At midnight on 2 August, people around globe will be able to see grouping high in the skySet a calendar reminder for this coming weekend when an essentially full moon joins Jupiter and Saturn in the southern sky.When full, the moon rises at sunset and spends the entire night in the sky, so the grouping will be visible during all the hours of darkness. The chart shows the view looking due south...
Planetary scientist Sarah Stewart Johnson describes how the latest mission to Mars builds on centuries of discoveries about the red planet – Earth’s nearest neighbourNasa plans to launch its latest mission to Mars this month, which aims to place the Perseverance rover on the surface of the planet in February 2021.It is the latest attempt to explore a planet that has loomed large in the popular...
Dr Jane Lethbridge of the University of Greenwich, Heather Hancock of the Food Standards Agency and Jim Grozier of University College London on science and coronavirus. Plus Bruce White on Boris Johnson’s reference to asymptomatic transmissionSonia Sodha (Bias in ‘the science’ on coronavirus? Britain has been here before, 23 Juy) provides a welcome reminder of the BSE crisis and government...
The risk to teachers as they return to school in the autumn concerns Pat Brockbank, while Sue Rogers finds the mask-wearing debate disheartening. Plus Po-yu Sung on why supermarkets should enforce face coverings My daughter teaches in a senior school of about 600 pupils. In less than six weeks’ time, all pupils are being forced to return to the classroom, with 30 children to each room. The only...
Thousands of people like me are suffering ill health months after contracting the virus. We need more helpAs a writer, I spend my days trying to craft believable, satisfying narratives. But as a Covid-19 “long-hauler”, I have given up trying to find an internal logic to the story of my illness. As we now know, thousands of people are suffering a range of bewildering and debilitating post-Covid...
Tiny piece of meteorite from London’s Natural History Museum will be used by rover exploring red planetA small piece of rock will be hurled into space this week on one of the strangest interplanetary voyages ever attempted. A tiny piece of Martian basalt the size of a 10p coin will be launched on board a US robot probe on Thursday and propelled towards the red planet on a seven-month journey to...
The Recovery drugs trial is a beacon of excellence among the general coronavirus incompetenceBeing British has been a discomforting experience for the past six months. A nation that had prided itself on the strength and resilience of its healthcare system has been laid low by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has claimed nearly 50,000 lives in the UK. Most other western nations have suffered fewer...