Media playback is unsupported on your device Media captionMeet the socially distant robot scientist Scientists at the University of Liverpool have unveiled a robotic colleague that has been working non-stop in their lab throughout lockdown. The £100,000 programmable researcher learns from its results to refine its experiments. “It can work autonomously, so I can run […]
Image copyright OneWeb Image caption Artwork: The government wants OneWeb to run a sat-nav service as well as deliver broadband The UK is spending $500m (£400m) on a stake in failed satellite firm OneWeb as part of a plan to replace the loss of the EU’s Galileo sat-nav system. OneWeb went bankrupt in March while […]
Image caption Samples could be collected from specific points in the national network of wastewater-treatment plants A sewage-based coronavirus test could be an “easy win” that would pick up infection spikes up to 10 days earlier than with existing medical-based tests. Scientists led by UK’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology are working on a standardised […]
Image copyright Uni Warwick / Mark Garlick Image caption Artwork: The planetary core orbits very close to its parent star Astronomers have found a previously unseen type of object circling a distant star. It could be the core of a gas world like Jupiter, offering an unprecedented glimpse inside one of these giant planets. Giant […]
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Temperatures up to 40C would most likely occur in the South East of England Sweltering temperatures of up to 40C could be a regular occurrence in the UK by 2100 if carbon emissions stay very high says the Met Office. The current record stands at 38.7C, set in Cambridge […]
Image copyright MPIA Graphics Dept Image caption Artwork: Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star, nearly 1,000 times larger than the Sun Astronomers say big cool patches on a “supergiant” star close to Earth were behind its surprise dimming last year. Red giant stars like Betelgeuse frequently undergo changes in brightness, but the drop to 40% […]
Image copyright Flickr/Trepelu Image caption Globally, an estimated 50 billion garments are cleaned in washing machines each year Filters can cut the volume of ocean-bound microplastic fibres released by washing machines, a study has shown. However, until now, filters have not been tested under scientific conditions to prove their effectiveness. In the first study of […]
Image copyright Ted Humble-Smith Image caption The CT scanner as envisioned by Ted Humble-Smith: “It’s a hell of an invention” Ted Humble-Smith is a conceptual still-life photographer. He’s well known for his fashion work. Ted can take a lipstick or a watch and with his extraordinary vision and skill turn the beautiful into something even […]
Image copyright EGO/Virgo Collaboration/Perciballi Image caption The LIGO-Virgo collaboration runs some of the most exquisite scientific instruments ever built Scientists have discovered an astronomical object that has never been observed before. It is more massive than collapsed stars, known as “neutron stars”, but has less mass than black holes. Such “black neutron stars” were not […]
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Children planting trees in Ethiopia, a country which has embraced new forests as part of its climate plan Rather than benefiting the environment, large-scale tree planting may do the opposite, two new studies have found. One paper says that financial incentives to plant trees can backfire and reduce biodiversity […]
Image copyright CALADAN OCEANIC Image caption The DSV Limiting Factor is making a series of dives into the Challenger Deep It used to be said that more people had walked on the surface of the Moon than had dived to the deepest part of Earth’s oceans. Not anymore. Kelly Walsh, the son of the great […]
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Rats on sale at a Vietnam market Rats sold in the markets and restaurants of Southeast Asia harbour multiple coronaviruses, a study shows. The proportion of positives increased as live animals were moved from “field to fork”, suggesting they were picking up viruses in the process. The strains detected […]