There’s been outcry at the UK’s decision to withdraw free COVID testing, but it’s a necessary step, argues Francois Balloux, professor of computational biology at UCL. Mass testing and sequencing of COVID currently isn’t very effective at stopping transmission or spotting new variants. Both should instead happen less frequently but more evenly across the world, while passive techniques – like wastewater analysis – should be used to identify worrying flare-ups.

Russia hasn’t been deterred from military action in Ukraine, so what does the west do next? In the immediate term, Putin needs to feel the cost of invading, but looking further ahead, returning to diplomacy seems inevitable. However, with the west looking to restore European security and Russia seeking to expand its influence, compromise will be hard to find. Watch out for more of our coverage of the invasion throughout the day.

And research on ancient ruins buried beneath forests shows that the plants there can’t keep up with climate change – in fact they could be affected for millennia.

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