There are worrying trends about long-term damage, even in those with milder symptoms

Exclusive: King’s College London team found steep drops in patients’ antibody levels three months after infection

The market is flooded with books and classes claiming ‘breathwork’ can help with mental health, sleep and even Covid-19. But are experts convinced?Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage

Your questions answered on what type of mask to wear to cut the risk of contracting coronavirus

Unconscious bias training is a lucrative industry, but it won’t change consciously hostile policiesAre you racist? And, if so, how would I know? I used to think that a good gauge may be whether you call me a “Paki”, or assault me because of my skin colour, or deny me a job after seeing my name. But, no, these are just overt expressions of racism. Even if you show no hostility, or seek to discriminate, you’re probably still racist. You just don’t know it. Especially if you’re white. And if you protest about being labelled a racist, you are merely revealing what the US academic and diversity trainer Robin DiAngelo describes in the title of her bestselling book as your “white fragility”.You either accept your racism, or reveal your racism by not accepting it. Indeed, as DiAngelo explains, it’s “progressives” confronting racism who “cause the most damage to people of colour” because they imagine that they are anti-racist. Racism is, as she puts it, “unavoidable”. Continue reading...

The chancellor missed an opportunity to deliver a life-saving message along with Wagamama’s chicken

Communities secretary announces new planning rules forcing councils to take impact of Covid-19 into account

Mental health issues among teenagers and young adults are on the rise since start of pandemic

With the red planet’s launch window about to open, the US, China and the UAE are all sending craft to look for answersIn the next few weeks, a flotilla of probes will be blasted into space from launch pads round the world and propelled towards one of the solar system’s most mysterious objects: the planet Mars. Within days of each other, spacecraft built by the USA, by China and by the United Arab Emirates will be sent on separate, seven-month voyages to investigate the red planet.Never has so much interplanetary traffic been put en route to Mars at one time - and all of it is intended to help answer a question that has nagged scientists for decades: is there, or was there ever, life on Mars? Continue reading...

New research from Sweden reveals that good genes don’t make you a success but family money, or marrying into it, does

This blog has closed – please keep following our live coverage here12.50am BSTThis blog has closed – thanks for following. Coverage continues at our latest coronavirus live blog.12.27am BSTGood morning, good evening, hello, wherever you might be. This is Helen Davidson taking the reins of the blog for the next few hours. Thanks to my colleagues for their coverage.We’ll be starting a new blog shortly, but in the meantime here is some more news on the vaccine front. Continue reading...

Scientists still divided on the issue as PM hints he will make face coverings mandatory for shoppers

The vaginal mesh scandal betrayed the intimate trust that should exist between doctor and patient, whatever their sex

Job losses, homelessness, school closures and acute hunger set to rise dramatically without urgent support, Christian Aid warns

I looked forward to spending more time with my wife – but it took a while before romance found its way back inIt felt like we were embarking on a new adventure. It was late March and Boris Johnson had announced that Britain would, in response to the threat of Covid-19, be going into lockdown. Life as we knew it was about to grind to a halt. I would be working from home as the British Library was closing its doors. My wife Bridget, a speech and language therapist specialising in autism, would also no longer be able to work in schools and have to work from home. Our children – Laila, eight, and Ezra, three – would not be attending school or playgroup.Lockdown was potentially terrifying – no one knew then what the impact of the pandemic was going to be – but my initial response was that it could perhaps be good for our family. There would be a pause in the daily struggle of trying to wake the children, get them dressed and fed in time to run to the bus stop so they were not late for school. Working from home and the shops being closed meant we might save some money. The biggest upside without doubt, however, was that the lockdown would give me the chance to spend more time with my wife. Continue reading...

Other finds include lead lined Roman coffin and Stonehenge-like wooden structure

Daniel Andrews says effects of lockdown won’t be reflected for weeks as NSW cases linked to Casula pub

WHO reports worrying rise; second Venezuelan minister tests positive; Brazil records 1,200 more deaths

Experts say programme could follow participants for decades to look at long-term effects

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

WHO says pandemic is still accelerating; Hundreds of Romanians check themselves out of hospital; Serbia considers new lockdown. This blog is now closed

Design review stage passed for craft intended to visit iron-and-nickel mini-world in 2026

Cases make it ‘harder to imagine bringing our campus community back’ as planned, university saysPlans for the fall semester at the University of California, Berkeley, are in question after 47 new Covid-19 cases tied to fraternity parties emerged in the past week. University officials warn the outbreak could jeopardize the ability to move forward with in-person classes in the months ahead.“We have seen the number of University Health Services positive cases increase from a running total of 23 since the start of the pandemic, to 47 new cases in just one week,” university officials wrote in a letter. Continue reading...

Inquiry to examine claims remains were found strewn around and dismembered

An estimated 14,000 people had infection over past two weeks, according to ONS data

Windows can stay open say scientists behind speaker array that emits opposing pressure sound waves to counteract dinIf the hum of passing cars and the clatter of trains drives you to slam windows shut on a hot day, a new noise cancelling system could be music to your ears.Scientists have developed a sound control system that can be fitted on to an open window, allowing a breeze to waft in while sounds from outside are quietened. Continue reading...

The government’s preference for centralisation and the private sector has undermined England’s response to the pandemic

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

How often should you wash a cloth mask? And how effective are the disposable ones? The expert guide to choosing, wearing and caring for your face coveringThe British have been slow to embrace face masks, despite calls from public health experts. Uptake has been just 25% in the UK, compared with 83.4% in Italy and 65.8% in the US. The president of the Royal Society, Venki Ramakrishnan, said this week that wearing one “is the right thing to do” and that a refusal to do so should be seen as socially unacceptable as drink-driving or not wearing a seatbelt.Perhaps one of the problems has been the changing advice as new evidence emerges. The World Health Organization (WHO) now recommends people wear cloth masks. Ramakrishnan said that in the UK, “the message has not been clear enough, so perhaps people do not really understand the benefits or are not convinced”. It also doesn’t help that the guidance across the UK is different. Continue reading...

Could there really be other civilisations out there in the Milky Way? Nicola Davis talks to Prof Chris Conselice, whose recent work revises the decades-old Drake equation to throw new light on the possibility of contactable alien life existing in our galaxy Continue reading...

Move comes after two people absconded from quarantine, including a man later found to have Covid-19Police officers will patrol New Zealand’s quarantine hotels around-the-clock after a number of people – including a man who tested positive for coronavirus – escaped the managed isolation facilities.In two separate incidents in Auckland hotels guests in isolation left their quarantine hotels, with one woman escaping over a hedge, and another man over a small fence. Continue reading...

Experts say new climate data shows how close world already is to breaching 1.5C Paris agreement pledgeThere is a one-in-five chance annual global temperatures will be at least 1.5C warmer than in pre-industrial times in the next five years, experts have said.Annual global temperatures are likely to be at least 1C above the levels they were before the industrial era in each year between 2020 and 2024, a long-range forecast by experts led by the UK Met Office shows. Continue reading...

Gathering ‘likely contributed’ to surge; Bolsonaro vetoes measures to help indigenous people; Melbourne goes into full lockdown after rises in cases. This blog is now closed

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...