The solutions to today’s hard onesEarlier today I set you the following puzzle:Six friends – Babs, Charles, Hattie, Joan, Kenneth and Sid – are going camping in France. They are travelling across the Channel on a magic carpet that can take only two people at a time. So, in order for everyone to get across there will need to be 9 trips in total from their starting point in England: 5 across carrying two people, and 4 returning carrying one person. (Magic carpets cannot fly empty, which is why one person needs to travel back. All the friends are able to fly alone on the carpet if need be.) Continue reading...
Research suggests 50% greater risk for children whose mothers report using cannabisChildren born to mothers who report using cannabis during pregnancy have about a 50% greater risk of developing autism, research suggests.While the team behind the work said more research was needed to unpick whether cannabis itself was behind the link, they said the results were concerning. Continue reading...
Sir, your puzzle is so hard!UPDATE: Solutions now posted hereToday’s puzzle is a seasonal update of a cherished gem of British culture: the river-crossing puzzle, in which people travel back-and forth across a stretch of water in a very small vessel. The earliest-known river-crossing puzzles appear in a manuscript by Alcuin of York in the eighth century.Another British cultural artefact from a distant age is the Carry On film. Not wanting to appear too parochial, however, today’s puzzle also includes an element from the Thousand and One Nights. Continue reading...
Our brightest and most reliable annual meteor shower will be affected this year by the proximity of the half moonThis week one of the most reliable annual meteor showers will be on show. The Perseids will reach their peak activity over the next few days. Start looking tonight, particularly in the early hours of the morning, then again tomorrow night and on Wednesday. The meteors are small particles of dust, left in space from the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle, that burn up high above Earth. Each particle enters our atmosphere at a velocity of around 130,000 miles per hour. Continue reading...
Businesses already struggling with the fallout from Covid-19 will be forced to deal with a mountain of new bureaucracy in the middle of a deep recessionThe government did not quite achieve the Brexit breakthrough it was seeking on Friday, when there was hope that a fast-tracked trade agreement with Japan might be reached. But it seems likely that a deal, essentially replicating one signed by the EU and Japan last year, will be done by the end of the month. Some kind of morale booster for Britain’s battered and bruised businesses would certainly be welcome.As the clock runs down to the end of the transition period on 31 December, ministers are no longer bothering to offer the false hope of a relatively frictionless trade agreement with the EU. Even a Canada-style free trade deal will mean a vast infrastructure of compliance and checks: permits for lorry drivers to enter Kent, huge customs clearance centres and tracking apps are all in the mix. The government estimates that, from 2021, there will be over 400m extra customs checks a year on goods going to and from the EU. Continue reading...
The cosmologist, author and Twitter sensation on ‘heat death’, getting heckled by Stephen Hawking – and being name-checked on a No 1 albumKatie Mack achieves two improbable feats with her new book, The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking). First, she writes about the end of the universe with a jauntiness that makes it not actually that depressing. And second, she takes concepts in cosmology, string theory and quantum mechanics and makes them accessible. This gift for straight talking will be familiar to the 360,000 followers of Mack’s Twitter feed – @AstroKatie – through which the 39-year-old cosmologist and assistant professor at North Carolina State University has become one of the most popular voices on science.Why did you want to write about the end of the universe?
Space agency says ‘certain cosmic nicknames are insensitive’ and vows to drop any reference to themNasa has signaled it is joining the social justice movement by changing unofficial and potentially contentious names used by the scientific community for distant cosmic objects and systems such as planets, galaxies and nebulae.In a statement last week, the space agency said that as the “community works to identify and address systemic discrimination and inequality in all aspects of the field, it has become clear that certain cosmic nicknames are not only insensitive, but can be actively harmful”. Continue reading...
Headaches are telling you something about how your brain works with your body, influencing your behaviour and feelingsWe need pain. It seems contradictory to say it, particularly now that we have so many ways of dealing with it and switching it off. Pain not only tells us something is wrong, it also protects us. If you slam the car door on your hand, it’s going to hurt. You will have damaged the soft tissue; all the muscles and ligaments that help you move your fingers. It will no doubt swell up to twice its size. This inflammation is part of the healing process. Your hand feels hot and looks red because of all the extra blood flow. All these inflammatory agents that are acting to heal you are stimulating the pain receptors in your hand, the ones in your skin and your muscles. Your head is not so different except, crucially, the underlying cause can be much more subtle and varied.As a neuroscientist who writes about headaches, it is somewhat ironic to admit that I suffer from them still. Two recent headaches stand out. The first happened when I couldn’t find my glasses. I’m astigmatic so I see the world on a bit of a slant because my left eyeball is shaped like a rugby ball instead of a football. Just looking around can be effortful. Plus, the search made me late for everything that day which was unpleasant. By the time I got home, my head felt like it was in the grip of giant hands and they had begun to squeeze hard. All I wanted for dinner was a paracetamol sandwich. Continue reading...
by Niko Kommenda and Frank Hulley-Jones on (#56PD2)
More than 140 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 140 candidate vaccines now tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO). Continue reading...
Oxford and Moderna trials draw from strikingly white cohort, for a virus that has disproportionately affected people of colourThe remarkably fast progress of two leading contenders for an effective coronavirus vaccine has raised hopes the pandemic may be speedily tamed. But some experts have warned the vaccine trials risk being undermined by a lack of diversity among their participants.Related: Coronavirus vaccine tracker: how close are we to a vaccine? Continue reading...
by Jessica Murray (now); Lucy Campbell , Damien Gayle on (#56K8Z)
UK adds Belgium, Andorra and Bahamas to quarantine list ; Spain’s health ministry denies facing second wave; Dutch PM calls on tourists to avoid busy parts of Amsterdam
My friend Gerald Lincoln, the endocrinologist and naturalist who has died aged 75, devoted his life to unravelling the mysteries of nature.Brought up on a farm in Norfolk – the son of Gertrude (nee Holmes), a geography teacher, and Ernest Lincoln, a tenant farmer – he spent his childhood in the countryside, marvelling at wildlife. He also became an adept poacher, carrying toilet paper as an alibi when he ventured into the woods. Continue reading...
by Haroon Siddique and Kevin Rawlinson (earlier) on (#56KK0)
Latest figures show just 72% of close contacts reached; PM defends scheme; UK reports 950 new cases; Aberdeen outbreak cases increase by 25. This live blog is now closed - please follow the global live blog for the latest updates.
Scans suggest Tanystropheus, which lived 242m years ago, lived in water, researchers sayThe mystery of an ancient reptile with a tremendously long neck has been solved, according to researchers who say the creature lived in the water.Fossils of the creature, known as Tanystropheus, were first unearthed in Germany around 150 years ago and further specimens have turned up over the decades, largely at Monte San Giorgio on the Swiss-Italian border. Continue reading...
Overheated polemics won’t solve this emergency – and the apocalypse is a needlessly high bar for actionProtesters march in the streets in an “extinction rebellion” against the climate crisis, with some (but not all) of their leaders claiming that climate tipping points could kill billions in the coming decades. Others dismiss the importance or reality of the crisis, while new books loudly proclaim “apocalypse never” and “false alarm”.The popular discourse around the climate emergency all too often highlights fringe voices that predict the end of the world or suggest that there is little to worry about. But as the climatologist Steven Schneider presciently remarked a decade ago, when it comes to the climate “the end of the world” and “good for us” are probably the two least likely outcomes. Continue reading...
by Presented and produced by Madeleine Finlay with Ma on (#56KVY)
When it comes to the expansion rate of the universe, trying to get a straight answer isn’t easy. That’s because the two best ways of measuring what’s known as the Hubble constant are giving different results. As each method becomes increasingly accurate, the gap between widens. Is one of them wrong? Or is it time to rejig the Standard Model of Cosmology? Madeleine Finlay investigates the so-called ‘Hubble tension’ with Prof Erminia Calabrese Continue reading...
Think only fringe people believe in outlandish conspiracy theories? Think againWhen a childhood friend, a stay-at-home mom with a flourishing Pinterest account, sent me a copy of Plandemic – a 26-minute viral video falsely claiming manipulated origins of the coronavirus and the medical dangers of vaccines – I realized that conspiracy sympathizers weren’t as fringe as I thought.My friend was the third person, along with a work colleague and neighbor who is a doctor, to recently jump into the conspiracy theory abyss. I often dismissed conspiracy adherents as delusional cult members. But this was different. I knew these women. They were bright and led full, busy lives. Continue reading...
Chronic loneliness has little to do with being alone, experts say – could a pharmaceutical treatment help lonely people form meaningful relationships?Shortly after relocating to Texas from California three years ago, Cheryl Webster started hosting a game night at her home as a way of meeting new people. They stopped meeting due to Covid-19, and Webster has only heard from one person in the group in the months since they were able to play.Eventually, she decided to pick up the phone herself – but nobody called back. Continue reading...
Astrophysicist who studied the interaction between the rotation and magnetic field of the sun behind sunspots and solar flaresNigel Weiss, who has died aged 83, was a world authority on the physics of sunspots and the mechanisms driving a cycle of solar activity that lasts for 11 years.Sunspots appear as darker, cooler patches on the sun’s surface that may last from a few days to a few months. They were noticed by ancient Chinese and Greek astronomers and came to prominence following telescopic observations by Galileo and others. The number of spots on the Sun at any time follows the 11-year cycle and the sun is slightly brighter during maximum activity. Continue reading...
Geriatrician who pioneered the idea of strength training for elderly peopleUnlike other exercise researchers in the 1980s who were focusing on heart health, the geriatrician Archie Young, who has died aged 73, was interested in strength and balance. To live independently and avoid falls, it is fundamental to have sufficient balance to stand upright and the muscle strength to get up from the toilet or a low chair, but before Young’s discoveries many assumed that deteriorating muscle strength was both inevitable and irreversible in elderly people.In the early 80s Young was a doctor in a rehabilitation unit in Oxford, where among other things he introduced ultrasound imaging to physiotherapy. In 1985 he became a consultant and then professor and head of geriatric medicine at the Royal Free hospital in London, where he helped set up Queen Mary’s, a rehabilitation facility for elderly people. In both Oxford and London he conducted experiments with elderly volunteers, for example measuring their quadriceps (thigh muscle) and studying the effect of strengthening exercises. Continue reading...
by Jamie Grierson Home affairs correspondent on (#56JAH)
Surge in tablets sold as benzodiazepines, used to treat anxiety or insomnia, linked to hospitalisations and deathsA surge in illicit prescription drugs that have been linked to hospitalisations and deaths in England has prompted health officials to issue a rare national alert.Public Health England (PHE) issued the alert to drug treatment services and healthcare providers about the availability of illicit tablets being sold as benzodiazepines, such as Xanax and diazepam, which can be prescribed to treat anxiety or insomnia. Continue reading...
I fell sick on 25 March. Four months later, I’m still dealing with fever, cognitive dysfunction, memory issues and much moreI just passed the four-month mark of being sick with Covid. I am young, and I had considered myself healthy.My first symptom was that I couldn’t read a text message. It wasn’t about anything complex – just trying to arrange a video call – but it was a few sentences longer than normal, and I couldn’t wrap my head around it. It was the end of the night so I thought I was tired, but an hour later I took my temperature and realized I had a fever. I had been isolating for 11 days at that point; the only place I had been was the grocery store. Continue reading...
Fertility and Sterility took seven years to take down Italian study, which was criticised by doctors for ethical concerns and dubious justificationsA widely criticised peer-reviewed study that measured the attractiveness of women with endometriosis has been retracted from the medical journal Fertility and Sterility.The study, Attractiveness of women with rectovaginal endometriosis: a case-control study, was first published in 2013 and has been defended by the authors and the journal in the intervening years despite heavy criticism from doctors, other researchers and people with endometriosis for its ethical concerns and dubious justifications, with one advocate calling the study “heartbreaking” and “disgusting”. Continue reading...
Typhoon Morakot left country with more quakes after changing stress pattern in Earth’s crustEleven years ago, Typhoon Morakot slammed into Taiwan, deluging the country with 3,000 litres of rain per square metre in three days. Catastrophic flooding and landslides followed and more than 600 people died.It is considered one of the worst tropical cyclones in Taiwan’s recorded history. But that wasn’t the end of it. New research reveals that the typhoon also left Taiwan with a legacy of extra earthquakes for the next few years. Continue reading...
Jeremy Cushing on the tragic consequences of the pandemic response, Prof W Richard Bowen on the need for more scientifically educated politicians, Joseph Palley on England’s excess deaths, and Betty Cairns on how the dead are being remembered in ItalyI was left confused by Devi Sridhar’s article (The northern lockdown represents government failure. There is a better way, 31 July). She urged the adoption of “an objective with a timeline, forming a gameplan, appointing a high-level official to oversee things”, but none of these have any specific content. The content, far from reflecting the title, actually suggests a localised approach. Insofar as I detected any recommendations, they were to use “a robust testing and tracing system” and local expertise. These are ideas being widely shared, and show that our government has adopted almost the opposite approach, starving local authorities of information and resources in favour of corporations. The government has refrained from testing at the UK border, which other countries have made standard.It brings us back to the basic nature of this government – distrust of the public sector, tight centralisation, poverty-stricken government agencies and overall incompetence, with leadership confined to those unquestioningly loyal to the prime minister. The similarities between our government and Donald Trump’s are many and the result the same – large numbers of people dying.
by Jeffrey Sachs, Joseph Stiglitz, Mariana Mazzucato, on (#56GXK)
The carbon economy amplifies racial, social and economic inequities, creating a system that is fundamentally incompatible with a stable futureFrom deep-rooted racism to the Covid-19 pandemic, from extreme inequality to ecological collapse, our world is facing dire and deeply interconnected emergencies. But as much as the present moment painfully underscores the weaknesses of our economic system, it also gives us the rare opportunity to reimagine it. As we seek to rebuild our world, we can and must end the carbon economy.Related: Environmental racism is killing Americans of color. Climate change will make it worse | Mustafa Santiago Ali Continue reading...