Science

The government’s decision to allow free travel to and from Greece last summer could have had a significant impact on the spread of the virus, according to a Public Health England study quietly published this week. The previously unreported analysis, which was conducted by PHE and the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium, revealed that Greece was

Boris Johnson is promising a “rocket boost” for parts of the country with slow broadband – in the latest pledge in his “levelling up” agenda. He is promising an internet revolution with funding for more than a million hard-to-reach homes and businesses to have the next generation “gigabit” broadband installed. It is the first phase

Three new lifeforms have been discovered in different locations on the International Space Station (ISS), potentially offering researchers a new way to grow food in space. American and Indian scientists have examined four bacterial strains from the station and found that the three belonged to a species previously unknown to science. The rod-shaped bacteria were

Sperm whales who were being hunted by whalers in the 19th century adapted their behaviour and learned defensive measures to avoid harpoons, a new study has found. Researchers made the discovery after examining digitised logbooks of American whalers which detail how many sperm whales were sighted, struck and processed. The data, published by the Royal

Uber’s announcement of basic employment rights for its drivers comes after a long-running court battle that could force a shake-up in the so-called gig economy. What is the gig economy? The term describes a way of working where work is assigned on a short-term or job-by-job basis via platforms such as Uber, a taxi app,

While many questions remain on the origins of life on Earth, scientists in the US and UK now believe that lightning strikes may have played an essential role. There is a lot of scientific debate about how life emerged from non-living matter 3.5 billion years ago, but it is generally accepted that the first self-replicating

NASA’s next astronaut, Mark Vande Hei, may have to spend an entire year aboard the International Space Station (ISS) due to a Russian space tourist taking part in a film. Mr Vande Hei confirmed in a press conference on Monday that he might be required to give up his seat on the Soyuz capsule coming

Apple says its App Store rules support 330,000 jobs in the UK following an announcement that it was being investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority. Earlier this month the CMA confirmed it had received complaints from “several developers reporting that Apple‘s terms and conditions are unfair and could break competition law”. The regulator did

Elon Musk has crowned himself the “technoking of Tesla”, according to a regulatory filing that appears to celebrate the company’s cryptocurrency investments. The official document, which added the bizarre title to the list covering Musk, was sent to US stock market regulator the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) but offered no reason for the

The Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei is suing HSBC in Hong Kong after a case it brought in English courts was dismissed. The company is seeking documents from the bank which it says the United States possesses but “deliberately and wilfully withheld” when requesting the extradition of its chief financial officer, Meng Wenzhou, from Canada –

An auction for portions of the 5G spectrum is beginning today with EE, Vodafone, Three and O2 the mobile networks competing to win exclusive use of slices of the airwaves for their customers. It comes amid a number of challenges facing the UK’s 5G rollout, including accessing sites to place radio masts, and a ban

People who sustain head injuries in their 50s or younger can suffer from significant impacts to the health of their brain in later life, according to a new study led by University College London. The research involved 502 participants aged 53 – 21% of whom said they had suffered a substantial head injury. When aged

EA Sports has announced that it is investigating allegations employees are selling rare player cards following widespread concern within the FIFA 21 fanbase. The cards are used in FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT), an online multiplayer mode that generates enormous revenues for EA Sports, and often feature players with superior abilities, giving their owners an advantage

To date the search for alien life has been based on biosignatures – molecules or isotopes which would indicate the presence of ancient life – but new features could be the focus for this search in the future. Searching for extraterrestrial intelligence has been a focus of mankind for more than a century, with astronomers

President Biden is peppering his administration with some of the most lauded critics of Big Tech, with a British-born legal scholar now tipped for a role at the Federal Trade Commission. Lina Khan was applauded in 2017 for a 24,000-word paper titled Amazon‘s Antitrust Paradox, which addressed the shortcomings of modern American competition law. While

The mysterious zodiacal light – a faint and diffused glow visible in the night sky in the direction of the Sun, also known as the false dawn – has fascinated humans for centuries. Now NASA thinks it has solved the mystery of where it comes from. The light was investigated by the astronomer Giovanni Cassini