Technology

Remdesivir, an antiviral drug originally developed to treat Ebola, has been approved for use on COVID-19 patients in the US. The treatment, which is given through an IV in hospital, was signed off by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is thought to prevent SARS CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) from multiplying in

The COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca has been shown to work as planned by new analysis. A method to check the inoculation contains all the correct parts was developed by a team at Bristol University, providing greater evidence that the vaccine works. Even though the research has not yet been peer

The sharp rise in coronavirus cases is stretching the capacity of the Test and Trace service, forcing untrained staff to take on contact-tracing jobs, according to a leaked internal email seen by Sky News.. The measures taken to strengthen the service have raised disquiet inside Test and Trace, as staff from outsourcing firms will now

A new boss – the third in six months – has been appointed to lead the contact tracing app for England and Wales, Sky News has learned. Gaby Appleton, a former director at Elsevier, one of the world’s biggest academic publishing companies, has already started work on the app and held an all staff meeting

A NASA spacecraft has successfully descended on an asteroid to collect a sample to return to Earth, the space centre has confirmed. On Tuesday, the Osiris-Rex made a four-and-a-half hour journey from its orbit of the Bennu asteroid 200 million miles from Earth to hover just above its surface. It had to dodge boulders the

Microsoft has released a new version of its Xbox app for the iPhone and iPad which will allow Xbox gamers to play their consoles remotely. Unlike the xCloud games streaming service – which only works on Android devices – the Xbox app allows phone users to stream games which are playing on their own console.

The US has charged six Russian hackers over a series of global cyber attacks, including trying to undermine UK efforts to hold Moscow accountable for the Salisbury spy poisoning. Mug shots of the men, aged between 27 and 35, were released on a poster with the words: “Wanted by the FBI”. The charging announcement came

NASA has chosen Nokia to build a 4G network on the moon as part of the space agency’s Artemis programme, which aims to establish a sustainable human presence there. The Finnish company will build the technology which will be integrated into NASA‘s lunar landers and used for remote control, as well as streaming high-definition videos.

Thousands of private renters in Hackney face eviction and potentially homelessness as the council says it is unable to make housing benefit payments due to a cyber attack earlier this week. The council was hit on Tuesday morning by what Mayor Philip Glanville described as a “serious cyber attack” which continues to leave many of

Users of the contact tracing app for England and Wales have reported receiving updates incorrectly telling them the risk level in their area had changed, after what Sky News understands was a mistake by the app’s developers. The Department of Health and Social Care confirmed the error, but did not say how many people it

British Airways is to be fined £20m after losing the personal and financial details of more than 400,000 customers in a cyber attack. The fine is considerably lower than the £183m fine which the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) had initially notified the company of last year. According to the ICO, the regulator took into account

Autonomous drones and unmanned boats could be used to maintain the UK’s offshore wind farms in the next five years, experts have told Sky News. A team of scientists from the University of Bristol and French-based engineering and science firm Thales are testing technology that will eventually remove the need for humans to carry out

A team of palaeontologists in the UK have discovered a new species of small pterosaur, similar in size to a turkey. The dinosaur is unlike any other pterosaur discovered due to its long and slender toothless beak, similar to that of a kiwi bird, according to the study published in Cretaceous Research. Scientists were surprised

A “short, sharp” two-week lockdown over the October half-term could prevent more than 7,000 deaths, according to a paper by two of the government’s leading scientific advisers. The paper, which has not been peer-reviewed, suggests that a full lockdown, with stay-at-home orders and school closures, could reduce COVID-19 deaths from 19,900 to 12,100 over the

A man from the UK had sudden hearing loss after testing positive for COVID-19, a medical journal has reported. The 45-year-old man who suffered from asthma but was described as “fit and well” was admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) after contracting COVID-19. However, after a long period of time in the ICU, it

A month after holding its first September event for years without announcing a new iPhone, Apple has released four models in its new iPhone 12 range, all of which are 5G-compatible. They include a new line for Apple in the iPhone 12 Mini, which measures just 5.4″ from corner to corner – making it the