Costs and overruns on key technology have hit schedule of Artemis programme, says report Nasa has said it will be “hard-pressed to land astronauts on the moon by the end of 2024”. The assessment by the agency’s office of inspector general comes in a report dated 12 November and titled 2020 Report on Nasa’s Top Management and Performance Challenges”.Originally, Nasa had been working...

Sexual orientation gap for men larger than gap between white and black men, study showsMen in same-sex relationships are significantly less likely to have a degree in a Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) subject than their heterosexual male peers, according to research.Until now, studies have focused largely on the gender gap in Stem, where women are still hugely underrepresented in...

Denmark has already launched a nationwide cull of its farmed mink herd after concerns for vaccine efficacyCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageSeven countries are now reporting mink-related Sars-CoV-2 mutations in humans, according to new scientific analysis.The mutations are identified as Covid-19 mink variants as they have repeatedly been found in mink and now in humans...

The UK must use safe vaccines as soon as they become available, not wait for the ‘very best’ to come along, writes the deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-TamI was concerned about the tone and accuracy of your front-page story (Speed trumps efficacy in UK’s Covid vaccine rollouts, says adviser, 11 November).Vaccines against Covid-19 will not all come at once, or in large...

Greater social contact over period could have to be followed by tougher Covid measures Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageTough restrictions on socialising will be needed before and after Christmas to keep the spread of coronavirus under control if families and friends are to be allowed to meet over the festive season, government advisers have said.Dr Susan Hopkins, of...

Finding has implications for one-size-fits-all approach to vaccine developmentAntibody levels against the virus that causes Covid-19 appear to fall faster in men than in women, a study suggests – a finding that could have implications for vaccine research.Historically, medical research has often taken a one-size-fits-all approach, lumping women and men together despite growing evidence that the...

Among first 170 Covid cases in trial, eight had received vaccine and 162 were in placebo groupCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer, which is due to arrive in the UK before the end of the year, has 95% efficacy and has passed its safety checks, according to further data from the firm.Pfizer and its partner BioNTech published interim...

On the anniversary of the start of the Nuremberg trials, 90-year-old Colette Marin-Catherine confronts her past by visiting the Nazi concentration camp in Germany where her brother was killed. As a young girl, she had been a member of the French resistance and had always refused to set foot in Germany. That changes when a young history student named Lucie enters her life. Prepared to reopen old...

Talk of ‘moonshots’ is typical of the belief that the UK is an innovative state – but it’s far from itThough many have speculated on what Dominic Cummings’s “legacy” might be, one of the more significant contributions he made to No 10 was his thinking about science and technology. Prime ministerial speeches have been peppered with passé futuristic slogans about how Britain leads the...

Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration says coronavirus vaccines can be bought privately. This is a bad idea for many reasonsAs the world continues to grapple with Covid-19, the prospect of a vaccine gives us hope of returning to some kind of “normal” in the not-too-distant future.The Australian government has signed supply agreements with manufacturers of four Covid vaccines in...

Senior US figure spoke on Senate floor without a mask; UK pressed to open transatlantic travel corridors; Italy records 731 deaths, its worst figure since AprilRepublican senator Chuck Grassley tests positiveTrump administration has ‘checked out’ as Covid-19 surges, experts sayUK urged to open up transatlantic corridors as ‘Covid-free’ flight arrivesUK police can resume issuing instant...