Category: Technology

The 2024 Nobel prize in chemistry has been awarded to three scientists for their work on describing and predicting proteins with the help of computers. One half of the prize goes to David Baker from the University of Washington in the US “for computational protein design”, with the other half jointly awarded to Demis Hassabis […]

In the modern world we are all constantly connected, but this comes with risks. As most cybersecurity specialists will tell you, the biggest vulnerability in any system is the user – whether at home or work. The most common ways in which hackers break into systems are via attacks on users such as phishing, rather […]

A geomagnetic storm lit up the night sky in parts of the US during the first weekend in October. South Africa’s National Space Agency (Sansa) told reporters that the storm had originated from a solar flare “that erupted from sunspot 3842 on October 3”. It said this was the strongest Earth-facing solar flare recorded by […]

For the first time, an imaging method has been used to investigate Iron Age bronze Iranian swords. This has revealed significant modern modifications that prove the weapons have been altered to increase their commercial value in the illicit antiquities market. Early Iron Age Iranian bladed weaponry is crucial in understanding the metalworking technologies in one […]

Megi Sharikadze, a research manager at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre in Munich, Germany, first became aware of the need for more specialised, local search engines during her quest to find the nearest post office.  For several years, Google maps was directing her to a post office quite a long way from her home. But as […]

Microbial communities – vast ecosystems teeming with millions of different cells from different species – play a fundamental role in life on Earth, from producing oxygen to aiding digestion. Despite their importance, it has been a challenge for scientists to fully understand how these intricate communities form and function. But in a new study, my […]

An annular eclipse, sometimes known as a “ring of fire” eclipse, is taking place on October 2. It will be visible from Argentina and Chile, while a partial eclipse will be seen in parts of the Pacific, other parts of South America and from Antarctica. Throughout history, eclipses have fascinated people. People around the world […]

The Spanish government has announced plans to ban harmful experiments on great apes as part of a wider initiative to give them increased rights closer to the ones humans enjoy. These plans are forward thinking compared with most of the rest of the world but the move is a double edged one. Bestowing human rights […]

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the largest and most powerful space telescope built to date. Since it was launched in December 2021 it has provided groundbreaking insights. These include discovering the earliest and most distant known galaxies, which existed just 300 million years after the Big Bang. Distant objects are also very ancient […]

Discovering extraterrestrial life would be one of the most profound scientific and philosophical revelations that our species has ever made. But such a big discovery won’t come easy. Our starting point is to first search other worlds for signs of habitability, that is, the potential for life to exist. Nasa is doing just that: launching […]