Science

Two electric ferries will go on trial in Orkney thanks to a £15m funding boost. The vessels – which use hydrofoil technology to lift the hull out of the water to navigate above the waves – are being supplied by Artemis Technologies for a three-year pilot. The smaller 12m ferry will operate a year-round service

Modest, mild-mannered and unassuming, Ian Wilmut didn’t fit the popular stereotype of the pioneering scientist. But his work that produced Dolly the sheep in 1996 wasn’t just a landmark in regenerative medicine – it helped reshape the relationship between science and society. The biological significance of Dolly the sheep is often misunderstood. She wasn’t the

Apple has seen around $200bn (£160bn) wiped off its value after China extended its curbs on iPhone use by government workers. Shares in the tech giant have tumbled by 6.4% over the last two days in response to Beijing ordering some state employees from using the devices. The move has fuelled fears Apple and its

A mysterious golden orb found on the sea floor has baffled scientists. It was discovered on 30 August, but tests are still under way to determine the object’s origin. The egg – as some speculate it might be – was found by marine biologists aboard a vessel run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The UK will rejoin the European Union’s flagship Horizon science programme after two years of absence post-Brexit, the government has confirmed. Number 10 said the UK will join “through a bespoke new agreement with the EU”. A spokesperson added Prime Minister Rishi Sunak secured “improved financial terms of association that are right for the UK

Smart home devices, including appliances like washing machines, demand unnecessarily large amounts of user data that could end up in the hands of social media and marketing firms, a consumer group has warned. Which? said many products’ apps request information during setup that should not be needed to run. Among the offenders are Google thermostats

Universal Music Group (UMG) and independent streaming platform Deezer have announced the “most ambitious change” to the economics of streaming since its creation, with the launch of a new model promising higher royalties for artists. The collaboration between UMG, the world’s largest record company, and French streaming platform Deezer means artists will be paid double

Humans’ rotating shoulders and extending elbows – which allow us to reach a high shelf or throw a ball – may have evolved as a natural braking system for our primate ancestors, new research suggests.  Early humans needed the movements to slow their descent out of trees so they could climb down without dying, researchers

Stargazers have a “rare and exciting” opportunity to see a comet shooting through space at 240,000 miles per hour. Nishimura was only discovered last month but is already proving to be quite the spectacle, with astronomers encouraging people not to waste the chance to see it with the naked eye before it burns up. It

A record number of Asian hornet sightings have been reported in the UK so far this year, figures show. There have been 22 confirmed sightings of the non-native species so far in 2023, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). That is more than the previous six years combined – and

Plans are under way to restart COVID surveillance ahead of winter. The announcement comes after the rollout of vaccines was brought forward due to a new variant emerging, one which officials have indicated is the most concerning since the arrival of Omicron. Jabs for COVID and winter flu also started today in Scotland. BA.2.86, which

For Mollie Evans, gaming is a community and a lifeline, but one that’s getting harder and harder to hold on to. “I physically cannot leave the house everyday, so it’s a huge hobby for me,” she says. “I’ve made my best friend through gaming, and we hang out everyday online.” Mollie, a content creator, suffers

NASA has found a new crater on the moon likely caused by the impact of a Russian spacecraft that crashed last month. Luna-25, a robot lander, met its untimely end as it looked to touch down on the lunar surface’s south pole. Russia had hoped it would spend a year collecting samples of rock and

More than a million lives have been saved over the last four decades in the UK due to advances in cancer care, analysis from Cancer Research UK has shown. Since the mid-1980s, UK cancer deaths have fallen by around a quarter, but if the rates had remained the same more than 1.2 million people would

During the post-war building boom of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, reinforced aerated autoclaved concrete (RAAC) was something of a wonder material. Filled with bubbles of air, the material is about a quarter of the weight of normal reinforced concrete. RAAC was seen as ideal for shaping into lighter, pre-formed concrete components used in the

Stunning pictures have captured the rare blue supermoon over the UK and other locations throughout the world. The moon appeared larger than usual as it shone in the night sky on Wednesday night, peaking around 2.35am on Thursday in the UK. While the moon is typically around 252,088 miles away at its furthest point from