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Next coronavirus vaccines may be drops, pills or printed on demand

Next coronavirus vaccines may be drops, pills or printed on demand

10 February 2021

The world needs new vaccines to beat novel coronavirus variants, overcome delays and solve global inequality over vaccine access - here’s what’s in the works for 2021 and beyond


Vaccine boost

The 5 best things you can do to boost the chance of a vaccine working

10 February 2021

The coronavirus vaccines won't work for everyone, but there are plenty of things we know can help with vaccine success, from sleeping well before a jab to avoiding doomscrolling afterwards and getting enough exercise


How can you tell if a coronavirus vaccine has given you immunity?

How can you tell if a coronavirus vaccine has given you immunity?

9 February 2021

Not everyone will have side effects such as a sore arm from a coronavirus vaccine, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t work. Antibody tests can confirm your immunity, but they must be the right kind


South Africa rethinks plans after variant evades AstraZeneca vaccine

South Africa rethinks plans after variant evades AstraZeneca vaccine

8 February 2021

South Africa has paused its roll-out of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine because it might not be effective against the South African B.1.351 coronavirus variant – but it is still likely to limit the severity of covid-19


Butterfly collection

Decline of butterfly collecting hobby threatens conservation research

8 February 2021

Entomologists have relied on butterfly and moth specimens gathered by amateurs since the 1800s, but the decline of the hobby and a shift to photography could make conservation research more difficult


ancient face cream

2700-year-old face cream was made from animal fat and cave ‘milk’

8 February 2021

Cream preserved in an ancient bronze jar shows that men in ancient China were using cosmetics 2700 years ago – and it was made using a soft white mineral found in certain caves


Mathematician makes breakthrough on 100-year-old problem about knots

Mathematician makes breakthrough on 100-year-old problem about knots

5 February 2021

Some tangles that look like knots are actually “the unknot”, which can be untangled into a simple loop, and a new algorithm has sped up the process of finding them


Salt marsh fairy circles go from rings to bullseyes to adapt to stress

Salt marsh fairy circles go from rings to bullseyes to adapt to stress

5 February 2021

Transient fairy circles – rings of grass that can morph into a bullseye shape – found in Chinese salt marshes can indicate that the ecosystem is resilient to climate change


Some mouse sperm try to sabotage rivals in race to fertilise the egg

Some mouse sperm try to sabotage rivals in race to fertilise the egg

5 February 2021

Mouse sperm carrying a certain genetic variant known as the t haplotype move faster and straighter than others – and it turns out they are trying to sabotaging their rivals


'Splat chemistry' creates substances by chucking molecules at a wall

'Splat chemistry' creates substances by chucking molecules at a wall

5 February 2021

Breaking the chemical bonds in large molecules to form a desired substance can be a fiddly task, but simply chucking molecules at a wall can get the job done


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