35 articles from SUNDAY 11.10.2020

Virus that causes Covid-19 can survive up to 28 days on surfaces, scientists find

Researchers find Sars-CoV-2 survives longer at lower temperatures and lasts 10 days longer than influenza on some surfaces Australian scientists have found that the virus that causes Covid-19 can survive for up to 28 days on surfaces such as the glass on mobile phones, stainless steel, vinyl and paper banknotes.The national science agency, the CSIRO, said the research undertaken at the Australian...

Lemon juice, legumes and local activism: what green habits have you adopted in 2020?

Guardian supporters around the world tell us about the sustainable lifestyle changes that they have committed to during lockdown – and beyond Support Guardian journalism today, by making a single or recurring contribution, or subscribingWe started to order food from the local store for curbside pickup. We went online and bought a freezer. Bought a food vacuum sealer and ordered bulk orders from...

Iain Duncan Smith calls for review of Chinese investment in UK

Former Conservative leader says government should assess China’s influence in areas from 5G to Covid-19 researchChinese ownership of British businesses should be subject to a national security review by the UK government to assess the impact of Beijing’s growing economic power, according to the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith.The senior backbencher – a leading figure in the...

You’ve got to laugh: why a sense of humour helps in dark times

Humour makes us more resilient, creative and resourceful – so is more important than ever during a pandemicFive years ago my brother awoke to dreadful news. His close friend was on a business trip in Mali, staying in the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako. It had been stormed by Islamist militants and, ultimately, 170 hostages were taken, 20 killed. My brother’s friend, a Canadian, was on the...

Fake asteroid? NASA expert IDs mystery object as old rocket

The jig may be up for an “asteroid” that’s expected to get nabbed by Earth’s gravity and become a mini moon next month. Instead of a cosmic rock, the newly discovered object appears to be an old rocket from a failed moon-landing mission 54 years ago that’s finally making its way back home, according to NASA's leading asteroid expert. “I’m pretty jazzed about this,” Paul Chodas...

Northern England mayors given noon deadline to submit Covid plans

Boris Johnson to outline three-tier system of restrictions, with pubs closed and mixing bannedCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageMayors and local authorities in the north of England were given until midday on Sunday to submit their proposals for coronavirus restrictions as swathes of the country prepared for stricter lockdown rules.As metro mayors and local authorities...

Election result delays mean “the system is working” says cybersecurity chief

With an unprecedented number of Americans voting by mail this year, it may take longer than normal for results to come in this Election Day—including even unofficial results. Yet President Donald Trump’s disinformation campaign about election security continues to falsely suggest that any “delay” would be the result of fraud. But government officials charged with protecting the election...

British Museum to repatriate ancient tiles smuggled into UK in a suitcase

Ancient artefacts from Samarkand will go on display in London before being returnedThe British Museum is to help repatriate six glazed tiles from a medieval memorial complex on the edge of Samarkand, which were brought into Heathrow in a suitcase.The man who smuggled them in after a flight from Dubai in January even forged paperwork declaring them as replicas that were “made to look old”. He...

UK study tests if BCG vaccine protects against COVID

The widely used BCG tuberculosis vaccine will be tested on frontline care workers in Britain for its effectiveness against COVID-19, researchers running the UK arm of a global trial said. Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, used to protect against tuberculosis, induces a broad innate immune-system response and has been shown to protect against infection or severe illness with other...

UK study tests if BCG vaccine protects against COVID

The widely used BCG tuberculosis vaccine will be tested on frontline care workers in Britain for its effectiveness against COVID-19, researchers running the UK arm of a global trial said. Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, used to protect against tuberculosis, induces a broad innate immune-system response and has been shown to protect against infection or severe illness with other...

The anti-lockdown scientists’ cause would be more persuasive if it weren’t so half-baked | Sonia Sodha

The ‘Great Barrington declaration’ makes claims about herd immunity that its signatories have failed to back upCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageA ski resort once crowned “the best small town in America” may seem an unlikely venue for three scientists to issue an edict about the global response to a pandemic. But Great Barrington, Massachusetts, is the home of...

Wreck of the world’s oldest slave ship at risk of destruction

BBC documentary shows fragile sunken vessel in which enslaved Africans died is being destroyed by trawlersA 17th-century English shipwreck, the world’s earliest vessel linked to the transatlantic slave trade, is facing complete destruction by 21st-century fishing trawlers.The 1680s Royal African Company trader – seen as a burial ground of slaves who perished on its final voyage – lies on the...

Can we trust Chinese Covid-19 science?

The west has been wary of China’s rise as a scientific superpower, but the pandemic has made it impossible to ignoreCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageIt started badly, with gag orders, cover-ups and ignored offers of help from overseas, but then the Chinese government seized the narrative. It reined in the burgeoning epidemic of Covid-19 at home, and started exporting...

Soup and wine with Roger Penrose, master of gravity, light and infinity

In an extract from his new book, a colleague recalls a meal with the mathematician who shared the 2020 Nobel prize in physicsI had the pleasure of meeting Roger Penrose, the great mathematician from Oxford, when he was passing through Italy for the Festival of Science in Genoa. Penrose is a polyhedral intellectual. Readers know him for several books, among them the dense and wonderful The Road to...

Clinical study aims to better understand COVID-19 immunity

People who have recovered from COVID-19, and their close contacts, could hold the key to understanding how immunity to the disease develops, how long it lasts and what happens when immunity is lost. The COVID PROFILE study, led by the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, will use blood samples from people in Victoria to look in detail at immune responses to COVID-19, to reveal how people are protected...

COVID-related delays to CRC screening causing 11.9% rise in death rates, research reveals

New research has shown that delays in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening caused by COVID-19 has resulted in significantly increased death rates for the cancer. Researchers at the University of Bologna produced a model to forecast the impact of time delays in CRC screening on CRC mortality caused by COVID-19. The results found that moderate (7-12 months) and large (>12 months) delays in screening...

In the eye of a stellar cyclone

While on COVID lockdown, a University of Sydney honours student has written a research paper on a star system dubbed one of the "exotic peacocks of the stellar world".