Science

Criticisms of the speed with which the UK approved the first coronavirus vaccine are “mistaken”, a former regulator has said, adding that approval was faster in the UK because Brexit gave the regulator a brief moment of “spare capacity”. Professor Stephen Evans, who worked on vaccines for the previous incarnation of Medicines and Healthcare products

With more people being forced to work from home during 2020 due to COVID-19, research has revealed the streets with the slowest and fastest broadband in the UK. It shows the country’s poorest connection is as much as 5,330 times slower than the fastest street. People living in Dale Lane in Appleton, Cheshire, enjoy the

The Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine approved for use in the UK is manufactured in Belgium and needs to be stored at -70C (-94F) to avoid spoiling before it is administered. The government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has confirmed its priority list for the first phase of the UK’s mass vaccine rollout, which will

A struggling cryptocurrency backed by Facebook has changed its name, in a bid to get it off the ground and approved by regulators. Libra was launched in June 2019, backed by the social media giant back, to deliver an “inclusive and open” financial ecosystem. However, after a number of backers pulled out of the scheme,

A “potential game changing” blood test could be used to predict who will develop Alzheimer’s disease, according to scientists. The diagnostic test is based on the discovery of two protein molecules in the blood which contribute to neuronal damage in the brain. By identifying the presence of these proteins, doctors could be able to diagnose

A breakthrough in decoding brain signals could be the first step towards soldiers communicating without having to speak aloud during military operations. New research has “successfully” separated brain signals that influence behaviour and actions from those that do not, according to the publication C4ISRNET, which covers emerging trends in military warfare technology. Funded by the

Astronomers have discovered a series of enormous new sunspots on the side of the sun facing Earth, ahead of a period of what is expected to be increased solar activity. Sunspots are dark areas on the surface of the sun, caused by intense magnetic activity. This activity almost always leads to solar flares and coronal

Amazon staff in the UK are set to see a Christmas boost in their pay packet, after the firm announced $500m (£374m) in global bonuses. The company, which is run by the world’s richest man Jeff Bezos, will hand out £300 to full-time workers who are employed from 1 to 31 December, while part-time staff

A new blood test that could help detect the early signs of more than 50 types of cancer is set to be piloted across England by the NHS. The Galleri blood test will be piloted with 165,000 patients in a deal struck by NHS England, after research on people with signs of cancer suggested that

Manchester United are being assisted by the UK’s cyber security agency after a cyber attack left the club unable to fully restore its systems. The club said it had been hacked last week, adding they were not “aware of any breach of personal data associated with our fans and customers”. It reported the attack to

AstraZeneca – the company collaborating with Oxford University on a coronavirus vaccine – is set to run an extra trial of the jab. Chief executive Pascal Soriot said it followed the accidental discovery that it performed best when half a dose was given, followed by a full one. “Now that we’ve found what looks like

Scientists have accidentally discovered a species of fungus-farming ant is growing its own body armour using biominerals, something never previously seen in insects. Leaf-cutting ants are an extremely unusual evolution of the ant line, as they have – for the past 60 million years – co-evolved with the fungi that they cultivate for food. A

Bitcoin is nearing its highest-ever price – passing $19,000 (£14,241) for the first time since its calamitous collapse in 2018. In recent months, Bitcoin has been boosted by strong levels of demand from institutional investors, with PayPal announcing that it would allow its users to buy and sell the cryptocurrency. Other cryptocurrencies have also grown

Twitter is now warning users when they attempt to ‘like’ a disputed tweet as part of its efforts to tackle misinformation. The move means that users who try to like disputed messages from Donald Trump about the US election will receive an additional prompt asking them to “help keep Twitter a place for reliable info”.

Two Charles Darwin notebooks, believed to be worth millions of pounds, have been reported stolen from Cambridge University Library 20 years after they were last seen. One of them contains Darwin’s famous 1837 Tree of Life sketch in which he explored the historical evolution of species. Staff thought the notebooks had been “mis-shelved” within the

A bill that would give the government greater powers to shut out high-risk vendors from the UK’s telecoms infrastructure will be put before parliament on Tuesday. At the beginning of the year, ministers determined that additional safeguards should be put into place to protect the UK’s 5G and gigabit-capable networks and exclude ‘high risk’ vendors from