26 articles from SATURDAY 23.5.2020

In private, Tories were dismayed. In public, they rallied to save Dominic Cummings

Pressure is growing inside and outside parliament for the resignation of the No 10 chief adviser after claims that he flouted lockdown rulesIt was Mother’s Day – 22 March – and as Covid-19 spread across the country, Boris Johnson was urging families not to mark the occasion as normal. “This Mothering Sunday,” he said, “the single best present we can give – we who owe our mothers so...

President Trump Will Attend First NASA Astronaut Launch in More Than a Decade

(Sterling, Va.) — President Donald Trump plans to be on the Florida coast Wednesday to watch American astronauts blast into orbit from the Kennedy Space Center for the first time in more than a decade. It will be the first time since the space shuttle program ended in 2011 that U.S. astronauts will launch into space aboard an American rocket from American soil. Also new Wednesday: a...

Sweden’s Covid-19 policy is a model for the right. It’s also a deadly folly | Nick Cohen

The Swedes were the Brexiters’ poster nation, but now have Europe’s worst death rateCoronavirus – latest updatesTell us: have you been affected by the coronavirus?Covid-19 is nature’s way of making bad situations worse. From the moment it turned the world upside down, you could have predicted that the Chinese Communist party would have arrested whistleblowers and covered up the threat to...

Climate crisis: Tropical rainforest ‘tipping point’ identified as scientists call for immediate action to tackle global warming

Tropical rainforests’ vital ability to store carbon is under threat due to rising global temperatures, and the Amazon is particularly at risk, scientists have warned.Calling for “immediate steps” to conserve forests and stabilise the global climate, the authors of a study based on research from 600 sites around the world said that beyond a maximum daily temperature of 32.2C, trees get too...

Coronavirus UK map: the latest deaths and confirmed cases in each region

Latest figures from public health authorities on the spread of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. Find out how many confirmed cases have been reported in each of England’s local authoritiesCoronavirus - live news updatesFind all our coronavirus coverage hereHow to protect yourself from infectionPlease note: these are government figures on numbers of confirmed cases – some people who report...

An A to Z of old words to calm and inspire hope

Have a ‘kaffeeklatsch’ until you become ‘unsoulclogged’: archaic soothing terms to use in troubling timesLike language, our emotions are universal and whatever fears and anxieties we are now experiencing, someone else in centuries gone by has felt the same way. Here is an A-Z of archaic and forgotten words that at some point in the past exactly described an elusive sense of peace, calm and...

The science of making sourdough bread

The transformation of dough into a loaf is chemistry in action. With a bit of physics and microbiology. And love…If bread is rising, sourdough is soaring. Along with pasta and toilet rolls, flour was among the first products to vanish from supermarket shelves and Covid-19 inspired a home-baking boom. While Google searches for “bread” tripled in the UK in the weeks after mid-March, those for...

This is SpaceX’s big chance to really make history

On Wednesday, May 27, at 4:33 p.m. US Eastern Time, NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are scheduled to launch into orbit for a rendezvous with the International Space Station. This is standard stuff, except for three important facts: it will be the first time in almost nine years that American astronauts have flown to space from American soil; it will be the first time in history...

Does MRI have an environmental impact?

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have surveyed the amount of gadolinium found in river water in Tokyo. Gadolinium is contained in contrast agents given to patients undergoing medical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, and it has been shown in labs to become toxic when exposed to ultraviolet rays. The researchers found significantly elevated levels, particularly near water...

New studies reveal extent and risks of laughing gas & stimulant abuse among young people

In one study, researchers from Turkey reported increasing stimulant use among medical students approaching their final exams, despite the substantial risks to their health. In the second study, researchers from the Netherlands detailed the neurological outcomes associated with recreational use of laughing gas (nitrous oxide), suggesting that, for some individuals, permanent neurological damage can...

Sleep-wake disturbances can predict recurrent events in stroke survivors

The study, conducted in Switzerland, found that having multiple sleep-wake disturbances such as sleep-disordered breathing, extreme long or short sleep duration, insomnia and restless leg syndrome independently and significantly increased the risk of a new cardio-cerebrovascular event in the two years following a stroke.

SpaceX crewed mission is a 'go' for launch next week

NASA and SpaceX have confirmed that they’ve had “a very successful launch readiness review” at a virtual press conference. SpaceX has just test-fired the Falcon 9’s first-stage engines as part of the final series of tests needed before...