If in the next week daily Covid cases are fewer than five per day with few or no mystery cases, we will be the first to protest if there is no step 3 opening Victoria cases trend map; Full Australia statsMelbourne stage 4 restrictions; Vic stage 3 rulesSign up for Guardian Australia’s coronavirus emailOn Sunday the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, announced some opening up of Covid...

A new study of gun injuries and deaths in Ontario found that 68% of firearm-related deaths were from self-harm, and they most often occurred in older men living in rural regions, pointing to the need for targeted prevention efforts. The study is published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) http://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.200722.

One way CBD appears to reduce the 'cytokine storm' that damages the lungs and kills many patients with COVID-19 is by enabling an increase in levels of a natural peptide called apelin, which is known to reduce inflammation and whose levels are dramatically reduced in the face of this storm.

Ultrathin materials such as graphene promise a revolution in nanoscience and technology. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have now made an important advance within the field. In a recent paper in Nature Communications they present a method for controlling the edges of two-dimensional materials using a 'magic' chemical.

A new University of Washington and NOAA Fisheries study found that sea lions have the largest negative effect on early-arriving endangered Chinook salmon in the lower Columbia River. The results of this study will publish Oct. 18, 2020 in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

Life as we know uses energy to reproduce itself. Organisms build and break down larger molecules using a common set of reactive intermediate energy carrier molecules. These carrier molecules help chaperone the reactions which build life's biochemical complexity and help push metabolic reactions to drive cellular reproduction. New research suggests that such compounds can be made easily in the...

Italy introduces new restrictions; Trump holds Nevada rally; South African health minister tests positive. Follow the latest updatesEurope’s Covid fight takes a turn for the worsePolice disperse drinkers protesting against tier 2 rules in LondonUS records highest daily coronavirus case total since JulyUS coronavirus cases surge in most statesSee all our coronavirus coverage 12.40am BST Here’s...

The U.N. humanitarian chief is hoping a major ministerial meeting Tuesday will not only raise $1 billion for the three countries at the epicenter of a humanitarian crisis in Africa’s Sahel region but also spur leaders to address the underlying causes, including increasing conflict and insecurity, weak governance and a lack of development. Undersecretary-General Mark Lowcock said in an interview...

People have been diving to the Titanic's wreck for 35 years. No one has found human remains, according to the company that owns the salvage rights.

After almost two years circling an ancient asteroid hundreds of millions of miles away, a NASA spacecraft this week will attempt to descend to the treacherous, boulder-packed surface and snatch a handful of rubble.

The Western Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest warming places on earth. It is also home to threatened humpback and minke whales, chinstrap, Adélie and gentoo penguin colonies, leopard seals, killer whales, seabirds like skuas and giant petrels, and krill—the bedrock of the Antarctic food chain.

In the final week of British summer time, meteors from Comet Halley will be streaking across the night skyThis week, keep an eye open for the Orionid meteor shower. It may not be the brightest or the most spectacular meteor shower of the year but it derives from the most famous comet of them all: Comet Halley. Meteors are tiny pieces of dust that have been left in space from the tails of comets....

Dr. Michael Osterholm predicted that by the holidays, the US "will see numbers much, much larger than even the 67,000 to 75,000...

Your hands can pick up a few million germs from the world around you. So what would happen if you just stopped washing your...

New modelling indicates mandatory masks and strict closures of public spaces early in the state’s second wave could have eradicated the virusVictoria cases trend map; Full Australian Covid statsMelbourne stage 4 restrictions; Vic stage 3 rulesSign up for Guardian Australia’s coronavirus emailElimination of Covid-19 has been found to have been achievable in Victoria within six weeks had the...

Tech reporter Kara Swisher says social media companies were under pressure to deal with misinformation, but their latest attempt has...

No one has found human remains, according to the company that owns the salvage rights. Lawyers for the U.S. government have raised that question in an ongoing court battle to block the planned expedition. “Fifteen hundred people died in that wreck,” said Paul Johnston, curator of maritime history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American...

Links between an anti-lockdown declaration and a libertarian thinktank suggest a hidden agenda Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageEarlier this month, in a wood-panelled room at a country estate in Massachusetts, three defiantly unmasked professors gathered around a large oak table to sign a declaration about the global response to the pandemic. One academic had flown...

Our sense of smell is crucial to survival – so wearing the right perfume could be more important than you thinkEarlier this year I was asked to give a lecture to a group of fashion journalism students at Condé Nast College – an event that was swiftly moved online thanks to the pandemic. It goes without saying that giving a lecture to a group of students looking back at you from a Zoom grid is...

It was the first of two planned Starlink launchings in just three...

Melting ice could cause 3 feet of sea-level rise over the next 80 years, displacing 680 million people...

Ecuador's Galapagos Islands face threats from illicit industrial fishing, climate change and a drastic drop in tourism dollars, which fund conservation efforts in the...

Review finds quality of evidence is poor and noise may lead to more disrupted sleepWhether it is nature sounds, the whine of a hairdryer or the incessant hum of a ceiling fan, white noise apps have been downloaded by millions of people around the world in the hope of getting a better night’s sleep. However, research suggests there is no good evidence that they work, and may even be making things...

Buvidal, is an injectable form of Buprenorphine, that acts as a slow-release drug that blocks the opioid receptors in the...

More than 170 teams of researchers are racing to develop a safe and effective vaccine. Here is their progress Researchers around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, with more than 170 candidate vaccines now tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO). Continue...

Chair of modelling group urges curb on capacity in favour of speed if test-and-trace system is to workCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageA massive expansion of testing will still leave Britain struggling to keep Covid-19 infections under control unless the system can inform people they are positive within 24 hours, one of the government’s most senior scientific...

China stamped out COVID-19 within months and has responded to small outbreaks by testing entire cities in...

Just like the Black Death, influenza and smallpox, Covid-19 will affect almost every aspect of our of lives – even after a vaccine turns upOn 7 September 1854, in the middle of a raging cholera epidemic, the physician John Snow approached the board of guardians of St James’s parish for permission to remove the handle from a public water pump in Broad Street in London’s Soho. Snow observed...

Who next occupies the White House could be decisive in the battle to limit global warming.

Animal behaviour expert Konrad Lorenz explains why it is man who is red in tooth and clawYou can see why the goslings on the cover of the Observer Magazine of 1 May 1966 took Konrad Lorenz (‘the world authority on animal behaviour’) to be their parent – with his feathery white hair he could pass for a goose himself. In fact, the geese have a ‘fixed idea’ that his hair is grass, which is...

Species on the Antarctic Peninsula are threatened by climate change and human activities including commercial fishing, tourism, and research infrastructure. A coalition of over 280 female scientists are pushing for a Marine Protected Area ahead of a meeting of governments to decide this on October 19. These women are part of an initiative to raise the profile of women in STEMM for better global...

Elevated birth weight is linked with developing atrial fibrillation later in life, according to research presented at the 31st Great Wall International Congress of Cardiology (GW-ICC).

Success rates for in vitro fertilization are higher at clinics that voluntarily share more information than required by government regulators, according to new research by faculty at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. In a review of data reported between 2014 and 2017, CU researchers found that clinics that reported more data than required by the Centers for Disease Control and...

Researchers have taken detailed scans of worker ants to examine the hypothesis that the loss of flight is directly connected to the evolution of strength.

The number of sea turtles spotted along the coasts of the UK and Ireland has declined in recent years, researchers say.

Volume 11, Issue 30 of Oncotarget reported that previously, the authors showed that anti-estrogen drugs combined with a dendritic cell-based anti-HER-2 vaccine known to induce strong Th1-polarized immunity dramatically improved clinical response rates in patients with HER-2pos/ERpos early breast cancer.

The lessons learned from a near infrared absorbing, bowl-shaped molecule made only from hydrogen and carbon atoms offers insights for future organic conductors.

A survey of tree cover in England and Wales throws up a few...

A survey of tree cover in England and Wales throws up a few surprises.

Pakistani authorities said Saturday they had foiled an attempt to smuggle dozens of endangered falcons worth more than one million dollars out of the country.

An inferno on the slopes of Africa's highest mountain Kilimanjaro was almost under control Saturday, six days after it broke out, authorities said.

CommonPass aims to create common standard proving a traveller is Covid-free or vaccinatedCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageA new digital “health passport” is to be piloted by a small number of passengers flying from the UK to the US for the first time next week under plans for a global framework for Covid-safe air travel.The CommonPass system, backed by the World...

The winning essay in the Max Perutz science writing award 2020 was written by Sarah Taylor from the MRC Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine at the University of Edinburgh In May, PhD students who are funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) were invited to enter the Max Perutz science writing award 2020 and to tell the general public “why your research matters”. From the many...

Trials in Essex using GPS-enabled remote-controlled aircraft to carry blood tests and PPECoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAn NHS drone is being used to courier Covid-19 samples, blood tests and personal protective equipment between hospitals in England.It is hoped that the trials, backed by a £1.3m grant from the UK Space Agency, can establish a network of air...