Country has world’s highest rate of infection with critics blaming socialising over festive periodCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageIreland emerged from a six-week lockdown in early December with the European Union’s lowest coronavirus infection rate.It eased restrictions in belief it could contain a rise in the virus over Christmas unlike, say, Germany and the UK,...
Nobel prizewinning scientist whose work played a significant role in the development of modern particle physics theoryJack Steinberger, who has died aged 99, was one of the three winners of the Nobel prize for physics in 1988 for their work with neutrinos and the discovery of the muon-neutrino. This research did much to advance understanding of fundamental particles. The reality of the ghostly...
The solution to today’s problemEarlier today I set you the following puzzle, about three extremely logical people in a line. Each person can only see who is in front of them.A hat seller shows them three white and two black hats. She places a hat on each person and hides the remaining two. Continue...
A construction worker says they are being forced to work under unsafe conditions, Shirley Osborn highlights the gaps in financial support for low-paid workers and John Lynham laments the absence of effective government communicationI have been closely following the Guardian’s reporting of NHS workers treating Covid patients and their pleas for the public to follow the lockdown restrictions (ICU...
NHS urges people to continue donating blood as research will continue on moderately ill patientsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageConvalescent plasma from people who have had Covid-19 does not help those who are severely ill in intensive care to recover, a major international trial has found.No more very sick people will be recruited to the trial, known as Remap-Cap....
You asked us about the fast-spreading coronavirus variant, here are the answersCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageHow do scientists know the new UK variant is 70% more transmissible, and how certain are they of this figure?Our gift to the world: the UK variant of Sars-CoV-2. There are sufficient data to quote 70% greater infectivity, but how was this figure...
Staff told to reduce amount used to treat people amid rising number of Covid inpatientsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAn NHS hospital’s oxygen supply has reached a “critical situation” as staff treat a rising number of Covid-19 patients.Mid and South Essex NHS foundation trust said in a letter to staff that the amount of oxygen used to treat patients at...
A Q about a queueToday’s puzzle concerns these three folk standing in a line, as illustrated below. They are all extremely logical people, and they can only see who is in front of them.A hat seller shows them three white and two black hats. She places a hat on each person and hides the remaining two. Continue...
Northern hemisphere skywatchers can search for the planet this month as it rises higher each nightFor northern hemisphere skywatchers, 2021 presents a chance to catch the bright jewel of Mercury in the evening sky. Continue reading...
South Korea daily virus cases under 500 for first time since record highs in December; China says WHO Covid-19 origins probe team to arrive 14 January; one year has passed since first coronavirus death announced in WuhanUK Covid variant extremely unlikely to evade vaccines, say scientistsBrazilian Covid sleuth shames party people as deaths pass 200,000‘South Africa is going to get a third wave,...
Creatures that patrolled the oceans 3m years ago were about two metres long at birth, researchers findEnormous megatooth sharks, or megalodons, which patrolled the world’s oceans more than three million years ago, gave birth to babies larger than most adult humans, scientists say.Researchers made the unsettling discovery when they X-rayed the vertebra of a fossilised megalodon and found that it...