33 articles from SUNDAY 18.10.2020

UN hopes meeting will raise $1 billion for key Sahel nations

The U.N. humanitarian chief is hoping a major ministerial meeting Tuesday will not only raise $1 billion for the three countries at the epicenter of a humanitarian crisis in Africa’s Sahel region but also spur leaders to address the underlying causes, including increasing conflict and insecurity, weak governance and a lack of development. Undersecretary-General Mark Lowcock said in an interview...

Starwatch: how to see the Orionid meteor shower

In the final week of British summer time, meteors from Comet Halley will be streaking across the night skyThis week, keep an eye open for the Orionid meteor shower. It may not be the brightest or the most spectacular meteor shower of the year but it derives from the most famous comet of them all: Comet Halley. Meteors are tiny pieces of dust that have been left in space from the tails of comets....

Victoria could have eliminated Covid in six weeks by entering stage-four lockdown in July, analysis shows

New modelling indicates mandatory masks and strict closures of public spaces early in the state’s second wave could have eradicated the virusVictoria cases trend map; Full Australian Covid statsMelbourne stage 4 restrictions; Vic stage 3 rulesSign up for Guardian Australia’s coronavirus emailElimination of Covid-19 has been found to have been achievable in Victoria within six weeks had the...

Plan to retrieve Titanic radio spurs debate on human remains

No one has found human remains, according to the company that owns the salvage rights. Lawyers for the U.S. government have raised that question in an ongoing court battle to block the planned expedition. “Fifteen hundred people died in that wreck,” said Paul Johnston, curator of maritime history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American...

The pursuit of herd immunity is a folly – so who's funding this bad science?

Links between an anti-lockdown declaration and a libertarian thinktank suggest a hidden agenda Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageEarlier this month, in a wood-panelled room at a country estate in Massachusetts, three defiantly unmasked professors gathered around a large oak table to sign a declaration about the global response to the pandemic. One academic had flown...

Why finding your favourite fragrance will make you feel better

Our sense of smell is crucial to survival – so wearing the right perfume could be more important than you thinkEarlier this year I was asked to give a lecture to a group of fashion journalism students at Condé Nast College – an event that was swiftly moved online thanks to the pandemic. It goes without saying that giving a lecture to a group of students looking back at you from a Zoom grid is...

White noise as sleep aid may do more harm than good, say scientists

Review finds quality of evidence is poor and noise may lead to more disrupted sleepWhether it is nature sounds, the whine of a hairdryer or the incessant hum of a ceiling fan, white noise apps have been downloaded by millions of people around the world in the hope of getting a better night’s sleep. However, research suggests there is no good evidence that they work, and may even be making things...

Coronavirus test results must come in 24 hours, says Sage scientist

Chair of modelling group urges curb on capacity in favour of speed if test-and-trace system is to workCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageA massive expansion of testing will still leave Britain struggling to keep Covid-19 infections under control unless the system can inform people they are positive within 24 hours, one of the government’s most senior scientific...

How do pandemics end? In different ways, but it’s never quick and never neat | Mark Honigsbaum

Just like the Black Death, influenza and smallpox, Covid-19 will affect almost every aspect of our of lives – even after a vaccine turns upOn 7 September 1854, in the middle of a raging cholera epidemic, the physician John Snow approached the board of guardians of St James’s parish for permission to remove the handle from a public water pump in Broad Street in London’s Soho. Snow observed...

From the archive: what geese can teach us, 1966

Animal behaviour expert Konrad Lorenz explains why it is man who is red in tooth and clawYou can see why the goslings on the cover of the Observer Magazine of 1 May 1966 took Konrad Lorenz (‘the world authority on animal behaviour’) to be their parent – with his feathery white hair he could pass for a goose himself. In fact, the geese have a ‘fixed idea’ that his hair is grass, which is...

All-female scientific coalition calls for marine protected area for Antarctica Peninsula

Species on the Antarctic Peninsula are threatened by climate change and human activities including commercial fishing, tourism, and research infrastructure. A coalition of over 280 female scientists are pushing for a Marine Protected Area ahead of a meeting of governments to decide this on October 19. These women are part of an initiative to raise the profile of women in STEMM for better global...