33 articles from SUNDAY 23.8.2020

Starwatch: silver moonlight in contrast with blood red Antares

The moon at first quarter will pass Antares, the heart of the scorpion, a red giant with an explosive futureThis week, the moon will coast past the blood-red northern summer star of Antares in the constellation of Scorpius, the scorpion. The chart shows the view looking south-south-west from London on 25 August at 21:00 BST. The moon and Antares will be low in the sky, but the white brilliance of...

Reporting from Latin America: 'Coronavirus has proved an intensely political story'

The Guardian’s Latin America correspondent reflects on the humanitarian disaster that has gripped the region in recent monthsWhen I set off from Mexico City for Rio with my family in early March, for what was supposed to be a short holiday, Latin America had not recorded a single death from the coronavirus.Security staff at Mexico’s Benito Juárez airport wore face masks. A blue and red banner...

Projected Storms May Make Blazes Tougher to Control

California firefighters had good weather on their side Saturday as they battled wildfires that have torched nearly 1 million acres and forced the evacuation of more than 119,000 people from their homes. But their fortune may run out Sunday, when storms with strong winds, lightning and little rain may return to the region.Among the two dozen major fires pulling firefighters in all directions are...

The future is fungal: why the 'megascience' of mycology is on the rise

The study of fungi has long been overshadowed by more glamorous scientific quests. But biologist Merlin Sheldrake is on a mission to change thatAs a boy, Merlin Sheldrake really loved the autumn. In the garden of his parents’ house – he grew up a few moments from Hampstead Heath, which is where he and I are walking right now, on an overcast summer morning – the leaves would fall from a big...

Why it’s sensible to be silly

Serious times call for serious measures – such as drawing smiley faces on fruit – and what’s more, the science proves itBy the fifth week of lockdown, I had mastered the art of silliness. My flatmates and I had drawn smiley faces on fruit, stuck googly eyes on vegetables and dressed up as our favourite pop stars. On social media I noticed similar responses to the “unprecedented” times we...

Follow NASA's Perseverance rover in real time on its way to Mars

The last time we saw NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission was on July 30, 2020, as it disappeared into the black of deep space on a trajectory for Mars. But with NASA's Eyes on the Solar System, you can follow in real time as humanity's most sophisticated rover—and the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter traveling with it—treks millions of miles over the next six months to Jezero Crater.

2 tropical storms heading for double blow to US Gulf Coast

Two tropical storms advanced across the Caribbean on Saturday as potentially historic threats to the U.S. Gulf Coast, one dumping rain on Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Hispaniola while the other swept into the gulf through the gap between Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba.

US faces back-to-school laptop shortage

Schools across the United States are facing shortages and long delays, of up to several months, in getting this year's most crucial back-to-school supplies: the laptops and other equipment needed for online learning, an Associated Press investigation has found.

'It was an act of principle': The Covid doctor who quit over Cummings

Dr Dominic Pimenta resigned from his cardiology post after Boris Johnson’s chief advisor made his controversial car journey. Was it the right decision?On 24 May, a couple of days after it was revealed that Dominic Cummings had travelled to Durham during the lockdown, a British cardiologist, Dr Dominic Pimenta, published a tweet in which he threatened to resign if Cummings did not. For Pimenta,...

The cruel exams algorithm has laid bare the unfairness at the heart of our schools | Kenan Malik

Don’t be misled. It is political judgments, not obscure equations, which are doing so much to damage our children’s futuresWhat children know and too many politicians seem not to: a few years ago, the psychologists Alex Shaw and Kristina Olson ran an experiment in which they told young children about two boys, Dan and Mark, who had cleaned up their room and were to be rewarded with rubbers...

Why do Covid fatalities remain low when infection numbers are rising?

While some scientists believe the virus has become less deadly, others look at the factors that suggest otherwiseAre Covid-19 death rates decreasing?Most statistics indicate that although cases of Covid-19 are rising in many parts of Europe and the United States, the number of deaths and cases of severe complications remain relatively low. For example, patients on ventilators have dropped from...

The Observer view on the climate catastrophe facing Earth | Observer editorial

Thirty years ago we were warned. Now is our last chance to listenThirty years ago this week, the population of Earth was given official notification that it faced a threat of unprecedented magnitude. Emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, spewed into the atmosphere from factories and vehicles burning fossil fuels, were pinpointed, definitively, as triggers of future climate...

Earth has lost 28 trillion tonnes of ice in less than 30 years

‘Stunned’ scientists say there is little doubt global heating is to blame for the lossA total of 28 trillion tonnes of ice have disappeared from the surface of the Earth since 1994. That is stunning conclusion of UK scientists who have analysed satellite surveys of the planet’s poles, mountains and glaciers to measure how much ice coverage lost because of global heating triggered by rising...

Experts flag risks in India's use of rapid tests for virus

In June, India began using cheaper, faster but less accurate tests to scale up testing for the coronavirus — a strategy that the United States is now considering. Cases surged faster than labs could scale up testing once India’s harsh lockdown was relaxed. Samples tested using both tests increased from 5.6 million in mid-June to 26 million two months later, and nearly a third of all tests...

Blood pressure medication improves COVID-19 survival rates

New research finds that medication for high blood pressure could improve Covid-19 survival rates and reduce the severity of infection.Researchers studied 28,000 patients taking antihypertensives - a class of drugs that are used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure).They found that the risk of severe Covid-19 illness and death was reduced for patients with high blood pressure who were taking...

Fewer fungi types in lungs linked to worse disease in acute respiratory distress syndrome

Many COVID-19 patients develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a life-threatening condition where the lungs cannot provide the body's vital organs with enough oxygen. Patients with ARDS are usually placed on ventilators to help get enough oxygen into their bodies. Now, new research to be presented at the 'virtual' European Respiratory Society International Congress has found that...

Whitty says it would be foolish to count on having Covid jab by winter

Chief medical officer believes ‘reasonable chance’ of vaccines before winter of 2021-22Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageEngland’s chief medical officer has said it would be “foolish” to plan for winter on the basis of having a coronavirus vaccine.But Professor Chris Whitty told reporters on Saturday that there was a “reasonable chance” there could be...