Science | The Guardian

Investment with India made in US firm OneWeb after Brexit locks UK out of Europe’s satellite navigation systemThe UK government has pledged to invest $500m (£400m) in bankrupt satellite company OneWeb, giving it a stake in a business that provides broadband from space.The government, which has proven so far unwilling to take stakes in major British companies hit by the coronavirus pandemic, will receive a “significant equity share” in the loss-making company as it seeks to make “high-risk, high-payoff” investments of the kind advocated by 10 Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings. Continue reading...

Key questions about Covid-19 answered as lockdowns ease across the four nations

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

Team is using new approach that could be cheap and scalable and become the norm within five yearsProf Robin Shattock would have liked slightly longer to develop the revolutionary approach to vaccines that he is pretty sure will not only save lives in the Covid-19 pandemic but become the norm for vaccine development within five years.His team at Imperial College were working on Ebola and Lassa fever vaccines using new technology but had not got as far as human trials when a novel coronavirus started to kill thousands of people in Wuhan, China. Continue reading...

Death toll passes 61,000; Florida records biggest one-day increase in its new cases; Sweden records 947 new cases in a day. This blog is now closed

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

Scotland is right to mandate masks or similar coverings in shops. Wearing them can save livesWicked. Horrific. An affront to British liberties. Proposals to make wearing seatbelts compulsory were angrily opposed in the early 1970s. Some warned that it might make motorists more reckless, or endanger unborn babies. MPs claimed there was no real evidence of the benefits. Others complained it would be uncomfortable for women or the elderly. It took years of political battle to change the law, saving tens of thousands of lives.In retrospect, the outrage looks not merely mistaken but utterly bizarre. Wearing a seatbelt is simply a matter of course now. Yet similar claims have been heard in this pandemic when it comes to wearing masks. The World Health Organization insisted there was not enough evidence to recommend their routine use, changing its advice only last month. Other officials warned that mask-wearers might be lulled into a false sense of security, and would fail to distance themselves from others. There was real and understandable concern that mass purchases would leave no protection for medics and other frontline workers who desperately needed it. But this disparagement of masks may have come at a cost. Continue reading...

Study finds British Columbia birds’ dropped-end note of call has spread across countryIf you consider Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep to be the ultimate catchy tune, think again: the white-throated sparrows of British Columbia have devised a new song that has gone viral across Canada.For years, the small songbird’s traditional descending whistle featured a three-note ending. But researchers have tracked how a unique two-note-ending version of the male bird’s call has rapidly spread 3,000km (1,864 miles) eastwards from western Canada to central Ontario during this century. Continue reading...

Study of DNA changes in labradors suggests puppies age much faster than older dogsDogs do not simply age at seven times the rate of humans, scientists have found in a study that reveals young dogs might be “older” than previously thought.The findings suggest a one-year-old puppy is actually about 30 in “human years” – an age when humans, at least, might be expected to have stopped running riot with the toilet paper. Continue reading...

Until every country is protected, we are all at risk. Only effective vaccines and treatments will allow us to eradicate coronavirus

I am being paid to sit and refresh my computer screen every 15 minutes. The ‘world-beating’ system is a shamblesNHS test and trace was meant to be world-beating, but in my experience it’s been a shambles. I am a paramedic who has been working for the service since it launched, but I have yet to make a single call.Last week I got an email from NHS Professionals, the largest NHS staff bank in the UK. It said it had almost been a month since the service went live, and thanked me for my “hard work and commitment to date”. Continue reading...

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

From my nan telling me not to lick my finger when turning a page to dubious showering guidance, why do some things stick in our brain?It’s funny, the things that stick in your mind for ever. When I was little, my brother and I would usually go to our grandparents’ house after school. We would be given our tea in front of the telly, which we would sit and watch while Grandad read the Express and Star and Nan read a magazine. I noticed that every time she turned a page, she licked her finger first. Deducing this was the kind of adult modus operandi I should be aiming for, I started doing the same thing. I went so far as to pick up magazines I couldn’t even read properly, just to practice and perfect my finger-licking page-turning technique. Before long, my Nan saw me proudly in action.“Oh, don’t do that, Ade,” she said. Continue reading...

Language is used routinely only by a diminishing number of elderly islandersA casual visitor to Scotland might assume that the Gaelic language is thriving, with every police car carrying the word poileas and every ambulance ambaileans. Yet in the few places where it is spoken, the language is in a profound, potentially terminal crisis.Without radical action, Scots Gaelic will be dead within a decade, according to a study. The language is rarely spoken in the home, little used by teenagers, and used routinely only by a diminishing number of elderly Gaels dispersed across a few island communities in the Hebrides. Continue reading...

Thirty years ago, the Hubble space telescope was shuttled into orbit, and has since provided us with astonishing images and insights into the universe. Earlier this year, Hannah Devlin spoke to one of the astronauts who helped launch Hubble, Kathy Sullivan. The first American woman to walk in space, Sullivan describes her journey to becoming an astronaut, why Hubble was such a vital mission and why it continues to be so important today Continue reading...

Global tourism stands to lose up to $3.3tn, says UN; Ryanair pilots take pay cut to avoid job losses; tourist flights to Greece resume; global cases pass 10.5m

Exclusive: local leaders say they are not getting test results needed to prevent flare-ups

University is leading rivals but first drugs may not work fully, says vaccine taskforce chair

Researchers say apocalyptic movies prepare people for Covid-19 and make them more resilient

The UK government needs to be more rigorous and transparent with information if regional outbreaks of Covid-19 are to be containedIn the game of whack-a-mole, the target pops up in one location and, once hammered down, appears immediately somewhere else. The defining features of the exercise are randomness and futility, which makes it an unfortunate metaphor for Boris Johnson to use for his government’s strategy when dealing with local Covid-19 outbreaks.The re-imposition of lockdown controls on Leicester is the first test of that approach and indications are not encouraging. The mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, has complained about slow sharing of vital information from central government. It appears to have taken almost two weeks for evidence that the disease was surging in the city to translate into practical action. Continue reading...

Former health officials say the government is unfairly laying fault at the door of PHEExperts have accused ministers of shifting the blame for their own mistakes during the coronavirus crisis on to Public Health England, amid speculation that the agency may be scrapped.Downing Street on Wednesday failed to guarantee that PHE will survive in its present form as an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care when the government reviews its response to Covid-19. Continue reading...

Attempts to suppress localised flare-ups hampered by failure to share detailed information

Cambridge team say 2013 study was flawed and rarity of tumours in rodents still unexplainedWith a hairless, wrinkly body, a whopping pair of front teeth and tiny eyes, the naked mole rat might seem an unusual creature to fight over, but a row has erupted among scientists over what might be its most unusual feature: a striking resistance to cancer.The burrowing rodents, native to east Africa and described by one expert as resembling a sabre-toothed sausage, have long fascinated researchers. Continue reading...

Experts say further investigation of link is urgently required and may be relevant to managing pandemic

BMA plea comes as ministers face claims of being slow to act on local lockdown in Leicester

The government hopes it will no longer be necessary to shield – but tell that to those people in England who are at highest riskOn Monday, a major change to lockdown will begin: people with underlying health conditions in England who have been shielding since March will be able to meet up outside in groups of up to six people, while those who live alone will be allowed to form a “support bubble” with one other household. The government has said high-risk people will no longer need to shield at all from 1 August.This should be a moment of relief. Shielders have in many ways become the forgotten millions of this pandemic – told to stay inside their homes for almost four months, unable to even go out for five minutes of fresh air for much of that time, yet receiving remarkably little political or media attention. As the rest of the public begins to enjoy significant reductions in lockdown, it may seem right to give some reprieve to the group who more than anyone else have been cooped up away from loved ones. It is also positive for shielders to have some information at last and a timeline in place (with the caveat that shielding may be restarted if necessary), after months of dire communication. Continue reading...

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

US bought more than 500,000 doses, representing all of Gilead’s production for July and 90% of August and SeptemberThe US pharmaceutical giant Gilead has donated a supply of the antiviral medication remdesivir to Australia’s national medical stockpile, with the federal health minister, Greg Hunt, saying there will be enough of the drug to meet Covid-19 patient demand.It followed news overnight that the US government bought virtually all of the global supply of remdesivir for the next three months. The drug has shown some promise in helping Covid-19 patients recover faster. However, it is not a cure. Remdesivir is the first drug approved by licensing authorities in the US to treat Covid-19, prompting the White House under US president Donald Trump to buy more than 500,000 doses, representing all of Gilead’s production for July and 90% of August and September. Continue reading...

The space agency gathered 425 million high-resolution images of the sun, which have now been stitched together to form the videoNasa has released a mesmerising timelapse video of the sun that condenses an entire solar cycle into an hour of footage, using images of the star taken every hour continuously over a decade.Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory has gathered 425 million high-resolution images of the sun, from its launch in February 2010 until June this year, which have now been stitched together to form the video. Continue reading...

New cases jump by 80% in two weeks; South Korea using remdesivir; outbreak in Australia’s state of Victoria worsens

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

Hot weather is making mask wearing increasingly uncomfortable, prompting some people to refuse face coverings in defiance of government advice

India has over 550,000 infections; Airbus warns of 15,000 job losses. This blog is now closed

Chinese glaciologists have found the freeze-thaw process has concentrated discharge from the disasterThe Fukushima nuclear accident has added a distinctive signature to snow and ice across the northern hemisphere, new research published in Environmental Research Letters shows. Triggered by the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Japan on 11 March 2011, the disaster resulted in a month-long discharge of radioactive material into the atmosphere, ocean and soil.Feiteng Wang from the Tian Shan glaciological station in Lanzhou, China, and colleagues collected snow samples in 2011 and 2018 from a number of glaciers (spanning a distance of more than 1,200 miles (2,000km) in north-western China. They expected the Fukushima signature to have faded away by 2018, but to their surprise the freeze-thaw processing had made it more concentrated, creating a strong and lasting reference layer in the ice. Continue reading...

Johnson’s vision for the UK to build long-haul Jet Zero aircraft may never leave the groundWill Boris’s Jet Zero ever fly?The prime minister’s call for Jet Zero on Tuesday may owe more to his fondness for a punchy slogan than any realistic view of how UK aviation might develop in the next three decades. Continue reading...

Leicester is unlikely to be the only place to return to tight restrictions, say scientists

Mal Martin, 58, from Cardiff, spent 11 weeks in intensive care and could still lose fingers due to disease

Prof Peter Piot nearly died of coronavirus and says he now wears one wherever he goes

ONS data shows number of deaths below five-year average for first time since March

I have to inject myself with needles just to stay alive. Still, Bayer will continue to sell Roundup, and refused to label it as carcinogenicLast Wednesday was my 71st birthday, a low-key celebration in these Covid-19 times. Then I heard the news that the pharmaceutical conglomerate Bayer has offered a settlement to resolve several massive class-action lawsuits alleging that the company’s herbicide, Roundup, is dangerous and causes cancer.I’m one of the thousands of people who filed suit. The news of the settlement ruined my birthday. Continue reading...

Couples planning to marry given new guidance as lockdown rules ease from 4 July

The city is on a 10-day suburban testing blitz after premier Daniel Andrews revealed hotspots in suburbs were largely caused by extended families

The city is on a 10-day suburban testing blitz after premier Daniel Andrews revealed hotspots were largely caused by extended families

Over the last few months, we’ve all had to come to terms with R, the ‘effective reproduction number’, as a measure of how well we are dealing with the coronavirus outbreak. But, as Nicola Davis finds out from Dr Adam Kucharski, R is a complicated statistical concept that relies on many factors and, under some conditions, can be misleading Continue reading...

This Saturday, lockdown measures in England will ease further, with people able to get a pint in a pub, have a haircut and see another household indoors. The Guardian’s heath editor, Sarah Boseley, looks at whether another lifting of restrictions might result in a second wave, and if it does, why we are better prepared this time roundFrom this Saturday, the government has said that in England, pubs, restaurants and hairdressers will be able to reopen, two households will be able to meet in any setting with physical distancing measures, and people can enjoy staycations with the reopening of accommodation sites. But with the loosening of restrictions comes fears of a second wave. Sir Jeremy Farrar, the director of the Wellcome Trust, has said that the UK is on a “knife edge”, with the next few months set to be “critical” in managing the risk of a second peak of Covid-19.The Guardian’s health editor, Sarah Boseley, tells Rachel Humpheys why if there is another wave of the virus, or even localised spikes across the nation, drug research, well-practised NHS staff and greater awareness of dangers mean the health service is better prepared this time round. Continue reading...

G4 strain has already infected 10% of industry’s workers in China but no evidence yet that it can be passed from human to humanResearchers in China have discovered a new type of swine flu that is capable of triggering a pandemic, according to a study in the US science journal PNAS, although experts said there is no imminent threat.Named G4, it is genetically descended from the H1N1 strain that caused a pandemic in 2009. Continue reading...

Dramatic change in Antarctica’s interior in past three decades a result of effects from tropical variability working together with increasing greenhouse gasesClimate scientists long thought Antarctica’s interior may not be very sensitive to warming, but our research, published this week, shows a dramatic change.Over the past 30 years, the south pole has been one of the fastest-changing places on Earth, warming more than three times more rapidly than the rest of the world. Continue reading...

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says pandemic is ‘speeding up’; India records 19,459 new cases; Iran records highest daily death toll; China’s military approves vaccine for use on its soldiers. This blog is now closed

Study says surge in volcanic activity could not have caused Cretaceous/Paleogene extinction eventA 66m-year-old murder mystery has finally been solved, researchers say, revealing an enormous asteroid struck the killer blow for the dinosaurs.The Cretaceous/Paleogene extinction event resulted in about 75% of plants and animals – including non-avian dinosaurs – being wiped out. But the driving cause of the catastrophe has been a topic of hot debate. Continue reading...

Around the world men and women are responding differently to Covid-19 yet few countries are taking note of these differences. This isn’t unique to this pandemic but typical of how female biology has been largely ignored when it comes to medical research. Gabrielle Jackson examines the resulting knowledge gap and the repercussions for how women and gender diverse people are treated in our medical system Continue reading...