New Scientist Australian Edition 5-Sep-20

Virtual events How to… with Randall Munroe The mind behind the webcomic xkcd reveals the world’s most useless self-help guide with astrophysicist Katie Mack. Thursday 10 September at 6pm BST/1pm EDT. newscientist.com/events Podcasts Weekly Rethinking habitable planets; the nature of unconscious bias; what a tumour’s microbiome reveals about cancer. Plus: catfish superpowers and the sun’s lost sibling. newscientist.com/podcasts Newsletter Health Check Our free newsletter brings you a weekly round-up of all the health and fitness news you need to know. newscientist.com/sign-up/health Online Covid-19 daily update The day’s coronavirus coverage updated at 6pm BST. newscientist.com/coronavirus-latest Science with Sam This week’s video explores the wonders of the multiverse. youtube.com/newscientist…

Virtual events How to… with Randall Munroe The mind behind the webcomic xkcd reveals the world’s most useless self-help guide with astrophysicist Katie Mack. Thursday 10 September at 6pm BST/1pm EDT. newscientist.com/events Podcasts Weekly Rethinking habitable planets; the nature of unconscious bias; what a tumour’s microbiome reveals about cancer. Plus: catfish superpowers and the sun’s lost sibling. newscientist.com/podcasts Newsletter Health Check Our free newsletter brings you a weekly round-up of all the health and fitness news you need to know. newscientist.com/sign-up/health Online Covid-19 daily update The day’s coronavirus coverage updated at 6pm BST. newscientist.com/coronavirus-latest Science with Sam This week’s video explores the wonders of the multiverse. youtube.com/newscientist…

Although words and pictures are our bread and butter, New Scientist exists on many different platforms and, indeed, manifests itself very differently across them (one of those platforms being real life). It is always New Scientist, though – whether it is a podcast, a live event, a video, a holiday, a book or a one-off app special. In whatever we do, we strive for accuracy, as well as something I can only describe, however inadquately, as New Scientist-iness. Last week, after months of planning and pandemic-interrupted production, there was a further addition to our stable of New Scientist iterations: Science with Sam, a weekly video series on our YouTube channel hosted by New Scientist social media editor Sam Wong. This year, Sam will explain some of the biggest topics in science,…

Although words and pictures are our bread and butter, New Scientist exists on many different platforms and, indeed, manifests itself very differently across them (one of those platforms being real life). It is always New Scientist, though – whether it is a podcast, a live event, a video, a holiday, a book or a one-off app special. In whatever we do, we strive for accuracy, as well as something I can only describe, however inadquately, as New Scientist-iness. Last week, after months of planning and pandemic-interrupted production, there was a further addition to our stable of New Scientist iterations: Science with Sam, a weekly video series on our YouTube channel hosted by New Scientist social media editor Sam Wong. This year, Sam will explain some of the biggest topics in…

THE start of a new school year is always a significant moment for children, but never more so than this year. When schools in England, the US and many other nations reopen their doors this September, it will be the first time in months that the majority of children have stepped foot in a classroom. These children have made a big sacrifice in our fight against the coronavirus. Many teachers have made heroic efforts to suddenly switch to remote learning, but there is no doubt that pupils’ education has been affected. The pandemic has also prevented progress in closing the gap in academic achievement between the most disadvantaged children in England and their peers. Those disadvantaged children are now more than 18 months behind by the time they are 16, on…

A LARGE trial of a coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford has begun in the US. With similar trials already under way in the UK and Brazil, hopes are rising that we could find out if the vaccine works before the end of the year. A collaboration between the Oxford team and the drug firm AstraZeneca, this vaccine is one of the front-runners. Worldwide, eight other coronavirus vaccines have started large-scale trials, and 24 have begun smaller trials to assess safety. On 31 August, the US National Institutes of Health announced that the first of 30,000 volunteers had received either the Oxford vaccine, known as AZD1222, or a placebo consisting of salty water. One in three volunteers will get the placebo, but the trial is double blind, meaning that neither…