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10 articles from Guardian Unlimited Science

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...

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...

'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...

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...