Category Archives: Science

Vaccines on horseback: Fiji doctors take long and muddy road to protect remote villages from Covid

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A team of medics hiked in the mountains for hours to take supplies to the small village of Nakida

To reach Nakida village in the highlands of Fiji, Dr Losalini Tabakei and her colleagues hiked for hours, up and down mountains, through forests, down muddy slopes, across rivers and along treacherous ridges with steep slopes of bamboo forest on either side.

Their supplies – clothing, medical equipment and, crucially, the Covid-19 vaccines they were bringing to administer to the remote community of just 60 people – were sent separately on horseback; the vaccines in refrigerated boxes, the rest in bags wrapped in plastic. The horses took the longer but flatter route to the town along the river.

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Thousands of kilometres from anywhere lies Point Nemo, a watery grave where space stations go to die

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The space cemetery, named for the fictional captain in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, is where the International Space Station is likely to end up

At the furthest point from any landmass on earth, and 4km under the sea, lies the space cemetery.

When their outer space journeys come to an end, old satellites, rocket parts and space stations are sent to this desolate spot in the Pacific Ocean to rest on the dark seabed forever.

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Covid jabs for UK children: a very tight decision that could be overruled

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Analysis: The JCVI would not back vaccination of all 12 to 15-year-olds, but the impact on schools will now have to be considered

It was, the scientists said, a very finely balanced decision. On the one hand, Covid vaccines undoubtedly help to reduce infection and illness. On the other, Covid vaccines – like every other vaccine in medical history – are not without their risks. In children aged 12 to 15, the threat of serious Covid is tiny, but so is the risk of serious side-effects from the vaccine.

After much deliberation, the government’s independent vaccine advisers concluded that, on the strength of evidence so far, there was a marginal benefit to vaccinating healthy children aged 12 to 15 years old. But that benefit was deemed so very marginal the advisers would not give the green light to mass vaccination of healthy children in the age group.

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No urgency on Covid booster shots for healthy adults, says UK scientist

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Exclusive: head of key research into third dose says it may be better to prioritise vulnerable first

There is “almost certainly no urgency” to press ahead with booster shots for healthy adults and it may be better to see how the pandemic pans out before a decision is made, the scientist leading key research into third shots has said.

Prof Saul Faust, chief investigator of the Cov-Boost study whose data next week is expected to help inform a decision on the rollout of boosters across the UK, told the Guardian that for now it may be preferable to prioritise only the vulnerable, including those with compromised immune systems.

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German scientists find fresh evidence of canine intelligence

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Dogs seem to be able to grasp notion of human intention, say researchers

From a canny look to a quizzical grumble, dogs have long conveyed the impression they know more about what their owners are up to than what might be expected. Now researchers have found fresh evidence of canine savviness, revealing dogs seem to be able to tell whether human actions are deliberate or accidental.

While theory of mind – the ability to attribute thoughts to others and to recognise that can result in certain behaviours – is often thought to be uniquely human, the study suggests at least some elements may be common to canines.

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WHO monitoring new coronavirus variant named Mu

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Health body says Mu, or B.1.621, first identified in Colombia, has been designated as a variant of interest

The World Health Organization has added another version of coronavirus to its list of “variants of interest” amid concerns that it may partially evade the immunity people have developed from past infection or vaccination.

The Mu variant, also known as B.1.621, was added to the WHO’s watchlist on 30 August after it was detected in 39 countries and found to possess a cluster of mutations that may make it less susceptible to the immune protection many have acquired.

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How contagious is the Delta variant of Covid-19? See how coronavirus can spread through a population, and how countries flatten the curve

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How contagious is the Delta Covid variant? Take charge of this interactive and watch how small changes in isolation or reproduction rates of Covid-19 can affect our battle against it.

One important characteristic of viruses and other pathogens is how contagious or infectious they are. One key measure of this is the R0, or basic reproduction number, which indicates how many new cases one infected person generates.
For an R0 of three we would expect each new case of a disease to produce three other infections.

This is not just a measure of the inherent infectiousness of a disease. It also depends on other factors, including the rate of contact within a population and the duration of the infectious period. It’s a situation-dependent value, so in one city the R0 might be higher and in another lower. It also assumes that the entire population is susceptible to the disease.

So what does the R0 of Covid look like, and how does it compare with other diseases?

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Wild cockatoos observed using tools as ‘cutlery’ to extract seeds from tropical fruit

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Goffin’s cockatoos on Indonesia’s Tanimbar Islands crafted three different types of tools from tree branches to obtain seeds from sea mangoes

Australian bird of the year 2021: nominate your favourite for the shortlist

Wild cockatoos have been observed using three types of tools as “cutlery” to extract seeds from tropical fruit.

Researchers made the discovery while studying Goffin’s cockatoos on the Tanimbar Islands, a remote archipelago in Indonesia.

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Israel registers record daily coronavirus cases

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Country to press ahead with school openings as it encourages all over-12s to get third jab

Israel has recorded its highest daily number of coronavirus cases with nearly 11,000 new infections, amid a surge caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant as schools prepare to re-open.

The previous high came on 18 January, with 10,118 cases.

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Huge decrease in organ transplants as Covid took hold across world

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UK and international studies show the impact pandemic has had on health services and patients

The number of solid organ transplants fell dramatically around the world between 2019 and 2020, researchers have found, highlighting the widespread impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on health services and patients.

As the pandemic surged, hospitals were forced to delay potentially life-saving organ transplant surgery, because of resources such as intensive care beds being needed for Covid patients and because of concerns including whether it was safe to treat transplant recipients in hospital.

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I have a 50/50 chance of inheriting Huntington’s disease – should I take a test to find out? | Lillian Hanly

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A coin toss could give me two completely different lives. But once I know the result there’s no going back

I’ve spent most of my life knowing I may have inherited a faulty gene that would cause Huntington’s disease, a neurodegenerative disease that can be fatal. My grandad had the disease, my mum has it, and I am yet to take the test to find out if I have it too. It’s a 50/50 chance of inheritance. Right now, I am happily ignorant of whether I carry the mutation or not. A coin toss could give me two completely different lives. Once I know the results, there’s no going back. So far, everyone who has been tested in my family has tested positive. It seems the odds are against me. I’m 27 years old, and I’m starting to think seriously about my future, whether that is moving overseas or contemplating having children. Whatever big decisions I am facing now, I can’t help but wonder, could this disease overshadow them? I explore this tension in a newly released short documentary, Fifty Percent.

Related: After the Nobel, what next for Crispr gene-editing therapies?

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Coronavirus live news: WHO expects 236,000 more Covid deaths in Europe by December; Philippines reports record high for new infections

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Europe has registered around 1.3 million Covid deaths to date; Philippines sees 22,366 new cases; New Zealand’s largest city sees curbs extended by two weeks

With the return to school in the UK imminent, the Welsh education ministry said on Monday that all schools, universities and colleges in Wales would be supplied with ozone disinfecting machines.

Once a room has been disinfected, the machine, each the size of a suitcase, converts the ozone back to oxygen. But ozone is so toxic that no one will be allowed inside the room when the machine is operating.

It is like the use of chlorine, you don’t want to be in an environment where chlorine is dispersed at high concentration. Ozone smells but people are not allowed to smell it. That is extremely important from a safety point of view.”

Related: Concerns over plan to disinfect classrooms in Wales with ozone

Britain has reported 26,476 new cases of Covid-19 between 24 August and 30 August, 1.8% increase on the previous seven days.

A further 48 people were reported as having died within 28 days of a positive test for Covid-19, taking the seven-day increase to 14.8%.

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Covid booster jabs ‘not a luxury’ and protect the vulnerable, says WHO

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Health body previously stated that boosters in Europe are unnecessary and will increase vaccine inequality

A booster jab of Covid-19 vaccine for vulnerable people is not a luxury but a good way to protect them, the World Health Organization has said, as surging infection rates and a pan-European vaccination slowdown produced a “deeply worrying” situation.

“A third dose of vaccine is not a luxury booster taken away from someone who is still waiting for a first jab,” Dr Hans Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe, said on Monday. “It’s basically a way to keep the most vulnerable safe.”

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What personality are you? How the Myers-Briggs test took over the world

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Deemed ‘astrology for businessmen’ for some, lauded as life-saving by others, the personality tests are a ‘springboard’ for people to think about who they are

I am a born executive. I am obsessed with efficiency and detached from my emotions. I share similarities with Margaret Thatcher and Harrison Ford. I am among 2% of the general population, and 1% of women.

People like us are highly motivated by personal growth, and occasionally ruthless in the pursuit. We make difficult partners and parents, but good landscape architects. We are ENTJs: extroverted, intuitive, thinking, judging – also known as the executive type or, sometimes, “the Commander”.

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Kidnapped, raped and wed against their will: Kyrgyz women’s fight against a brutal tradition

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At least 12,000 women are still abducted and forced into marriage every year in Kyrgyzstan. But pressure is growing to finally end the medieval custom

Aisuluu was returning home after spending the afternoon with her aunt in the village of At-Bashy, not far from the Torugart crossing into China. “It was 5 o’clock in the afternoon on Saturday. I had a paper bag full of samsa [a dough dumpling stuffed with lamb, parsley and onion]. My aunt always prepared them on weekends,” she said.

“A car with four men inside comes in the opposite direction to mine. And all of a sudden it … turns around and, within a few seconds, comes up beside me. One of the guys in the back gets out, yanks me and pushes me inside the car. I drop all the samsa on the pavement. I scream, I squirm, I cry, but there is nothing I can do.”

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Being a Human review – two go mad in the stone age

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Charles Foster’s search for the meaning of human life leads him and his son to become hedgehog-eating hunter-gatherers in a Derbyshire wood

Charles Foster’s previous book, Being a Beast, is one of the oddest things I’ve read. In it, the author, a barrister, professor of law, part-time judge and former vet, attempts to live as a series of animals, often in the company of his charming and heavily dyslexic eight-year-old son, Tom. We see Foster eating worms and burrowing into the earth as a badger, swimming naked as an otter, foraging in bins as a fox. Now Foster is back with a follow-up, Being a Human, which acknowledges the charges of eccentricity and even insanity that were levelled at the last book.

Foster’s new work continues the project of its predecessor, although this time, rather than seeking to understand the brains and bodies of animals, his question is closer to home: what does it mean to be human? He begins with a contentious argument: far from being a story of progress, the history of humanity is one of disenchantment and loss, one where we have severed our links with other species and the natural world more broadly and in which we live meagre, circumscribed lives. “Few of us have any idea what sort of creatures we are,” he says and embarks on a quest to find out.

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Passing the ‘chimp test’: how Neanderthals and women helped create language

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How did humans learn to talk and why haven’t chimpanzees followed suit? Linguistics expert Sverker Johansson busts some chauvinist myths

How and when did human language evolve? Did a “grammar module” just pop into our ancestors’ brains one day thanks to a random change in our DNA? Or did language come from grooming, or tool use, or cooking meat with fire? These and other hypotheses exist, but there seems little way to rationally choose between them. It was all so very long ago, so any theory must be essentially speculation.

Or must it? This is the question presented as an elegant intellectual thriller by The Dawn of Language: Axes, Lies, Midwifery and How We Came to Talk. Its author is Sverker Johansson, a serene and amiable 60-year-old Swede who speaks to me over Zoom from his book-crammed home study in the city of Falun, where he works as a senior adviser at Dalarna University.

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An oral history of Oxford/AstraZeneca: ‘Making a vaccine in a year is like landing a human on the moon’

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It has shipped more than a billion doses, saved countless lives – and faced controversy over its safety and supply. Here, some of those who created the vaccine tell the story of their epic race against the virus

In December 2019, hospitals in Wuhan, China, reported that they were dealing with dozens of cases of pneumonia of an unknown cause. They soon identified the disease as being caused by a novel coronavirus.

Teresa Lambe, associate professor, Jenner Institute My brother lived in China, so whenever there was an emerging or break pathogen there, I used to follow it. I remember thinking very early on that this was probably another influenza strain.

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NSW to lift ban on weddings; Victoria records 64 infections and ACT 26 – as it happened

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Western Australia releases sites visited by Covid-positive NSW truck drivers. This blog is now closed

It’s time to wrap things up for another day. Here are today’s main events:

It has shipped more than a billion doses, saved countless lives – and faced controversy over its safety and supply.

In this piece by Oliver Franklin-Wallis, some of the people involved in the creation of the AstraZenca vaccine tell their story of the race against Covid-19.

Related: An oral history of Oxford/AstraZeneca: ‘Making a vaccine in a year is like landing a human on the moon’

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