For more than a year the Recovery programme has used the NHS to test many Covid treatments, saving lives worldwideAs it is a novel disease, inevitably there have been numerous suggestions for treatments for Covid-19, ranging from herbal tonics to the anti-malarial hydroxychloroquine, as advocated by the former US president. The question is: what treatments work best?It is not enough just to compare what happened to people who did or did not have the treatment, which may, for example, have been given to healthier patients. The only reliable method is to allocate volunteers at random to either receive the novel treatment or a control, and, if possible, neither they nor the medical team know which. Randomised trials reduce statistical biases and, if they are large enough, researchers can robustly say whether the intervention helps. Continue reading...

Scientists alarmed as prime minister suggests people have had enough ‘days off’ while Labour pushes the right to work from home

Sid Jhamat, six, from Walsall came upon a horn coral while using his fossil-hunting kit to find wormsA six-year-old boy has found a fossil dating back millions of years in his garden after receiving a fossil-hunting kit for Christmas.Siddak Singh Jhamat, known as Sid, said he was excited to find the fossil in his garden in Walsall after digging for worms. Continue reading...

The importance of a beacon and having fortitude are key for lighthouse keepers – clues for us all when there’s little else aroundImagine being a lighthouse keeper. Before I dropped beneath the surface of this secluded, often secretive, occupation, the idea brought to mind wind-blown seagulls, or a bearded sea dog chewing his pipe. Such is the romantic notion many of us have about lighthouses. The reality is (or was, because the staffed lighthouse is now extinct) quite different.Land lights – those charming beacons you’ll find on the coast, the distinctive red stripe of Portland Bill or the thimble-shaped watchpoint at Llanddwyn – are appealing, but for me the sea towers hold the greatest allure. I’m talking about those majestic, improbable stations rising audaciously up out of the ocean – the Bell Rock, the Bishop, the Longships. The famous Eddystone, south of Plymouth, is the fourth built on that reef, in an effort that spanned almost 200 years. Its neighbouring “Smeaton’s Stump”, the remains of a third manifestation, serves as a stark reminder that water is not meant to hold buildings. Continue reading...

Head of Royal College of Psychiatrists warns that the emotional toll from the pandemic could last for years

Here are the current coronavirus hotspots and case locations in Queensland and what to do if you’ve visited them

His claim that ‘greed’ was the driver behind the UK’s vaccine success ignores the huge role of state funding

Chunk of space rock was once the ‘poster child for hazardous asteroids’ but it will be a while before humans need to worry about it againNasa has given Earth the all clear on the chances of an asteroid called Apophis hitting our planet any time in the next century, having worried space scientists for over 15 years.The 340-metre (1,100ft) chunk of space rock hit the headlines in 2004 after its discovery led to some worrying forecasts about its orbit. It became a “poster child for hazardous asteroids”, according to one Nasa expert. Continue reading...

New tools could help predict extent and severity of hay fever and allergy-related asthma months aheadThe climate emergency could increase future allergy season severity by up to 60%, a new pollen forecasting system suggests, while a separate system could predict the severity of grass pollen seasons months in advance.Such tools could help health professionals prepare for an increase in hay fever cases, or hospital admissions for allergy-related asthma. Seasonal pollen forecasts could also enable some hay fever sufferers to avoid particularly severe seasons by, for example, travelling abroad. Continue reading...

Warning comes amid signs people are already mingling more before next step of easing restrictions

Leap of 50% in cases in three months and just 7m jabs across continent ‘infecting 11 health workers an hour’

Residents in the Portland area of Oregon report sightings of strange lights streaking across the sky, which turned out to be debris from a SpaceX rocket launched in Florida 22 days ago. The rocket re-entered the atmosphere at the wrong angle, causing it to burn up

‘Cure-alls’ such as vitamin D and ivermectin seem appealing. But the truth is, specific diseases demand specific medicinesIf the coronavirus had struck in the middle ages, there would have been a cure. You could have got it at all good apothecaries, though not cheaply. It was called theriac, and it also cured epilepsy, indigestion, heart trouble and swellings and fevers of all kinds. The recipes were often secret but were said to include the roasted flesh of vipers – it was the original snake-oil remedy. Sugar may have been a common ingredient, too, as the name is the root of the English “treacle”.Theriac dates back at least to Roman times: Marcus Aurelius allegedly took a precautionary dose every day. Of course, it was totally useless – apart, perhaps, from giving a sugar rush in those times of calorie deprivation. But it attests to the longstanding wish for a cure-all. No historian of medicine will have been surprised by the bogus or questionable remedies being touted for Covid-19, from zinc supplements to hydroxychloroquine. Even Donald Trump’s proposal of bleach injections sounds mild compared with some of the medical interventions attempted in the past, which included concoctions of mercury and sulphuric acid. Continue reading...

A skilled storyteller reflects on the genius of Werner Heisenberg, who developed the theory that explains the evolution of stars and makes computers possibleThere are two kinds of geniuses, argued the celebrated mathematician Mark Kac. There is the “ordinary” kind, whom we could emulate if only we were a lot smarter than we actually are because there is no mystery as to how their minds work. After we have understood what they have done, we believe (perhaps foolishly) that we could have done it too. When it comes to the second kind of genius, the “magician”, even after we have understood what has been done, the process by which it was done remains forever a mystery.Werner Heisenberg was definitely a magician, who conjured up some of the most remarkable insights into the nature of reality. Carlo Rovelli recounts the first act of magic performed by Heisenberg in the opening of Helgoland, his remarkably wide-ranging new meditation on quantum theory. Continue reading...

Southern Launch facility on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula gets go-ahead to send up suborbital satellitesAustralia is one giant leap closer to becoming a space-faring nation again, with the first licence granted to establish a civilian rocket launch facility.The federal industry minister, Karen Andrews, announced on Thursday that South Australian company Southern Launch will be able to launch suborbital satellites from its Koonibba test range site. Continue reading...

A new £50 note featuring Alan Turing, the scientist best known for his codebreaking work during the second world war, has been unveiled by the Bank of England and will go into circulation on 23 June, the date of his birth.Turing was prosecuted for homosexual acts in 1952, and an inquest concluded that his death from cyanide poisoning two years later was suicide.The Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, said: “I’m delighted that our new £50 features one of Britain’s most important scientists ... He was also gay and was treated appallingly as a result. By placing him on our new polymer £50 banknote, we are celebrating his achievements and the values he symbolises."

MPs vote to renew Coronavirus Act by 484 votes to 76; NHS England chief says decision due to lower infections and vaccine impact. This live blog is now closed - please follow the global coronavirus live blog for updates

Scientists pinpoint gene necessary for animals to adopt a typical gait by studying breed of rabbit that can’t hopIt sounds like a conundrum that Rudyard Kipling would have tackled in his Just So stories, but it turns out the reason why rabbits hop is rooted not in fables but genetics.Researchers say that by studying an unusual breed of bunny that walks on its front paws, they have pinpointed a key gene that is necessary for animals to adopt a typical gait. For rabbits, as well as animals such as hares and kangaroos, that is the ability to hop. Continue reading...

Type of stem cell deficiency is common among women who lose pregnancies, and sitagliptin may helpA common diabetes drug may be able to help women who have repeated miscarriages, researchers have found, after they identified that a certain type of stem cell deficiency is common among women who lose pregnancies.A study for the Tommy’s National Miscarriage Research Centre in London discovered that the diabetes drug sitagliptin can boost recruitment of these cells to the lining of the uterus, called the endometrium, in women who have experienced repeated miscarriages. Continue reading...

Stone age tool used 9,000 years ago dug up by burrowing bunnies on island off Pembrokeshire

European regulator seeks to allay blood fears as Germany, France and Italy suspend use

The monotony of lockdown life has starved us of spontaneity and serendipity, which enhance learning and memory

It may sound far-fetched, but a breakthrough in Israel has brought us a step closer to creating artificial wombs for humansA team of Israeli scientists announced the mother of all inventions last week. Researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science revealed in the journal Nature that they had successfully gestated hundreds of mice inside an artificial womb. They placed newly fertilised eggs inside glass vials rotating in a ventilated incubator, and grew the embryos for 11 days – the mid-point of a mouse pregnancy – outside their mothers’ bodies. The embryos developed normally; their hearts, visible through the glass vials, pounded steadily at 170 beats per minute.The mice were no bigger than sunflower seeds, but what they represent is enormous: the breakthrough brings us one step closer to reproduction without pregnancy. The division of labour in gestation is the most intractable imbalance between the sexes. Men only have to contribute a single cell to make a baby, whereas women carry their children for nine months and give birth, sometimes risking their bodies and often risking their careers, in a world of work built largely by men. An artificial womb would mean complete reproductive parity between the sexes: all anyone needs to do is throw in their gametes and the rest is taken care of. But this equality could come at great cost to women. This is radically disruptive technology, and with every new development we are sleepwalking into a world of tough ethical choices. Continue reading...

Polymer banknote pays tribute to scientist who cracked Enigma code during second world warA new £50 note featuring Alan Turing, the scientist best known for his codebreaking work during the second world war, has been unveiled by the Bank of England and will go into circulation on 23 June, the date of his birth.The Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, was due to reveal the design, which incorporates several features relating to Turing, on Thursday morning. Continue reading...

Mars mission’s next major milestone will be deployment of Ingenuity, a small helicopterWelcome to the first in a new series of occasional Marswatch columns. With the change of administration in America, the moon landings scheduled for 2024 are likely to be moved back to their original target of 2028. So we thought we’d change our focus to Mars.The big news at Mars is the landing of Nasa’s rover Perseverance. It touched down on 18 February and has been successfully exploring the 28-mile-wide (45km) Jezero crater ever since. Continue reading...

A majority of menstruating women have experienced changes to their cycle over the last year, surveys suggest. One of the main culprits? Persistent stress

12 riddles linked to new £50 note featuring the codebreaker may take seven hours to crackGCHQ has released its “most difficult puzzle ever”, a set of 12 riddles linked to design elements of the new £50 note featuring the mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing.The questions begin with a relatively straightforward crossword-style puzzle that starts by asking where GCHQ’s predecessor agency, where Turing worked, was based during the second world war. A two-word answer, nine letters then four, is required. Continue reading...

In 2019, Ian Sample delved into the mind of a bullshitter, talking to psychologists about what prompts people to spout nonsense and gibberish. Recently, one of the researchers he spoke to, Shane Littrell, published a study asking – can you bullshit a bullshitter? Not being able to resist diving into the dark arts of BS once more, Ian Sample invited Shane back on the podcast to hear the answer and find out what it might tell us about the spread of misinformation Continue reading...

Experts say there is no evidence that the new variant found in Maharashtra is more transmissible or lethal

Australian observatory that shared Apollo 11 images reaches deal with US company Intuitive MachinesThe Parkes radio telescope in regional New South Wales, which famously shared Apollo 11’s landing images to more than 600 million people in 1969, will provide support to new commercial lunar missions this year aimed at ultimately creating a “sustainable presence” for humans on the moon.“The Dish”, as it has become known in Australia, will provide ground station support to the Houston-based Intuitive Machines group for the “multiple lunar missions” it is planning with Nasa over the next five years. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. We’ve launched a new blog at the link below:

Cochrane review says rapid antigen tests correctly identify only 58% of asymptomatic people

Experts discover crucial evidence that could reveal how magnetic fields behave around black holesAn image that captures streaks of polarised light swirling around a supermassive black hole is providing new insight into how galaxies can project streams of energy thousands of light-years outward from their core.Black holes are places where the pull of gravity is so strong that even light cannot escape. Most surrounding matter gets sucked in, but some particles escape just moments before they are captured and are blown far out into space. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. For the latest coronavirus news from around the world, head to our global blog

Five-month long Covid study finds that sufferers fall into four categories based on symptoms

The journalist and author was diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder in 2019. In this recording of Guardian Australia’s monthly book club, he discusses his book My Year of Living Vulnerably, which explores how trauma affects the brain, and how part of getting better is through learning to loveYou can also check out: Continue reading...

Molecular switch makes human organ three times larger than great apes’, study findsIt is one of the defining attributes of being human: when compared with our closest primate relatives, we have incredibly large brains.Now scientists have shed light on the reasons for the difference, by collecting cells from humans, chimps and gorillas and turning them into lumps of brain in the laboratory. Continue reading...

Whether it’s a new virus or antimicrobial resistance, governments must build on the lessons of 2020 to defeat the next outbreak

UK Health Security Agency to launch on 1 April to ‘plan, prevent and respond’ to external threats to health

Demand for full study protocol of human trials be made public before first participants recruited

I was taught to use my head, not my heart. But acknowledging sadness at what is lost can help us safeguard the futureOver the course of my career, the climate crisis has changed from something only experts could see – reading clues trapped in frozen air bubbles or statistical patterns in long-term data sets – to something that everyone on Earth is living through. For me, it has gone from being something I study to a way that I see the world and experience my life. It’s one thing to publish a study on the hypothetical impact of increasing temperature on California’s people and ecosystems; it’s another to feel my stomach gripped by fear as my parents flee a catastrophic California wildfire cranked up by longer, hotter, drier summers.

All your daily interactions with others, big and small, make up your social biome, and the pandemic has severely damaged most of ours. Here’s how to reinvigorate it

Tree-planting can also increase health risks if it focuses too narrowly on small number of species, paper saysOutbreaks of infectious diseases are more likely in areas of deforestation and monoculture plantations, according to a study that suggests epidemics are likely to increase as biodiversity declines.Land use change is a significant factor in the emergence of zoonotic viruses such as Covid-19 and vector-borne ailments such as malaria, says the paper, published on Wednesday in Frontiers in Veterinary Science. Continue reading...

Screams of ‘murderer’ and ‘liar’ in major cities as president makes televised address to the nation on deadliest day yet

This blog is now closed. For the latest coronavirus news from around the world, head to our global blog

Drug firm may have provided incomplete view of efficacy data from US trial, says safety monitor

To prevent catastrophe, governments must transform our resilience to climate breakdown, AI and engineered pandemicsIt is profoundly difficult to grapple with risks whose stakes may include the global collapse of civilisation, or even the extinction of humanity. The pandemic has shattered our illusions of safety and reminded us that despite all the progress made in science and technology, we remain vulnerable to catastrophes that can overturn our entire way of life. These are live possibilities, not mere hypotheses, and our governments will have to confront them.As Britain emerges from Covid-19, it could find itself at the forefront of the response to future disasters. The government’s recent integrated review, Britain’s taking of the G7 presidency and the Cop26 climate conference, which will be hosted in Glasgow later this year, are all occasions to address global crises. But in order to ensure that the UK really is prepared, we need to first identify the biggest risks that we face in the coming decades. Continue reading...

To mark National Puppy Day, Elizabeth Lo’s acclaimed film Stray gives humans rare insight into the canine gaze, courtesy of homeless mutts in IstanbulFrom the moment Zeytin makes her first appearance in Elizabeth Lo’s feature Stray, there is no doubt you are in the presence of a unique spirit. As she surveys an Istanbul side street at dawn, her features are alert, her gaze is uncompromising and her deep, dark eyes sparkle with intelligence. There’s something of Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen about her, or maybe Brad Pitt in one of his less kempt moments. But non-dog comparisons don’t do her justice. This is one indomitable bitch.Lo first encountered Zeytin and her friend Nazar on a 2017 casting trip to Turkey, and knew immediately that she had found the star she was looking for – which is to say, a dog who could carry a human film. “We were wandering through a busy underground tunnel filled with people when suddenly these two giant stray dogs streaked past us,” she says. “They were running with such a sense of purpose and it was so intriguing. What appointments did these dogs have to keep?” Continue reading...

Experts reveal ‘cautious excitement’ over unstable particles that fail to decay as standard model suggestsScientists at the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva have spotted an unusual signal in their data that may be the first hint of a new kind of physics.The LHCb collaboration, one of four main teams at the LHC, analysed 10 years of data on how unstable particles called B mesons, created momentarily in the vast machine, decayed into more familiar matter such as electrons. Continue reading...

Having altered how we think about time, the physicist sets his sights on perhaps the most maddeningly difficult theory of allCarlo Rovelli, the Italian theoretical physicist, is one of the great scientific explicators of our time. His wafer-thin essay collection, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, sold more than 1m copies in English translation in 2015 and remains the world’s fastest-selling science book. In The Order of Time and Reality Is Not What It Seems, Rovelli illuminated the disquieting uncertainties of Einsteinian relativity, gravitational waves and other tentative physics. Nobody said that post-Newtonian physics was easy, but Rovelli’s gift is to bring difficult ideas down a level. His books continue a tradition of jargon-free popular scientific writing from Galileo to Darwin that disappeared in the academic specialisations of the past century. Only in recent years has science become, in publishing terms, popular and attractive again.Rovelli’s new book, Helgoland, attempts to explain the maddeningly difficult theory of quantum mechanics. The theory was first developed in 1925 by the young German physicist Werner Heisenberg during a summer holiday he spent on the barren North Sea island of Helgoland. It was there that the 23-year-old, stricken by hay fever, conceived of the “strangely beautiful interior” of an atom’s mathematical structure and, at a stroke, overturned the certainties of classical physics. Gone was the old idea that atoms consisted of tiny electrons that moved mechanically round heavier protons – as planets orbit the sun. Heisenberg’s intuition was that electrons moved in diffuse, cloudlike waves. Continue reading...