Science

Billionaire Sir Richard Branson has announced his plan to reach space nine days before Amazon boss Jeff Bezos by taking part in a test flight for his company Virgin Galactic. In a video posted on Twitter, the Virgin Group founder introduced himself as “Astronaut 001” and said he will be “evaluating the customer space flight

A university student has designed a device that can rapidly stop catastrophic blood loss from stab wounds. The device uses pressure to prevent bleeding, targeting areas that are usually difficult to treat, such as the armpit, groin and abdomen. It is made up of a silicon sleeve and a handheld device. The sleeve – a

A diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids could reduce migraines by up to half, especially for young women, a new study has shown. Researchers found a high omega-3 diet could slash persistent headaches by two to four per month. The fatty acids, which can be found in supplements and oily fish, have also been shown

Detections of methane on Mars have excited scientists because, on Earth, the gas is often produced by microbes – its presence could indicate that similar life was, or is, present on the red planet. There are potential geological processes that could produce methane too, but even before identifying the source of the gas on Mars,

Record high temperatures are being recorded across North America, with more than 100 deaths reported so far in Canada and states in the north-western US, caused by a so-called “heat dome”. A heat dome is a weather phenomenon in which high-pressure atmospheric conditions have trapped air coming in from the Pacific Ocean, heating the air

A bronze statue of Elon Musk has been unveiled in New York City to mark his 50th birthday – but the Twitter reaction is no party. The life-size sculpture was dropped off in Manhattan on Monday by investing website Public.com, which tweeted: “Love or hate him, @elonmusk turns 50 today. We’re giving away 100 mini

Olivia Coleman and Imelda Staunton are among dozens of high-profile artists calling for a levy on tech devices to help boost the creative industries battling to recover from the effects of the pandemic. The arts industry has been hit hard by COVID-19. It is worth £10.8bn a year to the UK economy, but the coronavirus

The availability of water in Jupiter’s clouds could support Earth-like life, new research suggests. However the researchers believe that water conditions in the clouds of Venus means that it is unlikely that colonies of living microbes thrive there, contradicting previous research. Their study follows an announcement last year in which scientists discovered phosphine gas in

Over the past three decades, a single individual bee has successfully created millions of clones of herself thanks to hitting a bizarre genetic jackpot. This growing army of clones poses a serious risk to the hives of the African lowland honey bee, 10% of which are collapsing every year, as the colonies become filled with

Bumble, the dating app where women make the first move, has closed its doors for a week to give its some 700 employees a “much-needed” break to destress. In a now-deleted tweet, the company’s head of editorial content praised chief executive Whitney Wolfe Herd’s decision to give staff a paid holiday. Clare O’Connor said bosses

Troubled blockbuster video game Cyberpunk 2077 is finally available on the PlayStation Store – more than six months after it was pulled by Sony amid complaints of bugs and poor performance. The long-awaited title launched on PC, Xbox and PlayStation consoles on 10 December 2020, but the Japanese company behind the latter removed it from

On the Sky News Daily podcast with Dermot Murnaghan, we examine how sightings of unidentified flying objects went from conspiracy theory to US government inquiry – after officials told American media they can’t confirm or rule out alien activity.  We hear from Sean Cahill, who was the Chief Master-at-Arms on the USS Princeton in 2004

A new drug to treat COVID has been described as “very exciting” in its ability to lessen the effects of the virus in seriously ill people. It uses a therapy called monoclonal antibodies – artificially manufactured proteins that prevent the virus attacking the body. What are monoclonal antibodies? Monoclonal antibodies have been around for a

Novavax has said its COVID-19 vaccine is 100% effective in protecting against “moderate and severe disease” following its phase three trial results. The American biotechnology company said the trial had shown its vaccine was also 93% effective against circulating variants of concern and variants of interest, and 91% effective in protecting high-risk populations. The trial,

WhatsApp has launched its first global marketing campaign in reaction to a public backlash against a privacy policy announcement. The messaging platform says the campaign is designed to reiterate its “commitment to privacy”. It comes after months of uncertainty around the Facebook-owned app after its updated privacy policy sparked confusion and concern among some users

Bitcoin will be used as legal tender in El Salvador after President Nayib Bukele’s proposals to embrace cryptocurrency were approved by congress. On Tuesday night, lawmakers voted in favour of the plan with 62 out of 84 possible votes. The country’s president made the proposal at a Bitcoin conference over the weekend and the vote