building defences might bring reassurance, but recent research shows that doing nothing is often more effective at reducing flooding.George Heritage and Neil Entwistle from the University of Salford studied the River Caldew in Cumbria; responsible for three major floods in Carlisle since 2010. Their results, published in the journal Water, show that the straightening, deepening and widening of the river has increased the rate at which sediment whooshes downstream, dumping its load in Carlisle and increasing the chances of overflow there. But where this upstream river maintenance has been relaxed they found the river has reverted to wandering, depositing more sediment upstream and reducing the clogging up in Carlisle. Continue reading...

Christmas Island forest skink and 12 mammals on list, which also includes the desert bettong, broad-cheeked hopping mouse and Nullarbor barred bandicootThe Australian government has officially acknowledged the extinction of 13 endemic species, including 12 mammals and the first reptile known to have been lost since European colonisation.The addition of the dozen mammal species confirms Australia’s unenviable position as the world’s capital for mammal extinction, lifting the total number of mammals known to have died out to 34. Continue reading...

Yusaku Maezawa, an online fashion tycoon, needs to fill eight spare seats on the lunar spaceship being developed by SpaceXIt’s the sort of chance that comes along just once in a blue moon: a Japanese billionaire is throwing open a private lunar expedition to eight people from around the world.Yusaku Maezawa, an online fashion tycoon, was announced in 2018 as the first man to book a spot aboard the lunar spaceship being developed by SpaceX. Continue reading...

Delaying gratification may have evolved in the squid-like creature to maximise efficiencyHumans, chimps, parrots and crows have evolved to exert self-control, a trait linked to higher intelligence. Now, researchers say cuttlefish – chunky squid-like creatures with eight arms – also have the ability to delay gratification for a better reward.Researchers used an adapted version of the Stanford marshmallow test, in which children were given the choice of scoffing an immediate reward (one marshmallow) or waiting to earn a delayed, but better, reward (two marshmallows), on six cuttlefish in an aquarium environment. Continue reading...

Advanced Research & Innovation Agency will be exempt from existing procurement rules for ‘maximum flexibility’, says governmentA new £800m government science and defence research agency will be exempt from existing procurement rules, prompting warnings from Labour that it could be used as “cover for cronyism”.Originally the brainchild of Dominic Cummings, the Advanced Research & Innovation Agency (Aria) will be more lightly regulated than a normal government body. Continue reading...

The hunt is on for the Brazilian variant, and tracking mutations will be necessary for some time to come

Imperial College London researchers conducted largest placebo-controlled trial of psychedelics

Not one Covid jab had been administered in 130 of the world’s poorer countries by mid-FebruaryAfter the news in November of the successful trials of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine, a curious photo spread online. It showed a Turkish immigrant family of six in Germany in the 1970s. The father stood in the middle, arms stretched around his head-scarfed wife and children. A shoeless boy hung off to the side, his yellow T-shirt tucked into impossibly high and baggy black trousers. Users of every conceivable social media platform shared this image with an addendum: that scrawny, barefoot boy would one day grow up to be Uğur Şahin, a co-founder of the German pharmaceutical firm, BioNTech, that pioneered the vaccine. This humble, hopeful family would help save the world.The photograph proved to be of another family altogether (it depicted neither Şahin nor his relatives), but it remained happily viral, buoyed up by the feelgood story of the vaccine’s development. The husband-and-wife founders of BioNTech – Şahin and Özlem Türeci – came from Turkish families that moved to Germany. Media outlets championed the couple’s background as if their achievement was not just scientific but also moral, a vindication of the immigrant experience. An article in the Guardian insisted that “BioNTech’s Covid vaccine is a triumph of innovation and immigration”. “Here’s to the immigrant heroes behind the BioNTech vaccine,” cheered Bloomberg. “Like Covid-19 vaccines?” asked the libertarian Reason magazine. “Thank globalisation!” Continue reading...

Austrian chancellor says two nations ‘will no longer rely on EU’ as he unveils manufacturing deal to tackle new variants

‘Virtual unfolding’ is hailed a breakthrough in the study of historic documents as unopened letter from 1697 is read for the first time using X-ray technologyIn a world first for the study of historic documents, an unopened letter written in 1697 has been read by researchers without breaking the seal.The letter, dated 31 July 1697 and sent from French merchant Jacques Sennacques in Lille to his cousin Pierre Le Pers in The Hague, had been closed using “letterlocking”, a process in which the letter is folded to become its own envelope, in effect locking it to keep it private. It is part of a collection of some 2,600 undelivered letters sent from all over Europe to The Hague between 1689 and 1706, 600 of which have never been opened. Continue reading...

Scientists call for more genetic sequencing of emerging variants like P1 to bring pandemic under control

Both countries urged to take action to avoid pile-up of unused AstraZeneca vaccine doses

I can’t rely on the grey sponge in my head any more. But my digital footprint shows how I have been idling away my timeOur memories are shot: I know this, having read, and instantly forgotten, the science. It is the combination of isolation, anxiety and nothing happening, I think, undermining our episodic memory. Repeating myself, forgetting shopping and rereading a simple recipe 10 times, I fear my brain has been smoothed to idiocy by days that pass without contours or relief.What do I remember from last year? A final trip to disaster-movie-eerie London, during which I was so freaked out that I left my handbag (remember those?) on a bench. A Mother’s Day painting that made me cry. The unlikely delight of playing the piano with my son, but we have forgotten the easy piece we fumbled through in April. Continue reading...

With lack of vaccinations and schools in England set to reopen cases must not be ignored, experts warn

It’s getting towards a year since the UK first went into lockdown. That’s almost 12 months of home-schooling, staying in at the weekends, and not being able to see groups of friends and family in person. For many, the pandemic has also brought grief, loss of financial stability and isolation. So it should come as no surprise that lots of us are feeling emotionally exhausted, stressed and generally worn down. But why are we hitting the wall now? And what can we do about it? Ian Sample is joined again by Prof Carmine Pariante to discuss pandemic burnout and how to look after our mental health over the coming months Continue reading...

Jacinda Ardern said lockdown breaches would face ‘judgment of nation’ but director general of health calls for unity

Computer modelling suggests fragments of space debris may have landed outside Gloucestershire townThe yellow-green fireball that pierced Earth’s atmosphere on Sunday night, delighting observers from the UK to the Netherlands, is thought to have partially survived the journey in the form of meteorites, most likely landing just north of Cheltenham.Fireballs are particularly bright meteors – space matter that burns up as it enters Earth’s atmosphere. Whatever is left of it when it reaches the surface of the Earth is known as a meteorite. They are of particular interest to scientists as they can offer crucial clues about the history of the solar system. Continue reading...

Whether talking to family, friends or strangers, calls hardly ever end when both parties are readySo you just called to say “I love you” – but how long should you stay on the phone?New research suggests no matter who we’re talking to, or what we’re talking about, conversations rarely conclude when the two individuals want them to end. Continue reading...

Health secretary says data shows that, for over-80s, a single vaccine shot leads to a more than 80% reduction in hospitalisation. This live blog is now closed - for updates, please follow the global coronavirus live blog

A large meteor was visible over parts of the UK on Sunday night, delighting those lucky enough to see it.The meteor was spotted shortly before 10pm and was visible for about seven seconds. It was captured on doorbell and security cameras in Manchester, Cardiff, Honiton, Bath, Midsomer Norton and Milton Keynes

Sky-watchers will be rewarded with contrasting celestial colours as red planet approaches blue-white starsMars, the new home of Nasa’s Perseverance rover, closes in on the Pleiades star cluster this week to give sky-watchers a beautiful view of contrasting celestial colours. Continue reading...

Health secretary hails latest inoculation figures as ‘magnificent achievement for the country’

Sir Arnold Wolfendale wrote an article on John Harrison and the invention of his maritime clock (2008) for The Historian, the members’ journal of the Historical Association. On making his acquaintance, I discovered that, along with being a physics professor and astronomer royal, he attended the lectures and other activities of the Historical Association branch in Durham.

As hotels and gyms reopen in Israel, governments elsewhere are considering a similar certificate scheme – raising ethical concerns

At first I felt relieved that my symptoms aren’t too grim. Then I felt bad about my relief, as if I’d failed a basic solidarity dutyIt started with a text that was doing the rounds from Lambeth council’s director of public health: the South African variant of Covid had been discovered in a tiny box of postcodes that included our house, and we were all encouraged to get tested. I forwarded it to a neighbour, who said: “This cuts off just before our houses. This is basically: ‘Don’t go to the supermarket down the road.’” Is it a sign of cognitive impairment that I can’t find my own house on a map? Not really: I can never do that.Still, we had ordered tests by then. I was reasonably sure we were an early-adopter household in the matter of the pandemic. Mr Z had a meeting a year ago with someone else who had just had a meeting with Nadine Dorries, and he felt mortally unwell after that when the news broke that she had Covid. She’s been our go-to yardstick of wellbeing ever since. How do you feel? Well, a bit rough, but not like I’ve had any proxy face-to-face contact with a junior Conservative health minister. Continue reading...

When the pandemic hit, the song of birds offered joy and hope. The author of a new book recalls that glittering spring and explains the science behind bird calls and how to identify themIt’s six in the morning and still dark, 24 March 2020. I wake early and, knowing the children will soon be up, decide to steal half an hour’s solitude in the park. From the dense latticework of trees and shrubs that clothe the wooded slope comes a constant scuttling through dead leaves. The darkness is awake and vigilant; there’s the warning tik-tik of an invisible robin from the bushes, and then the next second it appears on the path. Each individual movement of the bird, each wing-flick and pivot, is brisk and definite yet the overall impression is one of nervousness and indecision. It leaps round once more on the spot, then flits back into the darkness.From close by comes a blast of song from a wren. Its harsh trill is like coarse twine zipping over a flywheel. The air is cool, not cold, and smells deliciously of earth and moss. There’s a sudden disturbance from the deeper shade, and a blackbird comes careering out with a mad clatter and pauses, alert, on the great arm of a beech tree. It’s evidently agitated. It flicks about the bough, dipping then raising its wings, and tilting its head all the while in response to something I can’t sense. After a few seconds of this twitching the bird seems to experience some sort of inner resolution, and, as the first beam of grey light wakes the colours of the tree, it raises its head and lets out a quiet phrase of song. Spring has arrived. Continue reading...

Ministers urged to help families struggling to protect children with underlying health conditions

Groups including the Geological and Linnean societies say government’s 3,000% rent rise could force them to quit their Burlington House premises after 167 yearsSome of Britain’s most distinguished learned societies say they may be forced to leave their central London premises because the government has imposed rent rises of more than 3,000% over the past few years.Last week the Geological Society and the Linnean Society announced that they had united with the Society of Antiquaries in a campaign to try to stop the government pricing them out of their premises at Burlington House, on Piccadilly, where they have been since 1854. Continue reading...

There is mounting evidence that HRT can help menopausal women recover from the virus, but little action is being taken

Scientists emphasise safety but younger women still hesitant

Wales allows households with a baby to bubble; Italy announces further restrictions; UK records 290 deaths and 7,434 cases - follow all the day’s news as it happens

Regulator concedes process had ‘somehow gone wrong’ and could soon approve vaccine

The latest answers to the important medical questions about the vaccines and the pandemic

Prioritising eye protection and face masks will prevent the spread of coronavirus more than disinfecting surfaces, research shows

Well-preserved iron, bronze and tin carriage discovery is ‘without precedent in Italy’Archaeologists have unearthed a unique Roman ceremonial carriage from a villa just outside Pompeii, the city buried in a volcanic eruption in 79 AD.The almost perfectly preserved four-wheeled carriage, made of iron, bronze and tin, was found near the stables of an ancient villa at Civita Giuliana, about 700 metres north of the walls of ancient Pompeii and close to where the remains of three horses were unearthed in 2018, including one still in its harness. Continue reading...

Planned multi-million Lighthouse facilities cut by up to 50%, with smaller labs decommissioned

For one mother, a potentially challenging choice turned out to be amazingly fulfillingWhen Margaret Reynolds was in her mid-40s, she was a successful writer, academic and broadcaster. One winter’s morning, she asked herself what she would like in her life that she did not already have. The answer was clear and quick: she realised she’d like to have a child. She wanted to be a mother. She was single and had just gone through an early menopause. She decided she would adopt, but this proved to be a long, sometimes difficult journey during which she found herself asking big, far-reaching questions about identity and nationality; about what it means to belong, and what it means to be a parent and a child.Now, 12 years later, Reynolds, who goes by Peggy, and her daughter Lucy are talking to me over Zoom from their cottage in the Cotswolds, the paws of their dog clacking on the floor in the background. Lucy is 18, articulate and passionate about the adoption system and what the role of the child should be within that process. She had recently been on her gap year – “‘gap’ being the operative word,” says Peggy, laughing – in London, volunteering for a charity called Body & Soul. “They work with children who have had adverse childhood experiences, including adoption, so it’s very on theme,” Lucy says. She is spending the third lockdown back at home. Continue reading...

Queensland border reopened to greater Melbourne as New South Wales reports no new cases for 41st consecutive dayThe Queensland border has been reopened to greater Melbourne after the region was declared a hotspot on 13 February following a Covid-19 outbreak at the Holiday Inn quarantine hotel in the city.It means travellers can enter Queensland without a border pass or quarantining, with Victoria recording no new cases of community transmitted coronavirus on Saturday as restrictions were again eased. Continue reading...

Greece announced tighter measures as pandemic showed no signs of waning in the country; EMA expected to approve vaccine on 11 March

We know vaccination is very effective in preventing serious illness, but whether it stops coronavirus transmission is another storyAs Australia joins the worldwide Covid-19 vaccine rollout, researchers keep emphasising that while we know the various vaccines in use are strong at preventing hospitalisation and severe disease, it’s less clear how well they stop the virus spreading to other people.While the term ‘Covid-19’ is often used interchangeably to describe both the virus and the disease, it is important to understand the distinction between the two. Continue reading...

Without modifying human behaviour we run the risk of violent weather swings and a drastic effect on crops and ocean lifeThe ocean circulation that keeps our relatively northern corner of Europe warm(ish) is often likened to a gigantic conveyor belt bringing warm equatorial water northwards at the surface, balanced by cold southward flow at great depth. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC for short, brings heat energy northward at the equivalent rate of 10 Hiroshima bombs every second and keeps our weather mild, and just a little bit too damp, and is critical to the wider climate.New research has provided important long-term context for scientists’ observations of these Atlantic currents that bring warmth and climatic stability to our shores, with concerning implications for the coming century. Changes in the AMOC in the geologic past have caused significant local and global impacts, and for several decades now oceanographers have been monitoring its strength. Continue reading...

Decline in system underpinning Gulf Stream could lead to more extreme weather in Europe and higher sea levels on US east coastThe Atlantic Ocean circulation that underpins the Gulf Stream, the weather system that brings warm and mild weather to Europe, is at its weakest in more than a millennium, and climate breakdown is the probable cause, according to new data.Further weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) could result in more storms battering the UK, more intense winters and an increase in damaging heatwaves and droughts across Europe. Continue reading...

Cambridge doctors record sharp fall in infections after 12 days in Covid test analysis on healthcare workers

With Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine close to distribution in the US, the end of the pandemic seems a big step closer. But not everything will return to normal right awayPublic health authorities want people to keep wearing masks and social distancing, even after they receive a vaccine. This might seem counterintuitive – after all, if someone gets a vaccine, aren’t they protected from the coronavirus?The answer is complicated: the vast majority of people who are vaccinated will be protected from Covid-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, vaccinated people may still be able to transmit the virus, even though they do not display any symptoms. Continue reading...

Absence of smaller dinosaurs may be result of adolescent megatheropods crowding them out

Researchers say England and Wales study shows demonstrable benefits for prisoners in all categories