Advanced Research & Innovation Agency will be exempt from existing procurement rules for ‘maximum flexibility’, says governmentA new £800m government science and defence research agency will be exempt from existing procurement rules, prompting warnings from Labour that it could be used as “cover for cronyism”.Originally the brainchild of Dominic Cummings, the Advanced Research &...

The hunt is on for the Brazilian variant, and tracking mutations will be necessary for some time to comeCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageOf the many coronavirus variants identified so far, there is particular concern about P1, first identified in Brazil, with fears about the extent it can evade the immune system and possibly vaccines. The UK has recorded six cases so...

Plan for moving from lockdown to relaxation of restrictions will be guided by data Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageNorthern Ireland’s deputy first minister, Michelle O’Neill, has unveiled a cautious five-step plan to ease the region’s Covid-19 lockdown. The plan has no hard dates and will be led by data, notably the reproductive rate of the virus, O’Neill told...

Imperial College London researchers conducted largest placebo-controlled trial of psychedelicsIt became the trend in Silicon Valley and spread swiftly around the world: the latest hack to boost the mood, sharpen the mind and get the creative juices flowing.But for all the entrepreneurs and tech gurus that flocked to the practice, scientists have never been sure whether consuming small doses of LSD...

Not one Covid jab had been administered in 130 of the world’s poorer countries by mid-FebruaryAfter the news in November of the successful trials of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine, a curious photo spread online. It showed a Turkish immigrant family of six in Germany in the 1970s. The father stood in the middle, arms stretched around his head-scarfed wife and children. A shoeless boy hung off...

‘Virtual unfolding’ is hailed a breakthrough in the study of historic documents as unopened letter from 1697 is read for the first time using X-ray technologyIn a world first for the study of historic documents, an unopened letter written in 1697 has been read by researchers without breaking the seal.The letter, dated 31 July 1697 and sent from French merchant Jacques Sennacques in Lille to...

Scientists call for more genetic sequencing of emerging variants like P1 to bring pandemic under control Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage The coronavirus variant originally found in Manaus in Brazil and detected in six cases in the UK was able to infect 25% to 61% of the people in the Amazonian city who might have expected to be immune after a first bout of Covid,...

Both countries urged to take action to avoid pile-up of unused AstraZeneca vaccine dosesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAuthorities in Germany and France are under pressure to come up with creative solutions to shift the AstraZeneca vaccine at higher speed in order to avoid a pile-up of unused doses over the coming weeks.On Monday, France’s medical regulator...

I can’t rely on the grey sponge in my head any more. But my digital footprint shows how I have been idling away my timeOur memories are shot: I know this, having read, and instantly forgotten, the science. It is the combination of isolation, anxiety and nothing happening, I think, undermining our episodic memory. Repeating myself, forgetting shopping and rereading a simple recipe 10 times, I...

With lack of vaccinations and schools in England set to reopen cases must not be ignored, experts warnCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageScientists have warned that emerging data on long Covid in children should not be ignored given the lack of a vaccine for this age group, but cautioned that the evidence describing these enduring symptoms in the young is so far...

It’s getting towards a year since the UK first went into lockdown. That’s almost 12 months of home-schooling, staying in at the weekends, and not being able to see groups of friends and family in person. For many, the pandemic has also brought grief, loss of financial stability and isolation. So it should come as no surprise that lots of us are feeling emotionally exhausted, stressed and...

Research finds students who showed signs of addiction were also highly likely to suffer from poor sleepAlmost four in 10 university students are addicted to their smartphones, and their habit plays havoc with their sleep, research has found.A study of 1,043 students aged 18-30 at King’s College London found that 406 (38.9%) displayed symptoms of smartphone addiction, as defined by a clinical...