Medical professionals need to understand that communities have different environmental conditions and vulnerabilitiesThe Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the reality that health in the US has glaring racial inequities. Since March, people of color have been more likely to get sick and more likely to die from Covid-19 because they have been living and working in social conditions that worsen their physical health and mental health.These conditions are rooted in structural inequalities that are also responsible for the severity and progression of Covid-19. While the issues are complex, research has suggested some ways to repair the broken system. Now, at the dawn of a new administration, more effective strategies that look at the realities of these affected communities can be implemented. Continue reading...

My friend Celia Milstein, who has died aged 92, was among those who contributed to the invention of monoclonal antibodies, which led to the Nobel prize for medicine of 1984, won by her husband, César Milstein, with Georges Kohler and Niels Jerne. Monoclonal antibodies are used in both treatment and diagnosis of diseases, including cancers, and are being trialled against Covid-19.Celia was born and grew up in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, to Efrain Prilleltensky, an accountant, and his wife, Ana (nee Davidson), both immigrants from the Ukraine who spoke Yiddish. She recalled her childhood as full of beauty. Continue reading...

The world has wised up to how our past affects our present. But I know that labelling ourselves as ‘traumatised’ holds us backTrauma as a medical phenomenon has its roots in the late 19th century, when it was known as “railway spine”, a condition suffered by survivors of railway accidents (a new phenomenon at the time) and believed to be caused by microscopic lesions in the body. It arose in tandem with the insurance industry; people seeking compensation needed evidence to back up their claims, particularly if they hadn’t been visibly injured. During the first world war, it was recognised but afforded little sympathy: traumatised soldiers were seen as unpatriotic, cowardly and lazy.It wasn’t until the 1970s that the term “post-traumatic stress disorder” came into use. But to begin with, the diagnosis was limited to military veterans. Eventually, the concept of trauma was expanded to include survivors of sexual violence, familial abuse and other catastrophes – a positive development. Continue reading...

Mountain hares in Scotland failing to adapt to climate change, leaving them more vulnerable to predators

National Heritage Memorial Fund bid successful after items from Nimrod trek sold to overseas buyerA sledge and flag that shine light on one of Britain’s greatest adventure stories – Ernest Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition to the south pole – have been kept in the UK.It was announced on Wednesday that the National Heritage Memorial Fund had provided a £204,700 grant to help buy objects which would otherwise have gone abroad. Continue reading...

These evergreens are thriving due to climate change but can smother other woodland speciesThe holly and ivy decorations should be looking lush this Christmas thanks to climate change boosting the growth of these plants.

Study shows animals with no long history of domestication show patterns of interaction with humans similar to that of dogs or horsesThe classic TV show Skippy, about a child speaking with a highly intelligent kangaroo, might not be as fictional as we once thought, according to Australian and UK researchers.A study from the University of Sydney and the University of Roehampton in London suggests that kangaroos are capable of intentionally communicating with humans, suggesting a higher level of cognitive function than previously thought. Continue reading...

FDA approves Brisbane-based company Ellume’s product, the first at-home coronavirus test that does not require a prescriptionA rapid, over-the-counter Covid-19 test developed by Australian firm Ellume has been given emergency approval in the United States.The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Brisbane-based company’s 20-minute Covid-19 Home Test on Tuesday as the US battles the virus that has infected 16.5 million people and killed more than 300,000 people in the country. Continue reading...

Wooden fragment from at least 3000BC discovered by chance by Egyptian university researcherA lost artefact from the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of only three objects ever recovered from inside the last remaining wonder of the ancient world, has been found in a chance discovery at the University of Aberdeen.Curatorial assistant Abeer Eladany, originally from Egypt, was reviewing items in the university’s Asia collection when she came across a cigar box marked with her country’s former flag. Continue reading...

The highly unusual Ubirajara jubatus boasted a mane of ‘hair-like structions’ and two ‘ribbon-like features’, researchers sayAbout 110 million years ago along the shores of an ancient lagoon in what is now north-eastern Brazil, a two-legged, chicken-sized Cretaceous period dinosaur made a living hunting insects and perhaps small vertebrates like frogs and lizards.On the inside, it was ordinary, with a skeleton similar to many small dinosaurs from the preceding Jurassic Period, scientists said on Tuesday. On the outside, it was anything but. Continue reading...

Greenwich and Islington make U-turn over ending term early after government threat of legal action

Easing of UK restrictions should not go ahead while they risk a third wave of coronavirusChristmas is on hold. The governments of the four nations of the United Kingdom are reviewing the proposed relaxation of their Covid restrictions over the holidays. A common policy had been agreed which allowed up to three households to be able to travel and meet up indoors between 23 and 27 December. Many understandably will want to be reunited with friends and loved ones over the Christmas period. But a rethink is needed. The more people who choose to meet, the greater the risk that infections will run out of control, leading to surge in hospital admissions and unnecessary deaths.The danger of runaway Covid cases has been heightened because the “tiered” restrictions failed to make a significant dent in the daily coronavirus rates, as Downing Street’s scientific advisers foresaw. Parts of the country were put under more stringent conditions this week but the concern is that this won’t be enough to stem the tide. In a rare joint editorial, the British Medical Journal and the Health Service Journal warned that if current trends continue, even without the Christmas relaxation, there are likely to be 19,000 Covid patients in English hospitals by New Year’s Eve – the same as at the peak of the first wave in April. Continue reading...

UK should boost vaccine programme to tackle Covid variant, says leading scientist

Scientists hope dust will shed light on formation of universe and offer clues about how life began on Earth

Beijing is aiming to control rain and snow across half the country. But it is the reason it wants to do this that is really frighteningRemember when Donald Trump wanted to nuke hurricanes so they didn’t hit the US? Everyone laughed uproariously, but Trump’s warped little mind was actually on to something. You may not be able to bomb hurricanes into oblivion, but you can shoot things into the atmosphere in order to change the weather. It’s a process known as cloud seeding and a number of countries, including the UK and the US, have been experimenting with it for decades.There hasn’t been a huge amount of mainstream attention paid to cloud seeding or other forms of geoengineering, but now is the time to sit up and take notice: China has massively ramped up its efforts to control the weather, a move that should alarm us all. Continue reading...

Ruling on Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine brought forward to 21 December

Latest updates: health experts and opposition call for mixing rules to be cancelled; all English secondary schools to get rapid tests from January

Call echoed by head of hospital doctors’ union and in a letter from Keir Starmer to the PM

2 June 1949 – 19 February 2020

The emergence of a novel coronavirus prompted a wave of global collaboration that has led to vaccines, treatments and the promise of new discoveries

Urgent talks under way in Whitehall after emergence of new variant of virus

The prime minister’s spell in intensive care underscored the severity of the pandemic. Did it also make him reassess his life?It was an unexpected twist in what already felt like an excessively dramatic disaster movie. On 6 April, the British prime minister was admitted to the intensive care ward at St Thomas’ hospital in London, after contracting a new and potentially deadly virus. Donald Trump said he was “praying for his good friend”; the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said all his wishes were with the prime minister, his family and the British people in “this difficult time”. The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, described it as “terribly sad news”.Boris Johnson pulled through, of course, surviving to witness the birth of his son, Wilfred – given the middle name Nicholas, after the doctors, Dr Nick Price and Dr Nick Hart, who saved Johnson’s life. But more than eight months later, could the country still be feeling the impact of this dramatic turn of events? Continue reading...

Team will study effects on environment of A-68A, which is heading for South GeorgiaScientists are preparing for an urgent mission to the world’s biggest iceberg, which is on a collision course with the island of South Georgia in the southern Atlantic Ocean.The A-68A iceberg, which is larger than Luxembourg, broke off from the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica in 2017 and has been drifting towards the island ever since. Continue reading...

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As US death toll hits 300,000, one group of workers have paid an especially high price. The Guardian shares their storiesThe US death toll from Covid-19 crossed the grim milestone of 300,000 Monday, just hours after the first doses of a new vaccine were given to high-risk healthcare workers.Frontline healthcare worker have shouldered an extraordinary burden over the last 10 months and represent a disproportionate share of the sick. Continue reading...

Dr Zania Stamataki sets out the key factors … and says there is no need to panic

Downing Street says there are no plans to review guidance on household mixing or schools

Health secretary says variant may be linked to rapid spread of virus in south-east England

Dr Kizzmekia Corbett one of two leaders of team that created vaccine as only 14% of Black Americans trust vaccine will be safe

The solution to today’s puzzleEarlier today I set you the following puzzle:Four elves Glarald, Mnementh, Virthana and Tinsel are each wearing tunics of a different colour. At least one of these elves is a liar. (A liar is someone who only says statements that are untrue). During break at elf school, the following conversation is overheard: Continue reading...

The fringe view that we should avoid coronavirus restrictions was presented to the PM as he weighed a crucial decisionOn 17 September the government’s scientific advisory group, Sage, met. Its minutes note that a national “circuit breaker” lockdown for England “could have a significant impact on transmission”, stating that the “approach has greater impact when the epidemic is growing faster”. A second wave had been all but inevitable after the lifting of national restrictions on 4 July, the introduction of the “eat out to help out” scheme, and the easing of travel restrictions and quarantining, which allowed people to take holidays to Covid-transmission hotspots such as Spain.On 21 September, Prof Chris Whitty and Prof Sir Patrick Vallance held a public briefing where they presented worst-case scenario figures for Covid cases and deaths into autumn and winter if no action was taken. The briefing was widely criticised as scaremongering, but the projected figures of 50,000 cases and 200 deaths per day has proved to be largely correct, with 45,000 cases and 450 deaths per day in October-November. The same day, Sage set out in an official document that a circuit breaker “should be considered for immediate introduction”. Continue reading...

Jake Haendel spent months trapped in his body, silent and unmoving but fully conscious. Most people never emerge from ‘locked-in syndrome’, but as a doctor told him, everything about his case is bizarre by Josh Wilbur Continue reading...

Trials have claimed 86% efficacy, but Peru has suspended tests because of ‘an adverse event’ and there is concern about lack of transparencyRead all our coronavirus coverage hereTrials in the United Arab Emirates have shown that China’s Sinopharm vaccine has 86% efficacy. So what is the Chinese treatment, where is it being trialled and will it challenge the vaccines being developed in western countries? Continue reading...

From December 2019, when an unknown virus was found in China, to the release of vaccines for Covid-19 – here are the points where momentum shiftedFrom December 2019, when an unknown virus was found in China, to the release of vaccines for Covid-19, it has been an extraordinary year. Here’s how the momentum shifted Continue reading...

Logic with Santa’s little helpersHere’s a logic puzzle that was sent in to me by a (very smart) 12-year-old.Four elves Glarald, Mnementh, Virthana and Tinsel are each wearing tunics of a different colour. At least one of these elves is a liar. (A liar is someone who says only statements that are untrue). During a break at elf school, the following conversation is overheard: Continue reading...

Thecodontosaurus antiquus a nimble omnivore that ran on two legs, CT scans and 3D modelling suggestBritain’s earliest dinosaur was a nimble omnivore that ran around on two legs, unlike its later relatives brontosaurus and diplodocus, research suggests.Standing at about the height of a 10-year-old child, and 1.5 metres in length with a long thin tail, Thecodontosaurus antiquus roamed the Earth during the Triassic period, more than 205m years ago, when Britain consisted of many islands surrounded by warm seas. As well as being one of the earliest dinosaurs, it was also among the first to be discovered. It was unearthed by Bristol quarrymen in 1834, earning it the nickname “the Bristol dinosaur”. Continue reading...

The gas giants Jupiter and Saturn will soon align so closely in the south-western sky they may appear as one

Mission will record details about the composition of the astral bodies and could be launched in 2028British engineers are to start work on a new spacecraft that will lie in wait for passing comets then chase them down and map their surfaces in three dimensions.Appropriately dubbed the “comet chaser”, the mission will not only record details of the comets’ contours, but also the composition of the dust and and gases released as they hurtle through the heavens. Continue reading...

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Fears that relaxing restrictions over festive period will put further pressure on hospitals

Scientists find aberrant immune system in patients with virus could also be cause of ‘long Covid’

Part of the Galloway Hoard, found in 2014, the piece is so spectacular it may have belonged to a monarchA spectacular Anglo-Saxon silver cross has emerged from beneath 1,000 years of encrusted dirt following painstaking conservation. Such is its quality that whoever commissioned this treasure may have been a high-standing cleric or even a king.It was a sorry-looking object when first unearthed in 2014 from a ploughed field in western Scotland as part of the Galloway Hoard, the richest collection of rare and unique Viking-age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland, acquired by the National Museums Scotland (NMS) in 2017. Continue reading...

Vial used to give Margaret Keenan the first non-trial dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is among items being used to document UK’s response to pandemicThe vial of the first dose of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to be used outside a trial – administered last Tuesday to 90-year-old Margaret Keenan from Coventry – has been added to a collection of artefacts documenting the pandemic.The empty vial has been acquired by London’s Science Museum as well as “stay at home” signs from the daily Downing Street briefings, homemade masks and other items that curators believe will provide a record of the UK’s response to the disease. Continue reading...

The pandemic is expected to precipitate a mental health crisis, but perhaps also a chance to approach life with new clarity

Rejoice at the worldwide success of research and technology, but if we don’t follow the rules it could all be for nothingNearly a year after the pandemic started, it was a moment of hope when Margaret Keenan – a 90-year-old grandmother, and resident of Coventry for 60 years – received what she described as an “early birthday present”. She was the first person to receive an approved vaccine against Covid-19 and her name will rightly be recorded in the history books.This is also a moment to recognise the thousands of scientists and engineers behind the many vaccines that are now emerging, and the many thousands of volunteers who have selflessly taken part in clinical trials. Clinical trials are the way to find out what works and what doesn’t, for both vaccines and therapeutics, and are essential to our response. Continue reading...

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Space party kicks off on Monday with the annual display, followed on Thursday by a once-in-a-20-year event when Jupiter and Saturn ‘kiss’Australian stargazers are set to be treated to a galactic display as planets align and shooting stars light up the night sky through the next week.The space party starts with the annual Geminid meteor shower on Monday morning when the Earth passes through the tail of an asteroid. Continue reading...

The Australian mathematician Samuel Blake describes how he and and two other cryptologists finally solved an encrypted message written by the unnamed serial killer 51 years ago.The FBI confirmed the code, cracked with help from a supercomputer called Spartan, is accurate, but they said it did not help with identification

Despite Boris Johnson’s pledges, the UK is way off course on its path to net zero emissions. It’s Labour’s job to force the issue

When Chinese scientists alerted colleagues to a new virus last December, suspicion fell on a Wuhan market. What have health officials learned since then?