Arab world’s first interplanetary mission will see probe orbit planet for a Martian year to study its climateThe Arab world’s first interplanetary mission, due to launch in 40 days’ time and reach the orbit of Mars in February next year, is about the survival and future of the entire Middle East, the leaders of the United Arab Emirates project have declared.The launch of the unmanned probe is also the latest sign that the old cartel of space exploration, once confined to the superpowers, is being broken up by new national entrants or private sector firms. Continue reading...

Study shows impact of restrictions; global cases pass 7 million, deaths pass 400,000. This blog is now closed - follow our latest coverage here

Doctors and campaigners seek judicial review of government’s efforts to provide PPE for NHS

Study’s findings highlight potential long-term damage of UK’s early testing strategy

At Imperial College we’ve been comparing psilocybin to conventional antidepressants – and the results are likely to be game-changingThe world is experiencing a devastating physical health emergency. But the coronavirus pandemic has also seen a renewed focus on our psychological wellbeing. Loneliness, uncertainty and grief may be intensifying an already acute mental health crisis, and in the US there has been a 20% spike in the number of prescriptions for antidepressant and anti-anxiety drugs during lockdown. Demand for key antidepressants is threatening to exceed supply in the UK – where prescriptions have already more than doubled over the last decade.I head the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, the first of its kind, supported by about £3m in philanthropic donations. For 15 years, my research has focused on how drugs such as LSD, psilocybin, DMT and MDMA work in the brain, and how they may be useful in treating disorders such as depression. Like the present pandemic, a psychedelic drug experiences can be transformative – of the individual – and of society. Both illuminate the extent to which the condition of the world we inhabit is dependent on our own behaviours. And these, in turn, are a consequence of how we feel, think and perceive. Continue reading...

As a scientist, it’s clear to me that the collective action vital to success relies on leaders being honest about their strategy

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

Progressives blithely accepted throwing millions out of work to fight coronavirus but now urge street protests to fight racism

The spring asterism known as the Great Diamond is a pattern of four stars from different constellationsThis week, track down the asterism known as the Great Diamond. Asterisms are patterns of stars that exist alongside the officially defined constellations. In this case, the Great Diamond consists of four stars. Cor Caroli in Canes Venatici, the hunting dogs; Denebola in Leo, the lion; Spica in Virgo, the virgin; Arcturus in Boötes, the herdsman. Continue reading...

Government accused of totalitarianism and censorship after Bolsonaro orders end to publication of numbers

Research suggests the average number of people one person infects may be increasing – but opinions differ as to why

Many people suffer effects of coronavirus for months while reporting a wider range of symptoms than NHS guidelines state

Erotic transference can be completely devastating, and handling it requires extreme careThere’s nothing quite like it. You sit together in hushed intimacy, just the two of you, finally revealing lifelong secrets. The atmosphere is exquisitely calm, the tranquillity shot through with alertness as the world shifts, brilliantly refigured, and relief floods in. You have the certainty that you are protected and profoundly understood by someone who is on your side. As Freud wrote, “Analysis is, in essence, a cure through love.”From the very act of revelation, a feeling of affinity can grow. In such safety and solace, with all the exclusive focus you could ever wish for, you start wondering about this person who sits opposite you – the therapist. This expert trained to understand the human heart. Who is this enigma, who gives clues to their personality only through their clothes, voice, décor? Continue reading...

Sage member also says Covid-19 ‘definitely not over’ and urges caution in easing lockdown

The personal items that Neil, Buzz and others carried with them – and left up thereBeyond the usual travel essentials, any keepsakes, charms and totems we take with us on our journeys say a lot about our inner worlds. The faithful may carry a crucifix, a rosary or the Qur’an; superstitious sailors still carry amulets to ensure a “smooth voyage”; soldiers treasure pictures of their sweethearts. Before photography they would carry a lock of their loved one’s hair.When the two crew members of the SpaceX Falcon 9 set off on their historic space journey last week, their totem was a toy dinosaur, taken on the behest of their sons. During the Apollo missions to the moon, the personal items astronauts could take were restricted: each had just a small “personal allowance pouch”. Continue reading...

Health secretary denies UK is racist, and repeats calls to keep to distancing rules at rallies

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

Scientists are racing to work out why some populations have fared better than others during the pandemic

Medical chiefs call for a public health campaign as faith in government strategy slumps

The hunt for a coronavirus vaccine has led to refusals to share research“It’s tragic that we won’t have a vaccine ready for this epidemic,” Peter Hotez told a US congressional committee in March. Tragic, because we could possibly already have had one.Hotez is director of the Center for Vaccine Development at the Texas Children’s Hospital. In 2016, he and his team developed a vaccine for Sars-1, the virus that first appeared in China in 2003. Today’s coronavirus, Sars-Cov-2, Hotez observes, is “about 80% similar [to Sars-1]”. But by the time he developed the vaccine, Sars was no longer a public health issue and nobody was interested in funding the work. Hotez is now working to “repurpose our Sars-1 vaccine to fight Sars-2”. But had “investments been made previously, we potentially could have [had] a vaccine ready to go now”. Continue reading...

Doctors say they are making progress in understanding the disease, but warn against hoping for an early vaccine

With a mission to Mars on the horizon and astronauts spending longer than ever in orbit, scientists are looking for ways to grow vegetables in space...In The Martian, the 2015 film directed by Ridley Scott, astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is accidentally abandoned alone on Mars by his crewmates after an emergency evacuation, without enough food to survive. Mars is a tricky prospect for even the most red- fingered gardener: there’s almost no air, the “soil” has few nutrients and lots of heavy metals, and the temperature is typically around -60C. “I’m going to have to science the shit out of this,” Watney, a botanist, declares. He decides to grow potatoes, jerry-rigging a climate-controlled dome, burning hydrazine to make water and creating a growth medium from Mars dust supplemented by his crewmates’ faeces.In Star Trek they just replicate food out of pure energy Continue reading...

The US stimulus programme looks to have been a success: one that has political as well as economic consequencesThe political obituaries of Donald Trump were all prepared. At the end of a week that has seen American cities convulsed by protests over the killing of George Floyd, the president would be faced with an increase in unemployment worse than anything seen in the Great Depression.Well, it didn’t turn out like that. The US economy actually created 2.5 million jobs in May and the unemployment rate went down rather than up. The consensus among analysts was that it would shed 7.5 million jobs, a colossally wrong call. And a deeply significant one. Continue reading...

Scientists say injection of cloned antibodies could help treat people already infected, while vaccine development continues

While many believe a Covid-19 vaccine will be a ‘ticket out’, experts are concerned getting people to take it is the real challenge

Vital recommendations that could help protect people are missing from review, say MPs

I’ve had a fever, a cough and breathlessness since February, and been in and out of hospital. If it isn’t coronavirus, what is it? By Simon HattenstoneI’m lying in bed, shivering like crazy. My partner, Diane, is asleep, and I burrow deep into her back. I’m sweating like crazy, too. I’m desperate for the loo, and I run there in my shivery sweats and sweaty shivers. It’s only five minutes since I last went. When I sleep, the same obsessive moment plays again and again. It’s to do with numbers. I need to get past number nine, but I can’t. The dream lasts for hours. Finally, I force myself awake. Ten minutes have passed. Continue reading...

‘Third of Americans’ misused disinfectants to try to prevent infection; IMF agrees $5.2bn package for Egypt

Retractions by two of the world’s leading journals could do lasting harm in an environment where many already distrust scientistsPublic trust in science may have been shaken by the publication of academic papers based on false data in leading medical journals, according to world-renowned infectious disease doctors and former advisers to the World Health Organization.The director of Australia’s Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Professor Sharon Lewin, said she and her colleagues were “gobsmacked” by the saga and said it should be “a wake-up call” in a global rush to publish studies about Covid-19. Continue reading...

Over-60s should use medical-grade masks and all others three-layer fabric ones, health body says

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

Major study of thousands of patients led by University of Oxford shows drug is ineffective

Public health experts like me know the only conclusive trial of masks will come from them being rolled out in the real world

Scientists in Netherlands explore possible link between deficiency and Covid-19 deaths

Stargazing under threat as pristine skies over New Zealand and Australia fill with scores of Starlink satellitesAstronomers in the southern hemisphere have warned that the wonders of the night sky are at risk from hundreds of satellites that have been shot into space by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX.The night skies of Australia and New Zealand are globally renowned for their clarity, drawing tourists from across the world to dark-sky sanctuaries such as Tekapo on New Zealand’s South Island and the Warrumbungle national park in New South Wales. Continue reading...

Covid-19 is is still a threat to most in Britain. If we allow it to spread now, a deadly second wave in winter could be the result

The pandemic’s future will be decided by human action and several unanswered questions about the nature of the virus

The now retracted paper halted hydroxychloroquine trials. Studies like this determine how people live or die tomorrow

Sunetra Gupta believes we may be underestimating how many people have fought off Covid-19

Our universities fail stupendously when they don’t teach ethical and moral responsibility

Taskforce says doctors treating adults with moderate, severe or critical Covid-19 should consider using drug to aid recovery timesThe antiviral drug remdesivir has been recommended for the treatment of Covid-19 patients in Australia, by the national taskforce bringing together the country’s peak health groups.The National Covid-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce said Australian doctors treating adults with moderate, severe or critical Covid-19 should consider using the drug to aid recovery times. Continue reading...

Retraction made after Guardian investigation found inconsistencies in data

News updates: Shapps says face coverings to be compulsory on public transport; Sharma met Johnson and Sunak day before showing symptoms; Sturgeon says R number in Scotland between 0.7 and 0.9

As UK announces compulsory face coverings on public transport, what is scientific evidence behind measure?

As countries that implemented travel bans early on in the coronavirus pandemic begin to open up, the UK is only just getting started

Yes, more people of black, Latin and south Asian origin are dying, but there is no genetic ‘susceptibility’ behind itFrom the start of the coronavirus pandemic, there has been an attempt to use science to explain the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on different groups through the prism of race. Data from the UK and the US suggests that people categorised as black, Hispanic (Latino) and south Asian are more likely to die from the disease.The way this issue is often discussed, but also the response of some scientists, would suggest that there might be some biological reason for the higher death rates based on genetic differences between these groups and their white counterparts. But the reality is there is no evidence that the genes used to divide people into races are linked to how our immune system responds to viral infections. Continue reading...

This week’s Global Vaccine Summit comes at a crucial point in history. Governments must not miss their chance to save lives

Questions raised over study claiming drug linked to higher rate of mortality and heart problems in Covid-19 patients

Creatures’ attempts are in vain, and as they are unable to burrow through the fish’s ribcage, the eels become trapped in the gut of their captorIt’s no secret that nature can be brutal and violent, but a new Queensland Museum report on the death of some snake eels reads more like the plot of a horror movie than a scientific paper.Snake eels are a family of eel species that live most of their lives burrowed in the soft sand on the floor of the ocean. Continue reading...

Rather than pitting old people against the young, now is the time to unite against a system that only benefits those who are wealthy