Researchers plan library of scents from plague repellents to early tobaccoFrom the pungent scent of a cigar to the gentle fragrance of roses, smells can transport us to days gone by. Now researchers are hoping to harness the pongs of the past to do just that.Scientists, historians and experts in artificial intelligence across the UK and Europe have announced they are teaming up for a €2.8m project labelled “Odeuropa” to identify and even recreate the aromas that would have assailed noses between the 16th and early 20th centuries. Continue reading...

SpaceX has launched four astronauts to the International Space Station on the first full-fledged taxi flight for Nasa by a private company. Three Americans and one Japanese astronaut on the Dragon capsule will remain at the orbiting lab for the next six months until their replacements arrive in April 2021 Continue reading...

In the first part of this episode from 2016, Ian Sample speaks with the acclaimed mathematician and physicist Prof Sir Roger Penrose about his then most recent book, Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe. Warning of the potential dangers of dogmatic belief and unheralded faith, the recent Nobel laureate asks whether string theory has become too fashionable and warns of an overreliance on quantum mechanics.Part 2 coming on Thursday Continue reading...

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Chapare virus, which causes haemorrhagic fevers, was transmitted to health workers in La Paz and resulted in three deathsResearchers with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have discovered human-to-human transmission of a rare virus in Bolivia belonging to a family of viruses that can cause haemorrhagic fevers, such as Ebola.The news is a reminder that scientists are working to identify new viral threats to humankind, even as countries around the world battle a new wave of Covid-19 outbreaks. Continue reading...

Britain strikes rapid deal for Moderna vaccine showing 95% effectiveness in early results

Moderna becomes second firm to reveal positive results with nearly 95% protection in trials

Phase 3 success rate of 95% for US firm’s treatment is promising for UK vaccine trial

The sloioutn to tdoay’s pzulze and the wnienr of the wirnitg cmtiopteionEarlier today I set a puzzle about scrambled numbers and set a competition for ‘unscrambleable’ sentences.The puzzle is as follows: for each of the four numbers in the following addition, the first and last digits are correct, but the intermediate digits have been scrambled. Restore the original addition. Continue reading...

Experts say there is no evidence UK’s £100bn mass Covid testing scheme will provide any benefit

Experiment put a human in one box, a dog in another and saw which the ticks preferredConfining a young researcher in one box and a dog in another and unleashing blood-sucking ticks to scamper between the boxes sounds like a stunt from I’m A Celebrity.But the stomach-churning scientific experiment has revealed that ticks carrying the deadly Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) disease are more than twice as likely to shift their feeding preference from dogs to humans when temperatures rise. Continue reading...

Moderna results show Pfizer success was not flash in the pan, but poorer countries may have to look elsewhere

Available online

PM says he is in good health and has no coronavirus symptoms ahead of crucial week

Bestselling writer says no state has moral right to close bookshops

Third vaccine to undergo large-scale clinical testing in Britain has been modelled on Ebola jab

The UK prime minister has posted a video on Twitter saying he is self-isolating for 10 days after being contacted by NHS test and trace to say he has been in contact with an MP who tested positive for coronavirus.Boris Johnson said he was ‘feeling as fit as a butcher’s dog’ but for the time being would be conducting meetings via Zoom.

Scientists now have better tests and treatments, and are forging a clear pathway out of this global ordeal

Yuor fsrit tsak is to udnretsnad tihs sntecneeAs mnay of you wlil be aarwe, to raed a txet the oedrr in wihch the lrtetes of ecah idniadiuvl wrod aepapr is not ipmotanrt, so lnog as the fsrit and lsat ltetres are crorect. Tihs is ovboisuly not the csae wtih nmuebrs beacsue if one slcarbmes the iretnnal ditgis of a nmbeur, it is not pissolbe to wrok out waht the ogirianl nemubr was. Go fugrie.Tehre are, hwoveer, cirtaen cesas in wchih tehre is sufuficnet inmoartfion to fnid out the onriiagl neumbrs, scuh as in the sum bolew. The itenarnl diigts of ecah of the nmbeurs hvae been srcmalbed but the fsrit and lsat dgitis rmaein the smae. Continue reading...

In Darwin’s era, people commonly participated in botany and archaelogy. Now a raft of new projects aim to harness their curiosity againIt is hard not to feel a thrill of excitement when you land on the Galaxy Zoo homepage and read the words “Few have witnessed what you’re about to see” looming out of a star-strewn black background.The anticipation is justified when, in five quick clicks, you’re asked to classify a galaxy as part of an online crowdsourcing astronomy project. The project is hosted on Zooniverse, a platform that aims to make cutting-edge research accessible to everyone. Continue reading...

SpaceX launched four astronauts on their way to the International Space Station on Sunday on the first fully fledged taxi flight for Nasa by a private company. The Falcon rocket thundered into the night from the Kennedy Space Center with three American and one Japanese astronauts – the second crew to be launched by SpaceX.

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Mike Hopkins, Shannon Walker, Victor Glover and Japan’s Soichi Noguchi successfully lifted off for the 27-hour flight on SundaySpaceX has launched four astronauts to the International Space Station on the first full-fledged taxi flight for Nasa by a private company.The Falcon rocket thundered into the night from Kennedy Space Center in Florida with three Americans and one Japanese onboard, the second crew to be launched by SpaceX. The Dragon capsule on top – named Resilience by its crew in light of this year’s many challenges, most notably Covid-19 – is due to reach the space station after 27-and-a-half hours and remain there until spring. Continue reading...

Shooting stars will be flying in all directions from a point near the head of Leo the lionThis week Earth ploughs through the debris stream that has been left in space from the tail of comet Tempel-Tuttle, and that means meteors. The Leonid meteor shower is so-called because all of the shooting stars associated with it appear to originate from a point just below the head of Leo, the lion. The meteors fly in all directions from this point, and at their peak are expected to produce about 10-20 bright meteors an hour. Continue reading...

Vaccine for shielders | Mangold-wurzels | Geordies | Children in Need | Country diaryWhy have those advised to shield from Covid-19 been forgotten when it comes to the priority list for vaccination (How will a coronavirus vaccine be rolled out to the UK population?, 11 November)? The list is mainly based on age, not vulnerability. My healthy wife, aged 65, will have higher priority than me, aged (nearly) 64, even though I am extremely vulnerable because I am on immune-suppressing drugs.

The technology behind the promising Covid-19 vaccine was not of serious interest to big pharma until huge sums could be made from it. That is not a way to advance scienceIn his 2008 book Scientific Freedom, the scientist and author Donald Braben claimed, somewhat controversially, that the 20th century had been transformed because scientists were free to explore the boundaries of their respective disciplines, unhindered by the need for short-term results and the deadening process of peer review. Prof Braben argued that science had been shackled in recent decades, leading to a decline in the rate of technological progress. He quoted a Nobel prize winner as saying “innovation comes only from the assault on the unknown”. His point was that scientists today were not only fighting with their hands tied but often in battles not worth winning.The intriguing question is whether the glimmer of light that is the new vaccine in the dark tunnel of Covid-19 is evidence that proves Prof Braben’s thesis right, or confounds its predictions. The public health emergency requires immediate life-and-death decisions where speed, rather than efficacy, is the overriding concern. Regulators have allowed the normally distinct phases of a drug trial programme to occur at the same time. Scientists are not waiting to publish work in journals, opting instead to share their work online without it being peer-reviewed. (Even with peer review, the Lancet retracted a Covid-19 paper after iffy data came to light.) Continue reading...

Officers interrupt gathering of 30 worshippers after pastor called restriction unlawful

Exclusive: study of low-risk individuals finds impairments four months after infection

Psychologists say changes in behaviour, from talking to yourself to fashion experiments, could be a Covid coping strategy

The psychological impact of the virus is profound, but there is nothing to suggest its physical effects can’t be overcome

Uğur Şahin ‘very confident’ vaccine candidate developed with Pfizer will bring big reduction in cases

Opposition claims that online disinformation poses a threat to the effective take-up of coronavirus vaccinesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageSocial media companies that fail to act to “stamp out dangerous anti-vaccine content” should be subject to financial and criminal penalties, Labour has demanded.As hopes rise that a vaccine against coronavirus could be ready within weeks, analysis by Labour has revealed that dedicated online groups with hundreds of thousands of members are still churning out disinformation – despite the new measures announced by the government and social media companies last week to tackle the issue. Continue reading...

A six-year mission will soon bring back a few grains of soil that could explain how water arrived on our planetIn a few days, a capsule containing samples of soil from a distant asteroid will be released by a robot spaceship and dropped into Earth’s upper atmosphere. If all goes well, the container will parachute safely on to the Woomera test range in South Australia on 6 December, completing a mission that has involved a three-billion-mile journey across our solar system.The information returned could help solve several major astronomical puzzles, say scientists – including the mystery of how water first appeared on our planet. Continue reading...

The rising number of vaccine-derived polio outbreaks has important implications for how we deal with Covid-19

Better to build social solidarity than to dismiss reluctance to be immunised as ignorance

Would you admit to being an expert in health and disease at a party? No, me neitherIt seems like only yesterday that another frustrated teacher uttered those fell words: “Bouquet, your behaviour is a disgrace”, a charge that was almost certainly always true. Fast forward to today and what do we find?Epidemiologist after epidemiologist warns that we must modify our “behaviours” if we are to counter the pandemic. Quite when it became obligatory for this horde of “experts” to pluralise the word is not known, but I do wish they would desist. And given their track record during coronavirus, with certain honourable exceptions, how many would dare to admit their profession if they were to be asked at a party what they did for a living? They’d be far better off saying they were an actuary. Continue reading...

Prof John Edmunds calls for consistent UK government strategy and warns against relaxing measures

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Call for recommendations from health bodies on how nutrient may prevent and treat virus

How small tasks can benefit our state of mindFor Anna McGovern there is a satisfying, sensory pleasure to be had in rinsing milk bottles: “The very best thing about getting your milk delivered is ‘rinsing and returning’. Don’t cheat by putting your bottles in the dishwasher. Wash them, by hand. Put a small amount of water in the bottle, slosh the water around, put your hand over the top, shake it up and down, upturn the bottle, glugging the water out, then head for your doorstep and put out the bottle with a ‘plink’”.This is one of many meandering, seemingly mundane tasks that McGovern delights in describing in her new book. Another is pegging out the washing (“Pull it out of the basket in a long, sweet-smelling, damp lump.”) In fact, when we speak about pottering, McGovern tells me she has done just that to “help order her thoughts”. Continue reading...

Pfizer was first with the news, but biotech firms, governments, banks and NGOs are all involved in the search for a jab to prevent coronavirus infectionThe leading candidate to become the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine, developed by the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, had its genesis in late January 2020. Uğur Şahin, chief executive of the Mainz-based biotech, read about coronavirus in the Lancet and worried that the outbreak could grow into a pandemic.Şahin summoned colleagues to tell them that the company would shift its focus from cancer treatments to finding a vaccine for the deadly virus. It would use a method based on mRNA, whereby a stretch of genetic material from the coronavirus is injected into the body, resulting in human cells producing its so-called spike protein. This in turn triggers an immune response. Pfizer stepped in to help with development and distribution costs. Continue reading...

The £20-a-week rise in UC has been a lifeline for many during the pandemic, but the government wants to end this in spring

Artefacts held by British Museum and other western institutions were looted by British forces in 1897A new museum designed by Sir David Adjaye is to be built following the most extensive archaeological excavation ever undertaken in Benin City, Nigeria, raising hopes of a resolution to one of the world’s most controversial debates over looted museum artefacts.The kingdom of Benin, in what is now southern Nigeria and not to be confused with the modern-day country of Benin, was one of the most important and powerful pre-colonial states of west Africa. Continue reading...

Forecasts of gusty, onshore winds over Florida force reschedule to Sunday of first full mission carrying four astronautsNasa and SpaceX have announced a 24-hour weather delay of their planned launch of four astronauts into orbit for America’s first fully fledged human mission using a privately owned spacecraft.The liftoff time slipped from Saturday to Sunday evening due to forecasts of gusty, onshore winds over Florida – remnants of storm Eta – that would have jeopardised a return landing for the Falcon 9 rocket’s reusable booster stage, Nasa officials said. Continue reading...

Italy also registers 40,000 new infections; Germany records 23,542 new cases; Russia reports its worst day for new infections; Sweden’s hits daily record. This blog is now closed

Prime minister’s controversial chief adviser leaves Downing Street after infighting at heart of government

Three-tier restrictions in England ‘may not be enough’ to suppress virus after lockdown

Politicians struggle to explain why a region so much less affected in spring is so badly hit now

Keanu Reeves among 200 people at studio party where guests came as extras, says report

R number now between 1.1 to 1.2, but slowdown will not be reflected in death toll for several weeks