183 articles from TUESDAY 12.10.2021

‘The real problem is the repetition of mistakes’: scientists react to Covid inquiry

Senior figures say failure to prevent second wave was inexcusable given what was known about the virusCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe failure to prevent tens of thousands of deaths during Britain’s brutal second wave of Covid infections was a more serious error than the timing of the first lockdown, senior scientists have told the Guardian, after a damning...

Government must be transparent about science advice it receives

Analysis: inquiry into UK’s response to Covid crisis shows Sage guidance should be put in public domain as soon as possibleCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe parliamentary inquiry into the UK’s response to the Covid crisis raises the serious issue of transparency around scientific advice – and why this remains crucial even as the country moves beyond an...

Calls for inquiry as negative Covid PCR tests after positive lateral flow reported

Scientists urge urgent investigation to ensure that people are not being given false negative resultsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageScientists are calling for an urgent investigation after dozens of reports of people testing negative using gold-standard Covid PCR tests, despite testing positive on rapid lateral flow tests, and in many cases experiencing Covid-like...

An eco-friendly toxic cocktail could be a new weapon against malaria

Researchers have demonstrated that blood-seeking mosquitoes can be directed to feed on a toxic plant-based solution, which in turn kills them. This result could be one solution for the global problem of diseases like malaria or dengue fever by specifically targeting the mosquitoes while other species like bees won't be affected.

Greenland’s groundwater changes with thinning ice sheet

For more than a decade, a team of researchers and students have studied the dynamics of the Greenland Ice Sheet as it responds to a warming climate. But while much of their focus has been on the importance of water in controlling processes occurring on the ice sheet, their most recent research findings have flipped the order of their thinking. Researchers discovered that changes to the ice sheet...

Australia to build 20kg rover to head to moon in joint mission with Nasa

Expertise in mining sector expected to aid development of rover which will collect lunar soil to help establish human presence on moonAustralia has signed a deal with Nasa to send an Australian-built rover to the moon, supporting a mission to collect lunar soil and examine how its oxygen could support human life in space.The $50m project will be supported by the federal government’s Moon to Mars...

A 5-sigma standard model anomaly is possible

One of the best chances for proving beyond-the-standard-model physics relies on something called the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix. The standard model insists that the CKM matrix, which describes the mixing of quarks, should be unitary. But growing evidence suggests that during certain forms of radioactive decay, the unitarity of the CKM matrix might break.