by Presented by Ian Sampleand produced by David Water on (#56AK4)
Ian Sample speaks to marine biologist Prof Maoz Fine about his surprising research on the relationship between increasing ocean temperatures and the Red Sea’s coral reefs Continue reading...
by Helen Sullivan (now and earlier); Jessica Murray , on (#568YS)
American deaths pass grim milestone; French authorities report 1,392 new cases; Hong Kong outbreak ‘overwhelming’ medical system. This blog is now closed
Fund will offer up to $2m to rapidly find ways of locating water or building power systemsNasa has asked American universities to propose new technologies that will help the space agency conduct sustainable exploration of the moon. Successful applicants will receive up to $2m (£1.5m) from the newly inaugurated lunar surface technology research (Lustr) opportunity to rapidly develop technology in two key areas: finding and extracting water from the lunar “soil” or regolith, and developing power systems that will maintain technology through the long lunar nights.Both are necessary for astronauts to stay on the moon for long periods. The water is essential for life support and can be split into hydrogen and oxygen for use as rocket fuel. Each lunar night is equivalent to 14 Earthdays and so reliable batteries will be needed, along with power distribution and control systems that can work well in the moon’s harsh radiation environment. Such power systems will also be needed to extract the water, much of which is thought to exist in permanently shadowed craters near the moon’s south pole. Continue reading...
The picture in Europe and further afield is grim. But we must not resign ourselves to a large-scale recurrence of coronavirusIs the brief respite over? In England, and other European nations hit hard by coronavirus, bars and cafes have reopened, and people have begun to fly abroad again for holidays. Guests have gathered for weddings. Babies have met their grandparents for the first time.Though many remain wary, the government’s keenness to get back to business has encouraged a dangerous sense of complacency; some are increasingly casual in following the rules. Less than two weeks ago, Boris Johnson made the remarkable suggestion that there could be a “return to normality” by Christmas, with even distancing requirements dropped. Now the prime minister has warned there are signs of a second wave in Europe. Spain’s sharp rise in cases has already prompted England to reimpose quarantine for returning travellers; it may soon do so for Belgium, Luxembourg and Croatia. Niall Dickson, who heads the NHS Confederation – representing NHS leaders – has told MPs that managers are very worried about a second spike, perhaps before winter, citing exhausted staff and the need to rebuild other services. Continue reading...
Made from cow’s bile, garlic and onions, Bald’s eyesalve was meant to cure styes, but scientists believe it could deal with antibiotic-resistant bacterial infectionsName: Bald’s eyesalve.Age: 1,000 years old. Continue reading...
Virgin Galactic has revealed the interior of its centrepiece space plane, showing off a cabin with custom seats and a 'space mirror', in a virtual tour of what its passengers can expect to experience on flights to the edge of space
The singer claimed a vaccine had been found but was being concealed to ‘let the rich get richer’Instagram has deleted a post by Madonna in which the pop star shared a coronavirus conspiracy theory with her 15 million followers.She captioned the video with claims that a vaccine for Covid-19 has “been found and proven and has been available for months”. She continued: “They would rather let fear control the people and let the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” Continue reading...
by Niko Kommenda and Frank Hulley-Jones on (#569AR)
More than 140 teams of researchers are racing to develop a safe and effective coronavirus vaccineResearchers around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, with more than 140 candidate vaccines now tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO). Continue reading...
Inside of VSS Unity unveiled, showing the cabin in which six passengers will be able to float in zero gravity on the edge of spaceVirgin Galactic has revealed the interior of its centrepiece space plane, showing off a cabin with new custom seats and a “space mirror” in a virtual tour of what its passengers can expect to experience on flights to the edge of space.For $250,000 a ticket, passengers who have signed up for the suborbital flight aboard the air-launched plane VSS Unity will strap into six tailored seats and be able to peer out of the cabin’s 12 circular windows as they ascend 97km (60 miles) above Earth. The plane has five other windows. Continue reading...
During the pandemic, we saw ideological nonsense and prejudice mostly put aside – and we saw what we could accomplish when it wasCarl Sagan – one of my heroes and a scientist with a gift for communicating complex ideas in accessible ways – wrote back in 1994: “If we continue to accumulate only power and not wisdom, we will surely destroy ourselves … If we become even slightly more violent, shortsighted, ignorant, and selfish than we are now, almost certainly we will have no future.”Clearly I don’t know what he would write if he were alive today. But he could hardly say that in the intervening 26 years we have become even slightly less violent, shortsighted, ignorant and selfish; I suspect that he would be dismayed at how much worse we have become; and how much more power has been accumulated without wisdom. Continue reading...
Studies measuring levels of the protein tau in blood offer hope of developing treatmentsScientists say they have made progress towards a test for Alzheimer’s that could help researchers in the hunt for treatments for the disease.Several studies, presented at a conference in Chicago, showed it was possible to measure the levels of a protein called tau in the blood. Tau and another protein called amyloid have been targets for developing tests and treatments for Alzheimer’s for many years. They form clusters known as tangles and plaques in the brain that are well-known features of the disease. Continue reading...
Microbes had lain dormant at the bottom of the sea since the age of the dinosaursScientists have successfully revived microbes that had lain dormant at the bottom of the sea since the age of the dinosaurs, allowing the organisms to eat and even multiply after eons in the deep.Their research sheds light on the remarkable survival power of some of Earth’s most primitive species, which can exist for tens of millions of years with barely any oxygen or food before springing back to life in the lab. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#567WQ)
Project aims to show clean fusion power can be generated at commercial scaleThe world’s largest nuclear fusion project began its five-year assembly phase on Tuesday in southern France, with the first ultra-hot plasma expected to be generated in late 2025.The €20bn (£18.2bn) Iter project will replicate the reactions that power the sun and is intended to demonstrate fusion power can be generated on a commercial scale. Nuclear fusion promises clean, unlimited power but, despite 60 years of research, it has yet to overcome the technical challenges of harnessing such extreme amounts of energy. Continue reading...
Exclusive: megafires ‘one of the worst wildlife disasters in modern history’, say scientistsNearly 3 billion animals were killed or displaced by Australia’s devastating bushfire season of 2019 and 2020, according to scientists who have revealed for the first time the scale of the impact on the country’s native wildlife.The Guardian has learned that an estimated 143 million mammals, 180 million birds, 51 million frogs and a staggering 2.5 billion reptiles were affected by the fires that burned across the continent. Not all the animals would have been killed by the flames or heat, but scientists say the prospects of survival for those that had withstood the initial impact was “probably not that great” due to the starvation, dehydration and predation by feral animals – mostly cats – that followed. Continue reading...
by Niko Kommenda and Frank Hulley-Jones on (#567W4)
More than 140 teams of researchers are racing to develop a safe and effective coronavirus vaccineResearchers around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, with more than 140 candidate vaccines now tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO). Continue reading...
What do you do when your loved ones flout the law – or nag you about going out? As lockdown eases, attitudes to Covid-19 seem more polarised than everMichael, a 35-year-old university lecturer from Sheffield, barely speaks to his brother nowadays. For years, they had been drifting apart over political differences such as Brexit. “He hates my leftwing, liberal beliefs as much as I hate his way of looking at the world,” Michael says. “We used have a pint together occasionally, or go to a match.” But coronavirus was the final straw.Even before masks became mandatory in English shops, Michael always wore a face covering when he went shopping and did his best to maintain social distancing. His brother did not. “He says he doesn’t care if he gets Covid-19 and has flouted all the rules,” says Michael. “He loves the conspiracy theories that it came from a Wuhan lab, or that it doesn’t really exist. I am incensed by his selfish and unthinking approach.” Continue reading...
by Presented by Nicola Davis and produced by Madelein on (#567RF)
With evolving evidence on airborne transmission of Covid-19 and early super-spreading events linked to choir practices, musicians have been left wondering how risky it is to sing and play instruments in person. Investigating a listener question, Nicola Davis speaks to Prof Jonathan Reid about the science of aerosols and why he’s getting musicians to sing into funnels — in the middle of an operating theatre Continue reading...
by Presented by Gabrielle Jackson and reported by Mel on (#5678V)
There is growing evidence from around the world that some people continue to experience debilitating symptoms of Covid-19 months after contracting the virus. They have been dubbed the ‘long-haulers’. Melissa Davey explains what we know about how patients in Australia who were diagnosed in March and April are recovering more than three months laterYou can read Melissa Davey’s article about the St Vincent’s hospital study on the lasting effects of Covid-19 here. You can also read first-hand accounts from ‘long-haulers’ here: Continue reading...
Covid-19 is lingering such that the public believes things are getting better, long after they are going wrongAnother day, another sadly predictable U-turn from the government of Boris Johnson. A few weeks ago ministers were encouraging the public to go abroad for their holidays. They did so without a comprehensive airport testing regime for passengers, unlike in many parts of the world. As restrictions have been lifted across Europe, countries have reported rises in Covid-19 cases. People returning from Spain, which has seen a spike in infections, now face mandatory quarantine. The farce means that the transport secretary will be one of those self-isolating.Britain continues to record a higher number of coronavirus cases and deaths than Spain, which had one of the most stringent lockdowns in Europe. Madrid has every right to be frustrated. It is unclear why passengers from the relatively unaffected Canaries and Balearics are treated the same as those returning from Covid-19 hotspots in Catalonia. Continue reading...
UK-based company hopes deal with Daiichi Sankyo will lead to new breast and lung cancer treatmentAstraZeneca has agreed a deal worth as much as £4.7bn with a Japanese drug company to develop and market a potential new cancer treatment.The British–Swedish pharmaceutical company said it would pay $1bn (£800m) upfront to its partner, Daiichi Sankyo, in what is the latest of a series of bets by the pharma company on oncology treatments. Continue reading...
The answers to today’s geometrical riddlesEarlier today I set you the following two puzzles. Here they are again, together with solutions.1. A 12cm x 12cm square piece of paper is marked as below. Continue reading...
by Niko Kommenda and Frank Hulley-Jones on (#566YX)
More than 140 teams of researchers are racing to develop a safe and effective coronavirus vaccineResearchers around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, with more than 140 candidate vaccines now tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO). Continue reading...
Our Panorama programme shows how Xi Jinping’s government has tried to hide the truth about the spread of coronavirusChina has been here before. During the Sars crisis in 2002 and 2003 it hid cases, censored doctors and withheld information from the world for four months. Nearly 800 people died.Related: EU says China behind 'huge wave' of Covid-19 disinformation Continue reading...
Two geometrical riddlesUPDATE: Read the solutions hereIt is a truism to say that once you know the answer to a puzzle it becomes trivially easy. Yet this statement is especially true when it comes to geometrical problems, which are often solved with a single insight that, once you know it, seems so forehead-slappingly obvious.Both of today’s two puzzles are unravelled with a joyous ‘aha’. I hope you find them for yourselves. Continue reading...
At midnight on 2 August, people around globe will be able to see grouping high in the skySet a calendar reminder for this coming weekend when an essentially full moon joins Jupiter and Saturn in the southern sky.When full, the moon rises at sunset and spends the entire night in the sky, so the grouping will be visible during all the hours of darkness. The chart shows the view looking due south from London at midnight on 2 August, which is as Saturday becomes Sunday. Continue reading...
by Presented by Rachel Humphreys with Sarah Stewart J on (#5668Y)
Planetary scientist Sarah Stewart Johnson describes how the latest mission to Mars builds on centuries of discoveries about the red planet – Earth’s nearest neighbourNasa plans to launch its latest mission to Mars this month, which aims to place the Perseverance rover on the surface of the planet in February 2021.It is the latest attempt to explore a planet that has loomed large in the popular imagination for centuries. As the planetary scientist Sarah Stewart Johnson, author of The Sirens of Mars,
Dr Jane Lethbridge of the University of Greenwich, Heather Hancock of the Food Standards Agency and Jim Grozier of University College London on science and coronavirus. Plus Bruce White on Boris Johnson’s reference to asymptomatic transmissionSonia Sodha (Bias in ‘the science’ on coronavirus? Britain has been here before, 23 Juy) provides a welcome reminder of the BSE crisis and government science advisers “confusing a lack of evidence of risk or benefit for a lack of risk or benefit”. However, scientists are not the only people who assess risk. People make risk assessments every day, and the Covid-19 crisis has shown how people do this. Risk assessments are socially constructed and these different assessments need to be considered in public policymaking. For instance, where were any representatives of older people or people with disabilities when the decision was made to send a text asking them to stay indoors for three months?This crisis will be characterised by the absence of public health expertise, but a second defining feature will be the lack of public input into policy decisions affecting millions of people. Scientific experts must not only be able to explain the strengths and weaknesses of evidence, but must also debate the implications of the evidence, with the public coming to a consensus. Democratic expertise is needed, rather than leaving experts to solve these problems alone.
The risk to teachers as they return to school in the autumn concerns Pat Brockbank, while Sue Rogers finds the mask-wearing debate disheartening. Plus Po-yu Sung on why supermarkets should enforce face coveringsMy daughter teaches in a senior school of about 600 pupils. In less than six weeks’ time, all pupils are being forced to return to the classroom, with 30 children to each room. The only concession to the pandemic is that their desks will face towards the front, and that each year of approximately 120 pupils will be considered to be a bubble, even though all 600 children will be within the same building.In their letter (22 July), three doctors state that “the risk of transmission of Covid-19 is directly related to viral overload and exposure time”. Thousands of teachers will be getting more and more anxious as the autumn term approaches. They will be stuck in closed, unventilated, centrally heated rooms with 30 coughing and sneezing children for six to seven hours every day, five days a week. The safety of office staff, shop workers, care home staff, bus drivers, taxi drivers, council workers and hospital medical staff is given careful consideration, but teachers are ignored. Continue reading...
Thousands of people like me are suffering ill health months after contracting the virus. We need more helpAs a writer, I spend my days trying to craft believable, satisfying narratives. But as a Covid-19 “long-hauler”, I have given up trying to find an internal logic to the story of my illness. As we now know, thousands of people are suffering a range of bewildering and debilitating post-Covid symptoms that don’t follow any predictable act breaks or intervals.Happily, the recent news about the emergency rescue package for the UK’s cultural industries, including my own, was followed by the NHS announcing an online Covid-19 rehab service, promising a “personalised package of aftercare”. It’s a promising start, but we are still nowhere near understanding the long-term effects of this vicious, capricious virus. Continue reading...
Tiny piece of meteorite from London’s Natural History Museum will be used by rover exploring red planetA small piece of rock will be hurled into space this week on one of the strangest interplanetary voyages ever attempted. A tiny piece of Martian basalt the size of a 10p coin will be launched on board a US robot probe on Thursday and propelled towards the red planet on a seven-month journey to its home world.This extraordinary odyssey, the interplanetary equivalent of sending coals to Newcastle, will form a key part of Nasa’s forthcoming Mars 2020 expedition. Space engineers say the rock – which has been donated by the Natural History Museum in London – will be used to calibrate detectors on board the robot rover Perseverance after it lands and begins its search for signs of past life on the planet. Continue reading...