Technology

A company has said it intends to start mining minerals from the deep sea bed despite an international meeting failing to grant permission. Parts of the ocean floor are rich in so called “poly-metallic nodules” containing elements like nickel and copper, which are essential to green tech and renewable energy. Canadian firm The Metals Company

A new COVID variant is spreading across the UK, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) – and already makes up one in seven new cases. Scientifically known as EG.5.1, it is descended from the Omicron variant of COVID. The UKHSA has been monitoring its prevalence in the country due to increasing cases internationally,

The spectacular final chapters of a star’s life have been captured in unprecedented detail by the James Webb Space Telescope. Astronomers say the image of the Ring Nebula – which got its name from its wispy, doughnut-like structure – may provide new insights into what happens to the celestial bodies as they die. Dr Mike

Hospital workers who pick their noses are more likely to catch COVID, a new study suggests. Researchers said hospitals should offer staff educational sessions about the habit and consider recommending against nose picking in infection prevention guidelines. Academics from the Netherlands examined data on COVID infection rates among 219 hospital workers in Amsterdam between March

A part-time dog walker has been left housebound after tick bites left him with a life threatening allergy to red meat.  Christopher Goldman suffers from alpha-gal syndrome, a tickborne illness that can cause anaphylaxis if he eats mammal meat such as beef, pork or lamb. He believes any exposure, including airborne transmission, to any mammal

Viewers are switching off traditional TV at record rates, according to a new Ofcom report. With more competition than ever from streamers, the proportion of people watching a programme on broadcast TV each week dropped from 83% in 2021 to 79% in 2022 – the biggest decline since records began, the watchdog said. Younger viewers

Chinese regulators have proposed rules that would limit under 18s to a maximum of two hours a day on their smartphones. The country’s cyberspace regulator said it wanted providers of smart devices to introduce a so-called ‘minor mode’ which would bar users under the age of 18 from accessing the internet on their mobiles from

It’s the summer holidays – when your weeks are a mixture of late nights, day trips and events – coupled with back-to-work slumps and early wake-up calls. Social jetlag is the shift in internal body clock – when sleeping patterns change between workdays, weekends and holidays. Late nights when on holiday and at the weekends

Artificial intelligence (AI) can “safely” read breast cancer screening images, a preliminary study suggests. Researchers found computer-aided detection could spot cancer in mammograms – X-ray pictures of the breast – at a “similar rate” to two radiologists. The NHS is already looking at how it can implement such technology in its breast screening programme. However,

The UK’s first drone delivery service has launched in Orkney. The joint operation, by Royal Mail and Skyports Drone Services, will initially operate on the islands for three months. It will see letters and parcels transported from a delivery office in Kirkwall to Stromness, from where drones will take them to staff on Graemsay and

A European space telescope has captured glittering galaxies and stars in its first images after a million-mile journey from Earth. Euclid is on a mission to shed light on two of the universe’s greatest mysteries: dark energy and dark matter. The European Space Agency (ESA) said “spiral and elliptical galaxies, nearby and distant stars, star

YouTuber KSI will fight boxer Tommy Fury in Manchester later this year. The 30-year-old internet star, founder of Prime energy drinks, has fought in the ring before – but this will be his first bout since taking a break from the limelight after using a racist slur in an online video. Fury, the brother of

Kanye West’s Twitter account has been reinstated after an almost eight-month ban over offensive tweets. The rapper’s account now shows his last post from 1 December, a day prior to when his account was suspended on platform X – the new name owner Elon Musk has given Twitter. West, who legally changed his name to

TikTok has been told to apologise to James Bulger’s family over the spread of “harrowing” AI-generated videos showing the two-year-old detail his murder. An animated version of the toddler appears in the clips, describing the moments leading up to his death. He was abducted from a Merseyside shopping centre on 12 February 1993 by Jon

Aeolus, a British-built weather-monitoring satellite, has been deliberately crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. It is the first time a satellite has been guided to perform an assisted crash on Earth, the European Space Agency (ESA) said. Aeolus has been providing data to weather centres across Europe since 2018, and was the first satellite mission to

Scientists have managed to reanimate worms that were frozen for an estimated 46,000 years. Thought to have lived in the late Pleistocene era, a small group of the worms found 40 metres deep in the Siberian permafrost have been thawed out and revived. The worms are from the long-extinct species Panagarolaimus kolymaensis and were not