Scientists using an aerial remote-sensing method have discovered the largest and oldest-known structure built by the ancient Maya civilization – a colossal rectangular elevated platform built between 1000 and 800BC in Mexico’s Tabasco state.
Related: Into the light: how lidar is replacing radar as the archaeologist’s map tool of choice
Continue reading...Research appears to back up stories of people who believe they got coronavirus at events UK government allowed to go ahead
The last major football match played in England before all sport was suspended because of the coronavirus crisis was the European Champions League showpiece between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid. It was a thrilling contest that transfixed 54,000 people under the floodlights of Anfield.
But now that match, along with many other mass events that the government allowed to go ahead as the pandemic spread in March, is coming under renewed scrutiny as evidence grows of the lethal danger to which people were exposed. They include rugby matches, horse races, musical concerts and dog shows attended, in total, by hundreds of thousands of Britons.
Continue reading...Surgisphere, whose employees appear to include a sci-fi writer and adult content model, provided database behind Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine hydroxychloroquine studies
The World Health Organization and a number of national governments have changed their Covid-19 policies and treatments on the basis of flawed data from a little-known US healthcare analytics company, also calling into question the integrity of key studies published in some of the world’s most prestigious medical journals.
A Guardian investigation can reveal the US-based company Surgisphere, whose handful of employees appear to include a science fiction writer and an adult-content model, has provided data for multiple studies on Covid-19 co-authored by its chief executive, but has so far failed to adequately explain its data or methodology.
Continue reading...Yemen aid funding falls short by US$1bn; Zoom profits double; global cases pass 6.3m. Follow the latest updates
China reported one new coronavirus case and four new asymptomatic Covid-19 cases in the mainland on 2 June, the country’s health commission said.
The National Health Commission said the one confirmed case was imported involving a traveller from overseas. Mainland China had five confirmed cases, all of which were imported, and 10 asymptomatic cases for 1 June.
China does not count asymptomatic patients, those who are infected with the coronavirus but not exhibiting symptoms, as confirmed cases.
Total number of infections to date in the mainland stands at 83,021. The death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.
Dan Collyns brings you this action-packed update from Bolivia:
“Thanos is beating us” warned a Bolivian government minister in a live televised press conference on Monday as he called for his compatriots to comply with sanitary measures and lockdown restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Mientras tanto, en bolivia pic.twitter.com/5VPR4sDoX3
Continue reading...Sweden death rate now higher than France; Pakistan records largest single day rise in new infections; global deaths pass 380,000. This blog is now closed
We’ve launched a new blog at the link below:
Related: Coronavirus live news: Germany reveals major stimulus plan as global cases grow by 100,000 a day
At least three people were reported dead as coronavirus-hit Mumbai appeared to escape the worst of Cyclone Nisarga Wednesday, the first severe storm to threaten India’s financial capital in more than 70 years, AFP reports.
The city and its surrounds are usually sheltered from cyclones - the last deadly storm to hit the city was in 1948. Authorities had evacuated at least 100,000 people, including coronavirus patients, from flood-prone areas in the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat ahead of Nisarga’s arrival.
Continue reading...Study may shed light on material and debated origins of some of the 25,000 fragments
With myriad fragments and an extraordinary past, the Dead Sea scrolls are quite a puzzle. Now experts say ancient DNA has helped them piece together which fragments come from the same scrolls, as well as which texts may have travelled a distance, and how widespread the writings were.
The scrolls are one of the most remarkable discoveries of the 20th century. Found in the caves of Qumran as well as other sites around the Judean desert, the ancient texts cover parts of the Hebrew bible canon as well as writings about religious practices, legal documents, and hymns.
Continue reading...Wuhan doctor who worked with whistlebower dies; Abu Dhabi closes borders; Dr Fauci says he hasn’t spoken to Trump in two weeks
In England, an official study has found that black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people are up to 50% more likely to die after being infected with Covid-19.
The report, published today by Public Health England (PHE), reveals that people of Bangladeshi ethnicity had around twice the risk of death than people of white British ethnicity.
It’s Simon Murphy here covering the global live blog while my colleague, Damien Gayle, takes a break.
Continue reading...Guardian told all four CMOs discussed and refused No 10 proposal, not just Chris Whitty
All four of the UK’s chief medical officers rejected suggestions from No 10 that the coronavirus threat level could be reduced because it contradicted evidence that showed the virus was still widespread, the Guardian has been told.
A senior source in one devolved government said the chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland discussed and refused Boris Johnson’s proposal.
Continue reading...Scientists use kirigami techniques to create a sole with pop-up, high-friction spikes
The Japanese art of paper cutting and folding, or kirigami, has led to mind-bending 3D structures from 2D sheets, including spectacular pop-up designs. But now researchers have been getting to grips with the technique for a very down-to-earth reason: creating non-slip shoes.
Scientists have revealed they have developed a kirigami-inspired sole, where tiny spikes pop up from its surface as the shoe is bent during walking. The team found the spikes enhance grip, which could help prevent potentially fatal falls.
Continue reading...The K value sheds light on how the transmission rate varies and can help identify clusters
When deciding how and when lockdown restrictions will be lifted across the UK, the government has said the R value, denoting how many people on average one infected person will themselves infect, is crucial. But experts say another metric is becoming increasingly important: K.
Continue reading...Brazil becomes fourth worst country for deaths; pressure builds on South African president over his handling of outbreak
Bosnia’s state court has ordered the release of a regional prime minister and two other men suspected of corruption in connection with the import of defective ventilators for coronavirus patients.
The court of Bosnia-Herzegovina said their detention was unnecessary, and turned down the prosecution’s requests to detain the three men for 30 days.
Senior public health officials have made a last-minute plea for ministers to scrap Monday’s easing of the coronavirus lockdown in England, warning the country is unprepared to deal with any surge in infection and that public resolve to take steps to limit transmission has been eroded.
The Association of Directors of Public Health said new rules, including allowing groups of up to six people to meet outdoors and in private gardens, were “not supported by the science” and that pictures of crowded beaches and beauty spots over the weekend showed “the public is not keeping to social distancing as it was”.
Related: Health officials make last-minute plea to stop lockdown easing in England
Continue reading...Animal rights groups have been pushing a synthetic alternative to horseshoe crab blood in drug safety testing
Horseshoe crabs’ icy-blue blood will remain the drug industry’s standard for safety tests after a powerful US group ditched a plan to give equal status to a synthetic substitute pushed by Swiss biotech Lonza and animal welfare groups.
The crabs’ copper-rich blood clots in the presence of bacterial endotoxins and has long been used in tests to detect contamination in shots and infusions.
Continue reading...A rocketship named Dragon breathed new fire into America’s human spaceflight programme on Saturday, carrying two astronauts on a much-anticipated adventure.
Related: Trump wants America looking at the stars as he drags it through the gutter
Continue reading...As studies confirm many infected people show no symptoms, contact tracing and face masks assume even greater importance
When Noopur Raje’s husband fell critically ill with Covid-19 in mid-March, she did not suspect that she too was infected with the virus.
Raje, an oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, had been caring for her sick husband for a week before driving him to an emergency centre with a persistently high fever. But after she herself had a diagnostic PCR test – which looks for traces of the Sars-CoV-2 virus DNA in saliva – she was astounded to find that the result was positive.
Continue reading...Scientists prepare to examine sewage in attempt to try to find the source of a Covid-19 infection that killed Nathan Turner
Passengers on the ill-fated Ruby Princess cruise ship have been sent another warning from the New South Wales health department, that they could have been exposed to tuberculosis.
The Ruby Princess voyage that arrived in Sydney on 19 March is responsible for about 10% of all coronavirus infections in Australia, and the bungled management of the outbreak has sparked two separate inquiries.
Continue reading...Afghanistan similarly reports worst day yet; Angela Merkel said she will not attend G7 if Trump insists on holding it. All the developments live
Colombia issued new measures to control the spread of coronavirus in three of its most affected cities on Saturday, including the capital Bogota, as the rest of the country prepares for quarantine rules to start lifting, Reuters reports.
The country has reported more than 26,600 coronavirus cases and 853 deaths.
Italy’s total number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 232,664 on Saturday, as daily new infections fell to 416, down from 516 on Friday, the Civil Protection Agency said.
The country’s overall Covid-19 death toll rose by 111 to 33,340, a slight increase from the 87 deaths reported in the 24 hours to Friday. On Thursday, 70 deaths were reported.
Continue reading...Coronavirus has changed the way we interact with the spaces around us – and each other
Continue reading...A prototype of SpaceX’s upcoming heavy-lift rocket, Starship, exploded on Friday during ground tests in south Texas as Elon Musk’s space company pursued an aggressive development schedule to fly the launch vehicle for the first time.
The testing explosion was unrelated to SpaceX’s upcoming launch of two Nasa astronauts from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center using a different rocket system, the Falcon 9 with the Crew Dragon capsule fixed on top.
Continue reading...France prepares to enter phase two of lockdown relaxation; South Korean officials re-implement lockdown measures in Seoul; Kenya records highest one-day case rise
France announced further easing of lockdown restrictions on Thursday, with life slowly returning to normal for much of the country, writes Kim Willsher, the Guardian’s Paris correspondent. However, certain restrictions will remain in the Paris area and the overseas territories Mayotte and Guyane for at least the next three weeks.
In a 90 minute press conference, the prime minister, Édouard Philippe, said the Covid-19 figures in the country were better than expected, but urged the French to continue respecting the rules and remain careful and vigilant.
French PM Édouard Philippe has arrived for the press conference on Phase 2 of the easing of the lockdown. (I will be trying to translate and type as he speaks, so please forgive lapses in translation and grammar!).
The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, has said he would sign an executive order allowing businesses to deny entry to customers who are not wearing masks, the Guardian US coronavirus blog reports.
“That store owner has a right to protect himself,” Cuomo said of the order. “That store owner has a right to protect the other patrons in that store.”
Today I am signing an Executive Order authorizing businesses to deny entry to those who do not wear masks or face-coverings. No mask - No entry.
Related: Coronavirus US live: Cuomo to sign 'no mask, no entry' order for businesses
Continue reading...Johnson unveils lockdown relaxation measures; Durham police say they won’t take further against against Cummings; UK death toll rises by 377 to 37,837
Q. In Northern Ireland the R has been increasing and is barely below 1 – should that cause alarm?
Vallance says the R remains below 1 everywhere but may be very close to 1 in some places.
Q. Do you really have the capacity to trace all the contacts of infected people?
Q. Why is the UK still only listing three symptoms for the disease compared to other countries?
Continue reading...