Government accused of being ‘tone deaf’ for imposing restrictions in the north of England despite warningsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe government has been accused of being “tone deaf” for its sudden introduction of further lockdown restrictions in the north of England last month shortly after being warned that local interventions could fuel racial...

What better time than the UK’s hottest-ever week for ministers to commit to bold climate action? The hottest week in the UK since records began offers further proof that our weather is changing. Climate change and global heating are not predictions, but facts of life that we must deal with now. Ten of the UK’s warmest-ever years have been since 2002, while the temperature of 36.4C recorded at...

There is no future in narrow nationalism. The only way out of this crisis is by working together• Time to reset: more brilliant ideas to remake the worldMake no mistake, we are still only at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. My hope is that the world is now finally waking up, and will do all that is needed to bring the crisis to an end, and be better prepared for inevitable future...

It’s easier to do social distancing outside – and there’s considerable evidence that students learn better in fresh airWe need to send our children back to school this fall – safely. School districts across the United States are currently being led by indecisive administrators who are grappling with budget cuts while scrambling to figure out how to coordinate complicated schedules for...

Government secures early access to those being developed by Novavax and JanssenCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe UK government has reached agreements it says will give British citizens early access to 90m doses of two more potential Covid-19 vaccines.The vaccines are being developed by the US biotech company Novavax and the pharmaceutical business Janssen, which is...

It is difficult for lefty snails to mate with normal snails because they have genitals on the opposite side of their headIt began when a retired scientist at the Natural History Museum in London told me that he had found a rare garden snail with a left-coiling shell. In 20 years of researching the genetics of snails at universities around the world, I had never found a “lefty” garden snail. My...

Some have suggested we’re now successfully treating Covid-19, or that ‘herd immunity’ has finally arrived. Neither is trueCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageWhy has the mortality rate for coronavirus decreased in the UK? The Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre has analysed data from more than 10,000 patients admitted to intensive care units in...

Blood-sucking maggots are bent on the deaths of these innocent creaturesSign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are publishedGet all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue...

Premier Daniel Andrews announces 372 new cases as chief health officer Brett Sutton says he is ‘confident’ Covid-19 outbreak has peakedFollow today’s Australian coronavirus live blogAustralian stats interactive; Vic cases map; NSW cases map; NSW hotspots listState by state Covid restrictions; Melbourne stage 4 restrictions; Vic stage 3 rulesSign up for Guardian Australia’s coronavirus...

Channel Tunnel warns it doesn’t have capacity for extra travellers trying to get home before 4am on Saturday Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe UK’s airports and ports were braced for travel chaos on Friday as some of the hundreds of thousands of British holidaymakers in France race to return home before new quarantine rules kick in.Summer plans have been thrown...

Mystery had enthralled skywatchers since the star began to lose luminosity last October – with some suggesting it could explodeThe sudden dimming of one of the Milky Way’s brightest stars, Betelgeuse, could be due to a dust cloud spewing up from its surface, astronomers have said.The mystery has enthralled skywatchers since the star – part of the Orion constellation – began to lose...