Suspicion of authority and worries about what is halal must be balanced by the fact that protecting others is an obligation

The health service needs modernising if it is to maintain its position at the forefront of patient care and medical research

The pandemic has demonstrated why humans are ultimately an impressive species. From monitoring the genetic evolution of Sars-CoV-2 to devising vaccines in record time, we have put our minds together to reduce the impact of Covid-19. Yet, the global spread of a new disease is a reminder that we are not invincible, and remain at the mercy of our biology and the natural world. Speaking to author Melanie Challenger about her new book How to Be Animal, Madeleine Finlay asks how we can come to terms with ourselves as animals and why it might do humanity some good Continue reading...

Experts urge care over opening schools as children aged 5-12 now in one of most common groups for virus

University of Cambridge researchers identify potentially effective interventions to help peopleRobotic dogs, laughter therapy and mindfulness could help people cope with loneliness and social isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers at the University of Cambridge have found.The team at the university’s School of Medicine, led by Dr Christopher Williams, reviewed 58 existing studies on loneliness and identified interventions that could be adapted for people living in lockdown or under pandemic-related social distancing measures. Continue reading...

DNA from teeth found in Siberia permafrost the oldest yet sequenced, pushing science into ‘deep time’Teeth from mammoths buried in the Siberian permafrost for more than a million years have led to the world’s oldest known DNA being sequenced, according to a study that shines a genetic searchlight on the deep past.Researchers said the three teeth specimens, one roughly 800,000 years old and two more than a million years old, provided important insights into the giant ice age mammals, including into the ancient heritage of, specifically, the woolly mammoth. Continue reading...

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Healthy adult volunteers aged 18 to 30 will be exposed to virus in controlled environment

With no agreed naming system, scientists are devising their own nomenclature to fill the gap

Report points to failures to improve availability of PPE and capability of social care after readiness exercises

Human challenge trial will monitor healthy 18- to 30-year-olds given virus to aid vaccine and therapy research

Matt Hancock should spend less time watching Hollywood films and more time studying the Asian country’s innovative approach to misinformationMatt Hancock, we learned recently, got a few pointers on how to shape the UK’s vaccine strategy from the 2011 movie Contagion. I don’t know if that is something I would boast about if I were the UK health secretary, but, look, it is great that the man is not shy about seeking out diverse sources of advice. Still, he might want to think about looking towards Taiwan, rather than Hollywood, for further inspiration.Taiwan has had only nine confirmed Covid deaths so far. The island of almost 24 million people managed to snuff out the virus without having a nationwide lockdown. In October, there was a big Pride parade. Life is mostly back to normal and the economy is doing well. Continue reading...

Plan to buy the BioNTech shot has been delayed amid intervention by ‘outside forces’, says health minister

Fusarium xyrophilum hijacks yellow-eyed Xyris grasses from Guyana to create forgeries made of fungal tissueFungi have been discovered making fake flowers that look and even smell like the real thing, fooling bees and other pollinating insects into visiting them.

The wintry weather that has battered the southern US and parts of Europe could be a counterintuitive effect of the climate crisisAssociating climate change, normally connected with roasting heat, with an unusual winter storm that has crippled swaths of Texas and brought freezing temperatures across the southern US can seem counterintuitive. But scientists say there is evidence that the rapid heating of the Arctic can help push frigid air from the north pole much further south, possibly to the US-Mexico border. Continue reading...

Jacinda Ardern said she does not believe community transmission is widespread

Queensland health department says variant B1525 was identified in returned travellers in January

European Space Agency aims to take on 26 people for missions to the Moon and eventually to MarsEuropean space chiefs have launched their first recruitment drive for new astronauts in 11 years, with particular emphasis on encouraging women and people with disabilities to join missions to the Moon and, eventually, Mars.The European Space Agency (ESA) said on Tuesday that it was looking to boost the diversity of its crews as it cavassed for up to 26 permanent and reserve astronauts. Continue reading...

The 25m-year-old find that will help fill in the gaps in the record of one of the continent’s most diverse speciesA tiny fossil pulled from the edge of a scorching salt lake in the South Australian outback is the oldest known remains of a skink ever found on the continent and may provide a vital clue to the lizard’s evolution.The team of palaeontologists and volunteers from Flinders University and the South Australian Museum found the 25m-year-old specimen during an excavation in 2017. Continue reading...

Analysis suggests everyone in first nine priority groups could get jab four weeks ahead of schedule

Project aims to identify paleoviruses and study virus evolution using the remains, Siberian lab says

Israeli company Kanabo sees shares almost quadruple as it raises £6m for insomnia treatmentShares in a medicinal cannabis company, referred to as “the cannabis Nespresso”, almost quadrupled in value on their trading debut on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday as investors scrambled to buy into the “wellness weed” market.Kanabo, an Israeli company that makes vaporised marijuana pods, saw its shares rise more than 292% to close at 18.5p. The shares, which launched at 4.75p, hit a high of 20.5p earlier in the day. Continue reading...

Latest government data shows 15,576,107 have received first vaccine dose; Scotland’s first minister sets out details of plan to reopen classrooms. This live blog is now closed - please follow the global coronavirus live blog for updates

Dr Gillian Tully says lack of capacity is forcing police to limit toxicology tests on suspected drug driversPolice forces are having to ration forensic toxicology work, especially samples from suspected drug drivers, because there is not enough capacity in the system to handle the volume of work, the outgoing forensic science regulator has said.Dr Gillian Tully, who steps down from her post after six years on Tuesday, said the service needed to be treated as critical national infrastructure and given the funding and regulatory powers necessary to maintain the integrity of the criminal justice system. Continue reading...

Research could have implications for scenarios from job interviews to court trials, say psychologistsThe longer a person takes to respond to a question the more likely it is they will be perceived as lying – whether it is a question about a crime or a friend’s baking skills.Beyond volume, tenor and the pitch of an answer, response time also appears to play a role in the way people perceive the sincerity of answers, psychologists have found. Continue reading...

Liberal MP, who has continued to use social media to defy conventional medical wisdom, posted three links to unproven views on Covid treatments

Scottish study found problems at certain venues, even taking precautions into account

The Com-Cov trial run by the Oxford Vaccine Group in the UK will be testing the efficacy and safety of a ‘mix and match’ approach to immunisation. By giving some participants either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, and a second dose of the other, the trial aims to find out if combining different jabs offers sufficient protection. Sarah Boseley speaks to Dr Peter English about where this technique has been used in the past, why it could be beneficial, and how mixing vaccines actually works Continue reading...

Boris Johnson has said he wants ‘irreversible’ lockdown but cannot guarantee this will be the last. This live blog is now closed - for coronavirus updates, please follow the global live blog

Researchers say 32 cases of B1525 in Britain, with other cases in countries including Denmark, US and Australia

Antimicrobial resistance won’t race across the world like Covid-19, but its effects will be devastating. Thankfully, we already know what we need to do to defeat it

Arrivals from 33 countries must book stay, but hotel industry source says government may struggle to secure enough beds

The Amazon founder’s relentless quest for ‘customer ecstasy’ made him one of the world’s richest people – now he’s looking to the unlimited resources of space. Is he the genius our age of consumerism deserves? By Mark O’Connell Continue reading...

Researcher into the genetics of neurological disorders whose work has provided hope for a cure for muscular dystrophyPeter Harper, who has died aged 81, was a world expert on the genetics of inherited neurological disorders, particularly Huntington’s disease and muscular dystrophy. He also advocated the idea of genetic counselling – helping people to understand the implications of inherited disorders that might affect them and their families.Finding a genetic link between the two wasting conditions has led to highly accurate diagnostic and predictive tests for at-risk individuals and their families. Peter played a leading role in that discovery, and in establishing that in both disorders genes have unstable DNA sequences that tend to expand over generations, accounting for the phenomenon of “anticipation”, by which both conditions worsen, and occur at an earlier age, in successive generations. While there is still no remedy, his work has contributed to an understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms, providing hope that a cure will one day be available. Continue reading...

Mayor Andy Preston disregarded advice from director of public health and ordered pinprick antibody tests

The red planet, although faded since last year’s magnificence, will still appear as bright as the eye of TaurusThis week boasts a picturesque combination of celestial objects with Taurus, the bull, as the backdrop adding even more interest. Continue reading...

Scientists surprised by marine organisms on boulder on sea floor beneath 900 metres of ice shelfThe accidental discovery of marine organisms on a boulder on the sea floor beneath 900 metres (3,000ft) of Antarctic ice shelf has led scientists to rethink the limits of life on Earth.Researchers stumbled on the life-bearing rock after sinking a borehole through nearly a kilometre of the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf on the south-eastern Weddell Sea to obtain a sediment core from the seabed. Continue reading...

The town of Onil has changed the lives of children everywhereThe first time Kelle Hampton glimpsed a doll with Down’s syndrome, anger boiled up inside her. Its exaggerated features bore little resemblance to the sweet facial characteristics that she loved about her daughter Nella, who was born with the genetic disorder.The experience set the US blogger and author firmly against such dolls. But to her surprise, years later she found herself smitten with another doll. This time it had been carefully crafted to subtly capture the characteristics that made Nella unique. “This one was simply a beautiful doll any child would want to play with,” she said. Continue reading...

UK nationals and residents must pay for a 10-day stay in government-approved hotels from MondayAll UK nationals or residents arriving back in England from high-risk countries will begin checking into government-designated accommodation on Monday as the hotel quarantine regime to prevent the spread of new coronavirus cases begins.People returning to England from 33 “red list” countries – comprised of hotspots with Covid-19 variants in circulation – will be required to quarantine in hotels for 10 days. Continue reading...

Case study: Judy Miller, 74, applied to take part in research into detection of lung cancer

There will continue to be plenty more data gaps because the Covid-19 strain simply behaves like all influenzas and mutates continuouslyBy the time you read this it will be out of date.Why? Because every day we receive new data that causes us to rethink and rewrite our response to Covid-19, notably vaccine programs. This is good. I will explain. Continue reading...

PM also announces that four top priority groups in England have now been offered jabs

Health minister says officials ‘really concerned’ after three deaths from the infectious disease

The Guardian’s picture editors select photo highlights from around the world Continue reading...

My former colleague Lionel Fry, who has died aged 87, was one of the most significant dermatologists of his generation. In addition to running a demanding NHS department at St Mary’s hospital in London, he founded and led a pioneering research unit there which came up with new ways of alleviating psoriasis.Lionel’s work altered our understanding of the development and treatment of psoriasis, and pioneered the use of the immunosuppressant medication cyclosporin in managing severe cases. Continue reading...

Airborne droplets are more likely to spread coronavirus than touch, scientists believeIn the early days of the pandemic, public health experts emphasised handwashing as a way to prevent infection and the government launched a “Hands, Face, Space” campaign to encourage people to wash their hands, wear masks and keep 2 metres apart. Subsequent research has shown the biggest risk of Covid-19 transmission is through particles in the air. Continue reading...

A year ago, two scientists began work on the response to a new virus. Now, as their vaccine is being given to millions, they tell of their incredible 12 monthsExactly a year ago, Oxford University scientists launched a joint enterprise that is set to have a profound impact on the health of our planet. On 11 February, research teams led by Professor Andy Pollard and Professor Sarah Gilbert – both based at the Oxford Vaccine Centre – decided to combine their talents to develop and manufacture a vaccine that could protect people from the deadly new coronavirus that was beginning to spread across the world.A year later that vaccine is being administered to millions across Britain and other nations and was last week given resounding backing by the World Health Organization. The head of the WHO’s department of immunisation, vaccines and biologicals, Professor Kate O’Brien, described the jab as “efficacious” and “an important vaccine for the world”. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary says ‘we’re on track’ to meet vaccine targets, but cautions against making any promises on reopening

Poll backs call for western governments to share Covid vaccine formulae for global rollout

A pandemic is a moral and economic minefield. How should governments weigh up the difficult choices – and are they getting it right?