The UK's limited vaccine offer ignores the serious threat of long Covid - and the knock-on effects on the economyRecent headlines have been flagging that Covid may be coming back, but, as weary as we all may be of this pesky virus, the truth is that it never really went away. Unlike viruses such as flu, there is no evidence that Covid has settled into a seasonal pattern. Its constant presence means that it has plenty of opportunity to gather new mutations that continue to make it worrisome.While we can limit the likelihood of exposure by enhancing ventilation or wearing masks, vaccination remains an important cornerstone of protection. As such, the plans to offer autumn vaccine boosters are really important. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has the tricky task of making decisions about the UK's booster plans. Factors such as population susceptibility and infection severity are typically considered, but this autumn, the JCVI has begun to include cost-effectiveness considerations in the development of its advice". Continue reading...

Analysis of thousands of species finds some invertebrates and plants also getting smaller, while others are increasing in body sizeA global analysis of thousands of animal and plant sizes has found that species are shrinking, an effect most clearly found by researchers in changes to the body size of fish, which are getting smaller.Species such as the thorny skate, a north Atlantic fish that can grow up to a metre in length, have become smaller, while smaller-bodied species such as mackerel are growing in abundance, according to the researchers, changing the composition and functioning of ecosystems. Continue reading...

UK's return to science programme raises hope of more deals, including suspension of planned EV tariffsA dramatic thaw in relations between Britain and the EU has raised hopes that the Horizon science deal could be the first of many breakthroughs, diplomats in Brussels have said.They claimed the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, had a close relationship that was in stark contrast to the hostility EU officials faced from Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. Continue reading...

Hybrid organs raise prospect of fully human body parts being grown inside animals for transplantsScientists have grown humanised kidneys in pigs, raising the prospect of human organs being grown inside animals.The research involved creating human-pig chimeric embryos containing a combination of human and pig cells. When transferred into surrogate pig mothers, the developing embryos were shown to have kidneys that contained mostly human cells, marking the first time that scientists have grown a solid humanised organ inside another animal. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed, you can read more on this story hereIn the Commons Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, is making a statement to MPs about the escape of Daniel Abed Khalife from Wandsorth prison. Mabel Banfield-Nwachi is covering this on our separate live blog about this story.Rishi Sunak has been speaking to journalists about the government's decision to rejoin the EU's Horizon science research programme on a visit to the University of Warwick. Here are the main points he made.Sunak defended the length of time it took to rejoin Horizon, saying the government had to negotiate the right deal. Labour says the delay has been damaging. (See 9.52am.) But Sunak said:We are associated to Horizon, which is the world's largest international research partnership including countries not just from the EU but also Norway, Israel, New Zealand, with hopefully Canada and South Korea to join soon too.We've taken the time to negotiate the right deal for the UK, a bespoke deal which works in our interests.You would have seen today just overwhelming support for what the Government has agreed.I listened to the science and research community here. They said that association to Horizon was a priority. That's what I've delivered.He sidestepped a question about whether the Horizon agreement would lead to the UK collaborating more closely with the EU in other areas. Asked about this, he said collaboration was important - but that it did not have to be with the EU. He said:When it comes to the research world, collaboration is really important. The best research is often done across borders, but it's not just about with EU countries. It's actually much more global than that. And that's why this programme is important. It includes EU countries but also Norway, Israel, New Zealand with hopefully Canada and South Korea as well. But that's not the extent of our international collaboration. Continue reading...

Gill Coombs and Ben Whitmore respond to Zoe Williams' article on Carl Jung and how much her father loathed himCarl Jung, who was hated by Zoe Williams' father (My late father hated Carl Jung. Should I shun him for ever too?, 4 September), is famous for his work on dreams. It's perhaps less well known that from his long experience of treating others and observing themes and patterns, he developed a personality type theory as well. Isabel Myers and Katharine Briggs turned this into the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a personality test widely used for half a century in educational and business settings.I've seen the MBTI evoke reactions similar to Zoe's father's distaste for Jung. It's not scientifically validated, some people complain; and (less heard these days) a mother and daughter came up with it, round a kitchen table. Continue reading...

Event generated regular outbursts of light about every 25 daysAstronomers have observed a star like the sun being repeatedly shredded and consumed" by a black hole about 500m light years away.The dramatic event generated regular outbursts of light about every 25 days, which was detected by scientists at the University of Leicester. Continue reading...

From sexist objections to the challenges faced by female crew on Earth and in space, this is a vital record of a giant leap for womenIn 1973, four years after Neil Armstrong's space boot hit moon dust in the most celebrated step ever taken by a man, a Nasa report observed that: There have been three females sent into space by Nasa. Two are Arabella and Anita - both spiders. The other is Miss Baker - a monkey." The report's co-author Ruth Bates Harris, who the space agency had originally hired to run its equal opportunities office, was described as a disruptive force" and fired a month later.The prospect of women in space was hardly outlandish. Ten years earlier, 26-year-old Soviet parachutist Valentina Tereshkova had orbited Earth 48 times - a feat not greeted with delight by US officials, who swapped rumours (which Tereshkova denied) that she had suffered some kind of emotional breakdown" during the flight. At Nasa itself, Jerrie Cobb had already passed the same gruelling physical and psychological tests the agency set for its all-male Mercury crews by 1960. (This milestone achievement was marked by the headline: No 1 Space Gal Seems a Little Astronaughty".) In 1962, Cobb appeared before a House subcommittee to argue for women's place in the US astronaut cadre. Her evidence was promptly dismissed by the Mercury hero John Glenn, who remarked flatly: The fact that women are not in this field is a fact of our social order." Continue reading...

Mark Dickey developed gastrointestinal bleeding while down in Morca cave with other explorersTurkish rescue teams are racing to save an American who developed internal bleeding while exploring a cave more than 1,000 metres (3,300ft) below ground level.Turkey's caving federation said on Thursday that 150 rescuers were trying to reach Mark Dickey, 40, who developed gastrointestinal bleeding while deep inside the Morca cave, near Turkey's Mediterranean coast. Continue reading...

Scientists relieved they can once again apply for funding from world's largest such programme after three-year hiatus

Polls suggest a majority of Britons regret our exit. Rejoining the scientific programme could be the start of something biggerIs this the dawn? Have we reached the glimmer of a new beginning? Rishi Sunak's about-turn on joining the European Union's Horizon programme is a first note of sanity in the two and a half tortured years since Britain formally left the EU. Let it not be the last.The story itself is miserable. Horizon is an 81bn continent-wide programme to give Europe's scientific research community a critical mass to compare with that of the US or China. It acknowledges the obvious truth that advanced scientific research needs collaboration rather than competition. Britain's universities had been leaders of the pack, and they were among Horizon's principal beneficiaries. If anything made sense of a united Europe, it was Horizon. Continue reading...

Some studies suggest vegans are healthier if more depressed, slimmer but unpopular. Still, veganism works for me

Scientists analysing DNA of object that could be an egg from an unknown sea creature or a marine spongeA mysterious golden orb that may be an egg laid by an unknown sea creature has been discovered on the ocean floor off the Pacific coast of Alaska.The smooth object with an intriguing hole at the centre was found at a depth of about two miles by a remote-controlled submarine explorer. Continue reading...

The Duchess of Sussex is among fans of stickers from brands like NuCalm, which claim to have a calming effectThis month, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was photographed wearing a biosignal processing disc" affixed on her left wrist. The product, sold by a company called NuCalm, promises to transmit signals to the brain that makes the wearer feel peaceful and relaxed. NuCalm has reportedly been used by sports coaches and active military members to combat the high-stress lifestyle that comes with their jobs.The brand's website is filled with so much jargon that it should be studied in every marketing class: allegedly, NuCalm's neuroacoustic technology" harnesses oscillations, frequencies and vibrations to change a person's brain waves. The NuCalm experience" is reportedly fast-acting, deep, and long-lasting". Continue reading...

Tweet viewed millions of times claimed ground temperature was being confused with air temperatureAs thermometers creep upwards, it has become harder and harder to deny the reality of the climate crisis. Some, however, are questioning whether temperatures are being measured properly in the first place.In a tweet seen millions of times, the influencer Robin Monotti said in July that media outlets were repeating a report from the European Space Agency (ESA) that confused air temperature with ground temperature, which is generally higher. Continue reading...

Japan has launched a rocket carrying a small lunar lander and an X-ray telescope that will explore the origins of the universe.The X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, or XRISM, will measure the speed and makeup of what lies between galaxies in an effort to discover how the universe was created. The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon is expected to attempt a lunar landing early next year.Japan's launch comes after recent lunar missions from India and Russia and plans announced by the US and China

Smart Lander for Investigating Moon will aim to touch down within an unprecedented 100 metres of its targetJapan's Moon Sniper" mission has blasted off on its mission to make Japan the fifth country to touch down safely on the lunar surface, and the first to do it with unusual precision.The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) got its Sniper nickname because it is designed to land within 100 metres of a specific target on the surface - much less than the usual range of several kilometres. Continue reading...

Madeleine Finlay hears from the Guardian's east Africa global development correspondent, Caroline Kimeu, about the challenges and tensions at play at the inaugural climate summitRead more reporting from Caroline Kimeu here Continue reading...

Stargazers in the northern hemisphere get a once-in-437-year chance to observe the comet as it reaches peak visibility just weeks after being identifiedA comet called Nishimura discovered just a month ago could be visible to the naked eye this weekend, offering stargazers a once-in-a-437-year chance to observe the celestial visitor.The ball of rock and ice, whose exact size remains unknown, is named after the Japanese amateur astronomer Hideo Nishimura who first spotted it on 11 August. Continue reading...

Post-Brexit return to 85bn scheme discussed this week, say sources, and is set to be announced on ThursdayBritain is to rejoin the EU's flagship 85bn science research programme, Horizon Europe, in a long-anticipated deal welcomed by scientists.Britain's membership of Horizon, which funds research projects tackling crucial issues from the climate crisis to terminal diseases and improving food and energy security, was agreed as part of the post-Brexit trade deal in 2020. But it was never ratified in a tit-for-tat row between the EU and the UK over Northern Ireland Brexit arrangements. Continue reading...

Keir Starmer likens the Tories to cowboy builders' as the PM insists the government acted decisively in response to the problem

Sunak screwed across the board | Animal behaviour | Spot the ball | Fresher ingredients | Raac in Ancient RomeAnother German word for Rishi Sunak's situation (Letters, 3 September) is zugzwang, a term in chess for a poor position, where any move would make the current bad situation even worse.

Sphericalness is likely to have been produced intentionally' - but why it was done remains a mysteryEarly ancestors of humans 1.4m years ago deliberately made stones into spheres, according to a study - though what the prehistoric people used the balls for remains a mystery.Archaeologists have long debated exactly how the tennis ball-sized spheroids" were created. Did early hominins intentionally chip away at them with the aim of crafting a perfect sphere, or were they merely the accidental byproduct of repeatedly smashing the stones like ancient hammers? Continue reading...

Tiny structures are not identical to human embryos, but could have various uses in medical researchResearchers have created complete" models of human embryos from stem cells in the lab and grown them outside the womb, in work that paves the way for advances in fertility, pharmaceutical testing and transplants.The tiny balls of tissue were made by combining stem cells that arranged themselves into structures that mimic the 3D organisation of all the known features found in human embryos from one to two weeks old. Continue reading...

States face challenges getting federal aid amid dwindling Fema funds and laws that don't consider heat a climate disasterThe spiraling costs of extreme weather in the US are hitting hard as more than 60 million Americans are under heat alerts this week, experts say, even though federal law does not explicitly consider heatwaves to be climate disasters.Temperatures on Tuesday climbed toward record highs across the north-east, upper midwest and mid-Atlantic, with the south also bracing for soaring temperatures later in the week. Continue reading...

Senate recommendations must go beyond concussion and look into the risk of the brain disease from environmental exposure

More than a million under-50s a year dying of cancer and figure projected to rise by another 21% by 2030The number of under-50s worldwide being diagnosed with cancer has risen by nearly 80% in three decades, according to the largest study of its kind.Global cases of early onset cancer increased from 1.82 million in 1990 to 3.26 million in 2019, while cancer deaths of adults in their 40s, 30s or younger grew by 27%. More than a million under-50s a year are now dying of cancer, the research reveals. Continue reading...

Nine in 10 of all cancers affect people over 50 but research shows a worrying rise in early onset casesThere are many upsides to growing old, but one of the downsides, unfortunately, is a higher risk of developing cancer. Increasing age is a key risk factor. And with more of us living longer worldwide, millions of older people will have to contend with the disease.Now a new study adds weight to previous work warning of a grim trend in global health: cancer in people under the age of 50 is becoming more common. Continue reading...

Remains pillaged in colonial era for scientific' experiments are DNA matched to Tanzanian descendantsResearchers in Berlin have identified living relatives of people whose remains were stolen from Tanzania and taken to Germany for scientific" experiments during the colonial era.Berlin's Museum of Prehistory and Early History has been carrying out research since 2017 on about 1,100 skulls taken from what was then known as German East Africa. Continue reading...

The UK Health Security Agency has announced plans to bring forward its autumn Covid-19 vaccination programme, and scale up testing and surveillance, after the emergence of the BA.2.86 variant. Madeleine Finlay and Ian Sample discuss where current infection rates stand, the characteristics of the new variant, and how prepared the UK is for a new waveRead the latest on Covid-19 from science correspondent Nicola Davis here Continue reading...

Scientists find that most partners have shared traits including political views, education levels and drinking habitsThe power of animal magnetism has brought countless couples together, but when it comes to who we fall for, scientists say there's little truth in the old adage that opposites attract.A study on romantic relationships found that for more than 80% of traits analysed - from political views to drug taking and the age at which people first had sex - partners were often remarkably similar. Continue reading...

The answer to today's puzzleEarlier today I set you this puzzle, created by Kirsty Land, a former student of King's Maths School, the school that topped this year's A-level rankings. (To read more about King's Maths School, see my original post.)The amazing word machineAdd any vowel to the start of a word. i.e. MAZE ->AMAZE.Add any consonant to the end of a word. i.e. CARD -> CARDS.Delete two or more consecutive vowels. i.e. PLEASE ->PLSE.Delete two or more consecutive consonants. i.e. STRING -> SING, RING, ING or STRI.Double the entire word. i.e. AYE -> AYEAYE.OX...XOXO...XOXO...OXOX...OX Continue reading...

Members of mission run by Nasa and SpaceX parachute in capsule off coast of Florida after spending six months at ISSFour astronauts splashed down to Earth early on Monday, returning home after spending six months on a rotation mission at the International Space Station.SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule parachuted off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, bringing a spectacle to many residents of the north-east part of the state just after midnight. Continue reading...

Isro, the Indian space agency, has released footage of the Chandrayaan-3 lander Vikram completing a hop experiment, shortly after the spacecraft made a historic landing on the moon's south pole

Take the King's Maths School challengeUPDATE: To read the solution click hereIt's the beginning of term, so let's hear it for King's Maths School, a state sixth form college in London, which topped this year's A-level rankings: 69 per cent of A-levels taken by its students were A*, and 92 per cent were A or A*. Chapeau!The school was founded in 2014 by King's College London, and caters for the mathematically gifted. Each year has about 70 students, of whom 1 in 4 has parents with no history of higher education. About 1 in 3 students progresses to Oxford or Cambridge, a higher proportion than any other school.Add any vowel to the start of a word. i.e. MAZE ->AMAZE.Add any consonant to the end of a word. i.e. CARD -> CARDS.Delete two or more consecutive vowels. i.e. PLEASE ->PLSE.Delete two or more consecutive consonants. i.e. STRING -> SING, RING, ING or STRI.Double the entire word. i.e. AYE -> AYEAYE. Continue reading...

The monument dates to between 4000 and 3000BC and is thought to be the only complete example in BritainBelow the rolling heath on the Isle of Arran's south-west coast, overlooked by harriers and the occasional peregrine, a monument to ancient ceremony is being uncovered.In August, archaeologists working alongside local volunteers began their excavation at Drumadoon of what is almost certainly the only complete Neolithic cursus monument found in Britain. Continue reading...

A new variant and waning immunity mean surveillance that had been wound down since pandemic will be increasedCoronavirus testing and monitoring are set to be scaled up for the winter, the UK's public health agency has said, as pressures on the health service are expected to rise in the coming months.Scientists warned last month that the UK was nearly flying blind" when it comes to Covid, because many of the surveillance programmes that were in place at the height of the pandemic have been wound down. Continue reading...

The broadcaster's first disinformation correspondent spends her time pursuing trolls and dismantling conspiracy theories. In return she is abused, slandered, threatened. She talks about battling cranks, extremists - and Elon MuskOn my way into Broadcasting House, the BBC's London HQ, I saw some graffiti on the building - BBC Covid Liars". I had just finished Marianna Spring's most recent podcast, Marianna in Conspiracyland, and there was something neat and droll about seeing its proposition in real life: Covid hoaxers are real and they are alive with their own righteousness. Not only that, but the BBC is at the centre of their theorising - the supposed public service broadcaster brainwashing the people of the UK.What I didn't know until I met Spring, 27, the BBC's first specialist disinformation and social media correspondent, was that when the graffiti appeared a week ago, posters of Spring's face went up with it. I don't like the way that the huge volume of online abuse spills over into offline action," she says, trenchant but understated. She doesn't want this normalised, for people to think: it's OK to go outside the BBC and leave a message saying, We're outside.'" Continue reading...

Discovered by an amateur astronomer in August, C/2023 P1 is likely to be visible to the naked eye this weekYou may already have read about the recently discovered comet that could become a naked-eye object in September. For those in the northern hemisphere, this is the week it could happen.Hideo Nishimura, a Japanese amateur astronomer, discovered what is now known as comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) on 12 August. Computation of its orbit showed it would make its closest approach to Earth on 12 September at a distance of 78m miles (125m km), just five days ahead of its closest approach to the sun. Continue reading...

DNA evidence examined three years after his false conviction for rape in 2004 was vital in exonerating himThe Andrew Malkinson case highlights egregious failings in the criminal justice system, but also the unique power of forensic scientific evidence to bring about redress.In 2007, three years after Malkinson's conviction and after scientific advances, a new DNA profile was identified from the victim's clothing, which had been securely archived after the original trial. This was crucial to Malkinson's eventual exoneration and could yet help bring the right person to justice. Continue reading...

The idea that you can manifest' your soulmate by raising your vibration', once the domain of New Age spirituality, is common among gen Z social media users. Juliana Piskorz wonders whether to give it a goI've been through my fair share of breakups. In fact, my most recent one was last month. I'll spare you the details but it left me thinking: is there such a thing as the one"? Or is each relationship just a melange of random circumstances and individuals whose compatibility is based on which side of the river they grew up, whether or not they wear ankle socks, and sheer luck? I voice-noted all this to a friend while garnering more than my usual fair share of pitying looks in the Sainsbury's checkout queue and was buoyed when she replied almost instantly: No!!!! ur soulmate is coming, you just need to write your list and raise your vibration."She wasn't referring to my ringtone or propensity to fidget. In the rhetoric of New Age spirituality, every person, object or emotion has its own unique frequency" and in order to manifest something you must alter your own frequency to match the thing you want. Two years ago, this kind of jargon was limited to the eccentric colleague who, after undergoing a toad venom cleanse in Ibiza, decided to retrain as a yoga instructor, grow a rat-tail and extol the anti-ageing properties of snail slime. But since the pandemic, I would be hard pushed to find a friend who doesn't check their vibrations, hasn't Googled their partner's astrological birth chart or used the term my truth" or manifested" at least once in the past month. Continue reading...

Local archaeologists dedicate their lives to protect priceless artefacts from smugglers, Hamas and Israeli attacks in a land at history's crossroadsThere is considerable debate over the origin of the name Gaza. Some etymologists trace it back to azaz, which means strong" in Semitic languages; other accounts believe it derives from the Persian word ganj, which means treasure".It's true that you almost can't move for ancient treasures in the tiny blockaded strip. Fishers, farmers and construction workers regularly uncover elements of Gaza's 5,000-year-old past in the course of a day's work. Continue reading...

Vaccines, available only to high-risk groups, have been brought forward as cases begin to rise and the British winter loomsThe vaccine campaign against Covid-19 has just been brought forward by a month in the face of changes in the disease's behaviour. The decision was made as the UK heads into autumn and has raised concerns that the nation faces a new wave of a disease that triggered a national lockdown three years ago. Here we look at the issues involved and scientists' responses to the threats that lie ahead. Continue reading...

Foundation backtracks on earlier announcement that representatives from Russia, Belarus and Iran would be invitedThe Nobel Foundation has reversed its decision to invite ambassadors from Russia and Belarus to this year's Nobel awards ceremony in Stockholm after the invitation sparked anger.In 2022, the Nobel Foundation, which organises the annual Nobel prize ceremony and banquet in Stockholm, decided not to invite the Russian and Belarusian ambassadors to the awards event because of the war in Ukraine. Continue reading...

This summer, a South Korean lab declared a world-changing breakthrough. Their claims didn't survive scrutiny, but physicists hold out hope for the holy grail of electric efficiencyA possible real solution to the energy crisis" that could change everything". That's how recent headlines billed the mundane lumps of a dirty-looking material known as LK-99 reported by scientists in South Korea in July. Their findings were described in two papers (https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12008 and https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12037) posted to the arXiv preprint server - a website where researchers present work that has not yet been subjected to peer review. They said they had for the first time in the world" made a superconductor that worked at room temperature and at everyday pressure.A superconductor is a material that can conduct an electric current without any resistance, meaning that no energy is lost through heat. Superconductors have been known about for more than 100 years, but previous ones have worked only at extremely low temperatures or when under very high pressures. LK-99 on the other hand, the South Korean team said, was superconductive just sitting there on a benchtop. If they had been right, the discovery would genuinely have merited the word revolutionary". Continue reading...

India has launched a spacecraft towards the sun in the latest mission of its ambitious space programme. The launch comes a week after the country's successful unmanned moon landing. Aditya-L1 launched with a live broadcast, showing the vessel making its way to the upper reaches of the Earth's atmosphere. The vessel is carrying scientific instruments to study the sun's outermost layers in a four-month journey

As humans encroach further on the natural world, researchers warn that 75% of novel diseases are transmitted from wildlife

An Emirati astronaut, Sultan al-Neyadi, will make history when he completes his six-month tenure on the International Space Station this Saturday, the longest-ever space mission by an Arab man or woman. Neyadi, 42, answered questions from the Guardian in a recorded interview, giving details about his time in space. 'It's our responsibility to deliver the knowledge,' says Neyadi, who regularly posted videos on social media detailing daily life on the space station Continue reading...

Cancer Research analysis shows Britain is beating cancer' but strain on NHS could derail progressMore than a million lives have been saved thanks to a golden era" of progress in cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment in the UK, with death rates plunging by a quarter, according to a study.The Cancer Research UK analysis suggests major advances in tackling the disease over the last four decades have prevented 1.2 million deaths. Continue reading...

Biomarker discovery indicates that sufferers from brain fog and fatigue post-virus could be treated with anticoagulantsScientists have identified molecular signatures in the blood that are linked to brain fog, other cognitive problems and fatigue in patients who are diagnosed with long Covid after catching the virus.Raised levels of two different proteins were more common in people who developed long Covid symptoms that affected their brains, the researchers found. Both are hallmarks of blood clots in the body, the likely cause of the symptoms reported. Continue reading...