“Zombie” viruses that spent up to 48,500 years frozen in the ground could reawaken as the permafrost melts due to climate change, scientists warn. Noticeably warmer temperatures in the Arctic are already thawing the region’s permafrost, the permanently frozen layer below Earth’s surface. Researchers are now trying to assess how big a risk the bacteria […]

When 20-year-old *Musa first started taking nitrous oxide – commonly known as “laughing gas” – to combat stress, he did not imagine he would eventually be hospitalised. “In the middle of the night, I go to the toilet. I got up and just fell on my face. I couldn’t get up,” he said.. Nitrous oxide […]

Skin condition vitiligo has, in more recent years, become globally celebrated thanks to public figures like Canadian model Winnie Harlow. It’s thought to present in about 0.5-1 per cent of the global population, and is widely defined as an autoimmune condition that affects the pigmentation of the skin. Technically, there’s currently no cure for vitiligo. […]

“I am in pain,” says a digital voice as 33-year-old Nathan Armstrong stares into an iPad at Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire, northwestern England. He is using SRAVI, short for Speech Recognition For The Voice Impaired, a lip-reading app that is being trialled in UK public hospitals among patients who have difficulties speaking, whether it’s […]

They will one day be homes for humans on the Moon or Mars, but for now, the first test extraterrestrial habitats are being built on Earth with the help of an unexpected material: mushrooms. American architecture firm Red House is working with NASA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Bits and Atoms […]

A newly opened mega-lab allows scientists to create the weather – all to test the energy efficiency of homes. The huge facility in Salford, in the north of England, can emulate sunny and rainy weather conditions, and even wind and snow. Capable of setting temperatures to a range between -20C to 40C, it contains a […]

Climate has, as ever, been a talking point at the 2023 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, and discussions have largely rested on the potential impact that new emerging technologies could have in turning the tide for a planet in peril. Miguel Stilwell, the CEO of EDP, one of the world’s leading energy providers and […]

Even if electric cars still cost more to buy than petrol cars, battery-electric vehicles have long been cheaper overall to own and run. This is largely because recharging has typically cost much less than refuelling, so owning an electric vehicle (EV) would pay off after a couple of years. This is an irrefutable fact – […]

The spectacular meltdown surrounding the Terra stablecoin and Luna governance token might be generating headlines, but it’s no indication that the broader crypto asset marketplace is headed for a collapse. Stablecoins have quickly moved from a niche area of the crypto sector to a type of crypto asset that has been heralded by many as […]

The African forest, the Congo Basin, is the largest tropical forest in the world after the Amazon, and spans six countries, including Gabon. As well as being a treasure trove for biodiversity, forests like these act as the planet’s green lung, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature estimating that they absorb approximately 2.6 […]