The frescoed thermopolium, a Roman-era fast-food stall, is the first to be fully excavated
Researchers said on Saturday they had discovered a frescoed thermopolium or fast-food counter in an exceptional state of preservation in Pompeii.
Related: Researchers win £1m grant to unlock secrets of Viking-era treasure trove
Continue reading...Follow all the latest on the coronavirus pandemic across the world
The new variant of the coronavirus circulating in Britain has been detected in Sweden after a traveller from Britain fell ill on arrival and tested positive for it, the Swedish health agency said on Saturday.
A health agency official, Sara Byfors, told a news conference that the traveller, who was not identified, had kept isolated after arrival to Sweden and that no further positive cases had so far been detected.
Jordan has arrested a journalist over an article alleging that the coronavirus vaccine had arrived in the kingdom and that officials had received the jab, a judicial source said on Saturday.
“The state security court prosecutor ordered the arrest Thursday of journalist Jamal Haddad, editor of news website Al-Wakaai, for writing that government officials had been vaccinated against the coronavirus,” the source said.
Continue reading...The speedy rollout is thanks to a combination of foresight, hard work and lucky breaks
The speed at which effective Covid-19 vaccines have come through to authorisation has caused surprise. Compared with previous vaccines, the process has been very fast and so, naturally, people are asking how can it have happened without some kind of compromise on standards and care. Explaining it all as simply a result of the wonders of the latest scientific advances seems vague. So how has it actually come about? In reality, there are at least 10 reasons: some are about good planning, some good science and some just good luck.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Antibody therapy could confer instant immunity to Covid-19 on at-risk groups
British scientists are trialling a new drug that could prevent someone who has been exposed to coronavirus from going on to develop the disease Covid-19, which experts say could save many lives.
The antibody therapy would confer instant immunity against the disease and could be given as an emergency treatment to hospital inpatients and care home residents to help contain outbreaks.
Continue reading...Cases emerge as Russia becomes latest country to tighten controls on travel from Britain
Five cases of the new coronavirus variant spreading fast across the UK have been found in Japan, and Russia has become the latest country to impose stricter quarantine on travellers from Britain.
Japan has avoided the huge infection numbers seen in countries from the US to Europe, but cases are rising sharply and daily numbers passed 3,000 for the first time this month.
Continue reading...Changes in composition and production of saliva as people grow older appears to intensify perception of aromas
Just as a bottle of wine improves with age, so may our ability to pick out the subtleties of its scent. Changes in the composition of our saliva and how much of it we produce appears to intensify our perception of smokey and peppery aromas in red wine, new research suggests.
The findings could lead to the development of wines that are more tailored toward specific groups of consumers. “We could diversify winemaking production to make more enjoyable wines based on consumers’ physiologies,” said Maria Ángeles del Pozo Bayón, of the Spanish Research Council’s Institute of Food Science and Research in Madrid, who led the research.
Continue reading...Excitement as DNA barcoding technique leads to unmasking of new species tempered with fear that some are already at risk of extinction
A growing number of “cryptic species” hiding in plain sight have been unmasked in the past year, driven in part by the rise of DNA barcoding, a technique that can identify and differentiate between animal and plant species using their genetic divergence.
The discovery of new species of aloe, African leaf-nosed bats and chameleons that appear similar to the human eye but are in fact many and separate have thrilled and worried conservationists. Scientists say our planet might be more biologically diverse than previously thought, and estimates for the total number of species could be far higher than the current best guess of 8.7 million. But cryptic discoveries often mean that species once considered common and widespread are actually several, some of which may be endangered and require immediate protection.
Continue reading...Italian Roberto Trignani is known for ‘awake surgery’ and other unorthodox methods
Playing the violin, watching cartoons and doing crosswords: these are just some of the activities patients have performed while having brain surgery under Roberto Trignani.
Trignani, the head of neurosurgery at Riuniti hospital in Ancona, Italy, was already known for his “awake surgery” techniques, which he has used roughly 70 times in the last few years. But he broke new ground in June this year when a 60-year-old woman prepared stuffed olives as he removed a tumour from her left temporal lobe.
Continue reading...Research still to confirm threat posed but variant does not appear to provoke more serious symptoms
The South African variant of Covid-19, two cases of which have now been detected in the UK, is likely to be more transmissible, may hit young people harder, and may be slightly more resistant to vaccines, scientists in South Africa believe.
However, research is still continuing to confirm the threat posed by the variant, which does not appear to provoke more serious symptoms or require different treatment.
Continue reading...One appears to have arisen in Kent, the other brought in from South Africa. Both are highly transmissible
Two new variants of Covid-19 have been identified as of concern in the UK, both said to be more transmissible than the previously dominant version. Here’s what we know so far.
Continue reading...First minister tells MSPs tough restrictions were ‘essential’ to suppress new strain of virus
Nicola Sturgeon has warned MSPs she may have to introduce full lockdown measures across Scotland in the coming days to contain the faster-spreading Covid variant, which has already led to Wales bringing forward a countrywide lockdown from last Sunday and Northern Ireland announcing a six-week lockdown from Boxing Day.
Sturgeon used her weekly coronavirus statement to the Scottish parliament to tighten level 4 measures – the strictest of Scotland’s five-tier system of Covid controls and which all of mainland Scotland will enter from 26 December.
Continue reading...A biologist and composer have turned the aurora borealis into sound to create a magic melding of art and nature
There’s a hypnotic crackle before a whoosh of sound flies from ear to ear. It’s followed by a heavenly chorus that might be whales whistling, frogs calling or the chirping of an alien bird. It sounds celestial because that’s what it is. The noise is the aurora borealis: the northern lights.
The vivid green lights that trace across the Arctic sky emit electromagnetic waves when the solar shower meets the Earth’s magnetic field, and these can be translated into sounds that are made audible to human ears by a small machine.
Continue reading...Anthony Fauci ‘extremely confident’ in vaccine; BioNTech’s CEO says tests being run on mutant strain. This blog is now closed. Follow our new blog below
We are closing this live blog now, but you can stay up to date with the latest on our new global blog, which you can find below.
Related: Coronavirus live news: US cases increase 14% in one week, France to reopen UK border
Tesco has introduced buying limits on items including toilet roll, eggs, rice, soap and handwash. Customers at the supermarket are now limited to one item per person of toilet roll, and up to three products of eggs, rice, soap and handwash.
It is understood the extra limits are pre-emptive measures to help smooth demand in the coming weeks, rather than a reaction to shortages or a change in buying behaviour. They are on top of a three-item limit on essential items such as flour, dried pasta and anti-bacterial wipes which has been in place for several months.
Related: Tesco limits purchases of toilet roll, eggs, rice, soap and handwash
Continue reading...B117 is more transmissible than original virus, but there is no evidence it makes people sicker
If a new virus sounds scary, a new mutating virus sounds scarier still. In Kent in September, scientists now believe, somebody with Covid was the unlucky first person to pass on a variant form of the coronavirus that is maybe as much as 70% more transmissible than the version we have been used to.
The exponential recent rise in cases now blamed on that incident and the UK government response have sparked alarm around the world, with other countries banning flights into the UK for at least 48 hours while everyone figures out what is going on.
Continue reading...Labour shadow minister Yasmin Qureshi talks about the shock of being hospitalised and her slow recovery since
A shadow minister who became the first female MP to be hospitalised by Covid-19 has described the “unbearable pain” caused by coughing fits and pneumonia as the disease took hold.
Yasmin Qureshi, the Labour MP for Bolton South East and a shadow minister for international development, said she was left “anxious and concerned” after being rushed by ambulance to her local hospital in October.
Continue reading...Dr Nicholas Christakis says once pandemics end, often there is a period in which people seek out extensive social interactions
It is almost exactly one year since the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 was identified by Chinese scientists as the source of a new, lethal respiratory illness.
Since, more than 1.5 million people have died globally, economies worldwide have shut down multiple times and societies have isolated in their homes and watched holidays pass without the closeness of family and friends. Ahead of us is a year undertaking the most logistically challenging public health campaign ever.
Continue reading...From a small discovery to producing at scale, photojournalist David Levene documents the groundbreaking work of the scientists of Oxford University during the development of a vaccine which is now poised for approval by medicines regulators
From the moment the coronavirus spilled out of China and spread around the world, the great hope for the return of normal life lay with safe and effective vaccines. While wearing masks and washing hands helped to reduce the flood of infections, they would never be enough to hold back the tide. Social distancing – a phrase that does nothing to convey the hardship of the act – suppresses the virus, no doubt. But what kind of life is a life lived apart?
Continue reading...The response to Covid-19 has been momentous but discoveries in AI, diet, conservation, space and beyond, show the power of science to improve the world post-pandemic
In 2020 the race to space changed gear. The May launch of the SpaceX vehicle Crew Dragon was the first time a private vehicle had delivered astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). It was deeply impressive, but also featureless… sleek, white inner walls replaced the complex instrument panels of old, and it was clear that the two test pilots on board were mostly passengers, with no direct control over the flight. In November, Crew Dragon became the first private spacecraft fully certified by Nasa to transport humans to the ISS and later that month delivered four astronauts to the orbiting station. This taxi may not be cheap, but it’s here to stay and it’s a game-changer.
Continue reading...Seasonal damage in bone fossils in Spain suggests Neanderthals and their predecessors followed the same strategy as cave bears
Bears do it. Bats do it. Even European hedgehogs do it. And now it turns out that early human beings may also have been at it. They hibernated, according to fossil experts.
Evidence from bones found at one of the world’s most important fossil sites suggests that our hominid predecessors may have dealt with extreme cold hundreds of thousands of years ago by sleeping through the winter.
Continue reading...Ireland restricts travel from Britain as Italy, Belgium and Netherlands stop UK travel; Cases of new strain reported outside UK, says WHO
The Italian health ministry is reporting that they have found a patient infected with the same mutated strain of coronavirus as the UK.
The infected patient returned to Italy from the UK with his partner in the past few days and landed in Rome’s Fiumicino airport. They’re now in isolation, the ministry said.
El Salvador has banned travellers who have been to the UK or South Africa in the last 30 days.
President Nayib Bukele announced the new decision on Twitter after linking a Reuters story on European countries closing their borders to UK passengers.
A partir de ahora, queda prohibido el ingreso a nuestro país, de cualquier persona que su itinerario de vuelo haya incluido el Reino Unido o Sudáfrica o que haya estado en alguno de esos dos países en los últimos 30 días.
Cc. @R_Cucalon, @anliker1980 https://t.co/UQyL6ROsUN