Will Meta’s Orion smart glasses be the next ‘iPhone moment’? Expert Q&A

Meta supremo Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Orion smart glasses, a new augmented reality (AR) prototype, at the annual Meta Connect developer conference. Ten years in the making, and still not expected on high streets until 2027, these will be a new way to meld the real and digital worlds. They will be controlled by the eyes […]

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The largest infrared map of our galaxy has been completed – UKRI

Over the course of 13 years, the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) survey and its extension, the VVV eXtended survey (VVVX), observed the central regions of the Milky Way. Beginning in 2010, these surveys required 420 nights of observation to: capture approximately 200,000 images monitor over 1.5 billion celestial objects generate 500 terabytes […]

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Scientists have figured out how to ‘see’ through mice – could humans be next?

Imagine being able to see right through your skin to watch your muscles or organs in action. It sounds like science fiction, but a group of scientists at Stanford University were recently able to make the skin of live mice appear transparent – at least under certain light conditions. This breakthrough has unquestionably opened up […]

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Prime Minister and Chancellor visit STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory – UKRI

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves visited the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) Daresbury Laboratory on 22 September 2024, where they took a firsthand look at the groundbreaking work taking place in quantum computing. During the visit, they toured US company PsiQuantum’s state-of-the-art research and development facility, where they spoke to staff […]

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How the cost of living crisis and games industry turmoil could hurt Sony’s PlayStation 5 Pro release

In late November 2020, I was one of those people standing in line – or rather, refreshing my browser – hoping to snag a PlayStation 5 during a restock. The pandemic was in full swing, and with most of the world locked indoors, there weren’t many better things to do. The original PS5 promised to […]

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Sexual fantasies: should you share them with a partner?

The actor Gillian Anderson has just released a book of sexual fantasies. Titled Want, it catalogues a diverse range of fantasies submitted anonymously by women from around the world. It is not the first to do so. In 1973, American author Nancy Friday published My Secret Garden, a volume that provoked fierce debate at the […]

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OpenAI’s Strawberry program is reportedly capable of reasoning. It might be able to deceive humans

OpenAI, the company that made ChatGPT, has launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) system called Strawberry. It is designed not just to provide quick responses to questions, like ChatGPT, but to think or “reason”. This raises several major concerns. If Strawberry really is capable of some form of reasoning, could this AI system cheat and […]

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New solar cells break efficiency record – they could eventually supercharge how we get energy from the Sun

The sight of solar panels installed on rooftops and large energy farms has become commonplace in many regions around the world. Even in grey and rainy UK, solar power is becoming a major player in electricity generation. This surge in solar is fuelled by two key developments. First, scientists, engineers and those in industry are […]

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CERN reports first observation of ultra-rare particle decay – UKRI

On 24 September 2024, the NA62 collaboration announced the first experimental observation of the ultra-rare decay of the charged kaon into a charged pion and a neutrino-antineutrino pair. The decay had a significance of 5 sigma (the criterion used in particle physics to declare a discovery), measuring the decay rate to a 25% relative precision. […]

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Israel’s future: How AI investment can strengthen national resilience

The war that began on October 7 has profoundly impacted Israeli society and the economy, highlighting the urgent need for national resilience and self-reliance. This conflict has underscored a critical lesson: Israel must strive for independence in key areas that ensure its stability—security and defense, energy, and agriculture. Realizing that international support may be limited […]

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