Science | The Guardian

Passengers returning to New Zealand will still need to quarantine for two weeks, at their own expense

Reports say that arrivals will have to produce a negative test but hauliers will be exempt

Officials say visas not yet approved for World Health Organization delegation due to visit Wuhan

News narrows chances of hitting goal of protecting more than 13 million of most vulnerable people by 15 February

The prime minister aims to be credible rather than accountable in a time of Covid. That’s a mistakeIt was during the Vietnam war that the euphemism “credibility gap” was coined to describe the Lyndon Johnson administration. The phrase was used instead of saying what everyone thought – that the US government was systematically lying. The president’s team reasoned that to restore “credibility”, the answer was not to stop lying but to improve public relations. Fast forward a few decades and swap London with Washington, and another Johnson government is attempting the same trick.On Tuesday, the UK recorded 60,916 new positive coronavirus cases and 830 deaths. In England, one in 50 had coronavirus in a week. Boris Johnson’s response was to restart daily Covid updates so that he can push the government’s narrative that this country is in a frantic race between the vaccine and the virus. In short, this will be a contest between injections and infections. This plays to the idea that perceptions matter more than facts. Continue reading...

Lockdown in bad weather with little natural light seems daunting but there are routines and techniques that can help usWith new national lockdowns coming into force across the UK, we take a look at how to cope – from staying connected to getting out in the open. Continue reading...

At the age of 58, after decades of working as a teacher, Pamela Catcheside retrained as a researcher, transforming a lifelong passion into a careerName: Pamela CatchesideAge: 80 Continue reading...

First minister defends decision to include places of worship in Scotland’s new lockdown

Symbolic #WeatherCorrection is part of campaign for inclusivity in societyMove over, Siegfried. Ahmet is on the way.A journalists’ group has named a low pressure system bringing low temperatures, dark clouds and snow to Germany after the boy’s name of Turkish origin in an effort to increase the visibility of the country’s increasingly diverse population. Continue reading...

Williamson to tell MPs he has asked Ofqual to come up with plan to replace GCSEs and A-levels

Pensioner who shot to fame after his first jab says process second time round was ‘very efficient’

More than 170 teams of researchers are racing to develop a safe and effective vaccine. Here is their progressNote: This page is no longer being updated. Graphics and text reflect the state of progress on 18 December.

The ‘carbon dividend’ is so elegant that it seems too good to be true. Governments should make it a post-pandemic priorityOver the past year – when societies around the world have had to grapple with their greatest challenge in decades – climate change hasn’t been at the top of the agenda. But that doesn’t mean it’s gone away. Far from it – in fact, we just experienced the hottest September in 141 years, and extreme warmth recorded in the Arctic continues a disturbing trend. When the focus turns back to this ongoing existential threat, hopefully we’ll have learned some lessons from the pandemic about what can be achieved when imaginative thinking is brought to bear.Our approach towards tackling the climate crisis is necessarily going to be multipronged. But one powerful tool is that of a carbon tax. So far, however, only a few nations have taken this route. Why? Continue reading...

Survey finds medics have concerns about scrapping of second appointments

We speak again to victims of the virus on the slow process of recovery, and the many setbacks they have endured since catching the diseaseAs weeks have turned to months, and months roll into a year, the shadow cast by Covid-19 continues to lengthen – not least for many of those who have survived the disease.Earlier this year, some of those who caught the virus early in the pandemic told the Guardian about their ongoing symptoms, from breathlessness and fatigue to mental health problems and “brain fog”. Continue reading...

Respondents to global survey report 205 symptoms across 10 organ systems after infection

From finally seeing the back of Donald Trump to being in a football stadium – the new year is full of promiseYou probably found a few things to enjoy about last year: you rediscovered your bicycle, perhaps, or your family, or even both, and learned to love trees. And don’t forget the clapping. Plus some brilliant scientists figured out how to make a safe and effective vaccine for a brand new virus in record time. Continue reading...

Concerns over privacy as TraceTogether scheme is used by almost 80% of the nation’s population

The history of humanity is intimately entwined with the cosmos. The stars have influenced religion, art, mathematics and science – we appear naturally drawn to look up in wonder. Now, with modern technology, our view of the cosmos is changing. It is in reachable distance of our spacecrafts and satellites, and yet because of light pollution we see less and less of it here on Earth. Joined by the author of The Human Cosmos, Jo Marchant, and the astronomer royal, Martin Rees, Linda Geddes explores our relationship with the night sky. Continue reading...

Concern among staff as King’s College postpones operations amid shortage of ICU beds

Boris Johnson to make TV announcement on Monday night after pressure to tackle soaring infection rate

Experts say that based on current figures, milestone likely to be passed before February

Questions raised over potential effect on vaccines as health secretary says he is ‘incredibly worried’

An 82-year-old retired maintenance manager has become the first person in the world outside clinical trials to receive the vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca.Brian Pinker, a dialysis patient, received the jab at 7.30am on Monday from Sam Foster, a nurse at Churchill hospital, part of the Oxford University hospitals NHS foundation trust.

Dialysis patient Brian Pinker received jab at Oxford’s Churchill hospital on Monday morning

The pandemic has created a tragic ‘natural experiment’ - a once-in-a-century jolt that could produce unexpected insights

My friend David Mildner, who has died aged 76, was a leading figure in atomic research, hailed as “neutron scattering’s first rock star” at the Center for Neutron Research of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland.The second of the seven children of Raymond Mildner, an electrical engineer then serving as a Flight Lieutenant in the wartime RAF, and his wife, Betty Haslam Smith, David was born in Guildford, Surrey. He was brought up in Wimbledon and educated by the Jesuits at Donhead and then Wimbledon College, where he and I were classmates. David was a prominent member of Wimbledon College’s Class of 55; he became (a very popular and effective) head boy in 1961, and won a scholarship to Worcester College, Oxford, to read physics, graduating well in 1966. Continue reading...

Israeli firm claims device allows patients to move freely and does away with painful dressingsDoctors in Europe and Israel have begun using a medical gun that spins out a protective web to cover burns and wounds, hoping the breathable “skin substitute” will help patients recover without the need for painful bandage changes.Nanomedic, the Israeli company that designed the Spincare system, claims its device gives patients increased mobility – often essential for burn rehabilitation – and the ability to shower, a process that can be difficult with traditional bandages. The translucent layer it produces allows medics to examine the wound without touching it, the firm says. Continue reading...

Virgo’s brightest star is 250 light years away, with a diameter more than seven times larger than the sun’sThis week, the waning crescent moon slides past Spica, the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo, the virgin. The passage takes place in the morning sky. Continue reading...

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Boris Johnson says he hopes pace of vaccination can be ramped up to protect tens of millions in months

The country should not be held up as a shining example in its response to the pandemic, writes Dr Hilary Francis, who points to the failure to provide accurate data and firing of health workersJohn Perry (Letters, 31 December) suggests that we should learn from the Nicaraguan government’s management of Covid. He doesn’t mention that 700 Nicaraguan health professionals wrote an open letter begging the government to acknowledge the extent of the crisis, or that at least 10 health workers have been fired for criticising the government response. In the absence of accurate government data, an independent citizen observatory has been established, which attempts to keep track of the rate of infection. They estimate 11,935 cases in the period to 23 December, nearly double the official number.On 21 December, Nicaragua’s national assembly passed a law that gives President Daniel Ortega the right to unilaterally declare that citizens are “traitors to the homeland” and ban them from running for office. The new legislation ensures that elections, scheduled for November 2021, will not be free and fair. There are no lessons to be learned from Ortega’s policies, but Nicaragua’s descent into dictatorship demands much closer attention.

Labour leader urges prime minister to impose new nationwide restrictions within next 24 hours

With jab to be administered to public for first time, we look at key questions about its rollout

Green light for Oxford vaccine alongside domestic Covaxin hailed as ‘decisive turning point’ by PM

Kate Greene had a headstart in coping with lockdown cabin fever after living inside a geodesic dome at 8,000ft, as part of a space experimentOnce upon a time I lived on Mars. Or the closest thing to it. At the time I was a science journalist and not necessarily an obvious choice for the mission. And yet I found myself on it. This was 2012 and Kim Binsted, professor of information and computer sciences at the University of Hawaii, along with Jean Hunter, professor of biological and environmental engineering at Cornell, had put out a call for “almost” astronauts to participate in a four-month “Mars” mission.Binsted and Hunter wanted a crew who could technically qualify for space flight, according to Nasa, in terms of education and experience. They were also looking for astronaut-like personalities who, according to Binsted, feature “thick skin, a long fuse and an optimistic outlook”. Nearly 700 people applied worldwide. Continue reading...

Prime minister says he is ‘fully reconciled’ to prospect of stricter measures in England in weeks ahead

Three healthcare workers describe the realities of struggling against a rising tide of coronavirus cases

The biologist Andrew Steele thinks ageing is a disease that can be treated. But if we had a cure for getting old, what would that mean for us?When the biologist Andrew Steele tells people his thoughts on ageing – that we might one day cure it as if it were any other disease – they are often incredulous and sometimes hostile. Once, at a friend’s wedding, he left a group of guests mildly incensed for suggesting that near-future humans might live well into their 100s. A similar thing happens at dinner parties, where the responses are more polite but no less sceptical. He understands the reaction. We think of ageing as an inescapable fact of life – we’re born, we grow old, so it goes. “That’s been the narrative for thousands of years,” he says, on a video call. But what if it didn’t have to be?Steele began professional life as a physicist. As a child, he was fascinated by space, the way many scientists are. But he has spent the past three years researching a book about biogerontology, the scientific study of ageing, in which he argues the case for a future in which our lives go on and on. Steele considers ageing “the greatest humanitarian issue of our time”. When he describes growing old as “the biggest cause of suffering in the world,” he is being earnest. “Ageing is this inevitable, creeping thing that happens,” he says. He is wearing a button-down shirt and, at 35, a look of still-youthful optimism. “We’re all quite blind to its magnitude. But what do people die of? Cancer. Heart disease. Stroke. These things all occur in old people, and they primarily occur because of the ageing process.” Continue reading...

Fall or rise in coronavirus cases will not initially be a good measure of efficacy, say scientists devising ways to audit progress

It is right to celebrate the Oxford/AstraZeneca achievement but the government must tell the public when they will be inoculatedTomorrow, Britain will witness an extraordinary moment in its grim struggle to limit the devastation caused by Covid-19 when the first Briton is injected with a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. The fact that this inoculation is occurring within a year of the emergence of a disease that has since ravaged the globe is an astonishing achievement, a tribute to world-class British science and a highly effective pharmaceutical industry. More importantly, the vaccine has arrived just in the nick of time. The newly discovered variant of Covid-19 is threatening to spread across the country and savage our beleaguered health service. A vaccine offers escape from the mounting horrors of this pandemic.It is therefore right to celebrate the arrival of the AstraZeneca vaccine, though we should also note the pitfalls that await us. We are led by a government that has bungled so much of the Covid response – from its initial, criminally tardy response to the virus, to the shambolic distribution of PPE kit for health workers, to the pitiful rollout of test-and-trace programmes and to the bewildering U-turns on lockdown measures. We need drive and competence to undertake the speedy administration of the vaccine to millions of UK citizens. These qualities have not been displayed in abundance by the government to date. Continue reading...

Up to 70% of schoolchildren infected with coronavirus may not know they have it until after a positive test result

Drawing, singing, writing, knitting… lose yourself in something creative to find inner calm. You might also come up with solutions to problemsWhen the first lockdown began in March, my son developed a persistent cough. I was anxious and when I couldn’t sleep I would write. Inspired by the author Elizabeth Gilbert, whose soothing Instagram I would turn to in the ungodly hours, and reassured by her pragmatic take on creative endeavours, I poured my anxiety on to the page and lost myself in my story.My son’s cough wasn’t Covid-19 as it turned out, but writing about it had helped me manage my fears around the pandemic and given me direction. Now it’s New Year, and lockdown, in some shape or another, is still a reality while most of us wait for the vaccine. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but until we get there, I have a strong feeling that making something might just help. Continue reading...

The government likes to think the public can’t be trusted – but Britain’s experience in 2020 shows the reverse is trueI have worked as a psychologist for over 40 years, but Covid-19 has projected the analysis of human behaviour into public discourse in a way I have never before witnessed. The spread of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease Covid-19, depends upon physical proximity between people. Consequently, fighting the infection means changing fundamental aspects of our everyday routines. We have all been challenged to reduce the social contacts and intimacies that we so cherish as social animals.Covid has done much to further the study of behaviour by bringing it into people’s homes and day-to-day conversations. In countless radio phone-ins and television news programmes, magazine articles and newspaper reports, discussions of the bases of adherence and resistance to Covid regulations have become commonplace. Most obviously, there has been intense scrutiny over the extent of our psychological resilience, whether we are able to adapt our behaviour to tough times, to give up the things we value – and if so for how long. Continue reading...

Compliance must be seen as the norm, or people will not stick to the restrictions

Latest updates: 15 cases of UK variant confirmed in Turkey; 613 Covid-linked deaths recorded in UK; France to impose earlier curfews in 15 departments

American infectious disease expert disagrees with UK’s plans to prioritise first doses

Universal credit boost, ban on evictions and mortgage holiday must continue, party says

Doctors say 24/7 vaccine centres and recruiting retired health workers could help reach goal

The media should not promote disinformation under the guise of debate