Cochrane review says rapid antigen tests correctly identify only 58% of asymptomatic peopleCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageRapid lateral flow tests for Covid do not work well in people with no symptoms and should not on their own be used to allow people to go to work or school or to travel, experts have said.The UK has bought millions of rapid tests which give results...

Experts discover crucial evidence that could reveal how magnetic fields behave around black holesAn image that captures streaks of polarised light swirling around a supermassive black hole is providing new insight into how galaxies can project streams of energy thousands of light years outward from their core.Black holes are places where the pull of gravity is so strong that even light cannot...

Temporary hold put on exports of vaccines by Serum Institute of India to meet demand at homeCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageDelhi has reportedly put a temporary hold on all major exports of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India (SII) to meet demand at home as infections surge.The move, first reported by Reuters, will affect supplies...

The journalist and author was diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder in 2019. In this recording of Guardian Australia’s monthly book club, he discusses his book My Year of Living Vulnerably, which explores how trauma affects the brain, and how part of getting better is through learning to loveYou can also check out: Continue...

Our intellectual advantage over the great apes is simply down to a ‘molecular switch’, tests showIt is one of the defining attributes of being human: when compared to our closest primate relatives, we have incredibly large brains.Now scientists have shed light on the reasons for the difference by collecting cells from humans, chimps and gorillas and turning them into lumps of brain in the...

Whether it’s a new virus or antimicrobial resistance, governments must build on the lessons of 2020 to defeat the next outbreakWouldn’t it be wonderful if we never had to face another pandemic? As we reflect on the past year, the words that come to mind are “never again”. Never again should more than 120,000 lives be lost to a contagious virus, a number that would have been unthinkable...

UK Health Security Agency to launch on 1 April to ‘plan, prevent and respond’ to external threats to healthCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageA new organisation is being set up with the aim of halting future pandemics.The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will launch on 1 April, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, has announced. Continue...

Demand for full study protocol of human trials be made public before first participants recruitedCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageCampaigners are demanding that the full protocol of the world’s first human challenge trial in which healthy young volunteers are deliberately infected with the virus that causes Covid-19 be published before the first participants are...

PM faces Labour leader after comments in Zoom call with Tory MPs that successful vaccine programme was thanks to ‘greed’ and ‘capitalism’‘Greed’ and ‘capitalism’ behind vaccine success, Johnson tells MPs‘Vaccine hesitancy’ in England and Wales is being overcome, study findsNHS hit by Covid disruption as cancer referrals plungeAction needed to tackle post-Covid ‘loneliness...

I was taught to use my head, not my heart. But acknowledging sadness at what is lost can help us safeguard the futureOver the course of my career, the climate crisis has changed from something only experts could see – reading clues trapped in frozen air bubbles or statistical patterns in long-term data sets – to something that everyone on Earth is living through. For me, it has gone from being...

Ukraine suffers record daily deaths for second consecutive day; Brazil Covid deaths pass 3,000 for first time; Hong Kong suspends Pfizer vaccinations over defective packagingGreece and Spain to ease restrictions on flights from UKUS agency questions AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine trial dataUK and EU may share Netherlands vaccine supplies to ease tensionsSee all our coronavirus coverage 7.50am GMT...

All your daily interactions with others, big and small, make up your social biome, and the pandemic has severely damaged most of ours. Here’s how to reinvigorate itYou probably don’t know you have a social biome – but according to Jeffrey Hall, professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas, you do. Perhaps you’ve heard of the gut microbiome – the unique, diverse...

Tree-planting can also increase health risks if it focuses too narrowly on small number of species, paper saysOutbreaks of infectious diseases are more likely in areas of deforestation and monoculture plantations, according to a study that suggests epidemics are likely to increase as biodiversity declines.Land use change is a significant factor in the emergence of zoonotic viruses such as Covid-19...