Scientists are hoping that research into Dendrocnide excelsa could lead to new painkillersIt sounds like something out of The Day of the Triffids: a stinging nettle the size of a large tree, with a sting so vicious it inflicts excruciating pain that can last for days, weeks or even months. But this is no science fiction, these are the stinging trees of Australia.Dendrocnide excelsa can grow up to...

The Olympic hero has written Be Amazing, an inspirational book for children that reveals how they too can be champions, with help from Stoic philosophy, sports psychology – and BeyoncéIt was Steven Spielberg’s fault. “I was six when I saw ET,” says Sir Chris Hoy. “It changed my life. I wasn’t interested in cycling at all before. The bikes I’d seen in Edinburgh just seemed functional...

UK genetics consortium to monitor mutations so signs of potential resistance are spotted earlyCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageScientists are to ramp up surveillance for new coronavirus mutations amid concerns that future strains of the virus could develop at least partial resistance to antibody treatments and Covid-19 vaccines.There is no evidence that the mutations...

London-based hVivo to take part in world’s first coronavirus ‘challenge trials’The volunteers lining up to take part in challenge trialsMore than £30m of UK government money is to fund the world’s first Covid-19 “challenge trials”, in which healthy young volunteers are intentionally infected with the virus to hasten the development of a vaccine. The trials have the potential to yield...

Religion is no longer the opiate of the masses. It’s ASMR videos, low-stakes nature documentaries and ‘mindfulness’ appsCalifornia is still on fire. I take half a tranquilizer with two glasses of a sparkling rosé, pull the weighted blanket over my cashmere pajama-clad body, and cue up the next episode of HBO Max’s new series A World of Calm. It’s the one that has Keanu Reeves telling me...

Non-profit organisation 1Day Sooner has attracted over 38,500 willing participantsCovid: firm secures £10m to infect young volunteers to hasten vaccineHuman challenge trials – in which young, healthy volunteers are intentionally infected with a virus to allow vaccines and treatments to be tested quickly – have been used in the fight against diseases ranging from typhoid and cholera to...

The UK government fumbled its sophisticated tools in its efforts to tackle Covid-19, so now it’s reaching for the blunt oneNobody wants a lockdown. You’d think that would go without saying. As England faces a three-tier system of regionally unequal lockdowns or the possibility of a national “circuit breaker”, there is no one sitting around thinking, “Oh good, time to tank the economy,...

Prof Ravi Gupta’s career has informed HIV treatment and curative strategies in the UK and at the Africa Health Research Institute. His treatment of a London patient is, to date, only the second ever successful treatment of an HIV patient, where the person remains long-term virus free. Gupta talks to Sarah Boseley about how a career in HIV research is informing the testing and treatment for...

Ireland orders six-week lockdown; Trump says Americans ‘tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots’ discuss Covid; Canada passes 200,000 cases. Follow latest updatesLive coronavirus found on frozen food packaging in ChinaWales to go into national two-week ‘firebreak’ lockdownUK: Vaccine not available until spring, says chief scientific adviserSymptoms: how to tell if you have a common...