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

Unesco warns of urban centres sinking because of unsustainable farming and groundwater extractionSubsidence, or the gradual sinking of land, could affect 19% of the world’s population by 2040, according to new research funded by Unesco.If no action is taken, human activity, combined with drought and rising sea levels exacerbated by global heating, could put many of the world’s coastal cities at risk of severe flooding. Continue reading...

Scientists should follow the example of the Chinese professor whose selfless decision to share his breakthrough led to the medical miracle of a vaccineThere are many people deserving of praise for selfless acts during the past 12 months. But one person whose act of scientific generosity ought to be remembered is Zhang Yongzhen. The scientist, who works out of the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre, was the first to map the whole genome sequence of Sars-CoV-2. He did so on 5 January 2020 and hoped to share it with researchers by uploading his work to the US National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).The professor knew he was dealing with a deadly virus – but he had no idea how dangerous. The pathogen has killed more than 1.7 million people and shut down nations, leaving a trail of economic disruption. Concerned that the NCBI would take its time, the scientist sanctioned the sequence’s global public release via an Australian colleague. On 11 January, when Wuhan recorded its first Covid death, the virus’s genomic sequence was posted on an open access site. The 28,000 letters of Covid’s genetic code allowed Oxford University’s Jenner Institute, Moderna and BioNTech to design their vaccines in days. Testing took the rest of the year. To go from an unknown lethal new virus to an approved vaccine in months is a medical miracle. While the immediate sharing of data from a dangerous infectious disease might seem obvious, it goes against the grain of the way science has too often worked. A scientist’s ability to get funding and get ahead has for decades been predicated on competition, not just cooperation. Continue reading...

Hospital staff express frustration as they tell of reckless behaviour by some members of the public

Lockdowns and curfews curtail celebrations, with limited exceptions, after year most would prefer to forget

The concerted global response to the pandemic could be replicated for the fight against the climate crisisIn a world rife with disputes and divisions, there will be one emotion likely to unite most people at the stroke of midnight on 31 December: sheer relief that 2020 is finally over.There’s no risk of overstating it: this past year has pushed our world right to the edge. A single virus leaping from animals to humans was enough to kill 1.6 million people, bring major economies to their knees, and cause untold anguish and suffering all over the world. Continue reading...

This year, the Sars-CoV-2 virus has come to dominate both the headlines and our lives. In the second of two episodes reviewing the science of the pandemic so far, the Guardian’s health editor, Sarah Boseley, its science editor, Ian Sample, and producer Madeleine Finlay give their thoughts on what has happened over 2020, alongside professors Eleanor Riley, John Drury and Christina Pagel

Rollout to begin ‘soon’ but about a million have already received injection under emergency approvals

Among those honoured are health and social care workers, Covid response volunteers, virus experts and fund-raising centenariansHundreds of key workers and community champions who battled the pandemic have been recognised in the New Year honours list for the UK which celebrates people’s extraordinary response to the Covid-19 crisis.Lewis Hamilton, the Formula One driver, and the cinematographer Roger Deakins are among the celebrities knighted, while the architect David Chipperfield gets the Companion of Honour. The actor Toby Jones and Jed Mercurio, creator of the TV series Line of Duty, are given OBEs for services to drama. On being made a dame for services to drama the actor Sheila Hancock said she feared she was “slightly miscast”. Continue reading...

Concern over move to give millions first jab with a wait of up to 12 weeks for second dose

Calf carcass from thawing ground in north-east region of Yakutia found with many internal organs intactA well-preserved ice age woolly rhino with many of its internal organs still intact has been recovered from the permafrost in Russia’s extreme northern region.Russian media reported on Wednesday that the carcass was revealed by thawing permafrost in Yakutia in August. Scientists are waiting for ice roads in the Arctic region to become passable to deliver the animal to a laboratory for studies in January. Continue reading...

Analysis: regulator surprises by approving 12-week gap between first and second shots of vaccine as well as Pfizer/BioNTech shot

Research finds those who couple up after swiping right have stronger long-term intentionsWith the Covid crisis putting paid to New Year’s Eve celebrations and many other opportunities to seek romance in person, dating apps have thrived.But while such tech has long been associated with hookups, a study suggests those who couple up after swiping right have as satisfying a relationship as those who met via traditional encounters – and might even be keener to settle down. Continue reading...

Millions more are in tier 4 and schools face a delayed return – but tougher action is needed to seize the opportunity offered by the new vaccineThe contrast between the good news and the bleak could not have been starker. The UK’s approval of the low-cost, highly efficacious Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine represents a shining moment of hope. Never has it been more needed.The announcement came as ambulances queued for hours outside overwhelmed hospitals in London and Birmingham, and Essex declared a major incident due to the pressure on health services. For a second day, more than 50,000 cases were recorded, along with 981 deaths. The number of hospitalised patients, at 23,771, has surpassed the first-wave peak and is almost certainly still rising; the impact of the reckless Christmas relaxation has yet to be felt. As grim as the picture is, it could soon become much worse: this is, as Professor Jonathan Van-Tam warned, a very dangerous situation. Continue reading...

Scientists say virus rampant in UK and advise people to avoid meeting up with family and friends

The exhaustion – and perhaps the sadness – comes from saying goodbye to our old lifeI’m sure everyone after their first plague year feels totally knackered.You can just imagine them in Constantinople at the end of 541AD – the survivors of the Plague of Justinian saying to each other: “Well, that was GRIM!” If you got the disease, your body would be all lumpy and sore, then you would die. In the cities there was no room left to bury the dead, and the food supply was interrupted. Continue reading...

2020 was a year to forget, but here’s why the new one bring reasons to hope. Get the Guardian Weekly delivered at homeFor many people, the back of 2020 can’t come too soon. With a new virus strain upending millions of people’s Christmas plans in the UK, coupled with the threat of a no-deal Brexit, the lead-up to 25 December was … a hairy one. At least the belated announcement of a trade and security deal with the European Union on 24 December gave some clarity. But, as Britain finally detaches from the EU, it remains a country beset by the worst of the pandemic.On that note, we wanted to look at the year ahead with at least some semblance of optimism. On page 40, writers from the Observer look at eight innovations and inventions that offer a bit of hope for the near future, while Mark Rice-Oxley, editor of the Guardian’s Upside series, considers other reasons to be cheerful about the year ahead. Through the prism of 12 world leaders, we also look at how 2021 might pan out politically. Continue reading...

How the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab works, its advantages and possible limitations

Spectacular discovery of monkey in Myanmar among new species described this year by Natural History Museum scientistsScarab beetles from New Guinea, seaweed from the Falklands and a new species of monkey found on an extinct volcano in Myanmar are among 503 species newly identified by scientists at the Natural History Museum.The museum’s work in 2020 describing species previously unknown to science includes naming new lichens, wasps, barnacles, miniature tarantulas and a lungless worm salamander. Continue reading...

Announcement made in response to ‘significant growing demand’ on hospitals and will enable local leaders to seek more support

Official tests for antibody prevalence suggest an infection rate 10 times higher than official number

Preliminary analysis suggests higher load makes B117 variant easier to spread to other people

Scientists say with that B117 has a transmission advantage making it 56% more transmissable than previous variant

While there have been setbacks, in Australia at least it would be hard to find many people distrusting of scientistsBeing an epidemiologist in 2020 has been a very odd experience. This time last year, when I told people my job title, more than half the time I’d be met with a blank look and then the tentative question: “Is that … like a skin doctor?”Explaining that it was more like a spreadsheet doctor rarely went down that well. Continue reading...

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Independent Sage group warns of ‘tens of thousands of avoidable deaths’ without immediate action

Climate specialists not being listened to despite Covid showing importance of following science, activist saysClimate experts are not being listened to despite the coronavirus pandemic highlighting the importance of following science, the environmental activist Greta Thunberg has said.The Swedish teenager argued that the Covid-19 crisis had “shone a light” on how “we cannot make it without science”, but people were “only listening to one type of scientist”. Continue reading...

The concept is not only impractical, it creates an ‘them and us’ mentality. Everyone’s health matters, or no one’s health matters

Database could be shared across Europe, says Salvador Illa

Experts warn tier 4 may not be enough to contain new, highly transmissible variant

Astronaut Jessica Meir’s seven-month mission on the International Space Station (expedition 62, from September 2019-April 2020) glides from the euphoria of the first days in zero gravity, to the deep pressure of the first all-female spacewalk in history, and finally to a completely unexpected event: seeing the global pandemic on Earth unfold from orbit. Will the astronaut be returning to a completely different planet? Continue reading...

Film-makers Alina Manolache and Vladimir Potop on how they made the Guardian documentary 2020: A Covid Space OdysseyOur latest Guardian documentary is an evocative meditation on isolation and human fragility. It pieces together glimpses of the astronaut Jessica Meir’s seven-month mission on the International Space Station (Expedition 62, from September 2019-April 2020), from the euphoria of her first spacewalk to the surprise of witnessing the global pandemic unfold on Earth. We spoke with the film-makers Alina Manolache and Vladimir Potop about the film. Continue reading...

Hospitals under growing pressure as patient numbers surpass first wave of pandemic

Vietnam’s 2003 Sars epidemic and Senegal’s 2014 Ebola outbreak informed their fast and effective responsesIn October 2019, in those halcyon pre-Covid-19 days, a chart was published that ranked 195 countries according to their capacity to deal with outbreaks of infectious disease. Drawn up by the Washington DC-based Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore, Maryland, the 2019 Global Health Security Index (GHSI) placed the US and UK first and second, respectively. South Korea came ninth, New Zealand 35th and China 51st, while a number of African countries brought up the rear.Well, that was droll. Either the authors of the chart got their colour key inside out or our definition of health security needs an overhaul – and given all the fancy data visualisation software available these days it’s unlikely to be the former. Of course, the pandemic is not over. But back in March, when the index was already looking about as accurate as a 2016 US election poll, Johns Hopkins health policy analyst Sarah Dalglish wrote in the Lancet: “The pandemic has given the lie to the notion that expertise is concentrated in, or at least best channelled by, legacy powers and historically rich states.” And she hasn’t changed her view. Continue reading...

Experts fear misinformation and development worries could undermine efforts to control pandemic