33 articles from SATURDAY 13.2.2021

When you can’t quit a crush

Falling head over heels in love is one thing, but if it becomes all-consuming you may be in ‘limerance’A few years ago I was at my university’s library, frantically refreshing a dating app. Under my crush’s photo there was a location setting that told me how far she was from me. “One mile away!” I felt a surge of adrenaline and my mind started racing.I was a promoter for a gay...

Covid: case of South African variant prompts surge testing in Hampshire

Local authorities say transmission risk from single case found in village of Bramley ‘very low’Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageA case of the South African variant of coronavirus has been identified in the village of Bramley, near Basingstoke in Hampshire, leading to surge testing in the area next week.Simon Bryant, the director of public health at Hampshire county...

How should we address Charles Darwin's complicated legacy?

The Descent of Man, 150 years old this month, is a work of humanist brilliance – yet its errors, particularly on gender, now make for uncomfortable reading“Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history.” That sentence is the sole reference to human evolution in Charles Darwin’s masterwork On the Origin of Species, which in 1859 set down the theory that explains how life on...

Boris Johnson 'optimistic' about easing some England lockdown measures

Prime minister says priority is to reopen schools on 8 March once 15m in priority groups vaccinatedCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageBoris Johnson has said he is optimistic about announcing the easing of some lockdown measures soon as the government nears its target of offering vaccines to 15 million people in priority groups.Speaking on Saturday at a visit to the...

No end to Covid pandemic without equal access to vaccine, experts say

Disease researchers argue vaccine stockpiling in wealthier countries will only prolong the crisis Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageDeveloping new Covid-19 vaccines will fail to end the pandemic unless all countries receive doses in a fast and fair manner, disease experts have warned.The authors of an open letter published in the Lancet medical journal said vaccine...

Covid: experts warn of huge UK wave if restrictions lifted too soon

Despite success of vaccine programme, scientists ‘genuinely worried’ about potential surge in casesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageExperts have urged caution over the easing of lockdown restrictions, warning that relaxing measures too early could lead to another surge in cases and threaten the NHS with collapse.Steven Riley, a member of the Spi-M modelling group...

Why a failure to vaccinate the world will put us all at risk

Isabel Rodriguez-Barraquer currently works remotely from Colombia. As an epidemiologist, she has been watching from afar as her colleagues back at the University of California, San Francisco, have started receiving vaccines available to lab workers. The situation is very different where she now lives. Colombia is suffering a massive covid-19 outbreak and is still waiting to see the first...

Image: Hubble takes portrait of nebula

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features an impressive portrait of M1-63, a beautifully captured example of a bipolar planetary nebula located in the constellation of Scutum (the Shield).

Victoria's coronavirus lockdown sabotages terminally ill Australian man's flight home

John Jobber’s flight home, after being stuck in Ireland, will not be accepted due to lockdown restrictionsFollow today’s live coronavirus coverageEpidemiologists back Victoria’s lockdown but say evidence not yet in on ‘shorter incubation’Patient diagnosed with Covid-19 dies in New Zealand hospitalTerminally ill Australian man John Jobber is running out of time to make it back from...