With cinemas closed and major titles delaying their release, the Academy has changed its rules to welcome some streaming titles. Will they regret it?

‘What about the Oscars?” might not be the question at the top of your mind as you consider the manifold uncertainties raised by the coronavirus pandemic. A Hollywood awards ceremony scheduled for the end of February 2021, one might think, has fewer immediate concerns than most cultural institutions do right now. Yet panic has been rising within the Academy: the show itself may go on, but with cinemas closed for the foreseeable future and dozens of major titles either rescheduling or indefinitely delaying their release dates, will it have have enough standout films to celebrate?

For some weeks now, the joke around the industry has been that Leigh Whannell’s hit psychothriller The Invisible Man – one of the few popular and critical successes to be released in the year’s early months – may as well collect its gongs now. But a crucial rule change announced on Tuesday by Academy CEO Dawn Hudson and president David Rubin has ensured that it will face some competition after all, even if its rivals never see the inside of a cinema.

Kirk Douglas, Hollywood legend and star of Spartacus, has died aged 103. Douglas was nominated for three Oscars and his extensive filmography includes Paths of Glory, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Lust for Life. The Hollywood legend's death was announced by his son, fellow actor Michael Douglas

• Kirk Douglas, Hollywood legend and star of Spartacus, dies aged 103

A ridiculously titled film about a couple who stumble upon a stash of money is absurd and cliched but mostly entertaining

One of the most surprising reveals of last October’s unprecedented Netflix data dump was the astounding popularity of cheap psycho-thriller Secret Obsession. While the streamer proudly touted new films from Alfonso Cuarón, Paul Greengrass and the Coens in the same period, it was a no-star, dim-plotted slab of schlock that netted more viewers, with an estimated 40m households eager to find out just how secret that obsession really was. Modelled after a Lifetime TV movie (with a Lifetime TV director at the helm), it was an important victory for Netflix because it revealed a substantial audience for tiny-budgeted thrillers with generic titles, a bracket they could easily fill at little expense.

Related: The Half of It review – charming Netflix teen comedy takes on Cyrano

My friend Tom convinced me that Roger Moore’s finest non-Bond moment was this 1974 corker about a maverick mining engineer. He’ll convince you, too

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The pre-eminent film in Sir Roger Moore’s non-Bond oeuvre was released in 1974, between Live and Let Die and The Man With the Golden Gun.

I was born in 1978, so I was far too young to see Gold in its first flush of youth, let alone mine. So was my friend Tom.

Water utility workers in El Paso, Texas were forced to unclog pumps over 20 times in 24 hours after residents refused to heed their call to refrain from flushing personal protective equipment and other coronavirus-related items down the toilet.

Jameela Jamil also came to Teigen and Kondo's defense, calling Roman "distasteful" and "cliche" for criticizing women of color for being successful in business.

Out of 200 employees tested at a German meat processing plant, 151 tested positive Thursday for coronavirus, triggering an "emergency mechanism" to delay the easing of social distancing restrictions.

Bill Maher said Republicans "don't care" about Tara Reade's sexual assault allegations, saying such claims are simply used as a "unilateral weapon" against Democrats.

The singer who played a key role in early rock music's popularity died Saturday at 87 years old.

From yoga apps to an intelligent jumprope

Tips and game suggestions for gaming first-timers and veterans alike

A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has demonstrated that single-celled microorganisms such as Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae that normally do not inhabit hydrogen-rich environments can survive and grow in a 100% hydrogen atmosphere. “There’s a diversity of habitable worlds out there, and we have confirmed that Earth-based life can [...]

Astronomers using NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory have tracked water loss from 2I/Borisov, the first known interstellar comet to visit our Solar System, as it approached and rounded the Sun. Their findings were published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. 2I/Borisov was detected on August 30, 2019 by Gennady Borisov, an astronomer at the Crimean Astrophysical [...]

A team of researchers from the University of Exeter has studied potential drivers of ‘rock juggling’ in two species of otters in zoo environments. Although elusive in the wild, otters are noted to be very playful and inquisitive animals based on observations in captivity. The animals are often seen lying on their backs and batting [...]

Multiwavelength observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and Gemini Observatory combined with close-up views from NASA’s Juno spacecraft reveal that lightning strikes and huge storm systems that create them in Jupiter’s atmosphere are formed in and around large convective cells over deep clouds of water ice and liquid; the observations also confirm that dark [...]

A protein-coding gene called GB45239 is responsible for thelytokous parthenogenesis — the ability to produce daughters asexually — in the Cape honeybee (Apis mellifera capensis), a subspecies of honeybee found in the two southern provinces of South Africa, according to a new paper published in the journal Current Biology. The female worker caste of the [...]

2020 and 2021 will be one of the periodic transitional eras in gaming as Sony and Microsoft debut their shiny new consoles, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. To ease the process (and spur adoption of the next generation), EA may make its upcoming titles free to “upgrade” to your chosen console. On an […]

A federal judge on Friday declined to dismiss the charges against "Full House" actress Lori Loughlin and other wealthy parents awaiting trial in the U.S. college admissions scandal after they accused investigators of fabricating evidence.

Defying congressional oversight concerns, U.S. President Donald Trump’s acting director of national intelligence on Friday unveiled organizational changes to his agency.

The notoriously independent-minded federal judge who once said he was disgusted by the conduct of Michael Flynn could block the administration's bid to drop criminal charges against the former adviser to President Donald Trump, legal experts said.

The U.S. government reported more catastrophic economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis on Friday as the pandemic pierced the very walls of the White House and California gave the green light for its factories to restart after a seven-week lockdown.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of a Georgia courthouse on Friday to decry the killing of an unarmed black man in February and the delay in charging two white men in a shooting captured on video that was released earlier this week.

A U.S. government watchdog agency has recommended the temporary reinstatement of a whistleblower who says he was removed as director of a government research office because he raised concerns about coronavirus preparedness, his lawyers said on Friday.

Little Richard, the self-proclaimed "architect of rock 'n' roll" who built his ground-breaking sound with a boiling blend of boogie-woogie, rhythm and blues and gospel, died on Saturday at the age of 87, Rolling Stone magazine reported.

The BJP leaders waged a social media war against the Bengal government by accusing the state of hiding Covid-19 figures and also complaining the Centre that TMC-led government in Bengal has completely failed in handling the coronavirus crisis.

The BJP leaders waged a social media war against the Bengal government by accusing the state of hiding Covid-19 figures and also complaining the Centre that TMC-led government in Bengal has completely failed in handling the coronavirus crisis.

Trapped in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, over a thousand migrant workers staying in Hyderabad's Tolichowki took to the streets on Sunday demanding to be taken home.

If there's a ventilator shortage, doctors and ethicists say priority should be given to people with the best chance of recovery and most years likely left to live

UK prime minister Boris Johnson has said a mass-produced antibody test for covid-19 that can be done at home will be a game changer - but this type of test has limitations

Join Pearse Keane to find out why the NHS is collaborating with AI company DeepMind and how deep learning could transform ophthalmology

Going out into the natural world is good for your health and mind, and you can still get some of the same benefits even when stuck inside, says Graham Lawton

Following a healthy diet or exercising could impact how your brain ages, but the effects on cognitive skills later in life depend on specific gene variants that not everyone has

We can't lose sight of the climate emergency when dealing with the covid-19 pandemic, say Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac

To fight the new coronavirus, researchers are investigating more than 60 drugs, including remdesivir and hydroxychloroquine and brand new ones. Here’s a breakdown of progress so far

Conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome have been linked to viral infections, so it’s possible that the covid-19 virus may go on to trigger similar conditions

More men die of covid-19 than women. Reasons for this may include differences in smoking, general health, immune defences, hormones and even hygiene

Our brains influence all aspects of our lives, including our sexual desires. This means brain injuries can have some surprising effects, says Amee Baird

Getting less sleep for five nights in a row can make you view other people’s expressions more negatively, including facial reactions seen over video calls

Half a million people taking part in the UK Biobank, which gathers genetic information for researchers to study, won't be told if they turn out to be genetically vulnerable to the coronavirus

Coffee has been linked to changes on our DNA that affect how active certain genes are. The finding may help explain some of coffee's touted health benefits

The UK government has set a new target of recruiting an army of 18,000 coronavirus contact tracers by the middle of May, to be in place for the launch of the NHS contact tracing app

Trials of experimental coronavirus vaccines are already under way, but it’s still likely to be years before one is ready and vaccination may not even be possible

Australia recorded just 229 flu cases this April, compared with 18,705 last April, probably due to lockdown measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus

People with rheumatoid arthritis often take medicines that can have damaging side-effects, but a system that uses red light to deliver drugs exactly where they are needed could help

Mouse neurons trapped inside cages grow long appendages to connect to each other. Trapping the cells allows us to precisely control their growth