Environmental tests exposed spacecraft to vibrations and noise it will face during ascentThe James Webb space telescope has successfully completed a series of tests to simulate the harsh conditions it will experience during launch. Known as environmental tests, they subjected the spacecraft to the noise and the vibrations associated with being blasted into orbit. JWST received 140 decibels of...

Strategies to stop transmission routes of coronavirus must include schools, writes Phil Moorfoot, while Daniel Nucinkis says the government’s rejection of Sage’s proposals will cost thousands of lives. Plus letters from Prof Saville Kushner and Cllr Robert KnowlesEven Keir Starmer is not averse to the Boris factor when referring to “circuit breakers” (Keir Starmer urges PM to impose...

Bones of 18th-century Charles Byrne are stored at the Royal College of Surgeons in LondonThe author Hilary Mantel has called for the Royal College of Surgeons to repatriate the skeleton of an Irish “giant” whose bones remain in storage in London two centuries after he asked to be buried at sea.Charles Byrne had a genetic form of gigantism that caused him to grow to more than 2.31 metres (7ft...

Metamorphosis – where a creature remodels itself between life stages – is one of the most astounding and bizarre feats of biology. It’s also surprisingly common. Why do animals bother undertaking this huge transformational change, and how do they rebuild their bodies from one form to another? Natalie Grover investigates Continue...

Serious incident declared over backlog caused by service suspension during Covid pandemicCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coveragePatients in north-east London are having to wait up to 21 weeks for a routine blood test on the NHS because a huge backlog built up when the service was suspended during the unfolding of the Covid pandemic.Margaret Hodge, one of the local MPs, has...

For 20 years, the psychological illusionist has delighted TV audiences. He explains why he’s ready to give it all up and paint caricatures – and how magic made him question his religious faithA mounted moose’s head looms over Derren Brown’s right shoulder. A black crayfish – “exploded” and expanded for display, its pincers reaching toward the ceiling – sits in the cabinet to his...

Review of reported neonatal cases finds most babies with virus contract it in hospital Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageNearly a third of coronavirus infections in newborn babies are picked up in the womb or from the mother during labour, a review of reported cases has found.While Covid-19 is rare in newborns, doctors have been keen to understand the potential risks...

State media reported the company was offering its vaccines to students in Beijing and Wuhan but that the trial had been suspendedCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageA division of China’s state-run pharmaceutical group Sinopharm is reportedly offering experimental Covid-19 vaccines to Chinese students going abroad.China National Biotec Group Co, part of Sinopharm which...

Lasting symptoms may not be down to a single syndrome but several different onesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAt the start of the pandemic we were told that Covid-19 was a respiratory illness from which most people would recover within two or three weeks, but it’s increasingly clear that there may be tens of thousands of people, if not hundreds of thousands, who...