Category Archives: Science

Coronavirus: China death toll reaches 213 after WHO declares global emergency – live news

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More than 9,320 people infected globally, as WHO director says decision comes amid concern for countries with weaker health systems

Press Association is reporting that Virgin Atlantic has suspended its flights between Britain and China due to fears about the spread of the coronavirus.

The airline said in a statement it would suspend its daily operations between the UK and Shanghai for two weeks from Saturday, PA said.

We are now hearing from the premier of the state of Queensland, Annastacia Palaszczuk, who is calling for national co-ordination of the response to the virus. Australia is a federal system made up of states and territories and so far each state seems to have had a slightly different response to the virus.

“There is no reason why the Federal government can’t be on a phone hook-up today or over this weekend, talking to all of the (state) Premiers giving them the most up to date information. This is a serious national issue,” Palaszczuk said.

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Wuhan coronavirus grown by scientists in Melbourne – video

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Scientists at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne have grown the novel coronavirus from a patient sample, which they plan to share internationally under advice from the World Health Organization to provide data to fight the virus.

The virus has also been grown in cell culture in China, but the breakthrough in Melbourne will allow accurate investigation and diagnosis of the virus globally. The project comes from a collaboration between the Royal Melbourne hospital and the University of Melbourne

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Africa’s colonisation of the English language continues apace | Afua Hirsch

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The British empire forced its colonies to abandon their own languages. Now they are making English their own

There is one expression I have grown up hearing from relatives of a certain age, but never been able to accept. It’s the description of Twi – the Akan language spoken by my family – as “the vernacular”, a term which implicitly compares it with the colonial language, English, and somehow finds it wanting. The word itself is a revealing symptom of the colonial project. Just as nations like the Yoruba, with a population of more than 40 million, were patronisingly described as “tribes”, when in fact they were substantial nations, African languages were downgraded to “the vernacular”. It’s a term more befitting of a regional dialect than a nation’s language, with its own history, politics and literature.

The attempt to discourage Africans from speaking our own languages not only failed, but has had the glorious result of backfiring, to the extent that now Britain’s own inhabitants are officially adopting African vocab. This month the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) added Nigeria’s first entries to already recognised gems like “howzit” from South Africa. Other Africans will recognise lots of the latest lingo to get the OED stamp – “chop”, to eat or to misappropriate funds; “next tomorrow”, the day after tomorrow; “sef”, a great Pidgin flourish for emphasis.

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Telescope captures most detailed pictures yet of the sun

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First observations from Inouye telescope bring previously hazy star into sharp focus

The sun’s turbulent surface has been revealed in unprecedented detail in the first observations by the Inouye solar telescope in Hawaii.

The striking images reveal a surprising level of structure hidden within the churning plasma exterior, bringing a previously hazy impression of the sun’s patchwork surface sharply into focus for the first time.

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What is coronavirus and how worried should we be?

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What are the symptoms caused by the virus from Wuhan in China, how is it transmitted from one person to another, and at what point should you see a doctor?

It is a novel coronavirus – that is to say, a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before. Like other coronaviruses, it has come from animals. Many of those infected either worked or frequently shopped in the Huanan seafood wholesale market in the centre of the Chinese city, which also sold live and newly slaughtered animals. New and troubling viruses usually originate in animal hosts. Ebola and flu are examples.

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What is the coronavirus and how worried should we be?

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What are the symptoms, how is it transmitted from one person to another, and how is the virus from Wuhan in China related to Sars?

It is a novel coronavirus – that is to say, a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before. Like other coronaviruses, it has come from animals. Many of those infected either worked or frequently shopped in the Huanan seafood wholesale market in the centre of the Chinese city, which also sold live and newly slaughtered animals. New and troubling viruses usually originate in animal hosts. Ebola and flu are examples.

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Unmasked man pulled off metro in China amid coronavirus crisis – video

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Footage has emerged appearing to show a man being forcibly removed from the Guangzhou metro by security staff for not wearing a face mask, after the South China province implemented a mandatory order to wear them amid the coronavirus crisis. 

Chinese companies are working overtime to produce masks amid soaring demand caused by the country’s coronavirus outbreak.

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Coronavirus: China death toll climbs to 106 with first fatality in Beijing – live updates

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US updates travel warning to China to highest level as mayor of Wuhan admits authorities were too slow in releasing information about virus. Follow the latest news

There are a few interesting sites tracking the increase in coronavirus cases. This one from John’s Hopkins university in the US is one of the best. It clearly shows the steep rise in confirmed infections each day in the past week, from around 280 on 20 January, to over 4,500 today.

One of the curious thing to come out of the Australian news conference about school advice with regards to coronavirus, is that speakers reiterated that there hasn’t been person-to-person transmission of the virus in Australia.

“There is no evidence,” said the NSW chief health officer, Kerry Chant.

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The disease always gets a head start: how to handle an epidemic

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Outbreaks such as coronavirus, Sars and Ebola have taught us communication is key, and that the world is only as strong as its weakest health system

A patient presents at an emergency department somewhere in the world. They are feverish and vomiting. Doctors suspect it is influenza, but they are wrong.

When the outbreak of a virulent new disease such as the coronavirus is identified, the starting gun is fired on a vast, multimillion-dollar international effort to try to contain it.

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China coronavirus: WHO to hold special meeting in Beijing as death toll jumps

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Officials have postponed the end of the lunar new year holidays as spread of virus continues and lockdowns expand

The head of the World Health Organization will hold a special meeting with officials in Beijing on Monday to discuss how to contain the coronavirus that has killed 80 people and left more than 400 in a critical condition.

In an effort to reduce chances of infection during what is China’s busiest travel season, officials announced the end of this week’s lunar new year holiday would be postponed until at least 2 February. Authorities have also widened sweeping restrictions on travel across the country.

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Coronavirus: 100,000 may already be infected, experts warn

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UK government urged to reassure public that NHS is ready for cases within days

About 100,000 people could be infected with the new coronavirus around the world, experts have warned, as the UK government faced calls to reassure people that the NHS is ready to deal with any British cases within days.

Prof Neil Ferguson, a public health expert at Imperial College, said his “best guess” was that there were 100,000 affected by the virus even though there are only 2,000 confirmed cases so far, mostly in the city of Wuhan in China where the virus first appeared.

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The Observer view on the coronavirus outbreak | Observer editorial

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Worldwide health challenges serve as a grave warning to those who would bury their heads in isolationism

The world’s most populous country yesterday celebrated the lunar new year, usually a time of family reunion and joyful celebration. For many Chinese people who have moved away from their place of birth, it is the one time of year they get to visit their familiesThis year the coronavirus outbreak has profoundly muted the celebrations in China, with several cities in lockdown, the imposition of quarantine measures unprecedented in their scale, and many citizens anxious about their own health and that of their families.

The Chinese have borne the brunt of the outbreak so far: coronavirus is known to have killed more than 40 people, and infected another 1,300. But the first cases have already been recorded in the US, Australia, and – on Friday – in Europe.

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Coronavirus outbreak: China promises tougher crackdown to stop spread – as it happened

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Officials announce new measures to contain disease, including wildlife trade ban and bus suspensions, as confirmed death toll reaches 56

Jonathan Ashworth, the UK’s shadow health secretary, urged the government to reassure the public it is sufficiently prepared as the NHS is already struggling in the flu season.

He told the Guardian:

The NHS is currently under immense strain this winter with staff already working flat out and hospitals overcrowded. We need urgent reassurance from ministers they have a plan to ensure we have capacity in place to deal with Coronavirus should we need to,

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Race to exploit the world’s seabed set to wreak havoc on marine life

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New research warns that ‘blue acceleration’ – a global goldrush to claim the ocean floor – is already impacting on the environment.

The scaly-foot snail is one of Earth’s strangest creatures. It lives more than 2,300 metres below the surface of the sea on a trio of deep-sea hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the Indian Ocean. Here it has evolved a remarkable form of protection against the crushing, grim conditions found at these Stygian depths. It grows a shell made of iron.

Discovered in 1999, the multi-layered iron sulphide armour of Chrysomallon squamiferum – which measures a few centimetres in diameter – has already attracted the interest of the US defence department, whose scientists are now studying its genes in a bid to discover how it grows its own metal armour.

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Coronavirus: death toll reaches 41 in China with first cases in Europe

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Public transport suspended in at least 13 cities in China as death toll rises and France identifies Europe’s first cases

China has expanded an unprecedented lockdown during the country’s most important holiday to 13 cities and at least 36 million people, as efforts to contain the deadly new coronavirus were stepped up around the world and the first cases were reported in Europe.

Restrictions on movement were widened on Friday in China in an effort to stop the spread of the disease. Late on Friday, authorities confirmed a further 15 deaths and 180 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of fatalities to 41 people and more than 1,000 affected.

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Aiming for the stars: how New Zealand’s space industry is causing turbulence

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The once-sleepy Mahia peninsula is now the site of regular rocket launches but a plan to put US spy satellites into space is causing concern

Life on the Mahia peninsula on New Zealand’s North Island used to be quiet: surfing beaches, historical monuments, and good snapper fishing.

Then space came to town.

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Life under lockdown in China: hospital queues and empty streets

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With resources at breaking point and a pervading sense of panic, the Chinese city of Wuhan battles coronavirus

In hospitals across Wuhan, the city at the centre of the new coronavirus outbreak, there is panic and despair. Patients wearing masks queue for hours, waiting to be called by nurses. Staff who have worked endless shifts are forced to turn many away. Pharmacies are running out of supplies.

A lack of diagnostic tests means many people do not know for sure if their fever is the new strain of coronavirus, which has killed 26 people in China and affected more than 800.

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China coronavirus: UK Cobra committee meets as death toll rises to 26 – live news

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UK emergency committee to discuss outbreak as more than 33 million people affected by lockdown measures in China

Calls for stricter outlawing of the trafficking and consumption of wild game - which has been linked to the emergence of Coronavirus in Chinese cities - have been reverberating on Chinese social media.

An interesting piece from Jessica Colwell on What’s on Weibo, which reports on social media trends in China, reports that the Wuhan Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market which has been linked to the outbreak has been closed down but criticism of such markets has been fierce.

The hashtag “Support the banning of wild game markets” (#支持禁绝野味市场#) was topping the list of trending topics for much of Thursday and was viewed 270 million times.

Another hashtag, “The source of the new coronavirus is wild animals” (#新型冠状病毒来源是野生动物#), topped the list on Wednesday and has been viewed 990 million times. Online commenters are lambasting the practice of eating illegal wild game such as civet cats, the cause of the 2003 SARS virus, and bats, the suspected cause of the Wuhan coronavirus (snakes have also been suggested as a possible source of the coronavirus outbreak).

Britain’s public health authorities have put out these slides as part of an information campaign about the coronavirus outbreak

No confirmed cases of Wuhan coronavirus have been detected in the UK and the risk to the UK population is low. If you have travelled to the affected area, make sure you know what to do if you experience symptoms: https://t.co/vvIWp72flo pic.twitter.com/hzV5A3dy4f

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Doomsday clock lurches to 100 seconds to midnight – closest to catastrophe yet

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  • Nuclear and climate threats create ‘profoundly unstable’ world
  • Robinson: climate inaction is ‘death sentence for humanity’

The risk of civil collapse from nuclear weapons and the climate crisis is at a record high, according to US scientists and former officials, calling the current environment “profoundly unstable”.

Related: Trump's impeachment lawyers 'tending toward conspiracy theories' says Schiff – live trial updates

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Talk like an Egyptian: mummy’s voice heard 3,000 years after death

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Researchers in UK recreate Nesyamun’s sound using 3D version of his vocal tract

The “voice” of an ancient Egyptian priest has been heard for the first time since he died and was mummified 3,000 years ago, researchers have said.

Nesyamun lived under the pharaoh Rameses XI, who reigned around the beginning of the 11th century BC.

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