New Scientist Australian Edition 25-Jul-20

Virtual events The science of sin Neurobiologist Jack Lewis sheds light on the fascinating topic of temptation – where it comes from, how to resist it and why we all succumb to it from time to time. Thursday 30 July at 6pm BST. newscientist.com/events The end of the universe Will our universe collapse on itself, rip itself apart or fall victim to an expanding bubble of doom, asks astrophysicist Katie Mack. Thursday 13 August at 6pm BST. newscientist.com/events Podcasts Weekly The coronavirus’s effects on children and on other diseases, how changing the way you sit could add years to your life and the supercrops that could feed a climate-changed world. Plus: how to move your solar system to a new location, and introducing bison to the UK. newscientist.com/podcasts Newsletter Health…

FOR months now, UK prime minister Boris Johnson and his ministers have been repeating a mantra for tackling the coronavirus pandemic: follow the science. Debates about “the” science aside – the UK government seems to have had too many modellers and not enough public health experts advising it – an approach based on evidence is always a good one. Evidence, however, can sometimes be lacking. On 29 January, early in the pandemic, the World Health Organization published a guide on the use of medical masks by the general public to slow the spread of the virus. It said that compulsory mask wearing shouldn’t be required, as “no evidence is available on its usefulness to protect non-sick persons”. It is easy to read those words and assume that face coverings of…

AN EXPERIMENTAL coronavirus vaccine developed at the University of Oxford produces the hoped for immune responses in people. Even though it isn’t yet clear if this means the vaccine will prevent infections, the group that made it has struck deals for companies to make 2 billion doses of it within a year. “It’s a really important day today,” says team leader Sarah Gilbert. “But there’s still a long way to go.” At least 23 experimental vaccines are being tested in people. The aim of these trials is to prove that the vaccines work, but that will take time, because it requires giving the vaccine or a placebo to many thousands of people in a region where there are lots of coronavirus cases. The latest findings were the result of a…

“EVERYTHING just went haywire. My moods were all over the place,” says Black actor and producer Dami Adeyeye, as he describes the perfect storm of living with his family under lockdown in the UK, watching police brutality in the US after the killing of George Floyd and seeing a UK government report showing that covid-19 is deadlier if you are from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) background. Adeyeye has had depression in the past and isn’t alone in grappling with his mental health at this time. Across the UK, a greater percentage of people from a BAME background than from a white one said concerns over jobs, housing and money damaged their mental health during the pandemic, according to a survey of 14,000 adults with existing mental health…

AUSTRALIA was tantalisingly close to eliminating the coronavirus, but is now seeing a surge in new cases. What went wrong and can it regain control? The country was initially able to contain covid-19 by closing its border to everyone except citizens and permanent residents, quarantining those who returned home from abroad, implementing stay-at-home orders throughout the country and conducting widespread testing and contact tracing. 24 Deaths related to the latest coronavirus outbreak in Australia This brought the number of new confirmed cases down from 460 on 28 March to between two and 17 per day in early June. Since mid-June, however, there has been a resurgence, with around 300 to 400 new cases now being reported in the country daily. As of 21 July, Australia has passed 12,000 cases and…

BECOMING a covid-19-free zone sounds like the ultimate goal for any nation. Several countries around the world have come pretty close and, according to a group of independent scientists, the UK could join them. The group says that, as an island nation, the UK could introduce specific measures over the next year and follow in the footsteps of other island success stories, such as Iceland, Taiwan and New Zealand. But closer scrutiny reveals that no country has truly eliminated the coronavirus from its shores and that doing so would mean making such large sacrifices in other areas of public well-being that it might not be worth it. Earlier this month, Independent SAGE – a self-appointed group of scientists that provides advice with the intention of guiding UK government policy on…