What is coronavirus, how does it spread, what are the symptoms, and should you call a doctor?

Efforts to address the outbreak risk are being undermined by an exodus of scientists and a leader who regularly distorts factsThe Trump administration’s jettisoning of scientific expertise and the president’s habit of spreading misinformation means the US is in a much weaker position to deal with the threat of coronavirus, experts have warned.There are now at least 149 known coronavirus cases across 13 states, with 11 deaths. US lawmakers have put together an $8.3bn emergency bill to help contain the virus, with laboratories set to be allowed to develop their own coronavirus tests without seeking regulatory approval first. Continue reading...

In a change of policy, some confirmed cases are now treated at home rather than in hospital

While the authorities implore New Yorkers to respond to facts not fear, I’ve taken to eating my stockpileAs of Thursday morning there were 11 confirmed cases of coronavirus in New York state (population: 20 million) and the phony war against the virus was well under way. In the city, people tried to find a proportionate response while honouring the need to be Doing Something. This mostly took the form of using an elbow to activate the elevator and finding somewhere to store 25lb of rice. Plus, of course, wondering if now was the time to buy Apple stock.Other questions remain. Does it make sense to cancel your spring break in Cancún when you pass through Times Square every day? How do you disinfect a phone? Are we supposed to be washing our hands multiple times even when we haven’t left our apartments? Does eating turmeric really work? And the big one: how much guilt should I feel for enjoying a massive sense of relief when a bunch of things I didn’t want to go to were cancelled? Continue reading...

Science behind spread of virus must be clear to avoid public discordThe looming arrival of a new disease as it spreads across international borders is, naturally, a source of some anxiety. But psychologists warn that the coronavirus outbreak has the ingredients to tip society into a state of panic if not carefully handled.“If you look at the historical record you’ll find that when outbreaks of novel disease emerge they do trigger high levels of anxiety and uncertainty and dread,” said Monica Schoch-Spana, a senior scientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “Fear is going to be up because it’s unfamiliar … and we don’t have the usual counter-measures like vaccines or medicines.” Continue reading...

Threats to humanity, and how we address them, define our time. Why are we still so complacent about facing up to existential risk? By Toby OrdThe world is in the early stages of what may be the most deadly pandemic of the past 100 years. In China, thousands of people have already died; large outbreaks have begun in South Korea, Iran and Italy; and the rest of the world is bracing for impact. We do not yet know whether the final toll will be measured in thousands or hundreds of thousands. For all our advances in medicine, humanity remains much more vulnerable to pandemics than we would like to believe.To understand our vulnerability, and to determine what steps must be taken to end it, it is useful to ask about the very worst-case scenarios. Just how bad could a pandemic be? In science fiction, we sometimes encounter the idea of a pandemic so severe that it could cause the end of civilisation, or even of humanity itself. Such a risk to humanity’s entire future is known as an existential risk. We can say with certainty that the novel coronavirus, named Covid-19, does not pose such a risk. But could the next pandemic? To find out, and to put the current outbreak into greater context, let us turn to the past. Continue reading...

This week on the podcast, we’re bringing you the third and final episode from our Common Threads series, this time about trust in science. In particular, we ask how past controversies have led many to question gene editing, science and medicine, and if by focusing on the past, we can move forward.To listen to episodes one and two, search ‘The Gene Gap: Common Threads’ wherever you get your podcasts Continue reading...

Nasa’s Veggie system will enable astronauts to safely grow nutritious fresh foodExperiencing weightlessness, gazing back at the Earth as a pale blue dot and the adrenaline rush of being propelled into orbit at 20,000mph: life as an astronaut has various unique attractions.The food is not among them, with space travellers over the years enduring delicacies such as freeze-dried ice-cream, liquid salt and pepper, and dehydrated prawn cocktail. However, the menu is now set to be expanded, with the first space-grown lettuce having been found to be as safe, nutritious and palatable as the Earth-grown variety. Continue reading...

‘Safety guidance texts’ sent by the authorities contain an avalanche of personal information and are fuelling social stigma

This blog is closed.

New software brings Earth climate satellite back to lifeThe Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) is operational again after being dark for about nine months. The satellite developed issues with its attitude control system last summer. This prompted operators at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to place it in a safe mode that protected the spacecraft from damage but also stopped it from returning data. Analysing the fault, operators have designed new software to allow DSCOVR to work despite the ongoing malfunction. This has been uploaded and the satellite has started to return science data once more. The mission is now fully operational.Launched on 11 February 2015, DSCOVR operates about 1.5m km away from Earth, sitting between the Sun and our planet. It takes images of the whole Earth which are used to monitor clouds and vegetation, atmospheric ozone and aerosols. It also monitors the particles discharged from the Sun that create space weather. Magnetic storms in this space weather can have an adverse effect on electricity networks, communications and navigation systems on Earth. DSCOVR is the US’s principal warning system for such events and in its absence the ageing Nasa spacecraft Ace (Advanced Composition Explorer) fulfilled this role. Continue reading...

Teacher was given 20 minutes to pack and must remain in hotel room for two weeksJo Davison and her partner were relaxing in their flat in Shenzhen, China, when the phone rang. She was told by the Chinese authorities that they had been exposed to the coronavirus at close proximity and that officials were on their way.“It was terrifying. Five people in hazmats turned up at our apartment, they looked like ghostbusters,” she said. “They took swabs from our nose and throat and said they’d return in the morning so we should start packing.” Continue reading...

Finnish study finds three-quarters of dogs exhibit highly problematic behaviourDog breeders need to take action to improve canine mental health, scientists have said, after research found almost three-quarters of pet dogs have highly problematic anxiety-related behaviour.While physical problems such as breathing difficulties and other health concerns relating to squashed-nosed breeds have become a hot topic, the study suggests breeders also need to focus on dogs’ behaviour. Continue reading...

Seti@home enlisted people’s computers to aid search for extraterrestrial intelligenceA groundbreaking project to use spare computing cycles to aid the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is going into hibernation after more than 20 years, a victim of its own success as the organisers say the project has analysed “all the data we need”.Seti@home was founded in May 1999 by researchers at UC Berkeley, who had the idea of enlisting members of the public to help out with the computationally intensive work of processing transmissions from radio telescopes around the world. Users of early versions of the software were encouraged to run it as a screensaver so that it would not slow down their computers while they were working. Continue reading...

If there’s an epidemic on the scale Public Health England warns of, the government may not be able to keep its citizens safeBlame Boris Johnson for almost everything, but not for the arrival of the coronavirus. He puts on his serious face, slightly unrumples his hair and tells people to wash their hands. As no one voted for him for public health advice he would do well to let untrusted politicians opine as little as possible, leaving public announcements to the respected chief scientific officer and chief medical officer.But there is no way of keeping politics out of this. If this epidemic is only half as bad as the official worst-case scenario, the pressure on every aspect of public services will be tested to breaking point. The full effect of a decade of austerity is about to be brutally exposed. Continue reading...

King Djoser’s step pyramid is the main attraction at the Saqqara necropolis. A restoration project that began in 2006 and was paused between 2011 and 2013 worked on the outer facades, internal corridors leading to the burial well, the stone sarcophagus and stairs at two entrances Continue reading...

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

Climate crisis likely to have supercharged temperatures around world, data suggestsThis winter has been by far the hottest recorded in Europe, scientists have announced, with the climate crisis likely to have supercharged the heat.The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) data dates back to 1855. It said the average temperature for December, January and February was 1.4C above the previous winter record, which was set in 2015-16. New regional climate records are usually passed by only a fraction of a degree. Europe’s winter was 3.4C hotter than the average from 1981-2010. Continue reading...

New research suggests that mothers fall out with their teenage offspring because of how they smell. I tested my family’s resolve from an early ageMothers can fall out with their teenage offspring because they stop liking the way they smell. This is from a study conducted by the Dresden University of Technology. I have been reflecting on what I smelled of as a teenager. I am pretty sure the overwhelming aroma round me was of cheap antiperspirants and colognes. Having seen Kevin Keegan advertise Brut, that was my first fragrance of choice. I complied all too willingly with the command to splash it all over.The only smell I recall my mum having a view on was my feet. She was always badgering me to wash them in the bidet in our bathroom (yes, we had a bidet). I honestly did not realise bidets were for washing anything other than feet until I was well into my teens. My schoolmates who came for tea were also confused. More than once, they took it (not illogically) to be a junior toilet and weed in it. Continue reading...

A summary of the biggest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak

California declares state of emergency and German health minister labels outbreak a pandemic

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: Also known as wood ear, this brown fungus is waiting to release thousands of sporesThere is something uncannily alien about living jelly. Lobes of brown, gelatinous fungus growing out of dead and fallen branches are jelly ear, Auricularia auricula-judae. Once called the Judas’s ear fungus because it often grows on the elder, the tree Judas Iscariot was supposed to have hanged himself on, it was mistranslated in the casual racism of 16th-century English as Jew’s ear.Also known as wood ear, it has an orangey brown to a deep chocolatey colour. It is edible (not tried it yet) and, as the “fungus sambuca” of the old herbalists, has a medicinal history as a cure for sore throat and jaundice and as an astringent; it is used more widely in Chinese medicine. It contains chemicals that are anti-tumour, hypoglycaemic and cholesterol-lowering; as a source of natural melanin it has great potential in the fields of pharmacology, cosmetics and nutraceuticals – foods containing additional functional ingredients such as antioxidants, phytochemicals and vitamins. Continue reading...

As the coronavirus, or Covid-19, outbreak continues to unfold, many of us have been left with questions about exactly what we do and don’t know.Over the next few weeks, we’ll be releasing extra episodes of Science Weekly exploring some of those questions with experts on the frontline. In today’s episode, Ian Sample investigates where the virus infects us when it enters our bodies, and what difference this makes to disease severity and transmissibility Continue reading...

Our own reaction came as a surprise but with further thought, the behaviour is largely explainableIf you asked someone how much toilet paper they have in their home right now, I’m sure they could accurately tell you.Did we ever think we would see a day when supermarkets would impose buying restrictions on toilet paper? It seems ridiculous, right? But the past few days have seen nervous customers panic-buying essential items such as toilet paper, canned goods and rice, leaving supermarket shelves bare. Some stores have even sold out of pet food and kitty litter. Continue reading...

Pomeranian tested a ‘weak positive’ for virus after owner was infected, authorities say

Outbreak continues to spread with Italians in India testing positive. This blog is closed

Third case of Covid-19 confirmed in New Zealand as iwi issues temporary ban on custom of pressing noses togetherA Māori tribe in New Zealand’s capital city has banned the traditional hongi at gatherings this week as more cases of coronavirus emerge.On Wednesday night a third case was confirmed and the ministry of health asked for calm after sufferers and their families were criticised on social media. Continue reading...

Covid-19 hits demand for air travel and government stalls over £100m loanFlybe is on the brink of collapse as the coronavirus hits demand for air travel and the government stalls on providing a crucial £100m loan for the regional carrier.By Wednesday night the airline’s website had stopped working and an error message appeared upon loading stating the link is “no longer live”. Continue reading...

Hazardous chemicals could be carried on clothing and bodies of audience, study suggestsThe lights dim, the trailers roll and the mutter of voices dwindles to a hush. But alongside the smell of popcorn, another scent pervades the cinema: the waft of stale cigarette smoke.Now scientists say they have measured levels of such “thirdhand” smoke, suggesting it is carried on the bodies and clothing of moviegoers and could be a prominent, and lingering, source of hazardous chemicals. Continue reading...

Downing Street’s hostility to the civil service is a dangerous distraction from the task of governing in difficult timesEvery prime minister has at some stage been frustrated with the machinery of government. They feel it is not geared to delivering their manifestos or, in more paranoid moments, that civil servants are engaged in sabotage. But the current intensity of Downing Street’s hostility to Whitehall is abnormal. Boris Johnson does not stoop to public attacks on senior mandarins, but his aides and parliamentary outriders talk about the civil service as an enemy. That view flows from the belief – not always wrong; usually exaggerated – that most civil servants thought Brexit was a mistake and approach it in terms of damage limitation. Mr Johnson wants the company of people who see only glorious opportunities in the UK’s separation from the EU. That prejudice breeds impatience with evidence and disregard for people who rely on it. That is a recipe for bad government.Mr Johnson has already lost a chancellor by demanding that the Treasury surrender any independence from No 10. Sajid Javid resigned rather than tolerate institutional debilitation. Whether his successor, Rishi Sunak, puts up with it has yet to be seen. There might be gains in political efficiency from a submissive Treasury, but there are costs in downgrading a powerhouse of experience in economic policy. Suspicion of Whitehall also radiates from Downing Street’s defence of Priti Patel, the home secretary, over allegations of bullying. It is normal for the prime minister to take an ally’s side when there are rival accounts of what has happened, but the anonymous Conservative “sources” who have been pressing Ms Patel’s case go much further. They accuse Home Office officials of campaigning against their boss because of her political stances. The ugly inference is that officials who say they have been bullied are lying and their motive is softness on immigration and crime. Continue reading...

All major sporting events to be behind closed doors until April as national death toll hits 107The Italian government has ordered the closure of all schools and universities nationwide until 15 March as it grapples to contain Europe’s worst outbreak of coronavirus, which has claimed 107 lives, an increase of 28 in 24 hours.On Wednesday evening, it confirmed that all major sporting events, including Serie A football, would be played behind closed doors due to the outbreak until 3 April. Continue reading...

A summary of the biggest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak

Even No 10 has realised the value of the ‘impressive’ chief medical officer for EnglandCoronavirus – all the latest developmentsTo the broader public, Professor Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, has emerged as the calm voice of authority, the clear-headed expert at the helm of the nation’s strategy to fend off coronavirus. But in medical circles, Whitty has long been regarded as a legend. Those who work with him speak in glowing terms: amazing, extraordinary, fantastic, brilliant, though perhaps not so good at tennis.Such plaudits were not always on the cards, it seems. In a lecture at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, soon after he was made a professor there, Whitty put up a copy of his school report. “Don’t think about sending this boy to university, he can barely read,” one audience member recalls it saying. Continue reading...

Astronomer and television presenter whose passion for her subject captivated audiencesThe astronomer and broadcaster Heather Couper, who has died aged 70 after a short illness, helped, with her passion for the subject, to redefine the way her science was presented on television.She made her name with two series in particular, The Planets (1985) and The Stars (1988), both on Channel 4. In these programmes, rather than presenting from a TV studio, Couper took viewers inside the observatories that shaped the subject she loved. Her scripts were often laced with tales of stargazers from the past, and this historical context, presented from a personal point of view, showed the process of the science, and humanised it. Continue reading...

Probability of Fire Weather Index reaching levels of 2019-20 summer increases 30% due to climate change, researchers sayThe hot and dry conditions that helped drive Australia’s bushfire crisis would be eight times more likely to happen if global heating reached 2C, according to new analysis.An international team of scientists also found the risk of Australia being hit by intense fire weather had already risen since 1900 “by more than a factor of four”. Continue reading...

It may take up to a month to see outcome of attempt to treat inherited form of blindnessScientists say they have used the gene editing tool Crispr-Cas9 inside a person’s body for the first time, a new development in efforts to operate on DNA to treat diseases.A patient recently underwent a procedure at the Casey Eye Institute at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland for an inherited form of blindness, the companies that make the treatment announced on Wednesday. They would not give details on the patient or when the surgery occurred. Continue reading...

Confirmed cases of Covid-19 now span 79 countries, with more than 3,100 deaths, all but 215 in mainland China – data correct at 12:59pm, 3 March

Thousands of medicinal samples to be tested in Belgium for inhibiting impact on virus

Skyhooks, railguns and growing sweet potatoes on Mars … a nerdily engaging discussion of how humans might settle other planetsIn 2007, China demonstrated a new anti-satellite missile by blowing one of its own defunct weather satellites to smithereens: a cloud of shards that still orbits the Earth. The message was not lost on the US, and just before Christmas last year Donald Trump launched his “Space Force”. The heavens are being remilitarised in a new superpower space race; China is planning manned Moon missions, and Elon Musk wants to build a city on Mars. But what exactly is space good for, apart from being the ultimate sniper’s nest for violence directed back at Earth’s surface? In particular, why would anyone want to live there?Science writer Christopher Wanjek’s book is a nerdily engaging (and often funny) attempt to answer that question, though he begins by challenging many of the reasons that people give for colonising space. It’s not a necessary defence against imminent extinction, he argues: pandemic disease or nuclear war might kill a lot of us, but a few would survive to carry on. Wanjek seems to underrate the danger of asteroid impact: a big enough space rock could sterilise the face of the whole planet. There is one threat, though, that everyone agrees could be curtains, which is a gamma-ray burst from an imploding star near enough to ours. When that arrives without warning (as it is bound to do at some point) and destroys the atmosphere, it might be handy to have a spare planet to live on. Continue reading...

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

The situation is too serious for Johnson and Cummings’ personal vendettas and destructive tendencies to continueWhen the weather changes in politics, it changes fast. It’s only a few weeks since Brexit was the biggest peacetime challenge in a generation, a task so huge many wondered if Boris Johnson could pull it off, but now it’s no longer even the most pressing problem on his list.As of this week, his government is at war not only with coronavirus but with some of its own civil servants; the BBC; swaths of businesses opposed to Brexit; and possibly soon the judiciary, depending on the outcome of a review led by the new attorney general, Suella Braverman. All while trying to deliver a trade deal with Europe on a timetable that many in Brussels already thought was impossible. Get either the first or the last of those wrong, and the worst-case scenario is a 2008-style economic crash, not to mention the potential loss of life in a pandemic. Get both of them wrong, and the consequences don’t bear thinking about. Continue reading...

A couple called the Tschirharts spent $50,000 to recreate their beloved pooch. If I had the cash, I would definitely do the sameYou are at level one of crazy dog parent when you throw your pooch a birthday or bark mitzvah. You are at level two when your dog has more clothes than you do. And you are at level 100 when you store your dog’s skin samples and spend $50,000 (£39,000) to clone it.David and Alicia Tschirhart are level 100 pet parents. The Californian couple made headlines recently for cloning Marley, their pet Labrador. Marley was an extremely good boy; he once fought off a rattlesnake, possibly saving a pregnant Alicia’s life. When Marley died from cancer, his owners had a hard time letting him go, so they didn’t: they used a pet cloning company to create a genetically identical puppy called Ziggy. “They have the same personality, they play the same, they favour the same toys,” Alicia told reporters. Continue reading...

Some former workers say going back would threaten their mental and physical health• Coronavirus – latest• Tell us: have you been affected by the coronavirus?Scores of retired NHS doctors and nurses have told the Guardian that they are against returning to work to help tackle coronavirus, with many saying it would threaten their physical and mental health. The government confirmed contingency plans on Tuesday to call back to work NHS “leavers and retirees” to help relieve pressure on an NHS workforce that is expected to be overwhelmed by the virus.But a majority of 120 former NHS employees who responded to a Guardian callout were resistant, and in some cases hostile, to the idea. Many respondents said unprompted they did not want to a return to a working environment where they suffered stress, bullying, burnout and even breakdowns. Continue reading...

Advertising authority censures companies that appear to stoke coronavirus fearsThe Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a series of “alarmist” and “scaremongering” ads for face masks that it said played on people’s fears over the coronavirus outbreak.In rulings published on Wednesday, the regulator found that online ads from two companies breached its code and were misleading, irresponsible and “likely to cause fear without reasonable justification”. Continue reading...

A summary of the biggest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak

The partner of the woman, who flew to Auckland via Singapore and is now in isolation, is also showing symptoms and is being tested

Study finds chromosomes offer clue to longer life of different sexes in different species

Up to one-fifth of UK workforce could be off sick at peak of epidemic, government warns

A measured response is appropriate. But important questions remain about our ability to tackle Covid-19As Covid-19 has spread, to more than 70 countries already, people are learning not only about the new coronavirus, but about their governments’ ability to respond to it. In many countries, from China to South Korea and Iran, anger at the shortcomings is widely held and deeply felt. With a low but fast-growing tally of 51 cases in the UK, the British government, none too soon, has published its action plan.This is a government that believes in providing opportunities rather than a safety net; it seems reluctant to employ the powers of the state to shield or protect. Nor does it want to take the blame for problems. One might have been forgiven for thinking that Boris Johnson had self-isolated, given how little we have seen of him recently. The public has already taken matters into its own hands, with consumers stockpiling canned goods and hand sanitiser. But this is not the kind of situation that can be managed without the state, and Mr Johnson, too, can see the political perils of simply disappearing from the scene. Continue reading...