Disease will circulate alongside flu and other seasonal viruses and become part of accepted winter illnessCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageBritain faces the prospect of thousands of annual Covid deaths for years to come, scientists have warned.They say waves of cases are likely to sweep the country every winter as Covid-19 joins other seasonal viruses, including...

Forget the stereotypes – getting inked can be a powerful means of reclaiming your body and processing grief or traumaIf one thing has become obvious in the summer heat and the inevitable baring of flesh, it’s the degree to which body art is now the norm. At the pool, the park, or the pub beer garden, you’ll find an enormous variety of designs inked on the skin representing the breadth of...

Inspired by a desire to be good and help others during the pandemic, novelist Sarah Perry trained to vaccinate people. But what does it mean to be good when there is so much bad faith?Earlier this year – lockdown three: no sign of spring – I travelled to an airport to try to be good. Dogged for months by the sense of my own uselessness, and having wept with relief and accumulated sorrow when...

Man in his 60s dies at home in south-west Sydney as NSW reports 210 new locally acquired casesFollow our coronavirus live blogState v state: war of words heats up over Sydney and Melbourne lockdownsFrom social distancing bracelets to vaccine priority: how NSW supermarkets are tackling CovidNSW restrictions; NSW hotspots; border restrictionsVaccine rollout tracker; get our free news app; get our...

Eleven LGAs locked down from 4pm on Saturday as deputy premier says state must ‘go hard and go early’Follow our coronavirus live blogQld Covid restrictions and lockdown: Brisbane and regional Queensland coronavirus rules explainedState v state: war of words heats up over Sydney and Melbourne lockdownsVaccine rollout tracker; get our free news app; get our morning email briefingSouth-east...

Transmission beams can be reconfigured from the ground, whereas most commercial satellites are hard-wired before launchThe world’s first commercial fully reprogrammable satellite has been launched, ushering in a new era of more flexible communications.Unlike conventional models that are designed and “hard-wired” on Earth and cannot be repurposed once in orbit, the UK-engineered Eutelsat...

Anti-lockdown protests planned in Sydney after Scott Morrison and state and territory leaders back pathway out of rolling lockdownsCan Australia fix its CovidSafe app and turn the pandemic into a ‘pingdemic’?State v state: war of words heats up over Sydney and Melbourne lockdownsFrom social distancing bracelets to vaccine priority: how NSW supermarkets are tackling CovidNSW restrictions; NSW...

The Australian government is refusing to adopt technology used overseas that could speed up notification of close contactsThe federal government is in discussions to tweak its CovidSafe app to pick up more fleeting contacts due to the more infectious Delta variant, but is refusing to adopt technology used overseas that could speed up notification of close contacts.As England and Wales experience...

Figure same as before legal requirement relaxed, while most still feel that complying with other Covid safety measures is importantCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageOnly one British adult in 20 is no longer wearing a mask outside their homes despite the relaxing of legal mask-wearing requirements earlier this month, according to the first official survey on complying...

Government will not say they believe worst is over, but cases fell for seven consecutive days this weekCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAs England’s “freedom day” dawned on 19 July, Boris Johnson was grumpily confined to his 16th-century grace-and-favour mansion, humiliated by the row over a bungled quarantine exemption. Cases were at more than 46,000 per day as...

Russia’s troubled Nauka laboratory module caused a fright when its rockets accidentally fired after docking the with the International Space Station, briefly throwing the station out of position.A few hours after docking, Nauka’s propulsive devices came on unexpectedly, forcing personnel onboard the ISS to launch thrusters on the Russian segment of the station to counter the effectRussia...

Exclusive: small changes in conference design can make big difference to female inclusion, say researchersWomen are less likely to participate in proceedings at medical and scientific conferences, even with gender-balanced delegates, although simple interventions in conference design sparked a significant improvement in female inclusion, a study has found. Medical and scientific conferences are...

Announcement makes Israel the first country to offer a third dose of a western vaccine to its citizens on a wide scaleSee all our coronavirus coverageIsrael’s prime minister has announced that the country would offer a coronavirus booster shot to those people over 60 who have already been vaccinated.The announcement by Naftali Bennett makes Israel, which launched one of the world’s most...

After several ‘hiccups’ on the journey to the ISS, the Nauka lab module accidentally fired its rockets after dockingRussia’s troubled Nauka laboratory module has caused a fright when its rockets accidentally fired after docking the with the International Space Station, briefly throwing the station out of position.A few hours after docking, Nauka’s propulsive devices unexpectedly fired,...

Foreign secretary says he ‘can understand’ why businesses would want to adopt a tough stanceCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageDominic Raab said it would be “smart” for businesses to insist staff are fully vaccinated before returning to the office.The foreign secretary said he “can understand” why firms would want to adopt a tough stance to keep staff safe...

Men in tears | Resilience | Supper | Olympic winners | Spelling namesAn excellent article by Adrian Chiles (Have you cried with despair in public? There is nothing braver or better, 28 July). In medieval France, it was considered very manly to weep copiously about one’s fallen comrades. If you didn’t cry, what was wrong with you? Didn’t you care? Crying is an effective and natural way of...

Not-for-profit pledge sees British firm’s sales revenue fall significantly short of US rival PfizerCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAstraZeneca has reported a boost in sales of its Covid-19 vaccine, which tripled to $1.2bn (£900m) in the first half of this year – but remained significantly below the earnings of its US rival Pfizer. Britain’s biggest drugmaker...

The analysis draws on public health studies that conclude that for every 4,434 metric tons of CO2 produced, one person globally will dieThe lifestyles of around three average Americans will create enough planet-heating emissions to kill one person, and the emissions from a single coal-fired power plant is likely to result in more than 900 deaths, according to the first analysis to calculate the...

Analysis of marsquakes captured since probe landed in 2018 shows the Martian crust is between 12 and 23 miles thickNasa’s InSight lander has revealed the depth of Mars’s crust and the size of its central core by using data from dozens of marsquakes captured since the probe landed in 2018.The Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) is a dome-shaped instrument that sits on the surface...

Genetic advantages in sport tend to be celebrated, but that isn’t always the case when it comes to women’s athletics. At the start of July, two female runners from Namibia, Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi, were told they couldn’t compete in the 400m race in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics unless they reduced their naturally high testosterone hormone levels. Shivani Dave speaks to Katrina...

Last year was first to be in top 10 for heat, rain and sunshine, as scientists say UK’s mild climate is at an endExtremes of weather will strike the UK more frequently owing to the climate crisis, scientists said after data showed that last year was one of the warmest, as well as one of the wettest and sunniest, on record.Last year was the first to figure in the top 10 for heat, rain and hours...

Residents of eight local government areas banned from leaving hotspots unless they are essential workers; tradespeople now allowed into clients’ homes. Follow all the day’s newsJust 39% of NSW residents over 70 are fully vaccinatedNSW restrictions; NSW hotspots; border restrictionsVic hotspots; Vic restrictions; border restrictionsQld hotspots; Qld restrictions; border restrictionsVaccine...

UK scientist says gene-drive study rendering female insects infertile may lead to ‘self destruct mosquito’ field tests within 10 yearsScientists have successfully wiped out a population of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes by using a radical form of genetic engineering to render the females infertile – in the most advanced and largest ever test of use of the technology to fight the disease.As...

Telescope picks up unexpected ‘luminous echoes’ – smaller, later and of different colour to bright flaresAstronomers have detected light behind a black hole deep in space for the first time.Bright flares of X-rays were spotted bursting from a supermassive black hole at the centre of a galaxy 800m light years away, which is relatively normal. Continue...