feed info
11 articles from Guardian Unlimited Science
UAE mission to Mars on course to arrive in February 2021
Spacecraft known as Hope carries instruments designed to study the tenuous Martian atmosphereThe Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) is on course to arrive at the Red Planet on 9 February. A third and final major trajectory correction manoeuvre (TCM) was completed on 10 November. An additional minor TCM in December will tee it up for a Mars orbit insertion manoeuvre next year. Without the need for further...
Climate crisis making autumn leaves fall earlier, study finds
Report suggests tree growth will not store nearly as much carbon as scientists hopedGlobal heating appears to be making trees drop their leaves earlier, according to new research, confounding the idea that warmer temperatures delay the onset of autumn.The finding is important because trees draw huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the air and therefore play a key role in managing the climate....
Covid vaccine trials should continue | Letters
As millions of people will hopefully be inoculated in the next six months, this will be the ideal time for clinical trials to compare the vaccines head to head, writes Dr Andrew Hill. Plus letters from Dr Niamh Martin and Roy Grimwood We now have three vaccines against Covid-19, giving between 70% and 95% protection (Vaccine results bring us a step closer to ending Covid, says Oxford scientist, 23...
Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine results face growing scrutiny
Share price drops as critics question claim vaccine could protect up to 90% of peopleWhat tier am I in? Latest Covid rules in England post-lockdownCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine is coming under increasing scrutiny, with critics questioning the claim that trials showed it could protect up to 90% of people against...
Here's how to tackle the Covid-19 anti-vaxxers | Will Hanmer-Lloyd
Do not demonise. To optimise the vaccine rollout, all of us must show respect to those who are unsure about inoculationsWill Hanmer-Lloyd is a behavioural strategistThe Covid-19 vaccines, which are up to 95% effective, have the potential to save millions of lives in the UK and many more around the world.Yet creating the vaccines is just the first step. We now need to produce them as quickly as...
Museum of London asks Londoners for Covid pandemic dreams
Guardians of Sleep project working with Canadian university to compile Covid-19 dreamsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageFrom tsunamis to perfectly formed egg sandwiches, vivid dreams appear to have become a familiar experience during the pandemic. Now these powerful, bizarre and sometimes unsettling thoughts and images are to be captured for posterity.The Guardians of...
Untested, untraced: how three-quarters of Covid contacts slip through cracks
Statistics show how ‘world-beating’ tracing scheme fails to follow up on Covid-19 cases at every stepIt was in May that Boris Johnson promised the UK would have a “world-beating” test-and-trace operation in place within weeks.“Our test-and-trace system is as good as, or better than, any other system anywhere in the world,” he doubled down in July. Continue...
Those who tell us what to do during the pandemic must earn our trust | David Spiegelhalter
Honesty, competence and a willingness to give us all the facts are vital in persuading people to believe what they’re toldCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageYou’d be forgiven for not knowing what to believe during this pandemic. Some scientists who say their claims are based on evidence tell us that lockdown is too severe; others say that we relax at our peril. Some...
'Is anybody in there?' Life on the inside as a locked-in patient
Jake Haendel spent months trapped in his body, silent and unmoving but fully conscious. Most people never emerge from ‘locked-in syndrome’, but as a doctor told him, everything about his case is bizarreJake Haendel was a hard-partying chef from a sleepy region of Massachusetts. When he was 28, his heroin addiction resulted in catastrophic brain damage and very nearly killed him. In a matter of...
Covid-19: how vaccines lead to immunity – podcast
With a number of Covid-19 vaccines seemingly on the way, Nicola Davis talks to Prof Eleanor Riley about how they might help the body’s defence mechanisms fight the virus Continue reading...
Coronavirus live news: Germany extends partial lockdown as world suffers record daily deaths
Global cases pass 60m; nearly 13,000 daily deaths reported worldwide; the Americas reported more than 1.5m cases in the last seven days Sicily asks Cuba to send medics as Italy fights second Covid waveChristmas and Covid: is mixing households a good idea?Germany to decide next round of Covid restrictionsSee all our coronavirus coverage 11.39pm GMT bloggle bloggle bloggle – how are you spending...