Science

MPs have warned of an “alarming” growth in fraud in the UK and suggested online giants including Facebook and Google should pay compensation to people duped by scammers operating on their sites. A report by the Treasury Committee said the government was failing to do enough to stop “pernicious scammers” ripping off innocent consumers with

NASA has published plans for the future of the International Space Station which could see the 444,615kg structure taken out of orbit in January 2031 and crashed into a “spacecraft cemetery”. The laboratory will continue operating until 2030 following a commitment made by President Biden and Vice President Harris last month, but its long-term future

Spotify will now add a “content advisory” to any podcast episode which discusses coronavirus – after Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled their music from the platform due to misinformation about COVID vaccines. Chief executive Daniel Ek also said the streaming giant will publish its “long-standing platform rules”, to be more transparent about “the policies

A new species of insect has been discovered by a British scientist in the Ugandan rainforest. Dr Alvin Helden of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) made the find during field work with students in the Kibale National Park and it belongs to a group of insects so rare that its closest relative was last seen in

People in a self-driving car should not be responsible if it crashes, legal watchdogs have proposed. The Law Commission of England and Wales, and the Scottish Law Commission, want legal protections to be introduced for owners of self-driving cars if anything goes wrong with the automation. This could include occurrences like speeding or running a

Liquid water previously seen under the surface of Mars may be an illusion, a new study suggests. The liquid was supposedly spotted beneath the planet’s ice-covered south pole in 2018. Scientists saw bright reflections and assumed they were looking at water under the polar cap. Image: NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars in August 2021. Pic:

Tinder is charging young gay and lesbian users and people over 30 more for its premium service, according to an investigation by Which? The watchdog says its research could suggest discrimination by the dating app and a breach of UK law. Which? asked almost 200 mystery shoppers to create real profiles and make a note

An artificial pancreas has proven “life-changing” for very young children with Type 1 diabetes, experts have said. The device, created by scientists at the University of Cambridge, is more effective at managing blood sugar levels than current technology. And according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the app-based technology also

The language from the airlines is stark – “safety systems on aircraft will be deemed unusable” and the “vast majority of the travelling and shipping public will essentially be grounded”. What’s causing the concern is the rollout in the US of the 5G mobile phone network. Ten major carriers, including United Airlines and Delta, yesterday

Cryptocurrency adverts are to come under the same scrutiny as the promotion of stocks and insurance products, under plans revealed by the Treasury. Rising prices for products such as bitcoin and ether during the COVID crisis have been matched by a surge in advertising. They have been met by warnings from the Bank of England

Google is to invest £730m in expanding its office space in London, paving the way to increase staff numbers in the UK by more than 50%. The technology giant is to buy the Central St Giles site it already occupies and refurbish the building. This will include providing meeting rooms for hybrid working and outdoor

Meta has lost an attempt to dismiss a US Federal Trade Commission antitrust lawsuit which could force the company to sell WhatsApp and Instagram. Judge James Boasberg has ruled the FTC had a plausible case against the Facebook owner that should be allowed to proceed, although he did not suggest that it would be successful.

Social media influencers should be required to display a logo on digitally-altered photos of people, according to an MP who is calling for new legislation. Advertisers, broadcasters and publishers, including anybody being paid to post on social media, would have to be “honest and upfront” about having edited a body or body part in a

Moxie Marlinspike, the encryption pioneer who co-authored the security protocol used by WhatsApp, is stepping down as the chief executive of private messaging organisation Signal. Signal messenger is widely regarded as one of the most secure and trustworthy services available for people who are concerned their communications might be intercepted and has been endorsed by

People being treated for alcoholism were able to stay away from heavy drinking for longer with the use of ketamine and psychological therapy, results from an “extremely encouraging” clinical trial have shown. The research is the first of its kind to examine whether a low dose of ketamine combined with therapy could be introduced as

Researchers have created a “powerful supermolecule” in a “tremendous” interdisciplinary study, which they say has the potential to revolutionise science. The new molecule has been described as a marriage between two crucial biomolecules that underpin life: DNA and peptides – despite these molecules rarely interacting in nature. As a molecular tool, the discovery could be