26 articles from SATURDAY 20.6.2020

'Wildly off-base': how did Australia get its coronavirus modelling so wrong?

Although early coronavirus modelling was inaccurate, experts say it did make us see what could happen if we did nothingWhen Covid-19 shifted from a disease in returned travellers to a virus that was spreading throughout the Australian community, dire predictions of deaths proliferated on social media and in the news.In March, the deputy chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly, said modelling...

Breakthrough discovery to transform prostate cancer treatment

A novel formulation of the prostate cancer drug abiraterone acetate - currently marketed as Zytiga - will dramatically improve the quality of life for people suffering from prostate cancer, as pre-clinical trials show the new formulation improves the drug's effectiveness by 40 per cent.

NHS Covid app developers 'tried to block rival symptom trackers'

Developers claim government technology unit was hostile to other groups, hampering the fight against the diseaseNHSX, the health service technology unit responsible for the government’s failed contact-tracing app, attempted to block rival apps to protect its own, hampering efforts to track the early spread of the coronavirus.Developers were urged to stop work by NHSX and the Ministry of Defence,...

Why lockdown silence was golden for science

From acoustic engineers in Britain to marine biologists in Canada, researchers made the most of the drastic drop in noise from human activityOne of the few upsides of lockdown was that, if a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square, you had a chance of hearing it. City dwellers across the globe delighted in the silence, the freedom from the incessant rumble of traffic, and the joy of birdsong. How...

'Tipping point': Greta Thunberg hails Black Lives Matter protests

People are realising ‘we cannot keep looking away from these things’, says climate activistGreta Thunberg has said the Black Lives Matter protests show society has reached a tipping point where injustice can no longer be ignored, but that she believes a “green recovery plan” from the coronavirus pandemic will not be enough to solve the climate crisis.Reflecting on the protests that have...

UK seeking to scale back plans for independent satnav, report says

Ministers reportedly exploring alternatives to plan announced in 2018 to build rival to EU’s Galileo projectBritish ministers are seeking to scale back plans for a £5bn satellite navigation system that was introduced in 2018 as an alternative to the European Union’s Galileo project, it has been reported.The ministers are exploring other options, which include using OneWeb, the UK satellite...

My Coronavirus Lab Is Safer Than Your Supermarket

By Troy Sutton, The ConversationIt’s quiet in the laboratory, almost peaceful. But I’m holding live SARS-CoV-2 in my hands and this virus is not to be taken lightly.As I dilute the coronavirus to infect cultured cells, I hear the reassuring sound of purified air being blown by my respirator into my breathing space. There are three layers of nitrile and protective materials between me and the...

Rare 'ring of fire' solar eclipse to cast shadow over Africa and Asia

Event will be visible across a narrow band from Congo-Brazzaville to southern ChinaSkywatchers along a narrow band from west Africa to the Arabian peninsula, India and southern China will witness the most dramatic “ring of fire” solar eclipse in years on Sunday.Annular eclipses occur when the moon passes between Earth and the sun, but not quite close enough to our planet to completely obscure...

Breakthrough discovery to transform prostate cancer treatment

A novel formulation of the prostate cancer drug abiraterone acetate - currently marketed as Zytiga - will dramatically improve the quality of life for people suffering from prostate cancer, as pre-clinical trials by the University of South Australia show the new formulation improves the drug's effectiveness by 40 per cent.

Shining light on a malignant lung cancer

Treating a rare type of malignant lung cancer could improve, thanks to near-infrared irradiation and a cancer-targeting compound. Nagoya University oncologist Kazuhide Sato and colleagues tested the treatment and published their findings in the journal Cells.

Boeing shifts its team leaders for space station and Starliner space programs

As a new commercial-centric era dawns for the International Space Station, Boeing is realigning its top managers for the space station program — and for the program that's working to send Starliner capsules there and back. Mark Mulqueen, who has served as Boeing's space station program manager since 2015, will be retiring July 2. During his 35 years at Boeing, Mulqueen has served in a...

NASA gets set to put astronauts on Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic suborbital flights

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine signaled today that astronauts would soon be cleared to take suborbital spaceflights aboard the commercial rocket ships being tested by Virgin Galactic and by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space venture. "NASA is developing the process to fly astronauts on commercial suborbital spacecraft," Bridenstine said in a tweet. "Whether it’s...