Pit your wits against the profIf you are looking for an activity to take your mind off things, here’s a puzzle with a delightful twist.It was devised by Peter Winkler. When it comes to maths puzzles, Winkler is the connoisseur’s connoisseur. Continue reading...
Dust from comets, asteroids and even from the creation of the solar system can be seen on dark moonless nights in late MarchOur solar system is littered with dust and late March is a good time to see it; but it’s only visible from a truly dark, rural sky. It’s called the zodiacal light and the dust that creates it comes primarily from the tails of comets, and colliding asteroids. Some may even be left over from the formation of the planets 4.6bn years ago. On dark, moonless nights, it can be seen as a faint triangular-shaped glow reaching up into the sky. Continue reading...
Australia reaches 1,316 confirmed cases, 213 of them recorded in the past 24 hours, after large rises in several statesBackpacker parties in Bondi and the Ruby Princess cruise ship which docked in Circular Quay have been identified as key vectors in a record rise in Covid-19 infections in NSW, as Australia recorded its largest single-day increase since the outbreak began.Victoria added 67 to take its total 296, Western Australia recorded 30, to bring its total to 120, and the ACT added 10 cases, more than doubling its total to 19. Continue reading...
Our coverage of the biggest event of our lives is a defining challenge for the news mediaThe news rolls in like waves. One unfathomably huge development crashing on another. President Donald Trump has shut US borders. Now Australia is closed to foreigners too. Scott Morrison is spending billions. The surplus is history, a recession now inevitable. The graph of confirmed cases soars. The death count climbs. The job losses rise. We were allowed to attend the football, then only smaller gatherings, now we have to measure the space between us and other human beings, soon there may be localised lock downs. Daily life is shutting down, closing in, to makeshift home offices and socially distant outings to supermarkets where there’s not much to buy. And that’s just in the last week.Related: Coronavirus: the Guardian's promise to our readers Continue reading...
Have a movie night in, say thank you and don’t blame her… loving your mother can make all the difference – to your own life as well as hersIf you’re lucky enough still to have her around, there’s no one on earth you go back further with than your mother. The bond between a mother and her adult child can be frenzied and fraught, loaded and exasperating, undermining and energy-sapping. As with all family relationships, so much of what’s going on is unsaid or coded. An outsider can only sense the ripples, while you are only too aware of the tsunami. But whatever it’s like, two things are true. First, this is a relationship that always matters; and second, it can always be improved. Here’s how.1. Accept that you can’t change her. “You can’t change anyone else,†says Philippa Perry, psychotherapist and author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read. “But sometimes, if you change yourself, the other person will change as well. If you decide to be kind towards your mother, and accepting of her, that may shift your relationship. It’s not guaranteed, but it’s a possibility.†Continue reading...
by Graham Readfearn (now) Melissa Davey (earlier) on (#5115E)
Australia rolls out new social distancing rules as number of people testing positive for Covid-19 nationally passes 1,000 and New Zealand reports its biggest single-day rise in cases. This blog is now closed.
What’s it like being in charge of a minute-by-minute update on a global pandemic that 7 million people are following?It started out as a bit of an experiment in 2007, an attempt to take what sports journalists were doing with minute-by-minute coverage of cricket and football and see if it would work with fast-paced news events.It did. More than a dozen years later, the Guardian’s live blog format (a rolling screed of real-time news updates written by journalists like me) is one of our most successful digital innovations ever, prodigiously utilised, much copied – and so well read that it can be daunting for those doing the writing. Continue reading...
Covid-19 essential guide: how is it different from the seasonal flu, can you pick it up from public transport and how sick will I get?Coronavirus – latest updatesWhat are the coronavirus symptoms?The Covid-19 virus is a member of the coronavirus family that made the jump from animals to humans late last year. Many of those initially infected either worked or frequently shopped in the Huanan seafood wholesale market in the centre of the Chinese city of Wuhan. Unusually for a virus that has made the jump from one species to another, it appears to transmit effectively in humans – current estimates show that without strong containment measures the average person who catches Covid-19 will pass it on to two others. The virus also appears to have a higher mortality rate than common illnesses such as seasonal flu. The combination of coronavirus’s ability to spread and cause serious illness has prompted many countries, including the UK, to introduce or plan extensive public health measures aimed at containing and limiting the impact of the epidemic. Continue reading...