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

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