At a White House briefing in late February Donald Trump reassured the nation that there was little chance of the virus causing significant disruption, and that the flu kills from 25,000 people to 69,000 people a year. The coronavirus would be no worse than the flu, and who noticed flu deaths particularly? In April further comparisons with the …
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Warren Buffett famously observed that “only when the tide goes out, do you discover who’s been swimming naked”. And Covid-19 represents “an ebb tide of historic pro-portions”. One thing it has exposed with brutal clarity are the flaws of America’s industrialised food system. On one side, there are empty supermarket shelves; on the other, farmers …
The scientific evidence that has underpinned No 10’s response to Covid-19 will not be made public until the pandemic ends, the government chief science adviser has told MPs. Sir Patrick Vallance said that the minutes of meetings of the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (Sage) — the government’s most senior team of expert advisers — …
“Not the youth, but the old man who has lived life well, is deemed to be happy. The youth in his prime is made distraught and baffled by fortune: the old man has brought safely into harbour the goods he scarcely hoped for before, and has secured them with unfailing gratitude”. (From “The Essential Epicurus”, …
A high-salt diet doesn’t just raise blood pressure: new research suggests that it also weakens the body’s ability to fight bacterial infections. For a German study, ten healthy volunteers aged between 20 and 50 were given an extra six grams of salt a day, on top of their normal diet. After a week, their immune …
