Several missions this year are seeking out life on the red planet. But would we recognise extraterrestrials if we found them?In July, three unmanned missions blasted off to Mars – from China (Tianwen-1), the US (Nasa’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover) and the United Arab Emirates (Hope). The Chinese and American missions have lander craft that will seek signs of current or past life on Mars. Nasa is also planning to send its Europa Clipper probe to survey Jupiter’s moon Europa, and the robotic lander Dragonfly to Saturn’s moon Titan. Both moons are widely thought to be promising hunting grounds for life in our solar system – as are the underground oceans of Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus.Meanwhile, we can now glimpse the chemical makeup of atmospheres of planets that orbit other stars (exoplanets), of which more than 4,000 are now known. Some hope these studies might disclose possible signatures of life. Continue reading...

Protesters seen chanting ‘freedom’ and hurling abuse at police and media while not wearing masks

Brazil total cases near 4.1m; no widespread vaccination until mid-2021, says WHO; Cuba welcomes first plane of tourists in months. This blog is now closed

Analysis of brain scans finds increase in white and grey matter in regions involved in physical movementBrain scans of cosmonauts have revealed the first clear evidence of how the organ adapts to the weird and often sickness-inducing challenge of moving around in space.Analysis of scans taken from 11 cosmonauts, who spent about six months each in orbit, found increases in white and grey matter in three brain regions that are intimately involved in physical movement. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Britain approaching ‘pivotal moment’ in attempt to avoid surge in cases, scientists say

Daily case numbers have been rising for two months now, with 1,940 more today. This live blog has now closed - please follow the global live blog for the latest updates6.24pm BSTThe latest seven-day infection figures show Leeds as having a rate of 32.4 cases per 100,000 people and a positivity rate on testing of 3.5%.The latest data suggests that a lot of the cases are in different areas of the city, meaning they may be linked to social interaction and leisure activities.Related: Coronavirus live news: no widespread vaccination until mid-2021, says WHO; Berlusconi hospitalised in Milan6.11pm BSTHere is a list of the 50 areas in England with the highest rate of new coronavirus cases. It has been calculated by PA Media and is based on the Public Health England data published this afternoon on the government’s coronavirus online dashboard.After the name of each council area, there are four numbers. They are: rate of new cases in the seven days to 1 September, expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people; actual number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to 1 September; rate of new cases in the seven days to 25 August; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to 25 August. Continue reading...

A generous act by the creator of the detective Vera reminds us that reading can help people in the hardest timesThe library of Pharaoh Ramesses II is said to have borne the inscription “the house of healing for the soul”. Dylan Thomas reportedly liked to relax by reading Agatha Christie while he sucked sweets in the bathtub. The novelist Yiyun Li turns to War and Peace in the toughest times; when she launched a virtual reading group on Tolstoy’s masterpiece in lockdown, 3,000 people signed up.In recent years, a growing body of research has backed up what we know intuitively: that books not only entertain and educate, but can also help us to recover and grow. They offer companionship to the lonely, insight to the anxious, and release to those who feel trapped. Continue reading...

Former Italian PM hospitalised as a precautionary measure after testing positive for Covid

The Oscar winner falters on a pioneering mission to Mars, in a glossy, saccharine Netflix series that’s more mundane than out of this worldThere is an unexpectedly old-fashioned feel to Away (Netflix), the glossy and ambitious new space drama led by two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank. At times, it resembles a blockbuster film from the 90s, at others, a big, mainstream television show from the 00s, but somehow, it has lost the essence of modernity that you might expect from a series set in the near future, made today.Related: Houston, we have a parent: what draws sci-fi to motherhood? 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...

Research suggests stomach trouble more predictive of virus in young people than a cough

Mission proposals include analysis of sun’s atmosphere and its unseen polar regionsNasa is to fund concept studies on five mission proposals that aim to study the dynamic nature of the sun and the changing space environment this causes around Earth.Such information will help understand how the “space weather” affects satellites in orbit, which provide navigation and communications; technology on Earth, such as power stations; and the health of astronauts on interplanetary voyages. Continue reading...

The anarchist and author of bestselling books on capitalism and bureaucracy died in a Venice hospital on WednesdayDavid Graeber, anthropologist and anarchist author of bestselling books on bureaucracy and economics including Bullshit Jobs: A Theory and Debt: The First 5,000 Years, has died aged 59.On Thursday Graeber’s wife, the artist and writer Nika Dubrovsky, announced on Twitter that Graeber had died in hospital in Venice the previous day. The cause of death is not yet known. Continue reading...

Researchers looking at whether human remains cause changes that could be detected by dronesThey can’t shout “whodunnit” but plants could offer vital clues when it comes to finding clandestine graves, researchers say.Forensic experts in the US have begun experiments at a body farm – a facility where decay processes can be studied – to explore whether decomposing human remains leave their mark on surrounding vegetation, for example by affecting the colour of the leaves. Continue reading...

Scientists warn embryos that have had DNA edited should not be used in pregnancies

UK study shows dorsal fin of prehistoric mega-fish was similar height to adult human

As countries entered lockdowns to mitigate the impact of Covid-19, many citizens came out to protest against measures such as social distancing, face masks and potential vaccination programmes. Demonstrations have subsequently erupted around around the world, with causes ranging from the Black Lives Matter movement to protests against inequality and corruption.Taking a look at some of the social psychology underpinning such action, Nicola Davis asks Prof Clifford Stott why pandemics can trigger social unrest, how disease outbreaks should be policed, and what Covid-19 might mean for community relationships Continue reading...

With a diameter of 5km, Ora Banda is one of the largest meteorite craters discovered in the worldA massive 100 million-year-old meteorite crater has been found while a company was drilling for gold in outback Western Australia.The impact crater is estimated to have a diameter of about 5km. Although not visible from the surface, experts found the crater using electromagnetic surveys. Continue reading...

Since lockdown, sales of devices that help women and trans men pee standing up have gone through the roof. But would it be healthier for everyone to just sit down?Natasha Bright watched in horror as she saw her friends drinking beer after beer in the park. She had gone out to meet them as lockdown restrictions eased and maybe have a drink herself. But one thought plagued her: what if I need the toilet?It was the same when she went to walk her dog in the Peak District near her home in Sheffield. With the already dwindling numbers of public toilets closed, and pubs and cafes shuttered, the options were to hold it in or find a bush. “There’s a lot that can go wrong when you’re squatting outside,” says the 33-year-old charity communications manager. “It takes longer to get your trousers up than it does for men, there’s nettles and the fear of being caught … oh God. If the choice was to have a drink and have to go in the bushes, or not have a drink and wait until I got home, it was easy.” Continue reading...

Experts are frustrated after months of inconsistent information and concerned that a mass vaccination plan will stumbleMillions of Americans are counting on a Covid-19 vaccine to curb the global pandemic and return life to normal.While one or more options could be available toward the end of this year or early next, the path to delivering vaccines to a population of 330 million people remains unclear for the local health officials expected to carry out the work. Continue reading...

US president’s move challenged by Congress; Silvio Berlusconi has Covid-19; Brazil’s death toll appears to be easing. This blog is now closed

Critics fear its development has become politicized by Trump who may push for the release of a vaccine that is not fully testedHealth officials across the US have reportedly been notified that they should expect a coronavirus vaccine available to health workers and high-risk groups by November, amid concerns the accelerated vaccine development process has become politicized.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) informed health officials that “limited Covid-19 vaccine doses may be available by early November 2020”, the New York Times reported. Continue reading...

Researchers believe noise was two black holes colliding around 7 billion years ago, creating a previously unseen class of stellar objectScientists have announced the detection of a signal from a long-ago collision between two black holes that created a new one of a size never seen before.“It’s the biggest bang since the big bang observed by humanity,” said Caltech professor of physics Alan Weinstein, who was part of the discovery team. Continue reading...

Use of dual testing could help as swabs miss around 30%-50% of infections, say UK researchers

Downing Street’s pandemic response is a toxic combination of control-freakery and incompetenceNot much about the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic looks effective with hindsight, but once the decision to go into a full national lockdown was taken, the instruction was at least delivered efficiently. “Stay at home” was a message clearly understood.Some Conservatives even complained that it had been too effective, making it harder to coax people back into economic activity when that became the Downing Street imperative. Since then, the message has become garbled, and not just because regional lockdowns have been used. That concept is simple enough. The problem is rules that look contradictory, or that come and go capriciously. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Data analysis of 3m patients also shows near eradication of flu and gastroThere has been a significant increase in anxiety, depression and eating disorders in young people aged up to 14 years old since Victoria’s second coronavirus wave began, data analysis of 3 million patients across general practices in Victoria and New South Wales has found.The study was led by Monash University, with researchers analysing data from more than 1,000 GP practices in NSW and Victoria. Continue reading...

Researchers use vibrations to make toy vessels bob about under floating layer of liquidScientists have turned the world upside down with a curious quirk of physics that allowed them to float toy boats the wrong way up beneath a levitating body of liquid.In a striking demonstration of the mind-bending effect, the boats seem to defy the laws of gravity as they bob about on the water above them with their sails pointing down. Continue reading...

Scientists have been able to float a toy boat upside down on a levitating body of water using a quirky rule of physics.Researchers believe the finding could have practical implications to separate waste from water and process minerals

Restrictions return in Bolton and Trafford just 12 hours after they were lifted

Analysis of seven trials finds dexamethasone and hydrocortisone should be given in severe cases

Pointing the finger in the wrong direction excuses those in power for failing to support people to stay at homeThe “covidiots” are back in the news – no longer crowded in parks, no longer crammed on to beaches, this time cavorting on flights back from their Greek holidays. The main culprit was a flight from Zante to Cardiff, where passengers were taking their masks off and wandering up and down the aisles to talk to others. Seven passengers were infectious or potentially infectious, 16 have since tested positive for coronavirus, and all 193 of those on board have since had to self-isolate.It is easy to understand why the story hit the headlines. We could all imagine ourselves in the place of those on board who behaved responsibly and now have to pay the cost for those who didn’t. We could all empathise with their anger. Indeed, what chance do any of us have when such covidiocy runs rampant? But, in focusing infection spread on antisocial individuals, such stories are in danger of misrepresenting the problem and ultimately impeding efforts to find a solution. Continue reading...

The Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti chooses her favourite extraterrestrial reading, taking in fiction by Italo Calvino and Stanisław Lem alongside reportage and historyOne of the funny little things I noticed after having lived in space for a while is that, contrary to everyday experience on Earth, it took some effort to keep my arms pressed against my body. Had I remembered better my childhood reading, I wouldn’t have been surprised. Jules Verne imagined this back in 1865. At one point, the protagonists of his From the Earth to the Moon realise that “their bodies were absolutely without weight. Their arms, full extended, no longer sought their sides.”That wasn’t the first time literature imagined a trip to the moon: in Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso (1516), the knight Astolfo flies to the moon in search of Orlando’s lost wits. Cyrano de Bergerac’s satirical novel The Other World: Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon dates back to the 17th century, and in 1857 Italian astronomer Ernest Capocci wrote a novel about the first journey to the moon, which he imagined undertaken in 2057 by a woman named Urania. Yet Verne was the first to narrate the endeavour with some measure of engineering credibility, eventually coming to be recognised as one of the fathers of science fiction. 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...

Researchers in China saw big reductions in organisms that play a crucial role in recycling carbon and nitrogenMicroplastic pollution causes significant damage to populations of soil-dwelling mites, larvae and other tiny creatures that maintain the fertility of the land, research has found.The study notes that discarded bags, cups, threads and other forms of plastic waste are concentrated more in the earth than the oceans, with similarly dire consequences for the abundance of species that live below the surface. Continue reading...

Swedish researchers measure the scale of peatlands, and the amount of carbon stored in themHow much of the Earth’s landmass is made of peat? We know that peatlands store as much as a quarter of all soil carbon, and if this were to be released we would face climate havoc. Until now, however, no one had made a comprehensive map of where peatlands occurred and how deep they were.Related: Ultimate bogs: how saving peatlands could help save the planet Continue reading...

Parents and teachers fear face masks and other measures not enough to prevent second wave

Shift led to local extinctions and could have important implications for species todayGenetic diversity could shrink as animals venture into new territories because of global heating leaving them vulnerable to extinction, scientists have warned after tracking the impact of climate change on the American mastodon.Huge, hairy and with a pair of fearsome tusks, mastodons resembled stocky, hirsute elephants. The earliest fossils of American mastodons date to about 3.5-4m years ago with the creatures commonly found in wooded and swampy areas where they browsed on trees and shrubs. Continue reading...

Actor appeals for funds to save jobs in industry that is one of worst affected by pandemic

Italian scientists warn Marmolada has shrunk 80% in 70 years due to global heatingThe largest and most symbolic glacier in the Dolomites could vanish within 15 years because of global heating, Italian scientists have warned.The 3,343m Marmolada, located on the border of the Trentino and Veneto regions and known as the Queen of the Dolomites, has already lost more than 80% of its volume over the last 70 years. Continue reading...

According to a recent study, obesity increases the risk of dying of Covid-19 by nearly 50%. Governments around the world are now hoping to encourage their citizens to lose weight. But with so much complex and often contradictory dietary advice, as well as endless fads, it can be hard to know what healthy eating actually looks like. How many pieces of fruit and vegetables should you eat a day? Will cutting out carbs help you lose weight? Is breakfast really the most important meal of the day?Speaking to Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London about his new book, Spoon-Fed, Madeleine Finlay asks why we’re still getting food science wrong, and explores the current scientific evidence on snacking, calorie labels and ultra-processed foods Continue reading...

Jens Spahn subjected to shouts of ‘shame’ and ‘gay pig’ as he confronts crowd

Pieces of bone were turned into ornaments, and may have been placed on displayBronze age Britons remembered the dead by keeping and curating bits of their bodies, and even turning them into instruments and ornaments, according to new research on the remains.Archaeologists found that pieces of bone buried with the dead were often from people who had died decades earlier, suggesting their remains had been kept for future generations, as keepsakes or perhaps for home display. Continue reading...

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Researchers found ‘nice, generous’ people advanced at work just as much as bulliesThe question has puzzled humans from the earliest philosophers to the ranks of home workers who have swapped water cooler gossip for rants on Zoom: does being a jerk help people get to the top?Now, after a study lasting more than a decade, researchers believe they finally have the answer. Nasty colleagues are no more likely to reach positions of power than those who are nice, they conclude. Continue reading...

Tui launches investigation after almost 200 passengers told to isolate after outbreak

Statisticians would welcome an inquiry into their role in this crisis – they have done a good job

This common condition can lead to relationship breakdown and unnecessary surgery. So why is treatment still so poor and underfunded?I was just a few weeks into a new relationship when the pain started. Whenever my boyfriend and I started to have penetrative sex, it felt as if there were razor blades inside me. At first I laughed it off, but soon I became terrified of intercourse. My body would freeze with fear as my clothes came off. By the time we said: “I love you,” even kissing made me feel anxious. I would spend entire day trips and holidays with him worrying about the pain.When I first went to my GP, the advice I got was to “try and relax”. It was about as helpful as telling someone having a panic attack to “just chill out”. Without a real solution, I started to question whether I was imagining the pain. Or if maybe, somehow, I was to blame for it. My boyfriend was kind and supportive but I felt I was letting him down. Some days, I would feel so ashamed that it was hard to think about anything else. Other days, I’d feel an overwhelming sense of loss for the carefree woman I had been. 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...

India records world’s highest single day rise; Ghana reopens air borders; fears over reopening schools in France. This blog is now closed. Follow our new blog below