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...

Pioneering biologist and geneticist whose research showed the emptiness of traditional biological concepts of raceThe American scientist Richard Lewontin, who has died aged 92, was intimately involved in some of the most important discoveries, and feuds, of evolutionary biology during the decades in which it passed from knowing that genes existed to specifying them in precise molecular terms.His...

Scientists believe the unusual tubular structures may be the remnants of prehistoric spongesIntricate patterns of tubular structures discovered in giant ancient reefs may be the remnants of prehistoric horny sponges and the oldest known fossils of animal life on Earth.Researchers found the unusual features in vast reefs that were built by bacteria 890m years ago and then pushed up by geological...

More than 2bn Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered worldwide. Find out which countries are vaccinating the mostCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageSince the first Pfizer vaccine against Covid-19 was injected into the arm of a British woman in December 2020, hundreds of millions of vaccine doses have been administered worldwide.Dozens of countries now have...

PM emphasises positive benefits of having jab and appears to distance himself from vaccine passport planCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageBoris Johnson has rejected Michael Gove’s assertion that people who refuse to be vaccinated are “selfish”, as he and another minister argued that it was better to encourage people to see the positive benefits of receiving the...

Premier indicates rapid tests may be used by year 12 students returning to school as well as some businesses Follow the Australia Covid liveblogNSW Covid update: 177 new cases as some construction restrictions lifted and Sydney lockdown extended by a monthVaccine advisory group urged Australian health department in 2020 ‘to get as much as you can’NSW restrictions; NSW hotspots; Vic...

Trump sycophant Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the ex-president deserves credit for the jab rollout. If that’s the price of herd immunity, so be itForget Pfizer or AstraZeneca, the hottest shot this summer is the Trump vaccine. Hang on, you might cry: there is no such thing. Well, Donald Trump’s former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders – a woman who has always had an unusual...

People deserve better than a never-ending stream of unproven practices dangled before them in the guise of hopeTen years ago a desperate young woman walked into my office and declared: “I need your help. I am dying of cancer.”Her story was incredible. At an integrative medicine seminar she had won a special blood test as a door prize. Thinking of having some bloods done anyway, she had taken...