Science

Thousands of web users across the world have experienced issues due to an Amazon server outage. Several Amazon services including Prime Video, its namesake website, and applications that use Amazon Web Services (AWS) have been hit by problems. Amazon said the outage was likely due to issues related to the application programming interface (API), which

The UK’s most popular meme searches in 2021 have been revealed by Google. Here are the top 10 memes people were looking for this year using the search engine. 1. Matt Hancock Matt Hancock resigned as health secretary when leaked CCTV footage showed him kissing an aide, breaching social distancing rules he had helped to

People who have overcome a coronavirus infection and also received a vaccine have higher-quality antibodies against variants, researchers have found. The new study comes amid concerns that new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, such as Omicron, can still infect people who have received two vaccine doses. According to researchers at the American Society for Microbiology,

Viagra may be a useful treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study. The erectile dysfunction drug was associated with a 69% reduced risk of Alzheimer’s when accounting for other factors such as race, age and sex. Men taking Viagra (also known by its generic name sildenafil) had a substantially lower risk and researchers

A so-called “flash crash” for Bitcoin over the weekend has wiped out positions worth $2bn and left market experts pondering whether a wider reset for value has set in. The world’s largest cryptocurrency lost over a fifth of its value at one stage, taking the market capitalisation back below $1trn, after a broader flight from

Calls are growing for the government to step in as some families face a second Christmas without being able to purchase a gaming console unless they pay a “hugely inflated” price. The underlying problem with supply is a global shortage of computer chips, but scarcity at a retail level is being aggravated by scalpers bulk

The International Space Station (ISS) was forced to swerve away from a fragment of a US launch vehicle on Friday, the Russian space agency has said. The manoeuvre comes as the latest in a series of incidents in which space debris has forced astronauts to respond. Calls to monitor and regulate space debris, or space

Scientists have for the first time used artificial intelligence to suggest and prove new mathematical theorems. The potential breakthrough came in a collaboration between mathematicians who specialise in pure mathematics at the universities of Oxford and Sydney, alongside Google-owned DeepMind. Their work examined knot theory and representation theory, areas of “pure mathematics” which typically depend

Although the Earth’s orbit around the Sun is circular today, at times it has been more elliptical – making the seasons more eccentric – and a new study has found this has impacted biological evolution. Scientists have been able to spot the impact thanks to microscopic algae known as coccolithophores which form tiny limestone plates

Mild and moderate coronavirus infections in pregnant women appear to have no effect on the brain of the developing foetus according to a new study. Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic “there is evidence that pregnant women are more vulnerable” to the coronavirus, according to a study presented to the Radiological Society of North America

The origin of Earth’s water continues to be debated by scientists – whether it was here when the planet formed or if it had an extraterrestrial source. But new research points the finger at a previously uncounted point of origin: the Sun at the centre of our solar system. According to astronomers, solar radiation may

The government has launched an algorithmic transparency standard amid concerns that biased algorithms are impacting the way Britons are treated by the state. Algorithms are computer systems that ingest a wide range of data to produce a single answer – but there are concerns that because people can rarely see the logical processes used to

Madonna has hit out at Instagram for taking down provocative photographs in which her nipple was exposed. The 63-year-old star had shared a series of risqué pictures of herself on and underneath a bed, wearing a cut-out bra, a thong, fishnet tights and high heels, which made headlines earlier in the week. Resharing the images

Amazon’s largest UK warehouse is being blockaded by climate activists in Black Friday protests. Extinction Rebellion‘s Black Friday demonstration, with about 20 activists, started at 4am at the distribution centre in Dunfermline, Fife. The group said it was also targeting Amazon sites in Doncaster, Darlington, Newcastle, Manchester, Peterborough, Derby, Coventry, Rugeley, Dartford, Bristol, Tilbury and

New research is shedding light on the differences between how human and Neanderthal infants developed after birth. Scientists at the University of Kent’s school of anthropology believe that modern human children may develop over a much slower and extended period compared to the now extinct species or subspecies of human. Using state-of-the-art technology to examine

One of Albert Einstein’s manuscripts has been sold at auction for $13.17m (£9.8m). The 54-page paper, which is half-filled with the physicist’s handwriting, is only one of two working documents known in which he approaches his famous theory of relativity. Auction house Christie’s had estimated the value of the manuscript, which was co-authored by Michele