Technology

Vincente Sargues/Shutterstock Of the many ways the coronavirus pandemic has changed our lives, the banning of reusable cups by many cafes and other outlets serving hot drinks probably doesn’t appear at the top of most people’s lists. But the move is likely to add to the mountain of waste piling up as the pandemic has … Read MoreRead more

Shutterstock China announced in 2017 its ambition to become the world leader in artificial intelligence (AI) by 2030. While the US still leads in absolute terms, China appears to be making more rapid progress than either the US or the EU, and central and local government spending on AI in China is estimated to be … Read MoreRead more

Grooming is the key to positive relationships. tratong/Shutterstock The world may be reopening in some places, with people looking forward to pubs, restaurants and haircuts. Many of us will no doubt also be looking forward to some time away from home – alone – once more. Spending such prolonged time in close quarters with others … Read MoreRead more

For parents, it goes without saying that youth are using social media to connect and support each other. The embrace of social media has been extraordinary among adolescents well before COVID-19 precautions. With the current need to social distance, a new paper explores how teens support each other through digital media during times of stress … Read MoreRead more

Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock What would happen if gravity was reduced by half? – Phoebe, aged 13, London UK Gravity is a force that pulls things towards each other. It is the reason we walk on the surface of the Earth and don’t float off into space. The gravitational pull of the Earth keeps us on its surface, … Read MoreRead more

Is coronavirus over in some cities? StreetVJ/Shutterstock More than half a million people have died from COVID-19 globally. It is a major tragedy, but perhaps not on the scale some initially feared. And there are finally signs that the pandemic is shuddering in places, as if its engine is running out of fuel. This has … Read MoreRead more

Pexels Many of us have been spending more time at home than ever before, and chances are unless you live by yourself in the middle of nowhere, at some point unwanted noise will have infiltrated your lockdown. Whether it’s cars passing nearby, a neighbour’s blaring music or the constant drone of a lawnmower, the trouble … Read MoreRead more

Rotating black holes suck up anything that gets near enough. muratart/shutterstock A rotating black hole is such an extreme force of nature that it drags surrounding time and space around with it. So it is only natural to ask whether black holes could be used as some sort of energy source. In 1969, mathematical physicist … Read MoreRead more

Archaeologists studying the monument site from above ground. University of Bradford The chances of finding another major archaeological monument near Stonehenge today are probably very small given the generations of work that has gone into studying the site. Stumbling across such a monument that measured more than 2km across must be highly unlikely. And yet … Read MoreRead more

To make a better impression at a business meeting, keep your cell phone out of sight, even if you’re using it for something work-related like taking notes, according to a new study conducted at the University of Kansas. For the study, researchers prepared video clips of people using either a paper notebook, a cell phone … Read MoreRead more

German authorities have had to take the difficult decision of reimposing a pandemic lockdown in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia after a resurgence of the coronavirus. This comes after the country’s R number, a measure of how quickly new cases of the disease are emerging, almost tripled over the course of few days. Germany has … Read MoreRead more

People Image Studio Many people suspect they’ve been infected with COVID-19 by now, despite the fact that only 0.5% of the UK’s population has actually been diagnosed with it. Similar numbers have been reported in other countries. Exactly how many people have actually had it, however, is unclear. There is also uncertainty around what proportion … Read MoreRead more

GoodStudio/Shutterstock This article contains examples of racist, Islamophobic and threatening language Twitter has finally permanently removed right-wing commentator Katie Hopkins from its platform for violating its “hateful conduct” policy. Many would ask why it took so long for Twitter to ban someone with such a long record of offensive comments. Yet for every right-winger like … Read MoreRead more

Shutterstock/GaudiLab Most of us have experienced unwanted calls at home. This is in spite of efforts by regulators, including the Information Commissioner’s Office and Ofcom, whose most recent report shows that around half of the UK population still receive nuisance calls. Many of these unsolicited calls annoy us because they interrupt our dinner or favourite … Read MoreRead more

Inside an illicit meth lab. Darwin Brandis/Shutterstock Ever been in love? You’ll know the rush. That’s chemistry at work. Our brain produces molecules such as 2-phenylethylamine, the mood enhancer also found in chocolate. But eating chocolate won’t make you fall in love – enzymes in your liver break it down before it gets to the … Read MoreRead more

The UK’s coronavirus contact tracing app has been kicked into the long grass, with the government now saying it isn’t a priority and may not be ready until winter. The app – which has so far cost nearly £12 million – was supposed to be a key part of plans to identify and isolate anyone … Read MoreRead more

Eliud Kipchoge last year became the first athlete to run a marathon in under two hours after much training and careful preparation. Regardless of whether you’re aiming for a new world record or you just want to achieve a respectable time for your age, if you’re training for a marathon you might well want to … Read MoreRead more

The death of Caesar. Vincenzo Camuccini/Wikipedia Julius Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March (March 15) in 44BC and a bloody civil war followed. This brought down the Roman republic and replaced it with a monarchy led by Caesar’s nephew Octavian, who in 27BC became the emperor Augustus. A group of scientists and historians … Read MoreRead more

Pluto, with its basin Sputnik Planitia on the right. NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Alex Parker Pluto, along with many other dwarf planets in the outer solar system, is often thought of as dark, icy and barren – with a surface temperature of just −230°C. But now a new study, published in Nature … Read MoreRead more

A new study finds that online misinformation, known as fake news, lowers people’s trust in the mainstream media. This holds true across all party lines, according to the study. Led by researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey, the study defined fake news as fabricated information that looks like a news story, but lacks the … Read MoreRead more

Government scrap contact-tracing app in favour of using Apple and Google’s technology Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Designed to be a key component of the test, track and trace programme to forge a way out of lockdown, the NHS Covid-19 app has been beset by problems from day one – despite … Read MoreRead more

Sberbank Technopark in Russia by Zaha Hadid Architects. Zaha Hadid Architects When giant blobs began appearing on city skylines around the world in the late 1980s and 1990s, it marked not an alien invasion but the impact of computers on the practice of building design. Thanks to computer-aided design (CAD), architects were able to experiment … Read MoreRead more

Rules about coronavirus research have been relaxed. angellodeco/Shutterstock The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine are among the most influential scientific journals in the world. Both have recently had to retract studies on the effectiveness of COVID-19 treatments after doubts were raised about the underlying data. The scandal reveals the dangers of “fast … Read MoreRead more

Author provided For thousands of Syrian refugees who have suffered horrific blast injuries after being hit by barrel bombs and other devices of death in their war-torn homeland, the only option is amputation. When you see the damage a blast injury can do it’s a shock to the system and is so very sad and … Read MoreRead more