Shooting stars will be flying in all directions from a point near the head of Leo the lionThis week Earth ploughs through the debris stream that has been left in space from the tail of comet Tempel-Tuttle, and that means meteors. The Leonid meteor shower is so-called because all of the shooting stars associated with it appear to originate from a point just below the head of Leo, the lion. The...

Negative expectations may play part, with adverse effects reported when taking placebo Many of the side-effects attributed to statins could be down to the “nocebo effect”, which occurs when someone expects to experience negative symptoms – even if the drug is a placebo – a study suggests.Statins are one of the most widely prescribed drugs in the UK, taken by nearly eight million people to...

Vaccine for shielders | Mangold-wurzels | Geordies | Children in Need | Country diaryWhy have those advised to shield from Covid-19 been forgotten when it comes to the priority list for vaccination (How will a coronavirus vaccine be rolled out to the UK population?, 11 November)? The list is mainly based on age, not vulnerability. My healthy wife, aged 65, will have higher priority than me, aged...

The technology behind the promising Covid-19 vaccine was not of serious interest to big pharma until huge sums could be made from it. That is not a way to advance scienceIn his 2008 book Scientific Freedom, the scientist and author Donald Braben claimed, somewhat controversially, that the 20th century had been transformed because scientists were free to explore the boundaries of their respective...

Exclusive: study of low-risk individuals finds impairments four months after infectionCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageYoung and previously healthy people with ongoing symptoms of Covid-19 are showing signs of damage to multiple organs four months after the initial infection, a study suggests.The findings are a step towards unpicking the physical underpinnings and...

Psychologists say changes in behaviour, from talking to yourself to fashion experiments, could be a Covid coping strategyCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage“Not sure if it’s because of recent times of lockdown etc but Christ I talk to myself a lot these days.” So tweeted the actor and presenter Emily Atack – and she is not alone.Confined to their homes and freed...

The psychological impact of the virus is profound, but there is nothing to suggest its physical effects can’t be overcomeCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageA great deal of conflicting information has emerged about the immune response that develops in patients who have recovered from Covid-19. A recent study in the UK showed declining antibodies in more than 350,000...

Uğur Şahin ‘very confident’ vaccine candidate developed with Pfizer will cause big reduction in casesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe scientist behind the first potential Covid-19 vaccine to clear interim clinical trials says he is “very confident” the jab will reduce transmission of the disease, perhaps by 50%, resulting in a “dramatic” reduction in...

Angel church’s pastor says he believes government ban on collective worship is unlawfulCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAn evangelical church is planning to defy lockdown restrictions by holding a public service, including a baptism.Pastor Regan King, of the Angel church in north London, said he believed the ban on collective worship was unlawful and that the church...

A six-year mission will soon bring back a few grains of soil that could explain how water arrived on our planetIn a few days, a capsule containing samples of soil from a distant asteroid will be released by a robot spaceship and dropped into Earth’s upper atmosphere. If all goes well, the container will parachute safely on to the Woomera test range in South Australia on 6 December, completing a...

Opposition claims that online disinformation poses a threat to the effective take-up of coronavirus vaccinesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageSocial media companies that fail to act to “stamp out dangerous anti-vaccine content” should be subject to financial and criminal penalties, Labour has demanded.As hopes rise that a vaccine against coronavirus could be ready...

The rising number of vaccine-derived polio outbreaks has important implications for how we deal with Covid-19Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageHalf a century since its eradication in the west, it is hard today to appreciate the terrible effect that polio had on people’s lives then and how feared it was as a disease. The virus killed hundreds every year in the UK...

Better to build social solidarity than to dismiss reluctance to be immunised as ignoranceCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage“If a strain as deadly as the 1918 influenza emerges and people’s hesitancy to get vaccinated remains at the level it is today, a debilitating and fatal disease will spread.” So wrote Heidi Larson in 2018. Larson is director of the...

Concentrations of intoxicating THC have risen, data from more than 80,000 street drug samples gathered over 50 years shows Cannabis resin – or “hash” – has increased in strength by nearly 25% over the past half century, a major international study has revealed.Researchers with the Addiction and Mental Health Group at the University of Bath analysed data from more than 80,000 cannabis...

Would you admit to being an expert in health and disease at a party? No, me neitherIt seems like only yesterday that another frustrated teacher uttered those fell words: “Bouquet, your behaviour is a disgrace”, a charge that was almost certainly always true. Fast forward to today and what do we find?Epidemiologist after epidemiologist warns that we must modify our “behaviours” if we are to...