It’s cheap, widely available and might help us fend off the virus. So should we all be dosing up on the sunshine nutrient?In March, as coronavirus deaths in the UK began to mount, two hospitals in northeast England began taking vitamin D readings from patients and prescribing them with extremely high doses of the nutrient. Studies had suggested that having sufficient levels of vitamin D, which is created in the skin’s lower layers through the absorption of sunlight, plays a central role in immune and metabolic function and reduces the risk of certain community-acquired respiratory illnesses. But the conclusions were disputed, and no official guidance existed. When the endocrinology and respiratory units at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS foundation trust made an informal recommendation to its clinicians to prescribe vitamin D, the decision was considered unusual. “Our view was that this treatment is so safe and the crisis is so enormous that we don’t have time to debate,” said Dr Richard Quinton, a consultant endocrinologist at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.Soon clinicians and endocrinologists around the world began arguing about whether sufficient levels of vitamin D might positively impact coronavirus-related mortality rates. Some considered the nutrient an effective treatment hiding in plain sight; others thought of it as a waste of time. In March, the government’s scientific advisers examined existing evidence and decided there wasn’t enough to act upon. But in April, dozens of doctors wrote to the British Medical Journal describing the correction of vitamin D deficiencies as “a safe, simple step” that “convincingly holds out a potential, significant, feasible Covid-19 mitigation remedy”. Continue reading...

Libertarianism has led to rich countries vying for vaccines. Collaboration, not competition, is the only the way forward

25 years ago, a mutation was discovered that makes some people susceptible to the disease, and now it has transformed treatmentTen years ago, Tony Herbert developed a lump on the right side of his chest. The clump of tissue grew and became painful and he was tested for breast cancer. The result was positive.“I had surgery and chemotherapy and that worked,” he said last week. But how had Herbert managed to develop a condition that is so rare in men? Only about 400 cases of male breast cancer are diagnosed every year in the UK compared with around 55,000 in women. A genetic test revealed the answer. Herbert had inherited a pathogenic version of a gene called BRCA2 and this mutation had triggered his condition. Continue reading...

Experts condemn government’s ‘short-term’ response and urge it to rethink its approach

Literature and now science suggest muttering in the second or third person can help with anxiety in difficult momentsNo one actively likes wearing a mask, but for some of us putting one on does more than merely help to stop the spread. Last week, I interviewed a neuroscientist and experimental psychologist who told me that a few people have told him that if they wear theirs outside, at least no one will see them talking to themselves as they doggedly march yet again around their local park. Is talking to yourself a sign of incipient madness? On this, he had good news: no, it isn’t. The latest science, in fact, suggests that muttering to yourself in the second or third person (“Rachel, you are not imagining things”) really can help to quieten an inner voice that may be a little too loud for comfort.As we spoke, something fell into place for me, for doesn’t literature suggest that human beings have always done this? Consider the diaries of Dr Johnson’s biographer, James Boswell, in which he often slips out of the first person when he’s anxious: an effect that’s comical and touching. “Yesterday you was pretty well,” reads his entry for 4 April 1764. “But confused and changed and desperate. After dinner, you said to Rose, ‘I have passed a very disagreeable winter of it, with little enjoyment.’ You was truly splenetic. You said to him after, ‘When I recollect, ’twas not so.’ You are imbecile.” I’ve always thought of Boswell as the most deeply human of writers. But now I shall forever think of him as deeply sane, too: a pioneer of mind control as well as of biography. Continue reading...

Tens of thousands are unwittingly spreading coronavirus – lateral flow devices will confirm infection in under 30 minutes

The government has ordered sufficient doses to inoculate the entire population of the UK against Covid-19 but we are in for a long haul

It’s 1969 and the Observer is boldly predicting a new vacation experienceBefore anyone had even landed on the moon, the Observer Magazine was already thinking way ahead with science correspondent Gerald Leach’s travel guide for the first holidaymakers there in 30 years’ time (‘Wish You Were Here’; 13 July 1969), though it was sensible enough to counterbalance this with a report on the dangers of space travel.Safe to say that the views from the moon will beat those on the Costa Brava. ‘The Earth will dominate the sky, looking nearly four times bigger than the moon does from home, and much brighter.’ Continue reading...

As Covid death toll passes 1,300 a day, doctors and hospital leaders say services are on brink of collapseIn normal times, January is the month for counting the cost of Christmas. The credit card bills arrive. New year resolutions are made. The consequences of recent indulgence have to be faced.This year, however, the price of having celebrated Christmas with loved ones could be far steeper – and counted in lives. Doctors and nurses in the NHS report that they are seeing record numbers of admissions of people with Covid-19. Continue reading...

Local authorities are being called on to expand their plans as well as to support people who need to self-isolate

Astronomer royal and physicist who greatly advanced understanding of cosmic raysSir Arnold Wolfendale, the 14th astronomer royal, who has died aged 93, did much to advance understanding of cosmic rays, the stream of charged particles from outer space that continuously bombard the Earth’s atmosphere. For this purpose he assembled a strong team at Durham University, making it one of Britain’s leading centres for research in this field. In 1956 he joined the physics department as a lecturer, and during his time as professor (1965-92) established a highly regarded astronomy division.Secondary cosmic rays result from primary rays impacting on the Earth’s atmosphere. Among the secondary particles found at ground level are muons, one of the fundamental particles of the standard model of particle physics. Continue reading...

Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and Japan are among those that won’t start vaccinating for months, in part to see how other populations react to the jab

Blood sample tests from 20 people show vaccine is effective against UK and South Africa variants

Minister says extra check on travellers introduced as ‘we simply cannot take chances’

Many botanists dispute idea of plant sentience, but study of climbing beans sows seed of doubtThey’ve provided us with companionship and purpose during the darkest days of lockdown, not to mention brightening our Instagram feeds. But the potted cacti, yucca, and swiss cheese plants we’ve welcomed into our homes are entirely passive houseguests. Aren’t they?Research suggests that at least one type of plant – the french bean – may be more sentient than we give it credit for: namely, it may possess intent. Continue reading...

EUVST telescope will study how solar winds emanate from the sun, creating ‘space weather’

Research finds they differ by an average of 5.2 early mutations, adding new perspective to nature-versus-nurture debatesGenetic differences between identical twins can begin very early in embryonic development, according to a study that researchers say has implications for examining the effects of nature versus nurture.Identical – or monozygotic – twins come from a single fertilised egg that splits in two. They are important research subjects because they are thought to have minimal genetic differences. This means that when physical or behavioural differences emerge, environmental factors are presumed to be the likely cause. Continue reading...

Commons science committee MPs urge ministers to publish all evidence considered by Sage

Geophysics | Covid tests | Spring decorations | Manchester City goal | Severn Bridge namingYour claim that “at least north is still north” (Terrawatch, 6 January) sounds as reassuring as it is wrong. I’ve always taught my students that opposite poles attract. The north pole of a free magnet will point north. Therefore the earth’s north pole must be a south pole. Historically, north has sometimes been north, but currently it is south. Oddly, my students found my teaching methods confusing.

Results suggest tocilizumab and sarilumab could cut relative risk of death of those in intensive care by 24%

Europe director Hans Kluge says rapid spread of new variant is cause for alarm

There is something undeniably appealing about the cosmos that has kept humans staring upwards in awe – from our Palaeolithic ancestors to modern astronomers. Humans are natural stargazers, but with light pollution increasingly obscuring our view of the heavens, is our relationship with the night sky set to change? In the second of two episodes, Linda Geddes is joined by the author of The Human Cosmos, Jo Marchant, and the astronomer royal, Martin Rees, to explore humanity and the cosmos. Continue reading...

Gideon Henderson says debate needed on GM crops and gene editing of plants and animalsGideon Henderson, chief scientist at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, believes the time is ripe for a new public debate on biotechnology, the science of manipulating genes in crops and animals.“The last time we had an extensive public discussion was in the 1990s,” he notes. Then, public outrage at the idea of ‘Frankenfoods’ centred on fears of what might result from newly available techniques that allowed the introduction of genes from one species into a completely different species. Lurid stories of tomatoes altered with fish genes grabbed the headlines. Continue reading...

Climate disaster could be curtailed within a couple of decades if net zero emissions are reached, new study showsThe world may be barreling towards climate disaster but rapidly eliminating planet-heating emissions means global temperatures could stabilize within just a couple of decades, scientists say.For many years it was assumed that further global heating would be locked in for generations even if emissions were rapidly cut. Climate models run by scientists on future temperatures were based on a certain carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. If this remained at the current high level there would be runaway climate disaster, with temperatures continuing to rise even if emissions were reduced because of a lag time before greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere. Continue reading...

Government has launched consultation to change current strict EU rulesGene editing of crops and livestock may soon be permitted in England for the first time under a consultation launched by the government on Thursday.Ministers said changing the current strict rules, which originate from the EU and make gene editing for crops and livestock almost impossible, would bring widespread benefits to consumers and farmers, including healthier food, environmental improvements and better animal welfare. Continue reading...

Highest daily figure since 21 April brings number of people to have died from virus to 77,346

UK health officials also allowing combining doses from different manufacturers

Move should ease frustrations over low supplies of Pfizer vaccine and EU’s longer authorisation process

The dire state of UK manufacturing has left us dependent on other nations. We may soon find out why some call this a ‘national security risk’Everything now hinges on a vaccine: how many more Britons die, whether the NHS finally breaks, how long the UK stays locked down. All depends on how fast the country can get vaccinated against this plague. Yet we’re in this position in large part because of government failure. When the prime minister imposes lockdowns late and with a sulky grumble; when we haven’t fixed our £22bn test-and-trace system (which, by the way, now bankrolls more outside consultants and contractors than the Treasury has actual civil servants); and when the Dominics and Stanleys are allowed to carry on as if rules are for the little people. If Boris Johnson blunts every political instrument he can lay his pale and meaty hands on, pretty soon a syringe is the only resort.Vaccines were always going to be how the world limped out of this pandemic; but as Taiwan and New Zealand show, even without inoculation it is possible to drive the number of Covid cases significantly down. Compare their record with the UK – which is on course to hit 100,000 Covid-related deaths before January is out, and where a staggering one in 30 Londoners is today infected. The lecterns from which Johnson and his top advisers gave their press conference this week read “Stay Home. Protect the NHS. Save Lives” – exactly as they did at the start of all this last March, as if to confirm how little progress they have made in almost a year. Continue reading...

Vaccines are our best hope for controlling Covid-19. But they should be delivered in ways that we know are effective

Nadhim Zahawi says ‘absolute focus’ is to get 13.9 million people inoculated by mid-February

Researchers have been studying this area for clues as to when the magnetic field might flip entirelyLast year was a tumultuous one, but at least north is still north. Deep inside our planet liquid iron continues to flow the same way, generating a magnetic field that protects us against harmful radiation from the sun. Every so often the flow changes and the magnetic field flips. The last time this happened was 780,000 years ago. Could 2021 be the year when north becomes south?One sign that the Earth might be gearing up for a magnetic reversal is a weakening of the field. We know that the Earth’s magnetic field has decayed by about 5% per century since measurements began in 1840. And much of that decay is associated with a strangely weak spot between South America and southern Africa, known as the South Atlantic Anomaly. This patch has grown over the last 250 years and today the weak field messes with satellite technology. Continue reading...

Bishop Auckland, County Durham: The earthworms have little defence against marauding birds in this uneven struggle amid the mudMud: boot-sucking liquid earth, the winter hazard that country walk footpath guides never mention. And it looks like horses have welcomed every rambler who crossed this stile, surrounding it with a morass of water-filled hoof-holes.Too far from home now to turn back, so I press on, sticking close to the hedge. And while I unburden my muddy boots on grass tussocks, a song thrush hops across the waterlogged field, just a few yards ahead. It pauses, cocks its head to one side, as if listening, then strikes and yanks an earthworm out of its burrow. It catches four more in quick succession, all driven to the surface by days of heavy rain. Continue reading...

Some Victorians stranded in NSW fear homelessness as government warns border shutdown could last until February

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