Only private jabs are available to most, but annual shots could reduce healthcare costs and prevent deaths
Private Covid boosters are available for people who do not qualify to receive these vaccines on the NHS. But is it worth paying for a shot?
With most people now having been exposed to Sars-CoV-2 through previous vaccination and/or infection, our immune systems are generally well equipped to recognise and kill the virus if we become infected.
Continue reading...Space agency tasked with establishing Coordinated Lunar Time, partly to aid missions requiring extreme precision
The White House wants Nasa to figure out how to tell time on the moon.
A memo sent Tuesday from the head of the US Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has asked the space agency to work with other US agencies and international agencies to establish a moon-centric time reference system. Nasa has until the end of 2026 to set up what is being called Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC).
Continue reading...Recent $74m investment made alongside assessment that 10% of electricity could be generated by geothermal by 2050
A limitless supply of heat exists beneath our feet within the Earth’s crust, but harnessing it at scale has proved challenging. Now, a combination of new techniques, government support and the pressing need to secure continuous clean power in an era of climate crisis means that geothermal energy is finally having its moment in the US.
Until recently, geothermal has only been viable where the Earth’s inner heat simmers near the surface, such as at hot springs or geysers where hot water or steam can be easily drawn to drive turbines and generate electricity.
Continue reading...Elite athletes and professional gamers may have higher than average visual temporal resolution, research suggests
If you have wondered why your partner always beats you at tennis or one child always crushes the other at Fortnite, it seems there is more to it than pure physical ability.
Some people are effectively able to see more “images per second” than others, research suggests, meaning they’re innately better at spotting or tracking fast-moving objects such as tennis balls.
Continue reading...CAP scheme, which pays more to farms that occupy more land, drives ‘perverse outcomes for a food transition’, says study
The EU has made polluting diets “artificially cheap” by pumping four times more money into farming animals than growing plants, research has found.
More than 80% of the public money given to farmers through the EU’s common agriculture policy (CAP) went to animal products in 2013 despite the damage they do to society, according to a study in Nature Food. Factoring in animal feed doubled the subsidies that were embodied in a kilogram of beef, the meat with the biggest environmental footprint, from €0.71 to €1.42 (61p to £1.22).
Continue reading...Tests that can identify early changes in cells would give doctors more time to offer treatment, say Cambridge researchers
Scientists at a recently opened cancer institute at Cambridge University have begun work that is pinpointing changes in cells many years before they develop into tumours. The research should help design radically new ways to treat cancer, they say.
The Early Cancer Institute – which has just received £11m from an anonymous donor – is focused on finding ways to tackle tumours before they produce symptoms. The research will exploit recent discoveries which have shown that many people develop precancerous conditions that lie in abeyance for long periods.
Continue reading...Spectacular aurora borealis caused by geomagnetic storms on sun’s surface may be visible in North America as far south as the midwest
Solar eruptions are sending a stream of particles towards Earth, creating spectacular auroras in both hemispheres.
The aurora borealis – in the northern hemisphere – will be potentially visible on Monday night in the US as far south as the midwest. The northern lights, more commonly associated with northern Europe, could also be visible in northern United Kingdom.
Continue reading...National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme aims to understand why population has declined
Artificial intelligence will be used for the first time to track hedgehog populations as part of a pioneering project aimed at understanding how many of them are left in the UK and why they have suffered a decline.
Images of the prickly mammals snuffling around urban parks, private gardens, woodlands and farmland will be captured by cameras and filtered by AI trained to differentiate between wildlife and humans.
Continue reading...Heritage orchard at RHS Rosemoor to be sampled this spring as part of search for previously unrecorded ‘survivor’ cultivars
Gardeners are searching for lost apple varieties by sequencing the genetics of trees in ancient orchards, in the hope they hold traits that can help the fruit survive climate breakdown.
Heritage apple trees at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) garden Rosemoor will be sampled this spring with the aim of finding species of apple enjoyed by people hundreds of years ago.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Scientists say people with disease who drink two to four cups a day are less likely to see it return
People with bowel cancer who drink two to four cups of coffee a day are much less likely to see their disease come back, research has found.
People with the illness who consume that amount are also much less likely to die from any cause, the study shows, which suggests coffee helps those diagnosed with the UK’s second biggest cancer killer.
Continue reading...New research from Australian scientists shows strong evidence even mid-life stable stars like our sun have engulfed entire planets
Planet-eating stars are more abundant in the universe than previously thought, an Australian-led study has found.
The study, by the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in Three Dimensions (Astro 3D), looked at “co-natal” or twin stars, born from the same molecular cloud, where one had “eaten” a planet and the other had not.
Continue reading...Kermitops gratus are thought to be among first true amphibians and a key step in transition of life from water to land
After achieving worldwide fame through numerous hit films and TV shows, leading to a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, Kermit the Frog has another accolade: a 270m-year-old fossil named after him.
Scientists have discovered a species of an ancient amphibian ancestor, which they have named Kermitops gratus because of its resemblance to the bright green star of The Muppet Show.
Continue reading...Fossil of giant river dolphin found in Peru, whose closest living relation is in South Asia, gives clues to future extinction threats
Scientists have discovered the fossilised skull of a giant river dolphin, from a species thought to have fled the ocean and sought refuge in Peru’s Amazonian rivers 16m years ago. The extinct species would have measured up to 3.5 metres long, making it the largest river dolphin ever found.
The discovery of this new species, Pebanista yacuruna, highlights the looming risks to the world’s remaining river dolphins, all of which face similar extinction threats in the next 20 to 40 years, according to the lead author of new research published in Science Advances today. Aldo Benites-Palomino said it belonged to the Platanistoidea family of dolphins commonly found in oceans between 24m and 16m years ago.
Continue reading...PET scans can examine entire bowel before and during treatment, avoiding risks associated with taking tissue samples
Researchers in Glasgow have identified a new means of diagnosing and treating bowel cancer with imaging technology, avoiding the need for biopsies.
Biopsies require an invasive procedure with a number of health risks, such as infection, and are limited in what they can capture within a patient’s bowel.
Continue reading...Researchers at Nottingham Trent University hope device used at home will improve tracking of tumours
Scientists are developing a device that fits inside a bra and could monitor whether a breast cancer tumour is growing.
Researchers hope the device will provide a new non-invasive method of detecting tumour growth that patients can use “in the comfort of their own homes”.
Continue reading...Cancer scientist decides to study the tumour that once afflicted his small daughter – and now her work is adding to his project’s success
Elana Simon was 10 years old when she started to experience severe pains in her abdomen. For two years, puzzled doctors put forward diagnoses including lactose intolerance, Crohn’s disease and stress. It was not until 2008 that they pinpointed the real cause. Elana was suffering from fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC), a rare, usually lethal, form of liver cancer.
“In a way, it was comforting to have a word for what was wrong with me after so much confusion about my condition,” Elana told the Observer. “Pre-diagnosis, my life was a mixture of discomfort and fear. Now I had something to focus on.”
Continue reading...Discovery was made after First Nations tipped off ecologists about groups of fish gathering in a fjord off British Columbia
Deep in the hostile waters off Canada’s west coast, in a narrow channel surrounded by fjords, lies a coral reef that scientists believe “shouldn’t exist”. The reef is the northernmost ever discovered in the Pacific Ocean and offers researchers a new glimpse into the resilience – and unpredictability – of the deep-sea ecosystems.
For generations, members of the Kitasoo Xai’xais and Heiltsuk First Nations, two communities off the Central Coast region of British Columbia, had noticed large groups of rockfish congregating in a fjord system.
Continue reading...Arthur Schubarth, 80, pleads guilty to trafficking in ‘audacious’ and unlawful scheme to cross-breed sheep for lucrative sale
A Montana rancher illegally used tissue and testicles from wild sheep killed by hunters in central Asia and the US to breed “giant” hybrid sheep for sale to private hunting preserves in Texas, according to court documents and federal prosecutors.
Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, 80, of Vaughn, Montana, pleaded guilty to felony charges of wildlife trafficking and conspiracy to traffic wildlife during an appearance Tuesday before a federal judge in Great Falls.
Continue reading...First attempt with private Kairos rocket was intended to test viability of homegrown commercial launch business
A rocket made by a Japanese company has exploded seconds after it was launched with the goal of putting a satellite into orbit.
Tokyo-based Space One’s 18-metre Kairos rocket blasted off from the company’s launch pad in the Wakayama region of western Japan, carrying a small government test satellite, on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Study finds reception-age girls with obesity 67% more likely to see doctor about musculoskeletal issues than those at healthy weight
Girls aged between four and 11 who are overweight or obese are more likely to see a GP at least once about musculoskeletal problems than their healthy weight peers, research suggests.
Pupils in reception year who had a body mass index considered overweight were 24% more likely to see a doctor at least once for a musculoskeletal issue while their peers who were living with obesity were 67% more likely to do so than girls with a healthy weight, the study found.
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