16 articles from SUNDAY 9.8.2020

Starwatch: moonlight puts a damper on the Perseid show

Our brightest and most reliable annual meteor shower will be affected this year by the proximity of the half moonThis week one of the most reliable annual meteor showers will be on show. The Perseids will reach their peak activity over the next few days. Start looking tonight, particularly in the early hours of the morning, then again tomorrow night and on Wednesday. The meteors are small...

The Guardian view on Brexit bureaucracy: tied up in red tape | Editorial

Businesses already struggling with the fallout from Covid-19 will be forced to deal with a mountain of new bureaucracy in the middle of a deep recessionThe government did not quite achieve the Brexit breakthrough it was seeking on Friday, when there was hope that a fast-tracked trade agreement with Japan might be reached. But it seems likely that a deal, essentially replicating one signed by the...

Katie Mack: 'I didn't anticipate being in a pop song when I went off to study physics'

The cosmologist, author and Twitter sensation on ‘heat death’, getting heckled by Stephen Hawking – and being name-checked on a No 1 albumKatie Mack achieves two improbable feats with her new book, The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking). First, she writes about the end of the universe with a jauntiness that makes it not actually that depressing. And second, she takes concepts in...

Covid-19: only half of Britons would definitely have vaccination

Survey sparks concern over misconceptions about vaccines and scepticism about science Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageOnly half the population of Britain definitely would accept being vaccinated against Covid-19. That is the shock conclusion of a group of scientists and pollsters who have found that only 53% of a test group of citizens said they would be certain or...

Tough choices need to be made, but reopening schools is a priority

Young people have been hugely affected by Covid-19. We must fight this rise in cases and make classrooms as safe as possible• Coronavirus latest updates• See all our coronavirus coverageRebound, resurgence, second wave – whatever you call it, the current coronavirus situation is worrying. Evidence suggests new infections are increasing in many European countries, including Britain, while in...

We can’t ease lockdown any more, expert warns as testing calls grow

Contact tracing must improve to prevent resurgence in England, say care chief and top scientistCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageOne of the government’s most influential scientific advisers is warning that the loosening of lockdown may have already gone too far and that an urgent increase in coronavirus testing and faster contact tracing is essential to prepare for a...

What we are learning about Covid-19 and kids

As schools around the world prepare to reopen, new scientific evidence about children and coronavirus is coming to lightCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageBack in April, the French epidemiologist Arnaud Fontanet found himself leading an investigation in the town of Crépy-en-Valois, a small community of 15,000 inhabitants just to the north-east of Paris. In February, the...

Change isn't a good thing for Japanese rheumatoid arthritis patients

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a common complication of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) that dramatically increases the risk of death. In a recent study led by Osaka University, researchers identified a genetic variant that increases the risk of ILD among Japanese RA patients, most likely by altering the expression of the RPA3 gene and triggering scarring of lung tissue. Identifying risk variants...