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WHO adviser says results from well-designed studies are needed before it changes its advice

Your questions answered on what type of mask to wear to cut the risk of getting Covid-19

This absorbing documentary tracks how participants in the Biosphere 2 project lived, grew food and disagreed in giant biodomesIf ever a documentary was in tune with the spirit of lockdown it is this very absorbing film about Biosphere 2 – a colossal eco-experimental project in the Arizona desert in the early 90s, which had its roots in 60s counterculture and which I knew nothing about before this.My ignorance was so complete, in fact, that for the first few minutes of this film I kept suspecting some kind of docu-spoof. But it’s all real, right up to the disclosure of a horribly familiar villain right at the end, whose identity it would be unsporting to reveal. Continue reading...

UK neurologists publish details of mildly affected or recovering Covid-19 patients with serious or potentially fatal brain conditions

Anti-trafficking organisations say widespread trust in white outsiders makes children an easy target for abusers from the westChild protection organisations in Kenya say more needs to be done to protect young people from exploitation by overseas perpetrators, as the country reports a rising number of abuse cases.The warning follows the arrest of Gregory Dow, a 61-year-old missionary, who last month pleaded guilty in a US court to sexually abusing girls at an orphanage he ran in Kenya. Continue reading...

Man charged over latest breach of quarantine as country deals with influx of returning citizens during the coronavirus pandemic

Actions by Hamish Walker have dealt a blow to the National party weeks away from an election

Jair Bolsonaro tests positive for Covid-19; thousands protest against renewed lockdown in Serbia; Kenya emerges from quarantine. This blog is now closed

Study claims tiny creatures can order things in sequence, but researchers say it does not confirm they can count

Top public health expert urges further action as new cases surge to record highs of around 50,000 a day across countryThe United States is “still knee-deep in the first wave” of the coronavirus pandemic, one of the country’s top public health experts has warned, as the country surpassed 130,000 Covid-19 deaths and new polling indicates Donald Trump’s approval rating over his handling of the crisis has remained low.Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Monday that America’s grasp of the pandemic was “really not good” and urged further action as new cases of the virus continue to surge to record highs of about 50,000 a day across the country. More than 131,200 have died in the US as of Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins figures. Continue reading...

Ministers have been accused of trying to shift the narrative over response to pandemic

At least four premises say they will shut after staff or customers contract virus

Minister proposes mandatory hospital care as country grapples with fresh outbreaks

Kongonaphon lived 237m years ago and paved way for gigantic successors, scientists sayA small, insect-eating reptile that lived 237m years ago was a miniature ancestor of the giant dinosaurs that went on to dominate the Earth, according to scientists examining fossils in Madagascar.The Kongonaphon kely measured about 40cm (16in) long and stood 10 cm (4in) tall at the hip, scientists said on Monday. It inhabited a floodplain region of what is now south-western Madagascar during the Triassic period about 237m years ago. Continue reading...

Criticism comes as government launches public information campaign amid low takeup

AI is on the march in the movie industry – but what would an android-written film actually look like? And will it be any good?A few years ago I moved to San Francisco, and almost everybody I met there immediately told me they were working on a startup. These startups all had the same innocent names – Swoon, Flow, Maker – and the same dreadful mission: to build AIs that automated some unfortunate human’s job. I always responded by pitching my own startup, Create. Create would build an AI that automated the creation of startups.The tech bros never cared for my joke, but I did. In fact, I cared for it so much that I eventually began a novel about an android who wanted to become a screenwriter. It seemed an intriguingly comic premise, because unlike everybody else’s job, my job was clearly far too human to ever actually be automated. Continue reading...

Your questions answered on what type of mask to wear to cut the risk of getting Covid-19

President of science body issues call amid evidence coverings protect wearer as well as others

Goyt valley, Derbyshire: Wych elms have been pleasingly resilient to the fungal infection that has decimated populations across Europe, and this area boasts hundredsMy interest in elm trees was piqued this spring when someone happened to mention on social media that there were probably no more than 100 mature examples left in England.This instantly had the whiff of urban legend because just that week I had chanced upon a grove of 19 wych elms in a lesser known part of the Derbyshire Dales national nature reserve called Hay Dale. Admittedly those few trees are a remnant of a much larger stand, which has, in turn, been ravaged by Dutch elm disease. It is this fungal infection that has devastated European and American elms, especially after the late 1960s, since when an estimated 25m have been killed in Britain alone. Continue reading...

Weeks and months after having a confirmed or suspected Covid-19 infection, many people are finding they still haven’t fully recovered. Emerging reports describe lingering symptoms ranging from fatigue and brain-fog to breathlessness and tingling toes. So why does Covid-19 cause lasting health problems? Ian Sample discusses some of the possible explanations with Prof Danny Altmann, and finds out how patients might be helped in the future Continue reading...

The city is undergoing a suburban testing blitz after premier Daniel Andrews revealed hotspots in suburbs were largely caused by extended families

Donald Trump’s handling of US crisis under microscope; Israel reimposes restrictions after infections spike. This blog is now closed

Controversial restrictions brought in to ease strain on quarantine system after rush of New Zealanders arriving at the border

Pork and possibly chicken became more popular in England after arrival of William the Conqueror

Country has third highest number of cases in world after 25,000 new infections recorded a day

My friend Dick Jefferies, who has died aged 88, was an authority on fossils that are too strange to identify and which are sometimes referred to as “problematica”. Central to his work, which he pursued as principal scientific officer in the natural history section of the British Museum, were extinct animals called carpoids.Dick was something of a contrarian in the field of evolutionary biology, and was not afraid to adopt occasionally outlandish positions, some of which were proven to be well wide of the mark. However, a number of his predictions did turn out to be correct. He successfully hypothesised, for instance, that early marine animals (echinoderms) had gill slits equivalent to those of fish, but lost them; and he was also proven right in his conjecture that the closest relatives of vertebrates were sea-squirts (ascidiacea), rather than the more fish-like lancelets (amphioxus).

Your questions answered on what type of mask to wear to cut the risk of getting Covid-19

Psychologist was due to get life-saving NHS cancer treatment until coronavirus struck

Venus is back in our sky before the sun rises, and will rise earlier as July progressesVenus has returned to the sky. Following its passage between Earth and the sun on 3 June, it can now be seen in the pre-dawn sky. The planet is bright and unmistakable lying in the eastern sky. It is currently located in the constellation of Taurus, the Bull, directly in the group of stars that marks its head. It is close to the bright red star of Aldebaran, which should also be visible in the lightening sky. Continue reading...

Countries where face mask use is widespread have seen fewer Covid-19 deaths, writes Prof David Smith, while Philip Rundall thinks shops should do more to encourage customers to wear themYour comment (Editorial, 2 July) that disparagement of face masks might have come at a cost is well illustrated by comparing different countries. In Hong Kong (population 7.45 million), a survey in March found that 98.8% wore masks in public; just seven people have died from Covid-19 there since the start of the pandemic. Austria (population 8.9 million) adopted early on a rule that face masks must be worn and has had 706 deaths. By contrast, in the UK, the use of masks is very rare, and there have been 44,198 deaths. A recent modelling study supports the view that the universal wearing of face masks is crucial to reduce the spread of this disease. A key message is “my mask protects you, your mask protects me”.

Exclusive: ex-chief prosecutor’s lawyers say behaviour of Boris Johnson’s aide warrants ‘thorough investigation’The former chief prosecutor for north-west England has urged the Metropolitan police to launch an immediate investigation into Dominic Cummings’ trip from London to Durham at the height of the coronavirus outbreak.Lawyers for Nazir Afzal have written to the Met commissioner, Cressida Dick, arguing that the behaviour of Boris Johnson’s chief adviser during the lockdown warrants a “thorough investigation”. Continue reading...

Open letter says there is emerging evidence of potential for aerosol transmission

Relief as concerns about overwhelmed emergency services fail to materialise

Celebration planned for 5pm backed by politicians and head of health service

I’d come to think of myself as a sad wizard, burdened with rituals to prevent catastrophes. Then the pandemic made those threats realFor many of us, coronavirus has inspired a bit of a germ obsession. We wash our hands until they’re chapped. We see other people as potential vectors. We wipe down our groceries with Lysol, apparently having decided that, if it comes to it, we’d rather die of disinfectant poisoning than a virus.In our efforts not to contract Covid-19, many of us are getting a taste of a different kind of illness: obsessive-compulsive disorder. And for some who have spent years learning to cope with OCD, the latest crisis is undermining everything we’ve learned about our own brains. Continue reading...

The paediatrician and member of Independent Sage on Matt Hancock, the likelihood of a vaccine and why 50,000 deaths were preventableAnthony Costello is a paediatrician and international expert on child health who has been an outspoken critic of the British government’s response to Covid-19. He is a member of Independent Sage, a group of experts set up to provide “robust, independent advice” in regard to the UK’s coronavirus policies, and former director of the Institute for Global Health at University College London. He has worked in a number of low-income nations, developing effective strategies for cutting newborn and maternal mortality rates. He also served as director of maternal, child and adolescent health at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva.What do you think about the decision to open pubs yesterday?

Your questions answered on what type of mask to wear to cut the risk of getting Covid-19

Covid-related facts and definitions are confusing, and as lockdown is eased, clarity is more important than ever

Years of social progress could be reversed by the virus, amid accusations that politicians have been fatally inept

Pubs in England reopen; fourth of July weekend in US sees cases surging; housing estates in Melbourne locked down. This blog is now closed – please follow our continuing coverage below

The science has been settled to the highest degree, so now the key to progress is understanding our psychological reactionsIt took me much longer than it should have to realise that educating people about climate change science was not enough. Due perhaps to my personality type (highly rational, don’t talk to me about horoscopes, please) and my background (the well-educated daughter of a high school teacher and an academic), I have grown up accepting the idea that facts persuade and emotions detract from a good argument.Then again, I’m a social scientist. I study people. I deal mostly in feelings, not facts. A joke I like to tell about myself during speeches is that I’m an expert in the opinions of people who don’t know what they’re talking about. Over the 15 years I’ve been a social researcher, I’ve watched with concern the increasing effects of climate change, and also watched as significant chunks of the electorate voted for political parties with terrible climate change policies. Continue reading...

Hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir not found to help patients in hospital

Imperial College doctors with AR glasses examine patients as trainees watch remotely

Osteocalcin, a hormone produced in the bones, could one day provide treatments for age-related issues such as muscle and memory lossGérard Karsenty was a young scientist trying to make a name for himself in the early 1990s when he first stumbled upon a finding that would go on to transform our understanding of bone, and the role it plays in our body.Karsenty had become interested in osteocalcin, one of the most abundant proteins in bone. He suspected that it played a crucial role in bone remodelling – the process by which our bones continuously remove and create new tissue – which enables us to grow during childhood and adolescence, and also recover from injuries. Continue reading...

If I hadn’t experienced anxiety and agoraphobia and the therapy that resulted from them, I wouldn’t now understand human complexities as I do, writes Charlotte LevinI sometimes wonder about my parallel life: the one in which I attended drama school, became a respected actor, travelled the world and ended up marrying Louis Theroux after meeting him at an awards ceremony. The life in which I didn’t develop anxiety and agoraphobia.In 1995, aged 23, after years of auditions, my application had been accepted for the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. My desire to act since the age of eight was firmly cemented and my dreams were coming to fruition. I was living in London so I’d arranged some viewings of potential digs. My boyfriend and I decided to make a trip of it and planned an extended scenic route – a concept now incomprehensible. But by the time we left, I was getting nervous. Continue reading...

The case of the Covid-19 drug shows how national interests will continue to define the allocation of research products

From an intensive care nurse to a homeless restaurant worker, four people changed by Covid-19 reflect on the most intense chapter of their livesOn 21 February, McFarlane, 57, was on her way back to Bangkok airport with her husband, Archie. The couple had been visiting their son, who works at an international school. “We felt apprehensive because the virus was starting to hit the news,” she recalls. She wore a mask at the airport and on the flight, though her husband refused. At Heathrow, nobody took their temperature or handed out hygiene leaflets, unlike in Bangkok. “You wouldn’t have known anything was wrong.” Continue reading...

Amid a pandemic, the president rails against reason itself. The passions of his predecessors throw his failure into sharp reliefWe know what the temperature was in Philadelphia on 4 July 1776, because Thomas Jefferson wrote it down at 6am (68F), 9am (72.25F), 1pm (76F), and 9pm (73.5F). Even on this most important day, the author of the Declaration of Independence was never too busy to observe nature. Scientific language helped as he scratched out the words, claiming it was “self-evident” that people had rights, based on “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”.Related: US supreme court gives conservatives the blues but what's really going on? Continue reading...

Country has second-worst outbreak in the world as global cases near 11m