Category: Technology

Alfred Wilson-Spencer, CC BY-SA The iron-rich core at the centre of our planet has been a crucial part of Earth’s evolution. The core not only powers the magnetic field which shields our atmosphere and oceans from solar radiation, it also influences plate tectonics which have continually reshaped the continents. But despite its importance, many of […]

Chizhevskaya Ekaterina/Shutterstock Insulation is designed to make heating our homes more efficient, but if it isn’t installed properly it can sometimes lead to condensation, damp and mould. Recently UK government ministers revealed the scale of the issue and reported that thousands of homes may have had botched insulation fitted since 2022 under a government scheme […]

Our understanding of female-male power relationships in animals has changed over time. Evolutionary biologists once thought that male mammals held clear-cut power over females. Later, species with pronounced female power over males were presented as exceptions in a landscape of strict male power. Spotted hyenas and certain primates, including bonobos and most lemurs, were examples […]

Sadly, there are signs that racism is increasing across the world. Research from Europe and Australia in recent years has found a rise in the number of people experiencing racism. Reports from the US and UK have indicated that most ethnic minority participants felt racism was getting worse. And a global study has found rising […]

OpenAI’s latest research paper diagnoses exactly why ChatGPT and other large language models can make things up – known in the world of artificial intelligence as “hallucination”. It also reveals why the problem may be unfixable, at least as far as consumers are concerned. The paper provides the most rigorous mathematical explanation yet for why […]

This collaboration is led by the University of Michigan and Queen’s University Belfast. The research addresses a key challenge in developing compact alternatives to kilometre-long particle accelerators. Addressing scale challenges in scientific infrastructure Current X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs), which produce laser-like X-rays for imaging at the viral scale, require facilities stretching for kilometres. These installations […]

A decade after the historic first detection of gravitational waves, UK scientists are reflecting on their vital contributions to one of the most significant discoveries in modern physics. They are also looking ahead to the next chapter of cosmic exploration. The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) collaboration announced the detection of GW250114, a ripple in spacetime that offers […]

The TV series Alien:Earth has introduced a number of new creatures to the much loved, albeit terrifying, Alien franchise. But how realistic are the new aliens? That’s a question that we – a trio of scientists who are also great fans of the franchise and show – have tried to tackle with a ranking. To […]

Just over a year ago, Nasa made a remarkable announcement. The Perseverance rover had found potential signs of ancient life on Mars. Now, the technical details behind that discovery have been published in a Nature paper that, despite its rather modest wording, may ultimately prove to be among the most significant in the history of […]

non c/Shutterstock You’re in the supermarket. Imported beef mince, shrink-wrapped vegetables and cleaning spray are already in your basket. Then you toss in some organic apples and feel a flicker of moral relief. Surely that small green gesture lightens the load? Not quite. Objectively, every extra product increases your carbon footprint. But psychology research reveals […]