Actor and director on International Space Station push ahead of Hollywood project led by Tom CruiseThe list of “firsts” in orbit under the Soviet space programme is legendary: first satellite, first dog, first man, first woman.Now another looms after Russia sent an actor and a director to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of plans to make the first film in orbit – and once again...

Prof Neil Ferguson calls for booster rollout and teenagers’ second jabs to be accelerated to ease NHS pressureCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe distribution of Covid boosters for the most vulnerable people and second shots of vaccine for teenagers should be accelerated to help prevent a winter surge of coronavirus overburdening the NHS, a senior scientist has...

Nine stories from the Covid frontlines deliver emotional punch, but the documentary’s desire for a global message blunts its impact“I can’t breathe” went mainstream as a rallying cry during the Black Lives Matter protests of summer 2020, just as respiratory difficulties of a different kind were beginning to exact an increasingly frightening toll across the world. This panoramic and often...

Sykuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi share award for advancing climate knowledgeThree scientists have won the 2021 Nobel prize in physics for their groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems – including how humanity influences the Earth’s climate.The winners, Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi, will share the award, announced on...

Welcome to our monthly roundup of the biggest issues in farming and food production, with must-read reports from around the web We’ve been running a startling investigation into Europe’s multibillion-pound meat industry, revealing how it has become a global hotspot for outsourced labour, hiring thousands of workers through subcontractors, agencies and bogus co-operatives on inferior pay and...

Meeting the Paris agreement’s goal of keeping global temperature rises to below 2C by the end of the century requires drastic cuts to fossil fuel use and carbon emissions. The problem is, even if we do this we’ll still need to draw down the carbon dioxide that’s emitted in the meantime. To find out how, Shivani Dave speaks to Phoebe Weston and Damian Carrington about the natural and...

Crew will blast off for 12-days of filming on the International Space Station as part of a mission to beat the US to making the first film in spaceRussia is set to launch an actor and a film director into space in a bid to best the United States to the first movie in orbit.If successful, the Russian crew will beat a Hollywood project announced earlier this year by Mission Impossible star Tom...

Extra help called in for overwhelmed hospitals in California; two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech are about 90% effective at preventing hospitalisations for at least six months, research reveals; Russia’s daily Covid cases hits highest level in monthsNew Zealand ends Covid elimination strategy in favour of suppression approachEngland sees sustained decline in hospital admissions for the first time...

Only 31% of pregnant Americans are fully vaccinated. I felt responsible for this bean-like bundle forming in my body. But the conflicting advice made it hard for me to decideThese are the first three things I did when I found out I was pregnant in February. I took about six more tests. Then, I called the doctor’s office to make an appointment. A few days later, I signed up for a Covid-19...