Science | The Guardian

Study seeks to compare microbiomes of our ancestors for clues to modern diseasesResearchers working knee-deep in 14th- and 15th-century latrines have found that bacterial DNA from human excrement can last for centuries and provide clues to how our gut contents have changed significantly since medieval times.Analysis of two cesspits, one in Jerusalem and the other in the Latvian capital, Riga, could help scientists understand if changes to our microbiome – the genetic makeup of the bacteria, virus, fungi, parasites and other microbes living inside us – affect modern-day afflictions. Continue reading...

The Mhoine peninsula in Sutherland will house one of UK’s first sites of its kind if it wins approvalIn two years, thousands of tourists and space enthusiasts could be gathering in the far north of Scotland to watch an unlikely event, the inaugural flight of a rocket blasting off from a peat bog usually grazed by deer and sheep.The Mhoine peninsula in Sutherland, a desolate stretch of peatland punctuated by mires and tiny lochs overlooking the Pentland Firth, has been chosen as the site of one of the UK’s first spaceports – provided it eventually wins approval from the Civil Aviation Authority. Continue reading...

Isolating students say universities are charging them high prices for low-quality food

Disney blasts off with an intriguing drama about how Nasa socked it to the Soviets in the 1960s with its manned spaceflight programmeIt’s Mad Men in Space, almost. Disney+ marks its first anniversary with The Right Stuff, an eight-part drama based on Tom Wolfe’s non-fiction book of the same name (and the 1983 film that was based on that) about the astronauts of Nasa’s Project Mercury, the Mercury Seven.Like Mad Men, it is set in the late 1950s and early 60s and everything – especially the suited and booted, would-be conquering heroes at its core – looks slick and gorgeous. That much you might expect from a Disney-made tale of real life derring-do, but what is unexpected is that the show concentrates on what a mess everything was, including the astronauts (apart from John Glenn, apparently), behind the scenes. It’s a particularly bold departure from the more tempting and traditional template at a time when commissioners, makers and viewers alike could all be forgiven for wanting to wallow in nostalgia and revisit what still count, however gilded the narrative has become, as past glories. Continue reading...

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EU commission secures enough doses for 500,000 patients in 36 countries including UK

When they’re dicing with our lives, politicians must fully explain the reasoning for their decisions‘You cannot put people out of a job on a hunch,” a Glasgow restaurant owner said of Nicola Sturgeon’s new drinking restrictions in Scotland, which have forbidden the sale of alcohol in licensed premises and closed pubs and restaurants across the country’s central belt for 16 days. “I genuinely do not understand it – and we’re not being told why.”Related: Pubs and restaurants: do scientists think Covid closures and curfews work? Continue reading...

Commentators have used study as evidence government was too quick to impose full lockdown but conclusions not so clear

Leaked slides suggest hospitality accounted for 41% of linked Covid cases among under-30s

While virus can spread easily in crowded indoor venues, 10pm cut-off is questionable

In this second episode of our age of extinction takeover, Patrick Greenfield and Phoebe Weston explore the impact that conservation and national parks can have on Indigenous communities and the biodiversity surrounding themIf you haven’t already, go back and listen to Tuesday’s episode on the history of national parks and some of the challenges they face Continue reading...

Air temperatures hit all-time highs for month and Arctic sea ice level was ‘particularly low’The world this year experienced its hottest September on record, scientists have reported.Surface air temperatures last month were 0.05C warmer than in September 2019, making it the hottest September on record globally, experts from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said. Continue reading...

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Brain of a young man killed in the eruption was found in Herculaneum, ItalyBrain cells have been found in exceptionally preserved form in the remains of a young man killed in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius almost 2,000 years ago, an Italian study has revealed.The preserved neuronal structures in vitrified or frozen form were discovered at the archaeological site of Herculaneum, an ancient Roman city engulfed under a hail of volcanic ash after nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. Continue reading...

Urgent talks underway with chemical supplier Roche as non-urgent tests delayed

Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna have been awarded the 2020 Nobel prize in chemistry for the discovery of the Crispr genetic scissors used to edit the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision.The genome editing method has revolutionised the field of genetic engineering, with its impact felt across biomedical research, clinical medicine, agriculture and wider society.The researchers will share the 10m Swedish kronor (£870,000) prize announced on Wednesday by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm – the first time that two women have shared the prize

The prime minister seems to be bored by pandemic politics and craving less gloomy times. He needs to focus on today’s crisis, not fantasy futuresGovernments have a wide range of measures and different degrees of compulsion at their disposal when dealing with a pandemic, from full lockdown to targeted interventions, from urging compliance to enforcing it by law. Boris Johnson has tried it all with no underlying strategic concept. The result is a shambles: mixed messages, unclear guidance and failure to limit the spread of the virus.Infections are rising in nearly every area subject to tighter controls, and the criteria for the application of those restrictions is opaque. There are no special measures in London, but prevalence in the borough of Hillingdon (in the prime minister’s constituency) is 67 cases per 100,000, more than double the rate in places that face stricter restrictions. The infection rate has gone up in 19 of 20 areas subject to localised controls for the past two months. The plan, if there is such a thing, is not working. Challenged on that point by Sir Keir Starmer in parliament on Wednesday, Mr Johnson offered no defence, only vacuity. “The problem is, alas, that the disease continues to spread,” he said. Continue reading...

Rising emissions of nitrous oxide from farming are putting world on track to exceed 2C heatingThe spread of intensive farming is threatening to jeopardise the world’s chances of meeting the terms of the Paris agreement on the climate crisis, as the increasing use of artificial fertiliser and growing populations of livestock are raising the concentration of a key greenhouse gas to levels far beyond those seen naturally.Nitrous oxide is given off by the overuse of artificial fertilisers, and by organic sources such as animal manure, and has a heating effect 300 times that of carbon dioxide. Levels of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere are 20% higher than in pre-industrial times, with most of that increase coming from farming. Continue reading...

Projects from freewheeling lullabies to food growing are fostering a sense of togetherness during the pandemic

Public Health England’s study likely to accelerate calls for further measures such as sugar taxThe food industry has cut out only 3% of sugar from its supermarket, cafe and restaurant products over the last three years, according to a damning report from Public Health England that will accelerate calls for taxes or other compulsory measures to be introduced.PHE launched its flagship sugar reduction programme in 2016 with a mission to help bring down childhood obesity by introducing a voluntary target for the food industry to remove 20% of sugar by 2020. But the third year of data – gathered before the coronavirus outbreak Covid – suggests it is unattainable without a “big stick” such as taxation. Continue reading...

Dr Rick Bright says administration ‘ignores scientific expertise and overrules public health guidance’

Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A Doudna share prize for genome editing methodTwo scientists have been awarded the 2020 Nobel prize in chemistry for developing the genetic scissors used in gene editing – the first time two women have shared the prize.Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A Doudna will share the 10m Swedish kronor (£870,000) prize announced on Wednesday by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Continue reading...

More than 170 teams of researchers are racing to develop a safe and effective vaccine. Here is their progressResearchers around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, with more than 170 candidate vaccines now tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO). Continue reading...

Fever, runny nose, headache? Lost your sense of taste or smell? Your guide to differentiating between the three illnesses

Cross-party group warns many businesses are falling through the cracks due to being with ‘wrong bank’

Behavioural experts in London find socio-economic factors to be the keys to helpfulnessConventional wisdom is that people living in big cities are less likely than smaller towns to help strangers in need, but new research suggests the likelihood of securing assistance is associated with socio-economic factors, and has little to do with the anonymity and the fast pace of urban living.Researchers at University College London (UCL) measured whether people posted a lost letter, returned a dropped item, and stopped cars to let someone cross the road in 37 different neighbourhoods in 12 cities and 12 towns across the UK. Continue reading...

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It is thought the celestial body was created in a cosmic crash 4.5bn years agoCorrected version:It could so easily have turned out differently. About 4.5bn years ago the Earth is believed to have collided with another planet, Theia, resulting in the formation of the moon. A more glancing blow might have resulted in a “hit and run” and a moon-less Earth; while a head-on collision may have blasted away much of Earth’s mantle, leaving no atmosphere. Instead it seems to have been something in between, which eroded between 10 and 60% of Earth’s atmosphere, but also left us with the moon. Continue reading...

Scientists question purchase of tests from British consortium before evaluation made public

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsWhy are the majority of people right-handed rather than there being equal numbers of left and right? What is the factor causing the difference and what about other primates – or are we the only species to exhibit this imbalance?Peter Hanson, Whitestone, Exeter Continue reading...

Pressure mounts on manufacturer to allow other companies to supply remdesivir

The pandemic has exposed the weakness in the UK’s austerity-hit social safety net – something many claimants have only just discovered

Young people no longer understand traditional gestures, from miming a phone call to requesting the bill. Are we losing part of our cultural heritage?Name: Hand gestures.Age: Older than language. Continue reading...

Roger Penrose says win, shared with Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez, ‘is in some ways a distraction’Three scientists have won the 2020 Nobel prize in physics for their work on black hole formation and the discovery of a supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy.Sir Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez together scooped the 114th Nobel prize in physics. Continue reading...

Though far from common, some patients developed worse symptoms the second time they became infected with Covid-19

Authorities urged to develop policies to tackle ‘virus fatigue’ as Finland, Poland and Russia join nations with rapidly rising cases

Exclusive: research finds insertion of breathing tube produces barely any aerosols

Ministers reject health chiefs’ recommendation to impose highest level of restrictions

The president has returned home but only after receiving treatments normally reserved for serious cases

Nobel winner Sir Paul Nurse says his Francis Crick Institute alone could process 60,000 tests a week

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Study of brain activity shows no difference when dogs see back or front of a headDog owners might love their pet’s endearing puppy dog eyes and cute furry features, but it turns out the doggy brain is just as excited by the back of our heads as the front.For despite having evolved facial expressions that tug on the heartstrings of owners, researchers have found that unlike humans, dogs do not have brain regions that respond specifically to faces. Continue reading...

Harvey Alter, Michael Houghton, Charles Rice share 10m Swedish kronor prizeTwo Americans and a British scientist have won the 2020 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine for their groundbreaking work on blood-borne hepatitis, a health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer around the world.Harvey J Alter at the US National Institutes of Health in Maryland, Charles M Rice from Rockefeller University in New York, and Michael Houghton, a British virologist at the University of Alberta in Canada, were honoured for their joint discovery of the hepatitis C virus, a major cause of liver disease. Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese says the nation could have been better prepared for Covid-19 if it had a national body to monitor infectious diseases

The grand ‘reveal’ of today’s magic tricksEarlier today I showed you four optical illusions, and asked you to explain how the effect was achieved. None of the images were digitally altered.1. The Soup Tin Continue reading...

Though the country is a huge polluter, it leads the world in the clean technologies that could make this feasibleWhen I first moved to China in 1990, winter meant coal. The moment Beijing turned on the municipal heating system, our faces would become covered with soot. People stockpiled loose coal in huge piles outside their homes for heating and cooking. I could see the smokestacks of four large coal power plants and the country’s largest steel mill in the distance. China’s addiction to this most carbon-intensive of fossil fuels made the prospect of a country dedicated to fighting climate change seem fanciful.Now, in perhaps the most important news of 2020 that you may have missed, China has stepped up on its own as a climate leader. On 22 September, President Xi Jinping announced in a video address to the UN general assembly that China would aim to become “carbon neutral” before 2060 – Beijing’s first long-term target. In so doing it joins the European Union, the UK and dozens of other countries in adopting mid-century climate targets, as called for by the Paris agreement. Continue reading...

Musician posed with fans at a Los Angeles bookshop wearing a glittery mesh mask that did not fully cover her nose and mouthFans of Lana Del Rey have criticised her for wearing a glittery mesh mask that did not appear to fully cover her nose and mouth at a surprise poetry reading and book signing event.The musician read from her new collection, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass, and posed with fans at a Barnes and Noble store in Los Angeles at the weekend, wearing a net facial covering that did not seem to assist in preventing the spread of the coronavirus. Continue reading...

Covid restrictions make regular physical activity even harder to achieve – but evolutionary psychology can provide help

Fever, runny nose, headache? Lost your sense of taste or smell? Your guide to differentiating between the three illnesses