Coronavirus cases in France jump to record high as Spanish government calls for Madrid lockdown

Art gives way to science in yet another sport. But won’t we all lose out when the magic is gone?Bryson DeChambeau sounds like a character from a novel, one perhaps set on the Côte d’Azur in the 1930s, a raffish figure with a taste for the high life. He is, in fact, a 27-year-old golfer from California, and the only high life that interests him is the flight of a golf ball, which when hit by Mr DeChambeau goes an outrageous distance. Nicknamed “the scientist” for his single-minded application of new ideas about golf club design and swing mechanics – his aim is to do for golf what his hero Einstein did for relativity. He has married theory with sheer power, adding 40lb in muscle weight in the past six months to maximise the length of his driving and overwhelm golf courses, even one as fearsome as Winged Foot in New York, where he was the runaway winner of the US Open.Every so often someone comes along who revolutionises a sport. Donald Bradman did it in cricket in the 1930s with batting so perfect the English bowlers had to resort to bodyline – bouncers directed at his head – to curb him. Mr DeChambeau may have an even bigger impact on golf than “the Don” had on cricket, with pundits saying it will never be the same again – the authorities are already discussing changing the composition of the ball to reduce the distance he can hit it. His bomb and gouge approach is rendering great old courses impotent, offending golfing purists who dislike his power game, his ugly, all-action swing, the fact he doesn’t much care whether he hits the fairway or not – distance, not accuracy, is the key – and his brash persona. He annoyed fellow pros at a tournament in July when he tried to have his ball moved under the “dangerous animal” rule because he’d seen a red ant and thought he was close to an anthill. They also criticise his slow, deliberate way of playing. “I’m definitely changing the way people think about the game,” says Mr DeChambeau. Continue reading...

Researchers around the world are training canines to sniff out the virus – could they be deployed for mass testing?

Researchers will test length of time virus stays infectious in different climatic conditions

Analysis suggests too little attention is paid to gender disparities in medical trials

Side-effects of bexarotene rule out use but trial suggests other drugs may halt multiple sclerosisDoctors believe they are closer to a treatment for multiple sclerosis after discovering a drug that repairs the coatings around nerves that are damaged by the disease.A clinical trial of the cancer drug bexarotene showed that it repaired the protective myelin sheaths that MS destroys. The loss of myelin causes a range of neurological problems including balance, vision and muscle disorders, and ultimately, disability. 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...

The prime minister’s inadequate new measures are a product of his reckless nature. They endanger businesses – and lives

Exclusive: significant proportion of severely ill people have inborn errors, study finds

Boris Johnson’s Churchillian language does not impress Richard Teverson, while Katherine Arnott dismisses the prime minister’s appeal to people’s common sense. Plus letters from Patrick Cosgrove and David Boyd HaycockI, like so many others, am slack-jawed at the incompetence of this government’s response to Covid. Our death rate is terrible and the continued mixed messages from “go to work as you are less likely to be sacked if you are in the office/don’t go to work” and “eat out to help out/don’t eat out, certainly not after 10pm” have exhausted the public and make compliance more unlikely.And now Boris Johnson insinuates that we have a worse death rate than many countries in Europe because we are “freedom loving” (Follow new Covid restrictions, or risk a second lockdown, Johnson warns, 22 September). I would be so grateful if he could stop this faux Churchillian tub-thumping with pernicious Brexit undertones, hinting that we are better than all of Europe because we love freedom more (the inference being that that is why we have voted to leave all those rule adherents behind). Let’s see how “freedom loving” the prime minister thinks we all are when there are queues of 7,000 trucks in Kent in January as Michael Gove now warns. Continue reading...

Experts believe virus is probably becoming more contagious but US study did not find mutations made it more lethalThe Covid-19 virus is continuing to mutate throughout the course of the pandemic, with experts believing it is probably becoming more contagious, as coronavirus cases in the US have started to rise once again, according to new research.The new US study analyzed 5,000 genetic sequences of the virus, which has continued to mutate as it has spread through the population. The study did not find that mutations of the virus have made it more lethal or changed its effects, even as it may be becoming easier to catch, according to a report in the Washington Post, which noted that public health experts acknowledge all viruses have mutations, most of which are insignificant. Continue reading...

Researchers running Helsinki pilot scheme say dogs can identify virus in seconds

Nine months in, and with over 30 million people having been infected with Covid-19, we now know some of the main factors that put people at higher risk of a severe case of the disease, such as age and having other health problems. But there is still a lot to learn about why some people, and not others, become very ill from catching Sars-CoV-2. Nicola Davis takes a look at the researchers attempting to rapidly work out how to predict who is going to get very sick Continue reading...

Researchers hope to begin world’s first human challenge trials at east London quarantine facility in January

Survey of 70,000 people finds only 49% are ‘very likely’ to get vaccine once one is available

Excess deaths in private homes prompts fears people are avoiding hospitals due to CovidSome 10,000 more deaths than usual have occurred in peoples’ private homes since mid June, long after the peak in Covid deaths, prompting fears that people may still be avoiding health services and delaying sending their loved ones to care homes.It brings to more than 30,000 the total number of excess deaths happening in people’s homes across the UK since the start of the pandemic. Continue reading...

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Study of GP records in Salford shows diagnoses up to 50% lower than expected in spring

Scientists have developed a 'tiny wind turbine' that can take energy from a gentle breeze, such as that made as you walk.The device comprises two plastic strips in a tube that flutter or clap together in the presence of airflow. That energy, powered by the contact and separation of two materials, can be bottled up and stored for use, according to researchers.Scientists in China hope the device can generate sustainable power in a low-cost, efficient manner while 'overcoming the issues that the traditional wind turbines can’t solve'

Scotland records highest daily cases total; Keir Starmer presses Boris Johnson on Covid testing at PMQs; ‘clear upward curve’ in cases in Wales

Scientists say measures won’t stop spread and increase chance of crackdown later

Researchers say device can generate sustainable power from gentle breezeScientists have developed a “tiny wind turbine” that can scavenge energy from the breeze made while walking.Imagine rubbing a balloon on your hair for a few seconds – can you hear the crackle of static electricity, see your hair stand on end? That energy, powered by the contact and separation of two materials, can be bottled up and stored for use, according to researchers working on the device. Continue reading...

Scientists have developed a ‘tiny wind turbine’ that can take energy from a gentle breeze, such as that made as you walk.The device comprises two plastic strips in a tube that flutter or clap together in the presence of airflow. That energy, powered by the contact and separation of two materials, can be bottled up and stored for use, according to researchers.Scientists in China hope the device can generate sustainable power in a low-cost, efficient manner while ‘overcoming the issues that the traditional wind turbines can’t solve’

The CDC’s confusing backpedalling on whether the coronavirus is airborne is roiling health workers and hospitals because an airborne virus requires completely new safety protocols

The path out of the pandemic relies on a full toolkit of strategies to buy time – including restricting home visitsThe new restrictions announced by Boris Johnson yesterday, including the closing of restaurants and pubs at 10pm and increased use of face coverings, fall short of a “second lockdown” but signal that life is still far from returning to normal.While England’s true number of cases is likely much lower than in the spring due to increased testing, it is the ski-jump trajectory of recent case growth that gives epidemiologists palpitations. The cruelty of exponential growth, with cases doubling at regular intervals, is real. The flipside is that reducing transmission, even a little, can have a huge payoff in reducing the total number of infections. Continue reading...

Despite being downloaded more than 18m times, the app’s effectiveness is being questioned

Exclusive: chemicals and machines needed to hit target by end of October are ‘a few weeks behind’

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

Nasa says astronauts sheltered in the Soyuz spacecraft so they could evacuate if necessary during the ‘avoidance manoeuvre’Astronauts aboard the International Space Station were carrying out an “avoidance manoeuvre” on Tuesday to ensure the station would not be hit by a piece of debris, the US space agency Nasa announced.The debris should pass within “several kilometres” of the International Space Station (ISS), but out of an abundance of caution, its trajectory was being changed to move it further away from the object. Continue reading...

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Flu season could be like no other this year and a national campaign to promote the flu vaccine is urgent, say scientistsA national public health campaign promoting the flu vaccine is urgently needed to avoid stretched healthcare services being overwhelmed this winter as the US faces cold season while still struggling to gain control of the coronavirus pandemic, scientists have warned.Influenza or seasonal flu is a perennial public health burden that, like Covid-19, causes most severe problems among elderly people and those with underlying health conditions. Continue reading...

Cancer charity reels from effects of coronavirus on fundraising as it cuts sixth of workforce

Company has had ‘more people than ever’ seeking vaccination after government campaign

Exclusive: Figures show big rise in number of women aged 20 to 40 admitted to hospital

Minister announces ‘shift in emphasis’ in England as coronavirus infections soar

Announcement comes as Covid deaths increased by 27% in Europe week on week

Just as world leaders came together after the second world war at Bretton Woods, now we need to create a new framework for health securityThe scale of the coronavirus crisis is hard to fully comprehend: globally, more than 30 million people have contracted the virus and nearly 1 million have died. The UN estimates that the pandemic will mean $8.5tn in lost output for the world this year and next. The wider social and economic costs – from poverty to mental illness to domestic violence – are almost impossible to quantify.Yet the global scale of the disaster has not been met with a global response of the same magnitude. National governments have taken often drastic action to slow the spread of the disease. But while scientists working on diagnostics, therapies and vaccines cooperate across borders, the intergovernmental response has been marked by its absence. It also reflects the peculiarly inept and lamentable crop of global leaders from Washington to London, Moscow and Beijing. Continue reading...

Scientists found weekly ‘awe walks’ led to more positive emotions among study participants - here are some of the nation’s most wondrous locations

Two groups of prominent scientists write open letters with conflicting advice on how to tackle virus

Simulation using world’s fastest supercomputer casts doubt on effectiveness in preventing spread of coronavirus

Our responses to coronavirus are not us-and-them, like Brexit. We have fractured into many different groups. From the graph fetishists to the snoops, which one are you?It’s easy to say that Covid has divided us. But this is not a simple us-and-them split like Brexit, however much that percolates through our collective unconscious. We are now all members of ever-shifting tribes. Here are some that I’ve encountered. Continue reading...

Former real estate mogul was investigated after criticising Xi Jinping over his handling of the coronavirus pandemicChina has sentenced an influential former property executive and critic of President Xi Jinping to 18 years in prison for corruption.Ren Zhiqiang, the former chairman of Huayuan, a state-owned real estate group, was also fined 4.2m yuan, Beijing No. 2 Intermediate Court said on its website on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Ketton Quarry, Rutland: Pliny the Elder believed that hawks sprinkled sap from hawkweeds into their eyes. But the plant’s true hawkish behaviour was only recently discoveredOld limestone quarries are fantastic places for nature, and here at Ketton the Wildlife Trust reserve fills the space left by stone extracted in the 1930s. Next door there is light industry, on what would have been the quarry floor, and then beyond that the vast modern excavations and tall cement works that dominate the landscape.Related: Berries festoon the quarry reserve Continue reading...

New policy comes after serious quality control questions were raised about the data relied on by a study in the medical journalOne of the world’s leading medical journals, the Lancet, has reformed its editorial policies following a shocking case of apparent research misconduct involving the study of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19.In May, the Lancet published a peer-reviewed study about the controversial drug hydroxychloroquine, which concluded Covid-19 patients who received the drug were dying at higher rates and experiencing more heart-related complications than other virus patients. Continue reading...

Is it possible to define the biological, chemical and physical functions that separate cells, plants and even humans from inanimate objects? In his new book, Paul Nurse, Nobel prize winner and director of the Francis Crick Institute, addresses a question that has long plagued both philosophers and scientists – what does it really mean to be alive? Speaking to Madeleine Finlay, Paul delves into why it’s important to understand the underlying principles of life, the role of science in society, and what life might look like on other planets Continue reading...

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Boris Johnson held lengthy meeting with scientists about bringing down UK infection rate

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Bacterial infection alongside speed of temperature rise may have triggered mortality, suggests studyHigh temperatures and the persistent warming of oceans have triggered profound changes in marine ecosystems, but a new study suggests that the rate of onset of warming – rather than the peak – could also play a key role in the damage fuelled by climate change.In early July 2017, researchers were drawn to the coast of Eilat, Israel, following sightings of fish carcasses, a rare occurrence in the region’s coral reefs. Continue reading...