36 articles from SATURDAY 17.7.2021

What will happen in the third wave? | David Spiegelhalter and Anthony Masters

Models can give us an idea, but are very sensitive to what we don’t knowMathematical models simulated vast numbers of possible futures for after the UK government lifts Covid restrictions in England from 19 July. Many sources of uncertainty mean we don’t know which one, if any, of these projections might occur.First, even with fixed assumptions about the epidemic, the play of chance produces...

Martin Turpin: ‘Bullshitting is human nature in its honest and naked form’

The cognitive scientist explains the link between intelligence and telling fibs – and why lying is such a common form of communication in fields from art to politicsMartin Turpin is a PhD researcher at the department of psychology at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, who is studying linguistic bullshit. He is the lead author of a recent paper entitled Bullshit Ability As an Honest...

UK ‘very interested’ in hosting US Space Force radar station

RAF chief says system to track objects up to 22,000 miles from Earth is ‘incredibly important’An American space force plan to develop a global monitoring system to track objects up to 22,000 miles from Earth could establish radar stations in the US, UK and Australia.The head of the RAF, Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Wigston, is in the US for talks over the plans, and said on Saturday the...

IOC president promises ‘safe’ Olympics despite athletes’ village Covid case

Thomas Bach insists Tokyo Games are ‘secure’Anonymous visitor in 14-day quarantine after positive testThe president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, has urged the Japanese public to welcome the Olympics when it starts on 23 July and insisted they will be “safe and secure” despite a positive Covid test at the athletes’ village.While acknowledging the widespread...

Reasons to be fearful of China’s data-gathering | Letters

We should be suspicious of the role of the Chinese Communist party in the harvesting of genetic data from unborn babies, argues William MatthewsIn her column (What does the Chinese military want with your unborn baby’s genetic data?, 10 July), Arwa Mahdawi suggested that the alleged involvement of the People’s Liberation Army (which is directly answerable to the Chinese Communist party) with...

Hope, horror and Covid-19: my 23 years as the Guardian’s health correspondent | Sarah Boseley

I’ve travelled the world covering everything from HIV to MMR to Ebola… and then Covid came along. These are stories that changed me – and the worldShe was tall, wrapped in a green patterned dress that clung to her legs and ended just above dusty flip-flops. In the bustling, sweltering market, Grace Mathanga looked at me appraisingly, as if to say: “What have we here?” And I knew she was...