Lab notes: a quantum leap and life on Mars – the week science went sci-fi

The sensible thing to do is calm down, figure out how to take care of planet Earth and all be a bit better about not making ourselves extinct. But who cares about sensible: Elon Musk has revealed the details (well, let's call them that) of his colonisation vision for Mars, including an "intentionally fuzzy" 10-year timeframe for flights. So once you've got yourself all signed up, to prepare for the trip you'll need a tan, right? You'll be a long way from any salons, and indeed the sun, so what about using a newly-created tanning chemical? It causes the release of dark pigment in skin, creating a real 'fake' tan without the need for sunbathing, so for Earthlings that also means it should protect against skin cancer. It won't be commercially available for a while, but by the time it is, you could be Googling the cheapest place to buy it via the quantum internet. Scientists this week made a huge leap towards a new, secure type of internet by using a satellite to beam "entangled" light particles to ground stations more than 700 miles apart. For the present, however, we have more weighty problems to consider, overweight and obesity being chief among them. This week experts have warned that being overweight - not just obese - kills millions a year and a major Swedish study has concluded that women who are obese when they conceive are more likely to have babies with serious birth defects. On a happier note, men most at risk of testicular cancer could be identified using newly discovered group of genes. So that's something.