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14 articles from Guardian Unlimited Science

CDC director says coronavirus vaccine won’t be widely available until late 2021

The estimation runs counter to Donald Trump’s recent messaging that a vaccine will be available ‘in a matter of weeks’The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has told a Senate panel that he thinks it will take one year before a coronavirus vaccine will be “generally available to the American public”.That estimation contrasts with recent bullish messaging by...

Climate crisis 233m years ago reshaped life on Earth, say scientists

Volcanic eruptions drove global heating, causing mass extinctions and ushering in dinosaur eraA mass extinction event sparked by a sudden shift in climate more than 200m years ago reshaped life on Earth and ushered in the age of the dinosaurs, scientists claim.An international team reviewed geological evidence and the fossil record and found that enormous volcanic eruptions in what is now western...

The megafires and pandemic expose the lies that frustrate action on climate change | Tim Flannery

If there was a moment of true emergency in the fight to preserve our climate, it is nowThis is part of a series of essays by Australian writers responding to the challenges of 2020I was in Melbourne in late January, watching as more and more people donned face masks to protect themselves against the bushfire smoke that had thickened the air for weeks and that was causing hundreds of deaths....

Letter: Frank Barnaby obituary

Four decades ago, when I was a researcher getting to grips with the complexities of the politics and physics of plutonium for my PhD, I contacted Frank Barnaby, then director of the peace research organisation Sipri in Stockholm. With characteristic good humour he found time in his busy schedule to share his knowledge. His life’s work has made our planet a better and safer place, and I will be...

Dark hair was common among Vikings, genetic study confirms

Research reveals Vikings were genetically diverse group and not purely Scandinavian They may have had a reputation for trade, braids and fearsome raids, but the Vikings were far from a single group of flaxen-haired, sea-faring Scandinavians.A genetic study of Viking-age human remains has not only confirmed that Vikings from different parts of Scandinavia set sail for different parts of the world,...

Neolithic paintings in Spain reveal art was social activity for both sexes

Study of fingerprints left at Los Machos site thousands of years ago reveal age and sex of artistsOne day, perhaps a little over 7,000 years ago, a man in his 30s and a younger companion dipped their fingers in ochre pigment and set about daubing the walls of a shallow cave in southern Spain with anthropomorphic, circular and geometric designs.Today, thanks to the fingerprints they left behind in...

The climate crisis is a national security threat to the US. We already see the effects | Sherri Goodman and Kate Guy

National security leaders view climate change as a ‘threat multiplier’ that makes the homeland vulnerable Climate change is not a distant problem for future generations to worry about. Instead, the dangers of climate change are touching the lives of more Americans with each passing day. As the historic wildfires, hurricanes, floods, heatwaves and storms hitting the country this summer...

'Confounding': Covid may have already peaked in many African countries

One explanation for virus not behaving as expected could be previous exposure to other infections, experts tell MPsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe coronavirus pandemic has peaked earlier than expected in many African countries, confounding early predictions, experts have told MPs.Scientists do not yet know why, but one hypothesis is the possibility of people...

Schoolchildren should be next in line for Covid tests, says UK minister

Robert Buckland admits government faces ‘real challenges’ over testingCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageSchoolchildren and their parents should be next in line for Covid-19 tests after NHS and social care, the UK justice secretary, Robert Buckland, has suggested, as he admitted the government was facing “real challenges” in its testing programme.Buckland’s...

Prestigious US science journal breaks with tradition to back Biden

Scientific American says Trump has damaged US ‘because he rejects evidence and science’In a break with its 175-year tradition, the prestigious US magazine Scientific American has for the first time endorsed a candidate in a US presidential election – the Democratic party nominee, Joe Biden.The magazine has taken the line because, it says, “Donald Trump has badly damaged the US and its...

'Why wait for it?' How to predict a pandemic

Strides are being made towards an open access atlas that could predict where dangerous animal-borne viruses will next appearHow do you predict where a deadly tropical disease such as Ebola, possibly the most virulent in the world, will appear next? Since it first emerged in a small town on the edge of a Congolese forest, it has broken out in seven other African countries, often thousands of miles...

'The moment the dream died': inside a Netflix series on the Challenger disaster

Challenger: The Final Flight, a four-part docuseries produced by JJ Abrams, retells an infamous tragedy from those who were thereThe fourth and final episode of Netflix’s Challenger: The Final Flight, a JJ Abrams-produced documentary series on the defining space shuttle disaster, opens with anonymous home footage from a yard in Florida on 28 January 1986. A bright pillar of rocket combustion...

Global report: India's coronavirus cases pass 5 million

Concerns India figures don’t give full picture; Trump says Covid-19 will ‘go away’ because of ‘herd mentality’; pandemic only beginning, says WHOCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageIndia’s total coronavirus cases passed 5 million on Wednesday, health ministry data showed, as the pandemic extended its grip on the vast country at an ever faster rate.With its...

Coronavirus live news: World still at 'beginning' of pandemic, WHO Covid-19 envoy warns

Half of world’s schoolchildren unable to attend classrooms; Virus death toll linked to Maine wedding grows to 7; Apple rolls out virtual fitness service. Follow the latest updatesWorld still at the beginning of the pandemic, WHO expert warnsSweden records its fewest daily cases since MarchCovid cases near 30m; China expects vaccine in NovemberWorld map: which countries have the most cases and...