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Updated 2025-09-11 01:30
Iris scans: proof of our humanity in an AI future, or marketing gimmick? – podcast
Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian's technology reporter Hibaq Farah about Worldcoin, a new cryptocurrency offering users tokens in exchange for a scan of their eyeballs. Farah explains what the motives behind the company are, why they think we all need to become verified humans', and how governments have responded to the projectClips: Worldcoin, DW NewsRead more of Hibaq's reporting here Continue reading...
August blue moon: how to take a good photograph of the supermoon tonight on your phone or camera
Guardian Australia picture editor Carly Earl explains the dos and don'ts of photographing the full super moon
Music may reduce babies’ pain during jabs or heel-prick tests, study suggests
Newborns suffered less pain during heel-prick blood tests if they heard a Mozart lullaby, researchers reportPlaying music such as a Mozart lullaby to babies may help reduce their suffering during painful procedures, research suggests.Minor medical procedures such as injections or heel-prick blood tests are commonly performed on newborn infants, and while some people have argued that babies' brains are not developed enough for them to really feel pain, recent research has suggested that they experience it much like adults do. Continue reading...
A Very British Space Launch review – as flimsy as Richard Branson’s rockets
There's lots of fascinating detail in this documentary about Virgin Orbit's attempt to get Britain into the space race. But like the flight itself, it falls shortEither you know what happened when Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit attempted to pull off the first orbital satellite launch from the UK at the beginning of this year, or it passed you by - although if you are watching a documentary about it, you probably have at least a semblance of an idea that Cornwall has not yet become the new Cape Canaveral. A Very British Space Launch follows the four months before the team's attempt to launch a rocket from Newquay in January.For the most part, it has the same corporate documentary jauntiness that usually accompanies Channel 4's brand-centred shows. It feels like an episode of the 90s documentary Airport, right down to its joker of a manager, an upbeat chap called Steve - although, as this is an aerodrome spaceport, there is a lot more money at stake. Perhaps the makers were hoping it would be called The Great British Space Launch; unfortunately, real life intervened. Continue reading...
‘Oh my god’: live worm found in Australian woman’s brain in world-first discovery
Woman complained of forgetfulness and depression before doctors pulled out an 8cm roundworm normally found in pythonsIt was a fairly regular day on the ward for Canberra hospital infectious diseases physician Dr Sanjaya Senanayake, until a neurosurgeon colleague called him and said: Oh my god, you wouldn't believe what I just found in this lady's brain - and it's alive and wriggling."The neurosurgeon, Dr Hari Priya Bandi, had pulled an 8cm-long parasitic roundworm from her patient, prompting her to call on Senanayake and other hospital colleagues for advice about what to do next. Continue reading...
The big idea: why we need to learn to fail better
From tedious blind dates to dud clinical trials, the right kind of failure always helpsYou've probably heard the cheerful quotes: Winston Churchill, with his success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm", or CS Lewis, who wrote failures are finger posts on the road to achievement". What about Billie Jean King, who enthused losing a tennis match isn't failure, it's research"? Maybe you find yourself thinking, Sure. Easy to say when you're famous and successful."For most people, failure is pretty simple: it's bad, even shameful. Life is going well if you're not experiencing failures, and we think that avoiding failure is obviously the right goal. We worry about what it says about us when we get something wrong (we're not good enough!). The social stigma of failure exacerbates that spontaneous reaction. Continue reading...
The Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman review – AI, synthetic biology and a new dawn for humanity
The DeepMind co-founder calls for the containment' of new technology in a heartfelt and candid exploration of what the future may hold for usWhat is it with wave metaphors? Technological determinists - people who believe that technology drives history - love them. Think of Alvin Toffler, who saw the history of civilisation as a succession of three such waves (agricultural, industrial and post-industrial). The idea is of immense power, unstoppable, moving inexorably towards us as we cower before its immensity, much as the dinosaurs must have done when they saw the mile-high tsunami heading in their direction.Mustafa Suleyman says he is not a determinist, but at times he sounds awfully like one. At its heart," he writes at one point, technology emerges to fill human needs. If people have powerful reasons to build and use it, it will get built and used. Yet in most discussions of technology people still get stuck on what it is, forgetting why it was created in the first place. This is not about some innate techno-determinism. This is about what it means to be human." Continue reading...
Early-stage trial for Parkinson’s disease therapy shows signs of promise
Small trial of Bemdaneprocel, which aims to replace dopamine-producing neurons, raises hope for treatmentScientists have reported early success in a trial of an experimental cell therapy for Parkinson's disease, raising hope for patients.Bemdaneprocel therapy is at an early stage, and the year-long trial involved just 12 patients, but the positive outcome is viewed as significant after decades of setbacks in the hunt for an effective treatment. Developed by BlueRock therapeutics, a subsidiary of the pharmaceutical company Bayer, it was shown to be safe and the data gave a tantalising suggestion that patients may have benefited. Continue reading...
The story of light: Nasa discoveries reimagined – in pictures
Beyond the Light, an exhibition developed in a collaboration between the Artechouse gallery in New York and Nasa, explores the universe through immersive technology-driven art. It includes newly analysed data from the James Webb space telescope Continue reading...
Study casts doubt on Neanderthal ‘flower burial’ theory
Exclusive: Bees may be source of pollen near remains but evidence still suggests bodies were buried with careBuried in a partial foetal position and surrounded by flower pollen, the discovery of Shanidar 4 - a Neanderthal skeleton unearthed in 1960 - prompted a dramatic reappraisal of our ancient cousins.Far from being brutish thugs, the Shanidar flower burial, as it became known, painted a picture of Neanderthals as empathic beings who cared enough for their dead to scour the mountains for funeral bouquets. Now, fresh evidence suggests this interpretation may have been incorrect - although Neanderthals may still have had strong funerary rituals. Continue reading...
Monday briefing: The story of India’s space programme – and why it took off
In today's newsletter: The country's lunar landing was a triumph. This is how it quietly built a successful mission Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning.Last week India became the fourth ever country to land a spacecraft on the moon, and the first to touch down successfully near its south pole. It was hailed as a success for budget" missions, with the project costing 60m, less than half of the 131m it cost Christopher Nolan to make his 2014 space epic, Interstellar. Continue reading...
More cancer screenings sounds like good news. But can the NHS cope with them? | Christina Pagel
Earlier detection means more successful treatment - but also a drain on resources for an already creaking health serviceThis month, it was reported that England's existing screening programme for bowel cancer for 60 to 74-year-olds had prevented 20,000 cases of bowel cancer over the past 10 years. This comes amid an ongoing effort in England to extend bowel cancer screening to those aged between 50 and 59. And in June, the NHS national director for cancer welcomed a new blood test currently being trialled in the UK that can detect 50 types of the disease.More cancer screening seems like unqualified good news: generally, the earlier cancer is diagnosed, the higher the chance of successful treatment. However, there are harms that come with screening, too, both for people being screened and for the NHS as a whole that should be mitigated against. I am certainly not discouraging people from taking up screening offers, but expansion of screening programmes must come with concrete plans about delivery. This requires extra NHS fundingand capacity. Continue reading...
Starwatch: August’s second supermoon the largest this year
Lunar spectacle also qualifies as a blue moon by some definitionsThe second full moon of the month occurs this week. The first took place on 1 August, but this second coming will grace the skies on 31 August.Because it is the second full supermoon in the month, it is also called a blue moon - although definitions for blue moons vary. The above definition is known as a monthly blue moon but some prefer what is known as a seasonal blue moon. This is the third full moon in a season that contains four full moons - so the blue moon may not be the second of the month. Continue reading...
Ultra-processed food raises risk of heart attack and stroke, two studies show
Research presented to annual meeting of European Society of Cardiology prompts calls for actionUltra-processed food significantly raises the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attacks and strokes, according to two studies that one expert says should serve as a wake-up call for governments worldwide.Global consumption of heavily processed items such as cereals, protein bars, fizzy drinks, ready meals and fast food has soared in recent years. In the UK and US, well over half the average diet now consists of ultra-processed food (UPF). For some, especially people who are younger, poorer or from disadvantaged areas, a diet comprising as much as 80% UPF is typical. Continue reading...
The best medicine: study finds laughter is good for heart health
Unique research shows cardiovascular gains recorded in patients who were shown TV comedyThe old adage that laughter is the best medicine" may contain an element of truth when it comes to heart health.A study has demonstrated that having a chuckle causes the tissue inside the heart to expand - and increases oxygen flow around the body. Continue reading...
How India's moon landing has boosted its self image | Hannah Abraham
The success of Chandrayaan-3 goes well beyond providing images from the moon's south poleI let out an involuntary whoop when it landed," my friend Shivansh told me. He was travelling on London Underground at the time. Everyone on the tube was staring at me."Shivansh is just one of millions of Indians all over the world who are celebrating the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 lunar exploration mission. Indians even broke YouTube's record for livestreams, with more than 8 million people staying glued to their screens last Wednesday, as the spacecraft edged close to the lunar surface. The excitement is understandable, especially considering the fact that just four years ago, the preceding Chandrayaan lander crashed into the moon after a software glitch. Continue reading...
One scientist can be wrong. But deny the scientific consensus at your peril | David Robert Grimes
In sniping at failures' on Covid, the former MI6 chief is reinforcing a false messageThe former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove is no stranger to the intricacies of intelligence. But it was his comments about intelligence of the artificial kind, and about science, on the One Decision Podcast, which he co-hosts, that generated a flurry of interest last week. Reacting to grave warnings from some scientists over potential dangers of AI, Dearlove professed scepticism, reasoning that such dire predictions cannot be taken overly seriously given the failures of scientists on Covid. Such comments betray a common and insidious confusion over what science is and how it should be interpreted, and risk emboldening scientific denialists.Part of the error stems from a mistaken conflation of science" and scientist". Science is not an arcane collection of dogma but an active and systematic method of inquiry. Science pivots on making testable predictions, which are updated as new findings emerge, to reflect the totality of evidence. Scientific positions are always transient, subject to revision when stronger evidence emerges. All scientific knowledge is provisional, therefore scientific advice is prone to change and can evolve at dizzying speeds during periods of intense discovery. Continue reading...
Womb transplants may be the dawn of a new age, but they fill me with foreboding | Sonia Sodha
Ethical questions - not least, about risks to the donors - have been ignored in the excited coverage of this British medical breakthroughGood news stories can feel few and far between these days. The pace of progress means they are often medical; there's always new life-saving and life-changing treatments on the horizon.Perhaps that explains the breathy excitement with which the UK's first womb transplant was reported last week - transferred from an older sister who has had children to a younger sister with a rare condition that means she could not otherwise carry a pregnancy. Articles were packed with quotes from doctors heralding this as a profound development, the dawn of a new age", according to the chair of the British Fertility Society.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...
‘We’ll launch rockets every month’: Britain finally joins the space race
Fifty years after the UK sent its first satellite into space, a Scottish town is among rivals vying for another shotA large band of battered metal has been placed on a stand at the entrance of Skyrora's rocket manufacturing hall in Cumbernauld in central Scotland. Six feet in diameter, the loop is perforated, torn and twisted, a result of being blasted into space and then dropped on to the Australian outback where it has lain for almost 50 years until its recent recovery.The ring is part of the remains of Britain's only satellite launch, which took place on 28 October 1971 when a Black Arrow rocket placed a Prospero probe into orbit round the Earth. The programme was cancelled the same year. Continue reading...
Saved by a butterfly: how chaos theory became the secret ingredient in my happy marriage
My wife wanted to plan a week of dinners but I preferred to leave room for disorder. Mathematical thinking helped us combine our different approaches to lifeIn the black and white yin-yang symbol of Chinese philosophy, the yin represents disorder and the feminine, while the yang represents order and the masculine. In my married life the gender stereotype is reversed. My wife is order and I am chaos. She wants to plan what we are having for dinner every night for the coming week. I feel there isn't much point thinking about it, because what if we want to take the kids swimming one evening or meet up with friends?"Our differing approaches have led to a few animated discussions (to say the least) and it was after one of these that I started to think about chaos theory: the mathematical theory behind the parable of the butterfly and the storm that gives rise to the so-called butterfly effect - the idea that the flap of the wing of a butterfly in the Amazon can set off the atmospheric events that lead to a storm off the coast of Texas weeks later. Perhaps, I thought, I can prove that planning is pointless. That disorder is inevitable and we might as well accept our lack of control. Continue reading...
Salt-free diet ‘can reduce risk of heart problems by almost 20%’
Large new study using UK Biobank data shows even a small reduction in salt intake can be beneficialCutting out salt from meals can slash your risk of heart problems and strokes by almost a fifth, the largest study of its kind suggests.Research has documented how adding salt to food increases the likelihood of cardiovascular disease and premature death. Now experts have established just how big a difference you could make to your heart health - simply by reducing the number of meals to which you add salt or by ditching it altogether. Continue reading...
SpaceX launches spacecraft with crew onboard towards International Space Station – video
SpaceX has successfully launched its Dragon spacecraft with four crew members onboard from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The international crew includes the Nasa astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, the European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and the Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov. The launch of Crew-7, as the mission is called, was originally scheduled for Thursday but was halted by Nasa and SpaceX to deal with lingering issues, according to officials. The spacecraft is due to reach the International Space Station on Sunday
Loren Grush on Nasa’s first female astronauts: ‘People thought they’d be a distraction to the men in space’
The science reporter reveals the astonishing truth behind the stories in her new book, The Six, which follows the first women inducted into Nasa's astronaut programme in 1978Your parents both worked on the space shuttle programme for decades, and you have gone on to write about Sally Ride, Anna Fisher, Judy Resnik, Shannon Lucid, Rhea Seddon and Kathy Sullivan - the first six American female astronauts. Were you always interested in space?
‘It’s like doing an Arctic expedition with German scientists in 1943’: life on the International Space Station at a time of war
On the ISS, astronauts from Russia and the west share a craft the size of a large family home. So what happened when Moscow started a conflict 250 miles below on Earth?One evening in January 2015, Terry Virts, a Nasa astronaut onboard the International Space Station (ISS), decided to pop over to the Russian quarters, catch up with his Russian colleagues and check out the view. For views, nothing beats the space station. From this orbiting perch approximately 250 miles (400km) above the Earth, scores of astronauts have waxed lyrical about the beauty of our planet: its mesmerising, fast-motion sunrises and sunsets, its brilliant colours and startling fragility.As a 47-year-old former space shuttle pilot, then on his second visit to the space station, Virts had experienced all of this himself and would do so many times again. But this night would be different. Continue reading...
Weekend podcast: Chicken Shop Date’s Amelia Dimoldenberg, the man hit by lightning, and navigating fertility as twins
The Weekend team are taking a break. So this week, we're looking back at some of our favourite pieces of the year.Elle Hunt reveals the incredible story of one man's struggle to rebuild his life after being struck by lightning (1m35s); Amelia Dimoldenberg recounts her journey from the Chicken Shop to Vanity Fair's Oscars party (16m32s); and Chloe Hamilton describes navigating the heartbreak of fertility - shoulder to shoulder with her twin sister (33m56s). Continue reading...
Sleep apnoea greatly increases risk of stroke, US scientists find
Stanford study shows that people with the common sleep disorder are also five times more likely to develop atrial fibrillationSnoring loudly and feeling tired even after a full night's sleep could leave people at an increased risk of a stroke, a study has shown.Hundreds of millions of people globally have sleep apnoea, a disorder with symptoms including stopping and starting breathing, making snorting noises, waking up a lot and loud snoring. Many have the condition but are undiagnosed. Continue reading...
Gold vinyl for aliens may outlive humanity | Letter
This record of our existence is now gliding through space, way beyond our solar system - we may as well forget about it, writes Antony BarlowJoel Snape's article (Super-intelligent aliens are going to destroy humanity? Whatever, 23 August) raises the possibility of malevolent aliens.The great Carl Sagan posited that if alien life did exist and came to visit Earth, they would almost certainly be friendly, because based on our own destructive course, which is more than likely to end in our extinction, it is likely that the aliens would have survived having discovered the art of coexistence. Continue reading...
How gluttonous civic officials made room for dessert | Letter
Linda Geddes' article on the body's vagus nerve reminded Prof Jack Price of a strange - but inadvisable - tactic to exploit itI very much enjoyed Linda Geddes' article on the vagus nerve (The key to depression, obesity, alcoholism - and more? Why the vagus nerve is so exciting to scientists, 23 August). It is, as she says, a nerve of marvellously diverse function, as we've known for some time. The auricular branch of the vagus, which, as Geddes notes, innervates the ear, used to be known as the alderman's nerve. Apparently, civic officials, overstuffed at state banquets yet still desiring dessert, were known to squirt cold water into an ear in the hope of stimulating gastric emptying, and making space for more.In my day, junior doctors were warned against syringing the ears of elderly patients with cold water for fear of stopping their hearts. But now a digital device attaches to your ear rather than cold water. Progress indeed.
Coventry MP demands inquiry into 1960s radioactive study on south Asian women
Women were given chapatis containing radioactive isotopes as part of trial into iron deficiencyThe Coventry MP Taiwo Owatemi has called for a statutory inquiry into medical research in the 1960s on south Asian women in the city, who were given chapatis containing radioactive isotopes.A total of 21 Indian-origin women, identified through a Coventry GP, were given the bread containing Iron-59 (an iron isotope with a gamma-beta emitter) as part of a research trial in 1969 into iron deficiency in the south Asian population. Continue reading...
Video shows India's lunar rover rolling on to moon's surface – video
India released footage of its lunar rover rolling down a ramp on to the moon's surface after it made history by being the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the moon's south pole. The solar-powered rover will spend two weeks roaming the rocks and boulders and will run a series of experiments to help scientists understand the geology of the moon, find out if there are traces of water and carry out chemical analysis
Weight-loss drug can reverse heart failure symptoms, study finds
Semaglutide injections trigger very large improvements' in patients with hearts too stiff to fill properlyWeight-loss jabs can reverse the symptoms of heart failure, according to a global trial that experts say could revolutionise treatment.Heart failure is one of the world's fastest growing health threats. About 65 million people have the condition, with cases soaring in recent years. However, few treatment options are available. Continue reading...
Reefs made from trees could help restore biodiversity, study finds
Researchers say their pyramid-shaped pear tree structures could help certain marine habitats recoverReefs made from sunken trees can help restore biodiversity in degraded marine habitats, scientists have found.It is estimated that coral reefs support about 25% of all marine life. They provide housing, food and areas to spawn for millions of marine species and are the backbone of maintaining the aquatic life cycle. Continue reading...
UK facing ‘brain drain’ of cancer researchers after failure to join EU scheme
Delay joining the Horizon Europe programme making it more difficult to attract and retain the brightest scientistsTop young cancer researchers are leaving the UK in a brain drain" fuelled by the continuing failure to reach an agreement over the EU's study programme, scientists warn.The two-and-a-half-year delay in joining the 85bn Horizon Europe scheme, the largest collaborative research programme in the world, has damaged the UK's reputation" and made it more difficult to attract and retain the brightest researchers into the nation's labs. Continue reading...
Dementia risk study finds 11 key factors behind condition
Predictive tool significantly outperforms' others available and could help avert about 40% of casesScientists have identified 11 risk factors for dementia and used them to develop a tool that can predict whether someone will develop the condition in the next 14 years.The number of people living with dementia globally is forecast to nearly triple to 153 million by 2050, and experts have said that it presents a rapidly growing threat to future health and social care systems. But targeting key risk factors, several of which involve lifestyle, could avert about 40% of cases. Continue reading...
Labour party membership fell by almost 25,000 in 2022, while its income rose, figures show – as it happened
The party had 407,445 members at the end of 2022, down almost 25,000 compared with 2021, annual accounts show. This live blog is closedAlbania was the country providing most asylum applications in the year ending in June 2023, the Home Office figures show.As PA Media reports, there were 11,790 applications by Albanian nationals in that 12-month period, 7,557 of which came from arrivals on boats crossing the English Channel. PA says:The number of Albanian small boat arrivals peaked during the summer of 2022 and by early 2023 had dropped below levels seen in 2021.Afghans were the second most common nationality applying for asylum in the year to June 2023, with 9,964 applications, almost double the number in the previous 12 months (5,154).These new statistics set out in stark terms the complete chaos the Tories have created in the immigration and asylum system.The asylum backlog has reached a new record high, with 175,000 people now waiting for decisions. Only one per cent of last year's 45,000 small boats cases have received a decision and the number of failed asylum seekers being returned is also down a whopping 70 per cent since 2010. This is a disastrous record for the prime minister and home secretary. Continue reading...
Political support for surveillance of Covid waning in Australia despite ‘waves of mutations’, scientists say
Active community testing required on an intermittent basis to see the whole iceberg, not just the tip', Prof Catherine Bennett says
Americans at high risk advised to wear masks as new Covid variant detected
CDC said that scientists discovered a new coronavirus variant, BA 2.86, and that higher-risk individuals should be cautiousAs authorities revealed that a new Covid-19 variant has been detected in the US, medical experts are emphasizing that high-risk persons resume masking to prevent potentially deadly infection. Warnings from these physicians come amid an ongoing increase in Covid-19 hospitalizations.The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said that scientists have discovered a new coronavirus variant, BA 2.86, during routine monitoring of wastewater. Officials said that this variant's large number of mutations" has prompted concerns that it could evade immunity derived from vaccination and prior infections more than other variants. Continue reading...
India’s rover takes walk on the moon after frenzied celebrations
Solar-powered vehicle will spend two weeks roaming lunar surface to help scientists understand geology of moonIndia's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has rolled its rover on to the moon's surface after its successful landing at the lunar south pole.The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced the rover had ramped down from the lander and India took a walk on the moon". Continue reading...
Was Lucy Letby an unlikely serial killer? To most people, yes – but not psychologists | Marissa Harrison
Our research into women who kill acts as a reminder to challenge our preconceived notions of others
Lockdowns and face masks ‘unequivocally’ cut spread of Covid, report finds
Royal Society review looks at non-pharmaceutical interventions when applied in packages of several measuresMeasures taken during the Covid pandemic such as social distancing and wearing face masks unequivocally" reduced the spread of infections, a report has found.Experts looked at the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) - not drugs or vaccines - when applied in packages that combine a number of measures that complement one another. Continue reading...
Thursday briefing: What the UK’s first womb transplant means for the future of fertility
In today's newsletter: does the UK's first successful womb transplant mean that men could one day carry babies? Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. Yesterday afternoon, a private jet crashed in the Tver region near Moscow, killing all 10 passengers on board. Among them, according to Russian authorities, was Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner paramilitary chief who launched an armed mutiny in June. For the latest on his dramatic yet somehow unsurprising death, visit our live blog.For today, I'll be looking at a very different story, the UK's first ever womb transplant. It's been hailed as a fertility landmark and the dawn of a new era, offering dozens of infertile women the chance to have babies every year. The recipient was a woman born without a womb; the donor was her elder sister, who already has two children. Continue reading...
The Y chromosome has finally been sequenced: here’s why it matters – podcast
Twenty years after the first pass at sequencing the entire human genome, the Y chromosome has finally been fully decoded. Madeleine Finlay speaks to Mark Jobling, professor of genetics at the University of Leicester, about why it has proved so tricky, the role of the Y chromosome in our bodies, and the likelihood of it eventually dying out altogetherFind more Guardian reporting on genetics here Continue reading...
Women with ME tend to have more symptoms than men, study suggests
Study of chronic fatigue syndrome also finds women are more likely to develop worse symptoms over timeWomen with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) tend to have more symptoms than men and are more likely to develop increasingly severe symptoms over time, according to initial results from a major study.It is already known that women are at higher risk of CFS, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), and the latest study, called DecodeME, provides new insights into how their experience differs from men. The study found that women who have ME/CFS for more than 10 years are more likely to experience increasingly severe symptoms as they age. Continue reading...
Paralysed woman able to ‘speak’ through digital avatar in world first
Latest technology uses tiny electrodes on brain surface and is faster than synthesisers which rely on eye trackingA severely paralysed woman has been able to speak through an avatar using technology that translated her brain signals into speech and facial expressions.The advance raises hopes that brain-computer-interfaces (BCIs) could be on the brink of transforming the lives of people who have lost the ability to speak due to conditions such as strokes and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Continue reading...
History of transplant breakthroughs: from hearts to hands … and heads?
After surgeons perform first womb transplant in UK, we look at other major advances through the years
India’s south pole moon landing is big business for global space race
India has raised its spacefaring profile and will now be seen as low-cost provider for missions possibleFor all the risks, for all that was riding on a successful landing, the descent to the moon's surface was remarkably uneventful, if not exactly stress-free. The Vikram lander, part of India's Chandrayaan-3 mission, dropped steadily on its thrusters to the rock below, slowed to a hover as it approached the ground, and finally came to a rest on the dusty terrain.When confirmation came that the lander was down, anxiety in the control room gave way to cheers and applause. With the soft touchdown, India becomes the first country to land a probe at the moon's south pole, a rugged region where deep craters lie in permanent shadow and where ice could provide water, oxygen and fuel for future missions. The first will be on the moon itself, and in lunar orbit, but they could also supply trips to Mars, with the benefit that the materials do not need to be lifted off the Earth's surface at great cost. It is a region of key scientific interest. Continue reading...
India lands spacecraft near south pole of moon in historic first
Vikram lander touches down at lunar south pole shortly after 6pm India timeIndia has become the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the south pole of the moon, in a historic moment that drew cheers at watching parties around the country.India is on the moon," Sreedhara Panicker Somanath, the chair of the Indian Space Research Organisation, said as the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft's Vikram lander touched down shortly after 6pm (1230 BST) near the little-explored lunar south pole in a world first for any space programme. Continue reading...
India's Chandrayaan-3 makes historic moon landing – video
India has become the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the south pole of the moon, in a moment that drew cheers at parties around the country. The Chandrayaan-3, which means mooncraft" in Sanskrit, put down its Vikram lander shortly after 6pm (1230 GMT) near the little-explored area in a world first for any space programme. People across the country were glued to television screens and said prayers as the spacecraft approached the surface
Super-intelligent aliens are going to destroy humanity? Whatever
I've thought long and hard about UFOs and interstellar predators, and I know I should be terrified. However ...Are we alone in the universe? There's hardly an answer to the question that isn't mindblowingly terrifying. The most comforting one, once you know all the options, is that we're not, but the US government is on top of it: various whistleblowers" have recently claimed that aliens have been smashing their craft into remote corners of the world for the past few decades, but federal officials have been retrieving the remains and covering it all up.It's a pleasing idea, because it suggests that we are still in the race for the most imposing sentient beings in the galaxy. We haven't cracked interstellar travel yet, but the beings who have are still working with tech that can be brought down by a bit of dust in the rotors. A bit more focused effort, a sprinkle of reverse engineering, and we'll have our own interstellar armada up and running before any alien civilisations decide to take a serious pop at us. In the meantime, there's always Will Smith.Joel Snape is a writer and fitness expert Continue reading...
UK academics urge Royal Society to condemn fossil fuel industry
Exclusive: Letter signed by more than 1,200 leading figures calls for unambiguous statement' about climate crisisThe Royal Society is under pressure from more than 1,200 leading academics to issue a clear condemnation of the fossil fuel industry.The academics have written to the association of the world's most eminent scientists calling for an unambiguous statement about the culpability of the fossil fuel industry in driving the climate crisis". Continue reading...
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