Researchers walk through three negative-pressure chambers before entering the submarine-like structureIn a high security laboratory in Sydney, where a select group of researchers go to extreme lengths to work with samples of blood and swabs containing Covid-19, virologist Stuart Turville found a unicorn.“A beautiful, immunological unicorn,” Turville, an associate professor with the Kirby...

Developmental biologist and science communicator with an enduring fascination for the beginnings of lifeHow does a single fertilised egg divide and morph into an embryo with head, tail, limbs and organs? That question was an inexhaustible source of fascination to the biologist Lewis Wolpert, who has died aged 91. With a twinkle in his eye, he told audiences it was not birth, marriage or death, but...

European Medicines Agency approves jab for use in all age groups above 18, despite German doubtsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe European Medicines Agency has authorised the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine for use in all adult age groups after days of doubt.A month after it received approval in the UK, the EU’s regulator declared the vaccine safe for general...

Pre-ordering of Janssen and Novavax means Britain has procured 247m successfully trialled jabsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageBritain has cemented its status as one of the world’s leading buyers of effective Covid vaccines after two more pharmaceutical companies reported positive trial results – potentially growing the UK stockpile by 90m doses.The US drugmaker...

World Health Organization experts conduct on-the-ground research into origins of pandemic in ChinaCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAn international team of World Health Organization experts has visited a hospital in Wuhan, China, that saw some of the first cases of Covid in December 2019, as part of an on-the-ground investigation into the origins of the virus that...

UK has bought 30m doses of product that could transform world’s immunisation programmesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageA fifth vaccine, made by the US company Johnson & Johnson, has shown efficacy against the coronavirus, giving complete protection against hospitalisation and death, and could transform prospects for protecting both the UK and the rest of the...

Latest updates: trial results show Novavax vaccine highly protective against variant that emerged in Kent; ONS figures show cases still highNovavax Covid vaccine shown to be nearly 90% effective in UK trialAstraZeneca must deliver vaccine doses from UK to EU, says Von der LeyenHow effective is Novavax vaccine and will it work on new variants?Healthy young people receiving Covid vaccine in parts of...

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsGiven that we have a naming convention for colours, we all know that blue is blue. So how do we know that if I saw blue through someone else’s eyes, I wouldn’t see it as yellow, or pink etc?David SnellPlease send new...

Everything you need to know about the trial results for a new coronavirus vaccine Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageIn an interim analysis of a phase 3 clinical trial conducted in the UK, the vaccine has shown 89% efficacy, with 27% of participants in the trial – almost 4,000 people – older than 65. That trial suggested 95.6% efficacy against the original...

The poorest countries are missing out on adequate doses of vaccines – and the health implications should concern us allNine months ago world leaders were queueing up to declare any Covid-19 vaccine a global public good. Today we are witness to a vaccine apartheid that is only serving the interests of powerful and profitable pharmaceutical corporations while costing us the quickest and least...

Unique physiology allows the Australian marsupial to produce square-shaped faeces that may aid communicationHow wombats produce their cube-shape poo has long been a biological puzzle but now an international study has provided the answer to this unusual natural phenomenon.The cube shape is formed within the intestines – not at the point of exit, as previously thought – according to research...

29 January 1986: Millions watch as NASA’s space shuttle Challenger explodes in the skies above Cape Canaveral, Florida, moments after launchWashingtonThe future of America’s ambitious space shuttle programme was in complete turmoil last night after a devastating mid-air explosion, just one minute after takeoff, which killed the crew of seven, including the first ordinary citizen on the...

I had resolved to ride my bike to work every day. The quest was a disaster from start to endAs my bike’s front wheel hurtled towards the concrete ledge separating land from lake, two thoughts flashed through my mind.“Oh my God, I can’t destroy another work laptop” and “Well, there goes my new year’s resolution”. Continue...

Researchers say the variant that swept Victoria during last year’s second wave was mutating into something more worryingA variant of Covid-19 similar to the one that spread rampantly in the UK would likely have developed in Victoria during last year’s second wave had Melbourne not gone into an extended lockdown, a leading virologist says.Associate Professor Stuart Turville from the Kirby...