China launched an unmanned probe on 23 July to Mars in its first independent mission to visit another planet.China's largest carrier rocket blasted off with the probe at Wenchang Space Launch Centre in the southern island province of Hainan and is expected to reach Mars in February 2021.The Mars-launching season occurs every 26 months when Earth and Mars are at their closest;...

Delay is result of coronavirus pandemic and technical challenges as troubled project is set to cost £6.8bnNasa has announced that the often delayed James Webb space telescope (JWST) is to be delayed once more. Instead of a launch on 30 March 2021, the mission has now slipped to 31 October 2021.The seven-month delay is the result of impacts from the coronavirus pandemic, as well as technical...

Seismologists said high frequency noise fell as much as 50% as planes were grounded and roads emptiedCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAn unprecedented wave of silence spread around the world in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, according to researchers who found that vibrations from human activity slumped under national lockdowns.Records from seismic stations all...

World must act now to protect wildlife in order to stop future virus crises, say scientistsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe cost of preventing further pandemics over the next decade by protecting wildlife and forests would equate to just 2% of the estimated financial damage caused by Covid-19, according to a new analysis.Two new viruses a year had spilled from...

Variola virus DNA found in bones of people from Denmark to Russia around Viking eraThe Vikings are known for their intrepid seafaring, fearsome fighting and extensive trading, but it seems it may not only have been goods and weapons they carried on their travels – they could also have carried a deadly disease.Researchers say they have found the world’s earliest confirmed case of smallpox,...

Injection of projectile from satellite into orbit ‘threatens the peaceful use of space’The UK has accused Russia of launching a projectile “with the characteristics of a weapon” during a satellite test that could “threaten the peaceful use of space”.It is the first time the Ministry of Defence has called out Russian activity of this sort. Continue...

New sites in Essex and Oxfordshire will open in 2021, with a rapid deployment facility due this summerCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe government has agreed to buy a manufacturing site in Essex, which was built to make fish medicine, so that it can be converted to produce a Covid-19 vaccine.The £16m purchase will enable an existing facility, owned by the...

Study of mosquitoes’ biting preferences reveals that urbanisation is shaping behaviour More species of mosquito may evolve to bite humans instead of other animals and spread disease because of urbanisation, according to a scientific study.While the vast majority of the 3,500 species of mosquito do not bite humans, scientists studied Aedes aegypti, an invasive species which has evolved a taste...

Researchers identify Vitis riparia as phylloxera’s original host and say it came to Europe from the USIn the mid-19th century almost half of France’s vineyards were destroyed in the great French wine blight.The previously unknown phylloxera insect, an almost microscopic aphid-like creature, went on to decimate vines across Europe before spreading to Australia, South Africa and elsewhere. It is...

Lessons about scientific transparency from the BSE scandal have been forgotten as the government grapples this crisisCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageIt became the defining moment of the BSE crisis. In an attempt to persuade the public that it was perfectly safe to eat beef, the then agriculture minister, John Gummer, fed his four-year-old daughter a burger on camera...

AstraZeneca and others should not own a lucrative patent on a medicine that is needed by poor as well as rich nations• See all our coronavirus coverage• Helen Clark is a former prime minister of New Zealand and Winnie Byanyima is UN undersecretary generalTo bring an end to the pandemic, the world needs a vaccine. Promising early trial results for the vaccine developed by Oxford University...

Tianwen-1 mission attempts to put China in ‘elite’ club of countries conquering the red planetChina has launched its most ambitious Mars mission yet in a bold attempt to join the US in successfully landing a spacecraft on the red planet.Engines blazing orange, a Long March 5 carrier rocket took off on Thursday around 12:40 pm from Hainan Island, south of the Chinese mainland. Hundreds of space...

Your questions answered on what type of mask to wear to cut the risk of getting Covid-19Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageYes. Different types of mask offer different levels of protection. Surgical grade N95 respirators offer the highest level of protection against Covid-19 infection, followed by surgical grade masks. However, these masks are costly, in limited supply,...

A diplomacy shaped around self-serving tittle-tattle now risks lives and undermines America’s standing in the worldThe campaign by the Trump administration against the World Health Organization has often seemed faintly preposterous.Over the months of the coronavirus pandemic its untruths and hyperbole have been dismissed by many as iterations of Trumpspeak, whose main purpose has been to...

Shop-owner’s son had apparently come across ancient artefacts while out fishingPolice conducting a routine inspection of a frozen seafood shop in eastern Spain have netted 13 Roman amphoras and an 18th-century metal anchor, all of which were apparently found by the owner’s son on fishing trips and used to decorate the premises.After stopping in at the shop in the coastal town of Santa Pola, in...

From Elon Musk’s SpaceX, to Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Horizon – there is a growing interest in space exploration by some of the world’s least publicity-shy billionaires. But does the 2020 launch of the SpaceX Dragon 2 spacecraft really mark the beginning of a new privately financed space race? And what do recent international launches, such as the UAE’s...