BBC
Soils around the world are in trouble, threatening food production. Here’s how we can save the ground beneath our feet
Soil is critical for the food everyone eats. Healthy soils matter not just for producing 95% of global food supplies, ...
I got my COVID-19 vaccine. Can I still get and transmit the virus?
There are two main types of immunity you can achieve with vaccines. One is so-called "effective" immunity, which can prevent ...
Vaccine crisis? South Africa halts Astra-Zeneca shot rollout over mutant strain, sending alarm through global health community
South Africa has put its rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on hold after a study showed "disappointing" results against its ...
Sex and love in the time of Neanderthals
[T]he evidence that sex between early modern humans and Neanderthals was not a rare event has been mounting up. Hidden ...
Why taking only one shot of a two-dose COVID vaccine regimen could prove deadly
[H]ow effective is a single dose of each of the Covid-19 vaccines? At a time when the answer is more ...
New UK COVID variant is not only more infectious – it appears to be more deadly
Public Health England, Imperial College London, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Exeter have ...
Farming palm trees for oil destroys forests. Now there’s a GM synthetic version that might help preserve global biodiversity
[Many everyday products] are made with palm oil, which is responsible for the rapid deforestation of some of the world's ...
COVID could come back with a vengeance in mutated forms, jumping back and forth between animals and humans
Coronavirus could potentially leap to other animals, such as rats, mice, ferrets and voles, as well as mink, an expert ...
3 biggest COVID rumors and false claims debunked
One of the most shared claims this week - one that has been circulating since early this year - is ...
‘Highly unusual’ apple variety discovered in the UK
Archie Thomas, from the Nadder Valley in Wiltshire, came across across a windfall apple on a wooded trackway near his ...
COVID pilot trial: Facing UK’s near highest death toll, Liverpool to test entire city
Everyone living or working in [Liverpool] will be offered [a COVID test], whether or not they have symptoms, with follow-up ...
Will COVID cause complications for decades?
By now the story of how new viral threats emerge should be familiar – the close contact with infected animals, ...
Reassurance on COVID and school children: Respected study shows ‘tiny’ risk
Children's risk of needing hospital treatment for coronavirus is "tiny" and critical care "even tinier," [researchers] say. However, black children, ...
COVID logistical nightmare: 8,000 jumbo jets needed to globally deliver vaccine
The equivalent of 8,000 Boeing 747s will be needed [to ship a coronavirus vaccine worldwide], the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has ...
What’s it like being in a Phase 3 coronavirus vaccine trial?
I’m at St George’s for an initial screening as a volunteer in the Oxford University trial to test the ChAdOx1 ...
Birth rates expected to crash by half in coming decades in some countries, driven by educated, working women
Falling fertility rates mean nearly every country could have shrinking populations by the end of the century. And 23 nations - ...
Kremlin-backed Russian hacker spies tried to steal vaccine research
The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said [hackers targeting coronavirus vaccine information] "almost certainly" operated as "part of Russian ...
Missing antibodies: Why herd immunity may be “unachievable” without mass deaths or long-shot vaccine
[A] study of more than 60,000 people estimates that around just 5% of the Spanish population has developed antibodies, the ...
Testing negative for COVID-19 antibodies? Many people still have some protection against the virus
For every person testing positive for antibodies, two [people with negative tests] were found to have specific T-cells which identify ...
If every virus was wiped off the earth, ‘the world will be a wonderful place—for about a day and a half, and then we’d all die’
If given the choice to magically wave a wand and cause all viruses to disappear, most people would probably jump ...
DNA analysis of 5,000-year-old Irish remains reveals an incestuous elite social class
[Researchers found] an adult male buried at the 5,000-year-old Newgrange monument; his DNA revealed that his parents were first-degree relatives, ...
‘Partnership with sunlight’: Why staying inside all the time makes us vulnerable to infections
For the past two months, a sizable chunk of the world’s population has been shuttered inside their homes, only stepping ...
‘Enormous potential’: Recently discovered microbe could protect mosquitoes from malaria
Scientists have discovered a microbe that completely protects mosquitoes from being infected with malaria. The team in Kenya and the ...
Tracking down the missing link in the coronavirus transmission chain
It was a matter of "when not if" an animal passed the coronavirus from wild bats to humans, scientists say ...
Origins of symmetry: This ancient worm-like creature may be a key to our own evolution
A worm-like creature that burrowed on the seafloor more than 500 million years ago may be key to the evolution ...
Why social distancing is so crucial in the fight against COVID-19
While Covid-19 is different in many ways from the Spanish flu – particularly in terms of who it affects and its ...
Video: What CRISPR means for human evolution
Tech experts discuss the past, present and future of CRISPR gene editing. How will the technology affect our future generations? ...
Global plan to halt extinction criticized for failing to address species humans don’t like
A global plan to halt the loss of nature is "weak" in one key area, say scientists. The new 10-year ...
