If an ice age took hold, the Himalayas might have even taller mountains, a study findsWould Alaska’s Mount Denali – the highest peak in the US – be as tall if it was situated on the equator instead? Might the Himalayas be even taller if an ice age took hold? Every mountain range is sculpted by rain and wind, but some mountain belts are also sliced by glaciers, producing the classic horn-shaped peaks, knife-edge ridges and amphitheatre-like valleys, known as “cirques”. A new study shows that by lightening the load, glacial erosion helps to create higher mountains than might otherwise be expected.Jörg Robl, from the University of Salzburg in Austria, and colleagues analysed 16,000 of the world’s highest mountains, comparing their overall height, their steepness and the thickness of the underlying crust supporting them. They found that some of the steepest mountains are found at the highest latitudes, where glacial sculpting predominates. And because glaciers create such “skinny” mountains, they show that the underlying crust (like icebergs, mountains have extensive crustal roots) does not need to be as thick as it would for a non-glacial peak. Continue reading...

Key expert in coronavirus response resigns from Sage after admitting ‘error of judgment’

UK government science adviser says toll in care settings on rise despite falls in hospital figures

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Testing falls below 100,000-a-day target for third day in a row as UK deaths rise by 693 and trial begins for new contact-tracing app

Plan involves beefing up protection for vulnerable people while easing controls on others

Although the science is not yet settled, researchers say government should be acting on ventilation and other measures now

Figures prompt renewed calls to ensure health and social workers have PPE neededThe number of key workers and members of their families who are testing positive for Covid-19 has overtaken the number of sick people testing positive in hospitals.Figures showing that 2,067 key workers had tested positive at a new daily count prompted calls for a greater focus on how and why health and social workers were contracting coronavirus and for assurances that they were continuing to get the personal protective equipment (PPE) needed. Continue reading...

Tracing the path of the virus is vital, but so is people’s continued willingness to cooperate and isolate if necessaryYour country needs you. Or to be specific, it needs your phone.The new NHS coronavirus tracing app is to be trialled from this week on the Isle of Wight and ministers are pushing it with all the fervent appeal to moral duty they can muster. Since it’s being sold as the nearest thing to a safe way out of this nightmare, unsurprisingly early surveys suggest most islanders are willing at least to try something that promises to alert them when they’ve been in contact with other app users who later show symptoms of Covid-19. Throughout this epidemic the British have proved more willing than anyone imagined to do whatever’s asked of them, to protect the NHS or their own loved ones. But can it really be that simple? Continue reading...

Critical care patients, some on ventilators, sent outdoors for sunshine and fresh air in pioneering Devon project

Scientists welcome ‘initial step’ towards developing antibody to treat or prevent coronavirus

Chief scientific adviser says he is optimistic if UK also adheres to physical distancing

Advisers recommended issuing public warning on day PM said he shook hands ‘with everybody’ at hospital

Most important reason for discrepancy appears to be implementation of early lockdown

Poll finds 64% of voters more likely to listen to expert advice as 51% say they have seen fake news about virus

Councils have been crucial in tackling coronavirus. It’s dangerous of the government to dismiss their expertise now

Recent deaths have stood out, but scientists say they must be interpreted with cautionAmid the steady stream of stories on the lives lost to coronavirus are cases that stand out as remarkable. In the past month, at least two pairs of twins have died in Britain and two pairs of brothers, all within hours or days of each other. But do the deaths point to genetic factors that make some more likely than others to succumb to the disease?Most scientists believe that genes play a role in how people respond to infections. A person’s genetic makeup may influence the receptors that the coronavirus uses to invade human cells. How resilient the person is to the infection, their general health, and how the immune system reacts will also have some genetic component. Continue reading...

Sage told widespread use of antibody tests could lead to criminal behaviour, papers reveal

This will be a good meteor show to see from the southern hemisphere, but you’ll need to be up early, experts say. See where, when and how to watch in AustraliaIf you want to see what happens when a piece of dust from the tail of a comet hits the earth’s atmosphere at about 60km per second, then look roughly east in the early hours of Wednesday.Between about 2am and 5am, the annual Eta Aquarids meteor shower will peak during the Earth’s journey through the orbit of Comet Halley and the trail of dust it leaves behind. Continue reading...

It’s clear from a recent litany of disasters – from the coronavirus pandemic to America’s deadliest wildfire in a century – there are forces that cannot be domesticated

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 near you

With false information linking the coronavirus to 5G telecoms or Chinese labs being widely shared on social media, Ian Sample speaks to social psychologist Dr Daniel Jolley about why the pandemic is such fertile ground for conspiracy theories Continue reading...

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Deprivation, age, gender and obesity will also feature in review of thousands of health recordsA review will analyse how factors such as ethnicity, obesity and gender can affect people’s vulnerability to coronavirus, health leaders have said.Public Health England (PHE) said thousands of health records of people who have had Covid-19 will be examined to establish more “robust” data on what can have an impact on the number of cases and health outcomes for different groups within the population. Continue reading...

No current evidence to suggest coronavirus leaked from Wuhan research lab, agencies say

Loved by their 41 grandchildren, the men died within 17 days of each other. Their loss highlights the virus’s brutal toll on minoritiesIn photographs together and with their families, the five men smile, or hold their loved ones close. All 50 or older, their friendships ranged over decades, their passions running from philanthropy to cycling, their duties from activism to business. A little over two weeks ago, they were pillars of the Pakistani community in the small pocket of Birmingham in which they all lived, with 41 grandchildren between them. Now they are all dead, victims of coronavirus.“We will be lost without them,” said Amer Awan, 44, whose 67-year-old father Nazir is among the dead. “They were our backbone – the keepers of our history. It is phenomenal that they have all gone.” Continue reading...

Concerns raised over privacy, but health secretary claims there is ‘huge enthusiasm’

EU-hosted talks tout cooperation but is not addressed by India, Russia or US

Government must state whether aim is to suppress or manage infections, say experts convened by Sir David King

Government publishes names of 50 members of experts’ group but list is incomplete

After nine weeks of confinement, Italians are back in the streets. But the most difficult decisions have yet to be made“We are living in the night of the virus,” wrote one academic, soon after Europe’s first Covid-19 lockdown was imposed in Italy. “Living in the dark, because it’s difficult to see what’s happening out there, since we are shut up in our homes.”On Monday Italians entered blinking into the light again, after nine weeks of more or less total confinement, enforced by a combination of fines and moral exhortation. As the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, begins tentatively to reopen the economy, the employees of Ferrari and Lamborghini are returning to their factories, along with other workers in the manufacturing and construction industries. Shops will open in two weeks’ time; bars and hairdressers in June. Italians are able to exercise freely at last, stroll through late spring sunshine and visit relatives. Continue reading...

It’s no surprise that the virus is making us anxious. Nor that some groups and people are far worse affected than others“The undisguised brutality of our time is weighing heavily upon us. Tomorrow she is to be cremated, our poor Sunday child!” So wrote Sigmund Freud in January 1920, two days after his 27-year-old daughter Sophie died of Spanish flu (due to travel restrictions, he had not been allowed to visit during her illness). Just as during the global pandemic of a century ago, for bereaved families these are desperately sad times, and the enforced separations can feel like salt rubbed into wounds. In addition to grief, many families – such as those of medical workers left on the frontline without protection – are dealing with anger about the way the crisis has been handled.But what is the mood of the population as a whole? How widespread is the sense of loss and fear about the disease and the future? New data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests a sharp rise in levels of anxiety, and a corresponding decline in happiness, in the days on either side of the 23 March lockdown. About half of the people surveyed – equating to over 25 million British adults – reported high anxiety during that period, more than double the average in the final quarter of last year. The number reporting low happiness levels more than doubled – with the most common causes being personal wellbeing and loneliness, and the threat to jobs and finances. Continue reading...

The solutions to today’s puzzlesEarlier today I set you the following four puzzles from my new book, Football School: the Ultimate Puzzle Book:1. Which of these two watering cans can carry the most water? Continue reading...

Delivering the coronavirus tests was the easy part. Now we need mass contact-tracing and self-isolation

Researchers highlight risk of asymptomatic infection, as Europe begins easing lockdown

List of more than 50 names published, but Dominic Cummings is not among them

Shinzo Abe says lockdown measures will remain in place in all regions until 31 May

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 near you

Four months in, we know what works against coronavirus. These are eight important lessons from east Asia

Tech firm Onfido in talks with government about system to help Britons return to work

Puzzles for kids in quarantineToday’s teasers are from my new puzzle book, Football School: the Ultimate Puzzle Book, which is aimed at 8 to 13-year-olds. No pressure. I have extracted some of the problems that I thought might also provide entertainment for grown-ups.We kick off with a problem for everyone tending their lawns, plant pots, and window boxes during lockdown. Continue reading...

Dirty air is well known to worsen the heart and lung risk factors for Covid-19 - early research is cause for concernIn many respects, it makes perfect sense.Patients with severe Covid-19 are twice as likely to have had pre-existing respiratory diseases and three times as likely to have had cardiovascular problems. Continue reading...

Far-right leader shakes hands with demonstrators as country’s death toll exceeds 6,750. This blog is now closed.

Addiction expert says lockdown will be ‘tipping crisis’ for some recreational users

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Ex-chief scientific adviser sets up rival panel of experts over Covid-19 ‘lack of transparency’

The pandemic has inspired some great journalism and never have we needed it more

Just one in five want schools, pubs and restaurants to be reopened, according to new poll by Opinium

Nobel scientists warn Britain will lose ‘superpower’ status if access barred to €100bn EU fund

The partnership between AstraZeneca and the Jenner Institute should jolt our industry and banks