Science | The Guardian

It’s nice of a few high street banks to offer repayment holidays but it’s a piecemeal approach. Threadneedle Street must step upThe Italian view of mortgages in the age of the coronavirus is big, bold and serious: payments can be suspended, says the government in Rome. So what about the UK? Where are our equivalent emergency measures, should they be needed?Well, there was a flurry of announcements from banks themselves. Royal Bank of Scotland, as befits a bank still 62%-owned by HM Treasury, volunteered for national service by offering affected customers three-month holidays on mortgage and loan repayments and temporary increases in credit card limits. Lloyds Banking Group followed with a package containing some of the same elements. And both banks, plus Barclays, announced measures to help small business customers. Continue reading...

From Milan to Palermo in Sicily, few people are even venturing out for a coffee in the local bar

Brendan O’Brien points out that science and religion are not incompatibleIt is rather ironic that, in an editorial honouring the physicist Freeman Dyson, you should refer to another scientist, Gregor Mendel, as having “left science for God”, as if science and religion were incompatible (Thinkers make progress by getting things wrong as well as getting them right, Journal, 9 March).Your obituary of Dyson (4 March) said “the young Dyson was already convinced of some moral purpose to the universe and remained a non-denominational Christian all his life”. It also said that he had little patience with physicists who argued that the world was the consequence of blind chance, quoting his words: “The more I examine the universe and the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe must in some sense have known we were coming”.

MPs vote down Iain Duncan Smith’s amendment by 306 votes to 282, cutting Boris Johnson’s working majority of 87

Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and the Twitterati should leave the public announcements to the epidemiologistsI’m no financial expert, but – if you ask me – why not withdraw every last penny from your bank account, head to your nearest casino and put it all on red? You could literally double your money. Sure, something else could happen entirely. But all investments are risky, right? And, like I said, I’m no financial expert.If you found this advice helpful, you may want to look to Twitter for the many nuggets of coronavirus wisdom currently being proffered by self-proclaimed non public health experts. Along with Rory Stewart (you know, that guy who wants to crash on your sofa and be mayor of London) deciding that schools closures are a must, men across the globe have stepped up – in brave defiance of their total absence of virus containment expertise – to offer, free of charge, non-expertise on the very serious situation in which we find ourselves. Continue reading...

While most of us are attempting to stay calm and protect ourselves from the disease, others are keen to make a quick buck from the panicThe coronavirus crisis has revealed five distinct personality types. First, the paper panickers (PPs): the people stockpiling toilet paper. While most PPs are well aware that loo roll is inedible and does not wipe away the virus, they do not seem to care; they are hoarding it anyway. These people do not want to die with any stain on their reputation.The second group, who are fiddling while Rome burns, are the narcissistic Neros. By “group”, I mean Donald Trump. While it is tempting to include Boris Johnson in this category, I reckon he is type three: public school psychopath. In a recent TV appearance, Johnson suggested one approach to the virus would be to “take it on the chin” and “allow the disease to move through the population”. This is another way of saying “let vulnerable people die”. Continue reading...

In Florence, where I live, the squares are empty. Despite political infighting, Italy is showing how to quell the panicOn Monday evening the Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, announced that the whole of Italy was to be designated a “protected zone”, and placed under lockdown as cases of Covid-19 in the country rose to 9,172, with 463 deaths. For the next month, until 3 April, 60 million Italians will be obliged to remain at home, and have been ordered to go outside only for “urgent” work, to attend health appointments or to purchase basic provisions. Bars and restaurants will be forced to close at 6pm, and people have been asked to maintain a distance of a metre from one another in all public spaces. One of the biggest controversies so far has been a ban on visiting friends and relatives. Many Italians have taken to social media to assert their right to enjoy a traditional Sunday dinner with the extended family.Related: Don't travel, don't socialise, stay inside: Italy's coronavirus lockdown rules Continue reading...

How dating apps are adapting to love in the time of coronavirus

Freezer sales at AO.com and John Lewis soar as Iceland reports surge in frozen food purchases

The climate crisis can’t be averted, it’s here. And with human suffering now a reality, governments can no longer stand idly byYou may have read that there are just eight, or 10, or 12 years to save the world from the climate crisis. There are not. It is already here, gaining strength every day as carbon emissions pour into the atmosphere. It is a slow-motion disaster. Action to avert the worst should have started last week, last year, last decade.This is not a message of despair, though, but one of measured hope. The gap between the action we could take to reduce global heating and the action we are actually taking can be measured by a brutally simple metric: human suffering. That means every action that closes that gap, however small, is meaningful. Continue reading...

No evidence virus passes to foetus during pregnancy, according to latest research

Researchers reveal Adam Castillejo still in remission 12 months after ‘cure’ declaredThe patient who became the second person ever to be cleared of HIV remains free of the virus a year after initial reports of a “cure”, researchers have revealed.Adam Castillejo, who was until Monday known only as the “London patient”, was declared free of HIV last year, 18 months after stopping antiretroviral therapy following a stem cell, or bone marrow, transplant to treat a type of blood cancer. Continue reading...

Political leaders and central banks must listen to experts’ advice on containing the outbreak

The Guardian’s picture editors select photo highlights from around the world Continue reading...

Many see remdesivir as one of few drugs that has reasonable prospect of helping patientsA US biotech firm has ramped up production of an experimental drug that has become a focal point for hopes of an effective treatment for coronavirus.The first clinical trial of the antiviral medicine remdesivir in Covid-19 patients is due to report its findings next month according to Gilead Sciences, which said it had accelerated manufacturing of the drug to increase its supplies “as rapidly as possible”. Continue reading...

Mary Mallon triggered multiple outbreaks in New York at the turn of the 20th century – and some believe she suffered prejudice not shown to other asymptomatic carriersMary Mallon was a super-spreader before the term existed, a disease carrier so notorious she acquired a celebrity nickname: Typhoid Mary.Mallon showed no symptoms but was infected with typhoid and triggered multiple outbreaks in New York at the turn of the 20th century. Continue reading...

Opposition claims not enough is being done to stimulate economy, despite Jacinda Ardern saying nation is in robust position to fight coronavirusThe New Zealand government’s economic response to coronavirus has been criticised as “startlingly flat-footed” and a symptom of “complacency”.On Tuesday, the New Zealand stock market dropped 4.85% in the first half hour of trading, prompting opposition leader Simon Bridges to claim the Labour government wasn’t doing enough to stimulate the economy and look after the tourism, education and export industries. Continue reading...

Study analysed data from more than 170,000 women born in Denmark between 1930 and 1996Girls who are tall and lean in childhood are more at risk of later developing endometriosis, research has found.Endometriosis is a painful, often debilitating, condition in which tissue similar to that found lining the womb is found elsewhere in the body, such as the bowel or ovaries. When it breaks down and bleeds, as it would in the womb, it can cause inflammation and pain. It is believed that up to 10% of women live with the condition, with some left infertile as a result. Continue reading...

Findings suggest the 14-day quarantine period used around world strikes a good balanceCoronavirus – live updatesPeople infected with coronavirus are symptom-free for an average of five days, according to a study that reinforces the need for strict quarantine measures.The analysis found that 5.1 days was the median length of time before people started showing signs of illness, although there was a wide range of incubation periods, with a tiny minority of people taking up to two weeks. Continue reading...

Adam Castillejo, known as the London patient, goes public to give hope to others with illnessThe second person ever to be cleared of HIV has revealed his identity, saying he wants to be an “ambassador of hope” to others with the condition.Adam Castillejo, the so-called London patient, was declared free of HIV last year, 18 months after stopping antiretroviral therapy following a stem cell – or bone marrow – transplant to treat blood cancer. Continue reading...

Panic in the City and on Wall Street underlines the need for governments to do (and spend) whatever it takes in dealing with the coronavirus crisisAs coronavirus has spread globally since February, a tenuous balancing act has been attempted in Britain and much of the rest of the world. Governments have assured populations that necessary precautions and preparations are being undertaken to deal with the potential pandemic. The media has, by and large, resisted the temptation to sensationalise and overdramatise the crisis. Most of the rites of early spring have been observed: at the weekend, London train stations thronged with English and Welsh rugby supporters. A dachshund called Maisie won Crufts.This approach has been understandable, as efforts and hopes are concentrated on containing the virus. But this strange state of pseudo-normality was shattered on Monday. Following a Cobra meeting – chaired for the first time by Boris Johnson – the government’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, said that coronavirus in Britain will soon spread “really quite fast”. Meanwhile, global stock markets collapsed at a rate that recalled Black Monday in 1987. Increasingly, the sense is one of queasily living on the brink of a crisis that will be both lethal and transformative. Monday’s market meltdown suggested it will shine a pitiless light on some of the economic assumptions and complacencies of the post-crash decade. Continue reading...

A summary of the biggest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak

Chief medical officer says new regime for minor illnesses likely to start in next fortnight

Britons unknowingly passed on virus after contracting it on flight from London to Vietnam

Move will double number of tests that can be done every day in UK from 2,000 to 4,000

As UK remains at ‘contain’ stage, epidemiologist warns of need to reduce infections spike

Lombardy health system under pressure amid highest daily rise in deaths in country

The truth about how easy it is to catch coronavirus, who is most vulnerable and what you can do to avoid infection

World is looking at Beijing to see what lessons can be learned as new cases of infections fall

What is Covid-19, how does it spread, what are the symptoms, and at what point should you call a doctor?

The number of international tourist arrivals is expected to drop sharply this year, the World Tourism Organization has said, reversing a previous forecast of a substantial increase. The UN body says arrivals are now projected to fall by 1-3% in 2020, instead of the previous forecast of 3-4% growth, with losses of $30bn-50bn (£23bn-£38bn) in international tourism receipts anticipatedTourist hubs in Asia before and after the spread of Covid-19. Continue reading...

Wildfires are ravaging California and Australia – and local fire departments are alarmingly underfunded and underprepared

A colourful puzzle for squaresFelt tips at the ready! Today’s puzzle involves colouring in.The image below shows a square divided into eight segments, and the four ‘mirror lines’ of that square. In other words, when you reflect the square across each of these axes, the square looks exactly the same. Continue reading...

Schools are first line of defence against hunger, Feeding Britain says, with up to 3m pupils at riskA charity led by the archbishop of Canterbury is preparing to help feed children if schools are closed by coronavirus, amid fears the withdrawal of free school dinners could leave up to 3 million children at risk of hunger.Feeding Britain, which runs food poverty schemes in 12 areas of England including Cornwall, Leicester, Barnsley and South Shields, is exploring how to set up emergency programmes similar to those used to feed the poorest children during the summer holidays. Continue reading...

DCMS-based unit aims to identify disinformation about virus and establish its scopeA special cross-Whitehall unit has been set up to counter coronavirus-related disinformation, including from Russia and China, working closely with social media companies to rebut false and inaccurate claims about the disease.Housed in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the unit will aim to identify false information being deliberately spread online and to establish its scope, impact and whether it needs to be actively countered. Continue reading...

Excavation to begin at Richborough, one of England’s most important Roman sitesArchaeologists hope to unlock the story of an ancient amphitheatre by embarking on an excavation at one of England’s most important Roman sites.The amphitheatre at Richborough, Kent, is part of Roman Britain’s longest-occupied site. Continue reading...

This week will offer an opportunity to see the giant star that is 750 times the diameter of the sunEarly risers should look south this week for a nice view of blood-red Antares above the horizon. Often referred to as the heart of the scorpion, Antares is the brightest star in the constellation Scorpio, the scorpion.The star is a red supergiant about 12 times the mass of the sun, 750 times the diameter of the sun, and more than 75,000 more luminous than the sun. Despite being 550 light years away from the sun, its huge luminosity still makes it the 15th brightest star in the night sky. Continue reading...

FCO updates advice after saying travel to Lombardy largely safe despite mass quarantine

Readers are pragmatic in the face of growing panic over the spread of Covid-19Simon Jenkins gives a list of “scares” that have not reached the predicted body count (Let them wash your hands, but not your brain, Journal, 7 March). He does not discuss HIV/Aids and the 1918 flu epidemic, which had devastating consequences. All the medical experts he speaks to are “calm”. Yet the World Health Organization is demanding immediate dramatic action. It cites the actual experience of China moving from 40 cases on 1 January to 3,000 a day in February. Its government was only able to limit this spread by the imposition of a quite astonishing level of social control, including closing all schools and universities, the strict quarantining of whole populations and the use of mass surveillance to track those infected. As the WHO says, this is not a drill and the “carry on as normal” approach is inviting catastrophe.

A scientific theory aims to understand the world. It is only when nature reveals an error that it can be refinedAlbert Einstein once remarked that God is subtle, but not malicious. The material world, he thought, was unpredictable. This made the world interesting but not impenetrable. Einstein, who brought lucidity to the deeply hidden, reasoned that “nature hides her secret because of her essential loftiness, but not by means of ruse”. Seen like this, science advances as much through what thinkers get right as what they get wrong. A scientific theory aims to understand the world. But it is only when nature reveals an error that it can be refined.Few understood this better than Freeman Dyson, an insightful and brilliant theoretical physicist, who died last week. His cosmic genius roamed freely. Dyson wrote about religion, biology and the future of human society. He was a cheerful heretic – for example, calling work on nuclear fusion a “welfare programme” for engineers. He was also absurdly wrong about global warming. But his refusal to conform was essential to his view of a scientist as someone who produced theories that were right and wrong but believed in them with equal conviction. Continue reading...

The Pale Blue Dot | Misheard interview question | Breakdown coach | Marmalade gin | Tahini chicken schnitzelYour report (6 March) suggests that astronauts have seen the Earth “as a pale blue dot”. The Earth will have appeared large to any human spacefarers, as none have travelled beyond the moon. The famous image known as Pale Blue Dot was taken, at the instigation of Carl Sagan, by one of the Voyager probes, looking back through rings of Saturn. No one was on that spacecraft at the time.

Government officials to discuss plans for staging sporting events without fans if crisis worsensSports bodies and broadcasters have been summoned by the government to discuss plans for staging sporting events without fans if the coronavirus crisis worsens.Officials at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport will host the meeting on Monday to look at how to handle events if mass gatherings are banned. Continue reading...

You’re washing your hands 10 times a day and have stopped touching your face. What else can you do to improve your health and avoid bugs?It’s been a long, wet winter. Everybody has got colds, and now we are braced for a coronavirus epidemic. Boosting our immune system has rarely felt more urgent, but, beyond eating more tangerines and hoping for the best, what else can we do?Sheena Cruickshank, a professor of immunology at the University of Manchester, has a “shocking cold” when we speak at a safe distance, over the phone. To know how to take care of your immune system, she says, first you need to understand the weapons in your armoury – a cheeringly impressive collection, it turns out. Continue reading...

How do our clothes affect our mood? Sharon Walker delves into her wardrobe with fashion psychologist Dawnn Karen and finds a poignant explanation for her love of party dressesFriday night, 11pm. I am snapping a selfie in the bedroom mirror. Not for Instagram I hasten to add – no one over 40 should do that – but for my “Best Dressed” folder of outfits. Next to me on a chair is a mountain of clothes that have been lying fallow in my wardrobe for more than a year. Some haven’t seen the light of day for as much as a decade. I must wear them all within a week or drag them kicking and screaming to the charity shop. This is all part of a Radical Wardrobe Edit that I’m racing to complete, as decreed by Dawnn Karen, a fashion psychologist, whose new book Dress Your Best Life promises to “harness the power of clothes to transform your life”.The “new” outfits I’ve unearthed from this growing pile are pinging me pleasing little hits of dopamine, delivering the kind of euphoric high I might ordinarily experience on the Ganni website, but the thought of jettisoning a silver vintage dress brings me out in a cold sweat, even though I know there’s no chance I’ll ever again fit into it and would, in any case, rarely have an occasion to wear it. Continue reading...

Chancellor indicates he is willing to write blank cheque to cope with a pandemic

What are the symptoms caused by the virus from Wuhan in China, how does it spread, and should you call a doctor?

I’ve always had loads of friends but recently decided that many of them had to go. It has simplified and enriched my lifeOne night about six months ago, as I was tidying up for the babysitter at the same time as battling to put the kids to bed, all while trying to answer a multitude of suddenly-urgent questions they’d had all day to ask, and put lipstick on, I caught sight of my frantic-looking face in the mirror. What, I wondered, was I doing all this for? Was it worth it simply to spend the evening with a couple we didn’t really like, drink insipid wine and make shallow small-talk about other people we don’t really know or want to spend time with?I’ve always been a more-the-merrier type person and someone who prided herself on being a good friend. I have friends from all areas of my life – school, university, work – but as I got older and the demands of raising three young children and work have grown, I’ve realised that something had to give. And that something has ended up being my friendships. Not all of them, but I’ve certainly had something of a reassessment. Continue reading...

Advisers such as chief medical officer Chris Whitty have restored the public’s faith in officialdomThe public has relied on a number of key individuals to keep them informed of developments in the spread of the coronavirus, including doctors, epidemiologists, researchers and health officials. Here are five of the main players who have helped to restore British faith in the value of experts.• Chris Whitty. England’s chief medical officer, took up his post only a few months ago but has acted with calm authority throughout his public appearances since coronavirus emerged as a global health threat. A former epidemiologist, Whitty was appointed professor of public and international health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), the post he held before becoming chief medical officer. He has warned the country that it should prepare to face disruption to many normal activities “for quite a long period”. Continue reading...

An unregulated world can be blamed for its spread, but collective action based on evidence could be the best way to stop itIn 2008, the world successfully pulled together – with Britain playing a catalytic role – when faced with the threat of financial collapse. In 2020, confronted with the threat of a global pandemic, it is every country for itself. There has been no international health summit of national leaders supported by the World Health Organization – although the World Bank has announced a $12bn package of assistance. There are frantic national efforts to create a vaccine and no effort to ensure that, when found and produced in sufficient scale, it will go to the places of need – in all our interests. Britain, with no vaccine production capacity of its own, is especially vulnerable.Instead there are national bans on exports of key products such as medical supplies, with countries falling back on their own analysis of the crisis amid localised shortages and haphazard, primitive approaches to containment. The standards on isolation, quarantine and contact tracing – medieval approaches to disease control in any case, according to Prof Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine – vary hugely between countries. Continue reading...

In a week when the UK’s defences were ramped up, five workers describe coping with a climate of fearHeadteacher of a primary school in Nottingham