The chance of limiting global warming to 1.5C is “virtually zero” on current trends, according to the UN’s environment body. This year’s Emissions Gap Report finds that emissions of greenhouse gasses in 2023 were the highest on record. More concerning, the rate of growth since 2022 was nearly twice as fast as in the decade preceding the COVID pandemic. This ...
Tickets to outer space have gone on sale for two would-be astronauts in China. Chinese space startup Deep Blue Aerospace is planning on taking passengers to space in 2027 and although there are only two tickets on sale on Thursday, more will be available next month. The rocket will take the travellers on a suborbital flight, meaning they will reach ...
Parts of Antarctica are turning green more quickly than previously thought, leaving scientists “shocked” at the impact of climate change in the region. The area covered by vegetation in the Antarctic Peninsula is 10 times larger than four decades ago, a UK research team has said. It means the 800-mile (1,300km) area in the northernmost part of the continent – ...
A surgeon is removing brain tumours “the size of large apples” through patients’ eyebrows, in what is believed to be a world first. Consultant neurosurgeon Anastasios Giamouriadis, based in Aberdeen, has adapted an existing technique to remove the growths, leaving patients with only a small scar and black eye. The operation can be over in three hours, and some people ...
Robots could sit in the seats of absent children in school – to allow the pupils to access lessons from a “safe space”, a former children’s commissioner has said. Anne Longfield, executive chair of the Centre for Young Lives, said that developing a “more inclusive” school environment could help tackle the attendance crisis – rather than a “one-size-fits-all” approach, in ...
As new laws go, the Data Use and Access Bill sounds like one of the most boring imaginable. But don’t nod off just yet… The revamp of data laws, claims the government, has the potential to boost the economy, benefit patients, police and parents – even help reduce disruption from road repairs. But done wrong, privacy and digital rights campaigners ...
“Oink oink?” “Yes, of course.” Communication with pigs may soon be possible as scientists say they have developed an AI tool that can interpret what the animals are saying. While it’s not quite Doctor Doolittle, the algorithm is capable of decoding pig sounds and could potentially alert farmers to negative emotions, researchers say. It’s hoped the tool can help improve ...
A new pioneering Alzheimer’s drug has been rejected for widespread use in the NHS in England. The announcement comes as the UK’s medicines regulator said that donanemab could be licenced for use in the UK. However, the health spending watchdog, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE), said that it “does not currently demonstrate value for the NHS”. ...
Volunteers are being sought to help trial a new vaccine against norovirus, or the winter vomiting bug, after initial results showed the jab created a “strong immune response”. The illness is the most common infectious cause of vomiting and diarrhoea and spreads easily through contact with contaminated surfaces or someone else who has it. Every year norovirus is linked to ...
An incredible display of celestial fireworks may be visible overnight as debris left by Halley’s Comet streaks across the night sky – but the moon may end up ruining the view. The Orionid meteor shower, which has been going on all month, peaks for several hours from midnight tonight, offering you the best possible chance, in theory, of seeing the ...