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278 articles from Guardian Unlimited Science

Digital forensics experts prone to bias, study shows

Participants found more or less evidence on hard drive depending on what contextual information they hadDevices such as phones, laptops and flash drives are becoming increasingly central to police investigations, but the reliability of digital forensics experts’ evidence has been called into question.A study found that experts tended to find more or less evidence on a suspect’s computer hard...

Prehistoric carvings of red deer found in Scottish neolithic tomb

Amateur archaeologist exploring Dunchraigaig cairn found animal depictions by chanceDelicate prehistoric carvings of adult red deer, thought to be the oldest of their type in the UK, have been found in a tomb in one of Scotland’s most famous neolithic sites.The carvings, which depict two male red deer with full-grown antlers and several thought to be young deer, were discovered by chance in...

In rich countries, vaccines are making Covid-19 a manageable health issue | Devi Sridhar

For the UK and elsewhere the pandemic’s end is in sight, but less fortunate parts of the world urgently need helpWhen Covid-19 emerged in January 2020, governments across the world had limited strategies to deal with it. Without a vaccine or proven treatments for the disease, or even access to mass testing, the only choice political leaders faced was taking the least bad option available.There...

India Covid variant spreading across England, data shows

Scientists say geographical spread ‘entirely predictable’ and window of opportunity has been missedCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe coronavirus variant of concern first detected in India is continuing to spread across England, with cases emerging beyond “hotspot” areas, data suggests.The variant, known as B.1.617.2, is thought to be driving a rise in Covid...

End of England Covid lockdown on 21 June increasingly in doubt

Date for lifting remaining curbs may be moved amid warnings of third wave driven by India variantCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe 21 June target for scrapping England’s remaining coronavirus restrictions appears increasingly under threat, as a senior government adviser said the country was in the early stages of a third wave.Prof Ravi Gupta, a member of the New...

Can you solve it? Gods of snooker

Your turn to break offMy cultural highlight of recent weeks has been the brilliant BBC documentary Gods of Snooker, about the time in the 1980s when the sport was a national obsession. Today’s puzzle describes a shot to malfunction the Romford Robot (above left) and put the Whirlwind (above right) in a spin.Baize theorem Continue...

Starwatch: track down the large but overlooked Boötes, the herdsman

Stars in this constellation were mentioned by the ancient Babylonians and later by PtolemyThis week it’s time to track down a large but easily overlooked constellation. Boötes, the herdsman, is an ancient constellation that was catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the second century. References to the stars in this constellation date back even further, however, to the ancient...


SUNDAY 30. MAY 2021


John Latham obituary

Climate physicist and expert on thunderstorm electrification who was also a published poetHow thunderstorms are generated in clouds is still not fully understood. But John Latham, who has died aged 83, did much to explain the physical processes of cloud electrification, cloud lightning and precipitation – how water falls from clouds in various forms. Later he proposed a way in which clouds could...

Einstein’s theories play their part in our time | Letters

All scientific observations are likely to be superseded by later scientists, writes Ian Flintoff, while Tony Maynard-Smith says that new discoveries do not prove Einstein ‘wrong’A word of caution on the latest observations of the universe and earlier theories such as those of Albert Einstein (Astronomers create largest map of the universe’s dark matter, 27 May). All such observations and...

John Hodge obituary

British aeronautical engineer who played a key role in Nasa and America’s space raceAt 11am on 20 February 1959, the Canadian prime minister John Diefenbaker announced the axing of the revolutionary Avro Arrow aircraft project. The fighter was enormously expensive, but had sustained 25,000 hi-tech Canadian jobs. By 3pm on that day Avro was telling employees (via its PA system) that they were...

Some long Covid sufferers in England waiting months for treatment

MPs call on Matt Hancock to explain ‘postcode lottery’ despite assertion that clinic network is operationalCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coveragePeople who remain chronically ill after Covid infections in England have had to wait months for appointments and treatment at specialist clinics set up to handle the surge in patients with long Covid.MPs called on Matt Hancock...

Bees give me a sense of calm: discovering nature in my back garden

Their busy buzzing supplies the soundtrack to our summer – and by spotting them I’ve found a fresh sense of inner peaceLockdown started, or reignited, a love of nature in many people. The RSPB reported a 70% increase in visitors to its website during the first lockdown. This came as no surprise to me; stuck at home, without the usual distraction of social engagement, my interest in nature...

Covid investigators must interview Wuhan stall owners, says virologist

Efforts to find origin of coronavirus ‘must look at what animals were in the market in late 2019’Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageA leading scientist has called for stallholders at the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan to be interviewed in any further investigation of the Covid-19 epidemic.Dr Eddie Holmes has joined a growing chorus of voices calling for further...

Help our profession or UK’s shared history will be lost, say archaeologists

Brexit and university cutbacks are fuelling a crisis in recruitment of skilled workersBrexit has led to a serious shortage of senior archaeologists, sparking fears that controls on developments could be lifted and undiscovered treasures and untold stories about our past will be lost for ever.“There’s a hiring crisis in archaeology,” Lisa Westcott Wilkins of DigVentures, an archaeology social...

China forces pace of vaccinations with persuasion … and some cash

Two months ago, few had been inoculated. Now hundreds of millions have, after health warnings – and giftsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageEarly in March, when the Covid vaccination rate in the UK had reached 30% of the population, China’s top respiratory expert Zhong Nanshan revealed in a webinar that the figure in China was barely 3.56%.The low vaccination rate...

Why is the new Covid variant spreading? | David Spiegelhalter and Anthony Masters

The virus is now in a race with the vaccines and the victor is increasingly uncertainThe UK’s fine performance in sequencing Sars-CoV-2 genomes allows Public Health England to publish detailed analyses on the progress of variants and the latest report represents the changing of the guard. The B.1.1.7 lineage, first identified in Kent, had been dominant in the UK, but the B.1.617.2 lineage, first...

Chinese cargo craft docks with future space station in orbit

Mission comes after China was rebuked for uncontrolled crash of rocket that launched the station itselfA Chinese cargo spacecraft carrying equipment and supplies has successfully docked with the core module of the country’s future space station, according to state media.A Long March 7 rocket carrying the Tianzhou-2 cargo craft – loaded with essentials such as food, equipment and fuel –...

Walden review – Gemma Arterton’s sister act reaches for the stars

Harold Pinter theatre, LondonArterton plays a former Nasa employee whose astronaut twin descends on her wilderness retreat in Amy Berryman’s intelligent, soulful dramaTwin sisters with a fractious history are planning a reunion at the start of Amy Berryman’s play. “We have to act happy,” says Stella to her fiance before her twin has arrived, and the anxious statement prepares us for the...


SATURDAY 29. MAY 2021


Keir Starmer: Boris Johnson’s chaos could hit June plan to lift lockdown

Labour leader slams Tory ‘civil war’ and says prime minister is ‘unfit for office after errors’Read: Keir Starmer: thousands of second-wave Covid deaths were avoidable and unforgivableLabour leader Keir Starmer today warns that plans to lift almost all Covid-19 restrictions on 21 June are at risk because of serial incompetence and “civil war” inside Boris Johnson’s government.In his...

Health experts urge caution on giving Covid vaccines to UK children

As the US and Europe approve plans to immunise teenagers, scientists in Britain advise delayLaunching a programme of Covid-19 immunisations for children should be considered only in special circumstances, leading health experts have warned.They say UK medical authorities, who are currently studying how vaccines for adolescents might be administered, should move with great care over the...

Vietnam discovers new hybrid Covid variant, state media reports

Strain is a combination of UK and India variants and is said to spread quicklyCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageVietnam has discovered a new Covid-19 variant which spreads quickly by air and is a combination of strains first identified in India and the UK, state media has reported.The country is struggling to deal with fresh outbreaks across more than half of its...

Coronavirus news: expert warns against lifting England restrictions too soon; Vietnam detects hybrid of UK and India variants

Victoria records five new cases of Covid-19 taking Melbourne outbreak to 35; UK MPs urge action to save music festivals from another ‘lost summer’What is the impact of lifting restrictions in England on 21 June?See all our coronavirus coverage 9.36am BST Scotland’s health secretary Humza Yousaf said there was “significant community transmission” of coronavirus in hotspots in the city of...