Technology

Astronomers have found the first possible evidence of two planets outside our solar system sharing the same orbit. A cloud of debris was detected near a distant world, thought to be the building blocks of a new celestial body or remnants of an old one. If correct in their assessment, experts say it would be

Human spies will not be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) even as machines make information “infinitely more accessible”, the head of the UK’s foreign intelligence service, MI6, will say. Sir Richard Moore, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, is due to give a rare public speech during a visit to Prague on Wednesday. As well

Microsoft has cleared nearly all of the major obstacles in its path to securing the biggest acquisition in gaming history but, for gamers, the future remains unclear. The technology giant is nearly at the finish line of its protracted bid to take over Activision Blizzard, the hit video game developer, for $69bn (£52.9bn). But after

Artificial intelligence could be used to generate “unprecedented quantities” of realistic child sexual abuse material, an online safety group has warned. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said it was already finding “astoundingly realistic” AI-made images that many people would find “indistinguishable” from real ones. Web pages the group investigated, some of which were reported by

The NHS is nowhere near ready to provide the first effective Alzheimer’s drugs to the huge numbers of people who need them. Estimates by Alzheimer’s Research UK and Alzheimer’s Society suggest 720,000 people in the UK would meet the treatment criteria used in the clinical trials of lecanemab and donanemab. These drugs work best when

An eye-catching profile picture, music tastes that match your own and no opinion on whether pineapple should go on pizza. As far as dating app profiles go, it doesn’t get much better than that. You swipe right or send a like, and put your phone away, hoping the interest might be mutual. Lo and behold,

Getir, the grocery delivery app which is one of the biggest operators in Britain, is racing to finalise a major fundraising that it hopes will dispel intensifying rumours about its solvency. Sky News has learnt that Getir, which is based in Turkey, is working with investors to announce a funding round by the end of

Keyhole surgery is perhaps a misleading term: despite the technology, expertise and extreme finesse involved, it’s also hugely physical.  Sky News watches as surgeon Luke Jones performs an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in an operating theatre in King Edward VII’s hospital in central London. Mr Jones (male surgeons are referred to as Mr rather than

Self-driving vehicles could be used to bridge the gaps in the UK’s public transport network, according to the results of a new government-led study. The study, the first of its kind in the country, found up to 72% of people believed the vehicles could be used to improve transport links – particularly in rural areas.

A defunct spacecraft the size of a small car is expected to plummet to Earth within weeks, according to the European Space Agency. The ESA says its 1.3-tonne Aeolus satellite is running out of fuel and is falling by about 0.6 miles (1km) a day. Although much of it will burn up in the atmosphere,

A £169m contract to help build the UK’s new class of nuclear deterrent submarine will support more than 150 jobs in Scotland. Thales Glasgow is to continue its 106-year tradition of making periscopes for Royal Navy submarines and has been tasked to deliver a multi-sensor combat system mast for the Dreadnought vessels. The periscopes –

An incredible image taken by the Webb Space Telescope has been released to mark a year since it began its galactic operations. NASA revealed the picture on Wednesday, showing the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex – the closest star-forming region to earth around 390 light years away. Some 50 stars are captured by the image, with

Artificial intelligence produces misinformation when asked to answer medical questions, but there is scope for it to be fine tuned to assist doctors, a new study has found. Researchers at Google tested the performance of a large language model, similar to that which powers ChatGPT, on its responses to multiple choice polls and commonly asked

Scientists are a step closer to officially declaring a new geological time period that marks the start of humanity’s irreversible impact on the planet. How to define the start of the Anthropocene epoch, which would need to be visible in layers of rock in millions of years’ time, has proved controversial. Although humans began to

The two most popular hashtags relating to allegations against a BBC presenter have been posted almost 45,000 times on Twitter since Friday. Sky News has analysed data that shows the scale of discussion on Twitter and TikTok around the claims. The volume of posts raises questions over how effective privacy and defamation laws are in

Hairdressers, beauticians and accountants could be at a higher risk of developing ovarian cancer, a new study suggests. Those working in sales, retail, clothing and construction industries could also carry a higher risk, according to a new study published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine. But the authors of the study stressed that “inferences