Science | The Guardian

Infections near 4.5m; Europe halts delivery of faulty Chinese face masks; WHO says Covid-19 may never go; this blog is now closed.

Boeing X-37B to study impact of radiation and other space effects on seeds and other materialsThe US’s uncrewed X-37B military spaceplane is expected to launch from Cape Canaveral air force station, in Florida, on 16 May.The Boeing craft will be carried into orbit by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. This will be its sixth launch, and the first to be the responsibility of the newly-created US Space Force. For the first time, the X-37B will be fitted with a service module that will increase the amount of experiments it can carry. Continue reading...

Official UK death toll rises by 428 to 33,614; cost of furlough scheme estimated to reach £83bn by October; transport secretary announces £1.7bn fund to improve transport infrastructure

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NHS’s first breakdown of underlying health conditions also finds 18% had dementia

First national snapshot estimates that 0.27% of population currently positive

Student participant praises ‘calm professionalism’ of academics and NHS healthcare workers

Findings could help predict how animals will adapt to climate breakdown and loss of habitatScientists have discovered the reason why some birds live fast, die young in findings that could help predict how animals will adapt to climate breakdown and habitat destruction.Research from the University of Sheffield has revealed why some bird species take longer to develop than others. The study, published in Nature Communications, is the first to consider the importance of lifestyle, environment, evolutionary history and body size when explaining variation. Continue reading...

Edward Argar says antibody test has been approved but none have been purchased yet

Latest figures from public health authorities on the spread of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. Find out how many confirmed cases have been reported in each of England’s local authorities

Beijing dismisses as slander US claims that any organisation researching vaccines should assume they are a target

Every year more than 200m new cases of malaria are reported. And despite the dramatic reduction in cases and deaths over the past two decades, novel treatments and prevention strategies are badly needed. Speaking to Dr Jeremy Herren in Nairobi, Kenya, Nicola Davis hears how a newly-discovered microbe might offer mosquitos protection from the parasite and in doing so, prevent its spread

Coronavirus may never be eradicated, warns WHO as Spanish study reveals 5% of the population has antibodies

The accurate Covid-19-specific test can be quickly processed using existing equipment

The disorder has required some children to undergo life-saving treatment in intensive care units

Government chief adviser fails to give estimate of how many have arrived with Covid-19At least 95,000 people have entered the UK from overseas since the coronavirus lockdown was imposed, one of the government’s chief scientific advisers has revealed, while repeatedly failing to provide an estimate of how many of these people had Covid-19.Appearing before MPs on the science and technology committee, Prof John Aston, the chief scientific adviser at the Home Office, admitted that had tougher restrictions been introduced at the border, the peak of the virus may have been delayed – but he did not say by how long, or if this would have saved lives. Continue reading...

Digital scrutiny is imperfect but it has proved that the Commons can modernise. Ending the experiment prematurely is a backwards stepThere is still much to be learnt about the coronavirus, but it is clear that transmission is efficient in crowded, enclosed spaces. On that basis a full House of Commons is unsafe.That is why “hybrid scrutiny” was introduced, with most MPs contributing to debates remotely. It is an imperfect system but also a vital experiment in technological adaption by an institution that is slow to embrace modernity. Continue reading...

Electric charge released by radiation from nuclear testing thickened clouds thousands of miles away, research finds

The UK government has told the public to wear 'cloth face coverings' in crowded places where it's not possible to comply with physical-distancing measures, but what does this mean? Why not face masks? Outside too? Should anyone avoid wearing a face covering? The Guardian's health editor, Sarah Boseley, answers these and other questions

Sexual health experts see in lockdown restrictions a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ chance

The commercial kits are tempting, but offer little certainty when we aren’t even sure that antibodies confer immunity

Latest figures from public health authorities on the spread of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. Find out how many confirmed cases have been reported in each of England’s local authorities

With coronavirus it all has squonged together into some sort of humongous seething costco of armageddonism

Peter Piot tells of his brush with death and predicts people will suffer effects of the virus for years

Everything is partisan in the US now – even the coronavirus. Choosing whether or not to cover your face has become a political statement

Contrary to popular belief, people rarely panic in dangerous situations. Withholding information is patronising and counter-productive

Disruption of essential maternity and health services is the biggest crisis faced by under fives since second world war

Hannah Devlin speaks to Prof Andrew Pollard about the work being done by different teams around the world to create a vaccine for Covid-19, and where his team at Oxford University fit into this international effort Continue reading...

Spain to quarantine overseas travellers; Trump walks out of press conference; White House staff ordered to wear masks. This blog is now closed

Research finds animals are less responsive to instructions from their carer during adolescenceMoody, unpredictable and with an striking disregard for the rules, teenagers can be hard to handle. Now it turns out the same is true for adolescent dogs.Researchers say they have found that pooches become less responsive to instructions from their carer during adolescence. Continue reading...

Analysis of samples from thousands of patients might point to genetic variations

About 20% of UK population vulnerable but not included in government’s shielding adviceEight million people with underlying health conditions should be exempted from plans to get the country back to work and normal life, according to scientists who warn that easing lockdown too quickly could propel the Covid-19 death toll to 73,000 this year.About 80% of the population have little to fear from a return to work, but 20% are vulnerable from one or more common conditions such as diabetes, obesity and heart problems, say researchers from University College London (UCL) in a Lancet study published on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Guidance published for businesses on how to operate safely; UK coronavirus death toll passes 40,000, official figures say; Reading and Leeds festivals cancelled

My colleague and friend Carol Ellison, who has died of cancer aged 58, was a scientist in the field of biological control of invasive species. This is a little-known but increasingly important tool in the management of alien weeds which, if unchecked, can destabilise ecosystems and constrain agriculture.Born in Croydon, south London, to Edward Ellison, a toolmaker, and his wife, Valerie (nee Rickard), Carol was a committed environmentalist from an early age. She graduated in biological sciences from the University of East Anglia and subsequently registered for an MSc in pest management at Imperial College London, during which she worked with me in Kenya as part of her thesis investigating the potential of fungal pathogens for the control of African grasses. Continue reading...

Tom Hurd, who was at Eton and Oxford with PM, parachuted in to launch new coronavirus unit

China, Denmark and Singapore expand testing; Spain to quarantine new arrivals; France bans drinking on Seine

The prime minister is handling coronavirus so badly now, he makes even his most unpopular predecessors look public-spiritedThough it majors in killing, coronavirus certainly enjoys a sideways glance at inequality. In April, we discovered that the British TV show Holby City owned only one fewer working ventilator than the African country Liberia. On Sunday, construction and manufacturing workers were told to get back to work by a man who skived off five consecutive Cobra meetings during a wildly mushrooming global epidemic. Five! Boris Johnson couldn’t even be bothered to turn up and grip the government’s crucial early response to a deadly virus – are we supposed to believe he’d be rushing back to finish a loft extension out of civic duty? He’s not even prime minister out of civic duty.Still, that’s showbiz. You miss one universal credit meeting and your benefits are stopped; you miss five Cobra meetings and you get to address the nation on its working responsibilities from a drawing room so vast you’d need a hansom cab to traverse it. (When are we de-furloughing the hansom cabbies? I don’t care if they are dead and from the 19th century: that’s hardly a bar to this government assessing them as fit for work.) Continue reading...

Dmitry Peskov confirms to Russian media that he is being treated for Covid-19

Scientists warn of rolling lockdowns if government fails to reconsider its approach

Latest figures from public health authorities on the spread of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. Find out how many confirmed cases have been reported in each of England’s local authorities

As the coronavirus pandemic swept around the globe, anecdotal reports began to emerge about a strange symptom: people were losing their sense of taste and smell. To find out whether this effect is really down to Sars-CoV-2, and if so, why, Ian Sample talks to Carl Philpott Continue reading...

UK and WHO to lead global Covid-19 information campaign; Aden declared an ‘infested’ city

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We are told to ‘stay alert’, but if alertness could conquer this virus, we would all be fine. The message is about shifting responsibility away from the government and on to the public

A large-scale return to work without the ability to test, trace and isolate risks creating super-spreader events

Cave objects suggest modern humans and Neanderthals shared continent for several thousand years

Billionaire puts more than fifth of stake up for sale to help prop up airline and rest of group

Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance had no role in signing off advice, Guardian has learned

Latest figures from public health authorities on the spread of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. Find out how many confirmed cases have been reported in each of England’s local authorities

Researchers have observed mutations in some strains that may help the virus spread