‘I made the smelliest stink-bomb in history’: Natural History Museum scientist Richard Fortey pens evocative memoir charting his ‘obsession’ with nature which stems from childhood Distinguished scientist Richard Fortey has wrote a memoir about his childhood He is a world expert on trilobites but first found his obsession with nature as boy Fungi, fossils, wildflowers … Read more
Schools can reopen ‘safely’ from next week with the package of measures set out to mitigate risks from Covid-19, a SAGE scientist said today. Calum Semple, professor of outbreak medicine and child health at the University of Liverpool, said that increased ventilation, tests and mask wearing will all contribute to safe reopening of schools next … Read more
Boris Johnson must end ban on outdoor sports now, top scientist urges, as Covid hospitalisations, cases and deaths ‘plunge’ and vaccinations soar Professor Mark Woolhouse calls for accelerated ease of lockdown restrictions Says small numbers of adults and kids should be allowed to play sports outside Added the data is so promising that outdoor sports … Read more
German scientist says he is ‘99.9 per cent sure’ that coronavirus leaked from Wuhan lab after WHO dismissed the theory German physicist says he is ‘99.9 per cent sure’ coronavirus leaked from a lab Dr Roland Wiesendanger says failure of scientists to discover a host animal, along with safety deficiencies at lab have convinced him of … Read more
A scientist who led the WHO’s Covid fact-finding mission to Wuhan has revealed the first evidence that the virus was circulating widely in China before Beijing alerted the world. Peter Embarek said his team have discovered there were at least 13 Covid variants in Wuhan in December last year, suggesting the virus had been in … Read more
As Margaret Thatcher famously said: ‘If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.’ Away from the politics, the infighting and the competitive glory, women have been the quietly effective heroines of the pandemic. Prime among them is Dr Sarah Gilbert, who first cracked the Oxford vaccine. Typically, … Read more
The Kent coronavirus variant may become the most dominant strain in the world, the director of the UK’s genetic surveillance programme claimed today. More than 50 countries have already spotted the mutant B.1.1.7 strain, which evolved to become more infectious than the original virus. Professor Sharon Peacock, head of the Covid-19 Genomics UK (Cog-UK) Consortium … Read more
Vaccine-makers’ job is done if they can reduce Covid to ‘the sniffles’ even if the jabs don’t stop people catching or spreading the disease, one of Oxford’s vaccine chiefs said today. Professor Andrew Pollard, who is running the studies of the university’s vaccine, said the South African variant was not a ‘reason for alarm’ and … Read more
Results suggesting the Oxford University Covid vaccine doesn’t stop people falling mildly unwell with the South African variant were ‘expected’, the lead scientist behind trials of the jab said today. Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, claimed the findings, from a small study on 2,000 people in Johannesburg, were not ‘any reason … Read more
Professor Sir Ian Boyd, an infectious disease expert at the University of St Andrews and member of SAGE, said the UK could be stuck in a pattern of ‘control and release for a long time to come’ Britain could be trapped in coronavirus lockdown cycles for ‘several years’ as it’s forced to wrestle with new … Read more