G7 summit gets the royal touch: Britain turns on the charm for world leaders

The Duchess of Cambridge has joined First Lady Jill Biden for a trip to a school as the UK turns on the charm for visiting world leaders.

They visited an academy for four to 11-year-olds in Cornwall to highlight the issue of the early years development of children.

Kate, who has three children with Prince William, has made the issue of the early years of childhood one of the main focal points of her charity work.

The pair visited a classroom and then held a roundtable discussion where they talked about female empowerment, children and early education.

Asked about early education, Dr Biden said: "It's very important to the foundation. As a teacher at the upper levels, if they don't have a good foundation they fall so far behind.

"This is amazing to see how far advanced they are."

Later, Queen Elizabeth II, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will travel to Cornwall to meet some of the world's most powerful leaders as they dine among the extraordinary surroundings of the Eden Project.

The queen will host a pre-dinner reception at the biodiversity landmark, known for its impressive domes and range of flora.

The evening gathering will be the monarch’s first meeting with any foreign leader since the outbreak of Covid-19.

While the queen will not give a speech nor stay for dinner, her attendance is a display of the royal family’s diplomacy and their influential soft power.

On the menu for Friday night is spiced melon gazpacho, roast turbot and strawberry pavlova.

If an audience with the queen was not enough, world leaders will mingle on the beach for a British-style barbecue around a fire.

Simon Stallard, the chef hired by the Cabinet Office to serve up the seaside feast, said the plan was to create “a warm, nice vibe around the fire”.

He took his 15-metre barbecue grill to the beach at Carbis Bay to cook for the Bidens, Johnsons, Macrons and Merkels.

Queen Elizabeth and the late Duke of Edinburgh visit the Eden Project in St Austell, Cornwall. The monarch will hold an audience with world leaders there for the G7 summit. Getty Images

They will be served canapes of scallops, crab claws and mackerel, followed by sirloin and Newlyn lobster.

Cornish sea shanty band Du Hag Owr will provide the music.

Prince Charles will on Friday also host G7 leaders and chief executives of some of the world’s largest companies.

Charles, known for his environmental campaigning, said the summit was a "game-changing opportunity" and used the platform to highlight the "existential crisis" of climate change.

Prince Charles with US climate envoy John Kerry at St James' Palace in London on Thursday. AFP

On Sunday, the queen will welcome the Bidens to Windsor Castle where they will receive a guard of honour, followed by tea.

Dr Biden spoke of her excitement at meeting the queen.

"Joe and I are both looking forward to meeting the queen. That's an exciting part of the visit for us,” she said.

"We've looked forward to this for weeks and now it's finally here. It's a beautiful beginning."

She also tweeted of her joy at spending some time on the beach with Carrie Johnson and her son Wilfred on Thursday.

No more lice

Defining head lice

Pediculus humanus capitis are tiny wingless insects that feed on blood from the human scalp. The adult head louse is up to 3mm long, has six legs, and is tan to greyish-white in colour. The female lives up to four weeks and, once mature, can lay up to 10 eggs per day. These tiny nits firmly attach to the base of the hair shaft, get incubated by body heat and hatch in eight days or so.

Identifying lice

Lice can be identified by itching or a tickling sensation of something moving within the hair. One can confirm that a person has lice by looking closely through the hair and scalp for nits, nymphs or lice. Head lice are most frequently located behind the ears and near the neckline.

Treating lice at home

Head lice must be treated as soon as they are spotted. Start by checking everyone in the family for them, then follow these steps. Remove and wash all clothing and bedding with hot water. Apply medicine according to the label instructions. If some live lice are still found eight to 12 hours after treatment, but are moving more slowly than before, do not re-treat. Comb dead and remaining live lice out of the hair using a fine-toothed comb.
After the initial treatment, check for, comb and remove nits and lice from hair every two to three days. Soak combs and brushes in hot water for 10 minutes.Vacuum the floor and furniture, particularly where the infested person sat or lay.

Courtesy Dr Vishal Rajmal Mehta, specialist paediatrics, RAK Hospital

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How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars

Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.

Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.

After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.

Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.

It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.