Category Archives: Science

German scientists say they can help improve Covid vaccines to prevent blood clots

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AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson jabs have caused rare blood clots but scientists say they can be redesigned to avoid problem

A team of German scientists believe that they have worked out why some people given the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines against Covid-19 develop blood clots – and claim they can tell the manufacturers how to improve the vaccine to avoid it.

The key is in the adenovirus – the common cold virus that is used to deliver the spike protein of the coronavirus into the body, say Rolf Marschalek, a professor at Goethe university in Frankfurt, and colleagues. The mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna do not use this delivery system and there have been no blood clotting cases linked to them.

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How a ranger stumbled upon one of the largest fossil finds in California history

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While on a routine patrol, Greg Francek came across bone fragments from prehistoric animals that existed millions of years before humans

Imagine a California with volcanoes erupting to the east and Los Angeles buried under the Pacific Ocean. Giant camels, rhinoceros and four-tusked miniature elephants graze on a lush landscape, only to be preyed upon by bone-crushing dogs.

This is the prehistoric scene conjured up by a trove of new fossils discovered in California’s Sierra foothills – a hugely significant find, and one of the largest in the state’s history.

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US joins calls for transparent, science-based investigation into Covid origins

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Several countries tell the WHO annual meeting that a new inquiry with new terms of reference must be launched

The United States and other countries have called for a more in-depth investigation of the pandemic origins, after an international mission to China earlier this year proved inconclusive.

Addressing the World Health Organization’s main annual meeting of member states in Geneva, representatives from several countries stressed the continued need to solve the mystery of how Covid-19 first began spreading among humans.

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Research reveals why some find the sound of others eating so irritating

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Scans show some brains have a stronger link between the part that processes sound and that which controls the mouth and throat

Scientists have shed light on why everyday sounds such as chewing, drinking and breathing can be so maddening to some people that it drives them to despair.

While the familiar munching and slurping of the dinner table are innocuous enough to most, those with misophonia – literally a hatred of sound – can find them profoundly irritating, to the point that they become disgusted, anxious, angry and even violent.

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WHO and global faith leaders call for fair access to Covid vaccines

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Declaration warns that the world is at a turning point in saving poorer countries from devastation

Global faith leaders and senior health and humanitarian figures are calling on countries to ensure the equitable distribution of Covid vaccines, warning that the world is “at a turning point”.

The signatories of an international declaration include Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization; Henrietta Fore, executive director of Unicef, the UN’s children’s agency; Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross; Filippo Grandi, United Nations high commissioner for refugees; Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the global Anglican church; Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of al-Azhar; and Christian and Jewish leaders.

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Coronavirus live news: Pfizer and AstraZeneca jab offer protection against India Covid variant, PHE finds

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Latest updates: Pfizer vaccine 88% effective against symptomatic disease from the India variant after second dose, AstraZeneca jab 60% effective

Confusion is reigning after airlines swiftly increased the number of planes travelling to “amber list” holiday destinations from the UK, before the prime minister contradicted ministers over whether trips to such places were permitted. They are not, in fact, allowed, Boris Johnson said.

But if we always believed what the PM said, well, we would be rather foolish. The ins and outs of the guidance are quite nuanced.

Related: Yes but no but yes: flight bookings soar despite baffling travel rules

A coronavirus outbreak on Mount Everest has infected at least 100 climbers and support staff, a mountaineering guide said, giving the first comprehensive estimate amid official Nepalese denials that the disease has spread to the world’s highest peak.

Lukas Furtenbach of Austria, who last week halted his Everest expedition due to virus fears, said one of his foreign guides and six Nepali Sherpa guides had tested positive.

I think with all the confirmed cases we know now confirmed from (rescue) pilots, from insurance, from doctors, from expedition leaders, I have the positive tests so we can prove this … We have at least 100 people minimum positive for Covid in base camp, and then the numbers might be something like 150 or 200.”

Related: Mount Everest Covid outbreak has infected 100 people at base camp, says guide

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CDC studying reports of heart inflammation in young Covid vaccine recipients

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Health agency says the rates of myocarditis are not higher than expected and no causal link has been found to mRNA jabs

Some teenagers and young adults who received Covid-19 vaccines have experienced heart inflammation, a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory group said, recommending further study of the rare condition.

In a statement dated 17 May, the CDC’s advisory committee on immunisation practices said it had looked into reports that a few young vaccine recipients, predominantly male adolescents and young adults, developed myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle.

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Coronavirus live news: Britain records 2,694 new Covid cases; Dominic Cummings criticises government over lockdowns

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Germany to bar visitors from UK over Covid variants of concern; sewage samples being tested across England to monitor Covid variants

Australia has now administered more than 3.5m doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, with a further 89,000 jabs delivered around the country.

New South Wales delivered 12,485 doses in the past 24 hours, becoming another one-day record for the state. Around 5000 of them were administered at its Olympic Park mass vaccination hub alone, AAP reports.

Malaysia has reported a further 6,320 coronavirus cases amid a recent surge in infections, as well as 50 new deaths. Saturday’s figures compare with 4,140 cases and 44 deaths a week today.

The nation reported a record high of 6,806 new cases on Thursday when it also saw its highest daily toll of 59 deaths. Taking the total number of cases since the onset of the pandemic to 505,115, Reuters reports.

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Pfizer and AstraZeneca ‘highly effective’ against India Covid variant

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A Public Health England study has revealed the vaccines can be up to 88% effective after a second dose

Both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs are highly effective at protecting people from the strain of the Covid-19 virus first found in India, a study by Public Health England (PHE) has found.

The analysis, carried out between 5 April and 16 May, found the Pfizer vaccine was 88% effective against symptomatic disease from the India variant two weeks after a second dose, compared with 93% effectiveness against the Kent strain. For its part, the AstraZeneca jab was 60% effective, compared with 66% against the Kent variant over the same period.

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Albert Einstein letter with E=mc2 equation in his own hand sells for $1.2m

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  • Only two similar examples of world-changing equation known
  • 1946 letter to physicist Ludwik Silberstein auctioned

A handwritten letter by Albert Einstein that contains his famous E=mc2 equation has sold at auction for more than $1.2m, about three times more than it was expected to get, a Boston-based auction house said on Friday.

Related: Albert Einstein's 'God letter' reflecting on religion auctioned for $3m

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Research findings that are probably wrong cited far more than robust ones, study finds

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Academics suspect papers with grabby conclusions are waved through more easily by reviewers

Scientific research findings that are probably wrong gain far more attention than robust results, according to academics who suspect that the bar for publication may be lower for papers with grabbier conclusions.

Studies in top science, psychology and economics journals that fail to hold up when others repeat them are cited, on average, more than 100 times as often in follow-up papers than work that stands the test of time.

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Signs of rise in Covid infections in England amid variant warnings

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Boris Johnson still plans to end restrictions in June despite experts’ fears over spread of India and Kent variants

Covid infection levels are showing early signs of an increase in England, data has revealed, as experts continue to warn the variant of concern first detected in India could grow exponentially in the UK.

On Friday Boris Johnson told broadcasters in Portsmouth he has seen nothing to suggest it will be necessary to “deviate from the roadmap”, indicating that the planned lifting of all coronavirus restrictions in England on 21 June may yet go ahead.

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New Zealand’s budget needed to allocate more than small change to the climate crisis | Robert McLachlan and Paul Callister

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Climate politics is a long game but people must see more positive changes to really appreciate the benefits of ending fossil fuels

The New Zealand emissions trading scheme (ETS), now in its fourteenth year of operation and much criticised for (so far) failing to cut emissions, is the centrepiece of the government’s climate action. Judging from Budget 2021, it will remain that way for years to come.

Auctioning of emissions units began in March, and 2022 will see the introduction of a falling cap on net emissions of long-lived greenhouse gases. (The precise level of the cap will be announced later in the year.)

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Britain in talks to waive Covid vaccine patents to improve global access to jabs

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Pressure growing for UK and others to follow Biden’s lead at WTO to avoid ‘moral and public health failure’

The UK government is in talks about a plan to waive Covid-19 vaccine patents to boost the production of shots in low and middle-income countries, the Guardian can reveal.

The discussions come amid growing calls for Britain and other European countries to follow the US in supporting the proposal put before the World Trade Organization (WTO).

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DNA study sets out to establish true origins of Christopher Columbus

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Was the explorer from Italy, Spain, Portugal or elsewhere? Researchers hope to find out once and for all

Spanish researchers have launched a new attempt to finally settle the dispute over the true origins of Christopher Columbus after various theories have claimed the explorer hailed from Portugal or Spain, rather than Italy as most scholars agree.

“There is no doubt on our part [about his Italian origin], but we can provide objective data that can … close a series of existing theories,” said José Antonio Lorente, the lead scientist of the DNA study at the University of Granada.

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Help, it’s 1,000 trillion degrees in here! The Big Bang artwork that makes scientists cry

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What would it have been like to be inside the Big Bang? We meet the ultra-hi-tech art duo who are using light, sound and sub-atomic astro data to recreate the biggest explosion ever

‘Step into the heart of the Big Bang,” says the advert for Halo, a walk-in, 360-degree, audiovisual installation about to open in Brighton. Come off it, I want to retort. You couldn’t “step” into the Big Bang without first travelling 13.8 billion years back in time and then being extremely miniaturised. After all, the universe was, according to one estimate, just 17cm in diameter at its inception.

What’s more, it was dark inside the Big Bang. In fact, there was no light at all. True, if you stuck around for 380,000 years, according to Nasa, you might have been able to see something because that was when free electrons met up with nuclei and created neutral atoms that would have allowed light to pass through. But who has 380,000 years to hang around waiting in the dark?

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Acid test: scientists show how LSD opens doors of perception

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Study analysing brain scans of people finds psychedelic drug lowers barriers that constrain thoughts

When Aldous Huxley emerged from a mescaline trip that veered from an obsession with the folds in his trousers to wonder at the “miraculous” tubularity of the bamboo legs on his garden chairs, he offered an opinion on how the drug worked.

Writing in The Doors of Perception, his 1954 book that took its name from a William Blake poem, Huxley declared that the psychedelic “lowers the efficiency of the brain as an instrument for focusing the mind on the problems of life”.

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Tunisia lockdown ends, despite Africa’s worst Covid death rate

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Pandemic fatigue and economic woes blamed for lack of action despite rapid rise in number of cases

Tunisia has ended its one-week lockdown, despite having the highest reported deaths per capita of any country in Africa.

Covid-19 cases in Tunisia were initially low last year, with a sweeping six-week lockdown involving the closure of borders and shutting down all but essential commercial activity appearing to halt the spread of the virus. However, since easing that original lockdown cases have increased, with daily reported infections and deaths now the highest in Africa, according to Our World in Data.

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How worrying is the India coronavirus variant for UK plans to unlock this summer?

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Monday’s change in the rules was supposed to be a moment of celebration – but the new variant spreading in the UK meant it came with a cautionary note. Can the next stage of the government’s ‘irreversible’ plan go ahead?

This time last week, most of us were feeling optimistic about the next step in the government’s “irreversible” plan to end lockdown. Then scientists started to warn that the accelerating spread of the India variant of coronavirus meant that we should proceed carefully – and even consider slowing down.

While the plans went ahead on Monday, they came with a heavy dose of caution and warnings that the last stage of the relaxation set for 21 June could be delayed. The Guardian’s science correspondent Nicola Davis tells Anushka Asthana about the latest setback in the fight against Covid – and what it means for what happens next.

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