This week's magazine

Table of contents

Leaders

Health

The way our bodies remember coronavirus should make a vaccine possible

THROUGHOUT the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 has proved full of surprises, most of them nasty. Initially regarded as a respiratory virus, we now know it infects other organ systems, and can linger for months. It disproportionally kills people from poor and ethnic minority backgrounds and also men, for reasons that still aren't fully understood. It doesn't seem …

News

---

News

Health

Our shower drains are a breeding ground for drug-resistant bacteria

What's lurking down there? Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been found in more than three-quarters of the homes surveyed in a small study in Germany, and seem to particularly thrive in shower drains. Drug-resistant bacteria are commonly detected in hospitals and crowded places like trains and shopping centres , but little is known about their prevalence in …

News

Health

City in UK takes steps to test entire population for coronavirus

News

Space

Three exoplanets are close enough for us to see their atmospheres

News

Technology

Honeywell claims it has built the most powerful quantum computer ever

News

Environment

Clouds may explain why climate models are predicting a warmer future

News

Health

The coronavirus is leaving some people with permanent lung damage

News

Life

Sled dogs are an ancient breed going back at least 10,000 years

News

Space

Astronomers have spotted six possible exomoons in distant star systems

News

Environment

We have recorded the biggest lightning flashes ever

News

Parenthood alters your personality but you don’t become more mature

News

Health

Lockdown measures return as covid-19 cases spike in several countries

News

Technology

US military electroshock weapon can hit a person 100 metres away

News

Health

Can we become immune to the coronavirus? What the evidence says so far

News

---

Analysis

Life

How Korean pop fans took on white supremacists – and won

Unusual methods of online protest have sprung up recently, and it’s become harder to tell what’s real and what’s not, says Annalee Newitz

News

Health

Scotland could eliminate the coronavirus – if it weren't for England

News

---

Aperture

Earth

Lake Victoria is at risk of dying from pollution and climate change

Wetlands usually filter water that makes its way into Africa's largest lake, but now untreated waste dumped into the lake risks killing off local wildlife

Regulars

---

Features

Humans

Evolution tells us why there are two types of leader in today's world

The leadership styles of Donald Trump and Jacinda Ardern are dramatically different, but our evolutionary history explains both – and why our preferences have changed

Features

Health

We can fix the climate as we reboot the economy – here's how

Features

Space

The detector with a billion sensors that may finally snare dark matter

Features

---

Culture

Space

The Sirens of Mars review: Inside the hunt for life on the Red Planet

We once thought Mars had canals built by an advanced society. We've come a long way since then, but there is still much to discover, finds Leah Crane

Culture

Humans

How academic institutions make it harder to be a female scientist

Culture

Humans

Don't miss: Duet-2 lets you connect with complete strangers

Culture

---

More

Puzzle #66: Can you work out the pattern from these tiles?

Can you solve this week’s fiendish puzzle Square Tiles? Plus the answer to puzzle #65 set by Hugh Hunt

Regulars

Tom Gauld on a lab trying to get its priorities right

Regulars

Twisteddoodles on having a magnificient power

Regulars

---

Regulars

Why the police and fire brigade were called to deal with a fruit

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word