Dutch microbiologist Elisabeth Bik, winner of prestigious John Maddox prize, says trust in science is being underminedA “tsunami” of poor quality research is fuelling misinformation and could undermine trust in science, the winner of the prestigious John Maddox prize has warned.Elisabeth Bik, a Dutch microbiologist turned science sleuth who on Wednesday evening won the John Maddox prize for...

IOM report finds 9m more people displaced globally but mobility restricted due to pandemic, with vaccination proving a key factorThe coronavirus pandemic had a radical effect on migration, limiting movement despite increasing levels of internal displacement from conflict and climate disasters, the UN’s International Organization for Migration said in a report on Wednesday.Though the number of...

Senior UK scientist says extent of threat posed by Omicron will not be clear until end of year Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coveragePeople should not assume that Covid will evolve to become a milder disease, a senior scientist has warned, adding that the threat posed by the Omicron coronavirus variant will not be clear until the end of December.Prof Neil Ferguson, head of...

Archaeologist compares eruption at Roman town close to Pompeii to dropping of WW2 atomic bombAn Italian archaeologist has compared the impact of the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius on Herculaneum – the ancient Roman beach town close to Pompeii – to the dropping of an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during the second world war.Such was the heat of the pyroclastic surge produced by...

US tightens border controls as more countries report first cases of coronavirus variantCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe Omicron variant of Covid-19 has been identified in west Africa and the Gulf, as the US said it was further tightening its border controls.Washington’s announcement was made as more countries reported their first cases of the variant, suggesting...

Authorities retrospectively identified case of Covid variant from October, raising fears of global spreadCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageNigerian health officials say they have retrospectively identified a case of the Omicron Covid-19 variant dating from October, meaning it was present in Africa weeks before South Africa alerted the world to it last week.The...

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, billions of vaccine doses have been administered worldwide.Dozens of countries now have advanced...

Fungi provide awe in abundance so get out there and forage in the mulch, while there’s still timeMushrooms are having a moment. Cultural depictions of fungi are proliferating: from Seana Gavin’s psychedelic mushroom collages shown at Somerset house last year; to the bestselling book Entangled Life, by the mycologist Merlin Sheldrake; we’re seeing there is more to the fungus than meets the...

A feat of engineering is tackling subsidence in Shanxi province, but water conservation and tree planting can also helpFissures and sinkholes are the norm in China’s Shanxi province. Intensive agriculture combined with major coal production has put huge pressure on water resources and sucked the earth dry, leaving the city of Taiyuan, with a population of 5 million, and the surrounding area...

Techniques could help make farm animals resistant to disease but there are fears welfare standards could dropRobust regulations must be put in place to protect the welfare of farmed animals before genome-editing procedures are approved for commercial livestock, ethicists have warned.Powerful gene-editing techniques have the potential to improve modern farming by making animals resistant to heat...

Archaeologists say neolithic version of energy bars may also have been eaten at midwinter feastsAfter a day enduring midwinter winds whipping off Salisbury Plain, the ancient builders of Stonehenge may have warmed up with a prehistoric version of the mince pie, archaeologists have suggested.The hardy engineers of the great Wiltshire monument might also have kept themselves going by nibbling on...

Scientists are working full tilt to answer these vital questions that may give clues as to what is to comeCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAs new cases of Omicron continue to emerge in the UK, scientists are working full tilt to answer two vital questions: when did the variant arrive and is it spreading?While at first glance those queries may seem less important than...