Hakuto-R may have miscalculated altitude, says company after losing contact with spacecraft
Japan’s ispace said its attempt to make the first private moon landing had failed after losing contact with its Hakuto-R Mission 1 (M1) lander when it unexpectedly accelerated and probably crashed on the lunar surface.
The startup said it was possible that as the lander approached the moon, its altitude measurement system had miscalculated the distance to the surface.
Continue reading...Study suggests antimicrobial used to promote livestock growth breeds bacteria more resistant to our natural defences
The blanket use of antibiotics in farming has led to the emergence of bacteria that are more resistant to the human immune system, scientists have warned.
The research suggests that the antimicrobial colistin, which was used for decades as a growth promoter on pig and chicken farms in China, resulted in the emergence of E coli strains that are more likely to evade our immune system’s first line of defence.
Continue reading...Driven by a revamped drug portfolio, AstraZeneca is expected to report revenues of $10.7bn in its latest quarterly results
Nearly a decade after AstraZeneca fended off a hostile takeover approach from US rival Pfizer, the British drug firm has overtaken the Viagra maker in terms of market value, marking a significant moment in its turnaround – and for UK plc.
In a week when AstraZeneca and Britain’s second-biggest pharma firm GSK release their latest quarterly results and the main industry body, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry holds its annual conference, all eyes will be on what pharma executives say about the UK as a place to operate and invest in.
Continue reading...Canadian project plans to strengthen understanding of Arctic environment by drawing on Indigenous knowledge
Alexandre Langlois was surprised to learn that snow that has stayed on the ground for a couple days in the Arctic can be heard even before it is felt.
Margaret Kanayok, an Inuk elder from Ulukhaktok, an Inuit community in the neighbouring Northwest Territories, had come to speak to a group of scientists who had gathered to attend the world’s first Arctic snow school, being held in Nunavut, Canada.
Continue reading...Artefacts believed to date back to 980s found by girl metal-detecting in cornfield last autumn
Nearly 300 silver coins believed to be more than 1,000 years old have been discovered near a Viking fortress site in north-west Denmark, a museum has said.
The trove – lying in two spots not far apart – was unearthed by a girl who was metal-detecting in a cornfield last autumn.
Continue reading...Marine mammals typically sleep in 10-minute bursts during deep, 30-minute dives to avoid predators, scientists believe
Seals dozing on the beach may appear to be enjoying the ultimate life of leisure. However, groundbreaking research has revealed that for most of their lives elephant seals sleep just two hours daily in a series of short naps while performing deep dives.
The findings, revealed in the first study to record brain activity in a free-ranging, wild marine mammal, show that during the months they spend at sea, elephant seals rival the record for the least sleep among all mammals, currently held by African elephants. The seals were found to typically sleep in 10-minute bursts during deep, 30-minute dives, often spiralling downwards while dreaming, and occasionally lying down for a nap on the seafloor.
Continue reading...Vladimir Putin hails achievement that beat Hollywood project announced by Tom Cruise, Nasa and Elon Musk’s SpaceX
The first feature film shot in space premiered in Russian cinemas on Thursday, as Moscow exulted in beating a rival Hollywood project amid a confrontation with the west.
The Challenge is about a surgeon dispatched to the International Space Station (ISS) to save an injured cosmonaut. Russia sent an actor and a film director for a 12-day stint on the ISS in October 2021 to film scenes aboard the orbiting laboratory.
Continue reading...Ukraine had said a satellite reentering the atmosphere was the cause of the phenomenon, but the space agency has denied this
A flash in the sky over the Ukrainian capital prompted confusion and alarm as city authorities said it was caused by a Nasa satellite reentering the atmosphere, while the US space agency denied involvement.
A “bright glow” was observed over Kyiv around 10pm local time, the head of Kyiv’s military administration Sergiy Popko wrote on Telegram.
Continue reading...Dr Stephen Wright’s widow considering legal action against AstraZeneca and government
A doctor died from a rare reaction to the AstraZeneca Covid jab in one of the first rounds of vaccinations, a coroner has ruled.
Dr Stephen Wright, 32, an NHS clinical psychologist and frontline health worker, suffered from a combination of a brainstem infarction, bleed on the brain and vaccine-induced thrombosis, an inquest at London’s Southwark coroner’s court heard.
Continue reading...Elon Musk says launch of most powerful rocket ever built called off due to ‘pressurisation’ issue
The largest and most powerful rocket ever built was readied and fuelled for its first test flight on Monday, but SpaceX cancelled the launch minutes before blasting off after discovering a “pressurisation” problem.
“A pressurant valve appears to be frozen, so unless it starts operating soon, no launch today,” the SpaceX founder, Elon Musk, said on Twitter. Minutes later, the launch was officially abandoned, with operators ending the countdown 40 seconds before lift-off.
Continue reading...Scientists calculate 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano released 1,000 times more energy than Hiroshima bomb
A huge underwater volcanic event in Tonga last year was of a magnitude comparable with the most powerful nuclear detonation by the US, researchers have revealed.
Scientists have used eye and earwitnesses accounts, along with data from tide gauges, satellites, evidence of broken windows and other sources, to calculate that the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, which occurred on 15 January 2022 and was felt around the world, likely involved five blasts. The last of them released energy equivalent to about 15 megatonnes of TNT.
Continue reading...The Labor senator says she’s been boiling eggs wrapped in foil in the microwave for 25 years or more, ‘and I’ve never had a mishap’
Labor senator Helen Polley has raised eyebrows with an unusual technique for cooking hardboiled eggs.
In an “egg hack” video posted to TikTok, the Tasmanian senator completely wrapped a raw egg in aluminium foil, submerged it in a plastic container of water, and said she microwaved it for six to seven minutes for a hard boil.
Continue reading...Exclusive: ‘Everyone told me it would never work’, says professor of nanomedicine, but science needs alternatives to experimenting on animals
Professor of nanomedicine Wojciech Chrzanowski finds it “heartbreaking” to recall some of his early scientific work, where research involving animal testing was inevitable.
“The moment you start working in a lab, and have to start squeezing and cutting animals, you feel sorry for them,” Chrzanowski said.
Continue reading...Experts insist successes of Brussels’ €95bn programme could never be replicated by a UK-only substitute
Leading UK scientists have dismissed government plans to provide a UK alternative to the EU’s €95bn research and innovation programme, Horizon, saying that being a member of a major international programme is essential to the country’s future.
Last week, in an attempt to reassure the science sector, the government announced plans to set up a £14bn post-Brexit alternative to the UK’s membership of Horizon, which would come into operation if ministers could not agree on the terms of an “associate membership” of the EU scheme with Brussels.
Continue reading...Metal used for west African artworks was acquired from manilla bracelets, the grim currency of the slave trade
Scientists have discovered that some of the Benin bronzes were made with brass mined thousands of miles away in the German Rhineland.
The Edo people in the Kingdom of Benin, modern Nigeria, created their extraordinary sculptures with melted down brass manilla bracelets, the grim currency of the transatlantic slave trade between the 16th and 19th centuries.
Continue reading...Report finds that 72 cases of the disease on the vessel, which was housing asylum seekers, were caused by a wastewater leak
A major outbreak of typhoid among asylum seekers living on a ship in the Netherlands has been traced to raw sewage which was allowed to mix with tanks of freshwater for drinking and cooking.
A total of 72 cases of the highly contagious disease were confirmed during the spring 2022 outbreak on the Liberty Ann, an old cruise ship which was being used as emergency accommodation in Haarlem.
Continue reading...Astronomers say gamma-ray burst may have been result of star collapsing to form black hole
A cosmic explosion that blinded space instruments last year may be the brightest ever seen, according to astronomers.
The blast took place 2bn light years from Earth, producing a pulse of intense radiation that swept through the solar system in October last year.
Continue reading...Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus will be in alignment near the moon and visible using binoculars from Tuesday evening
A planetary alignment is set to light up Australia’s night sky.
Five planets – Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus – will be in alignment near the moon from Tuesday evening.
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Continue reading...Recent auroras have been so intense they have been visible as far north as Auckland
The lure of unusually vibrant views of the southern lights in New Zealand has prompted aurora-hunters to drive for hours through the night to capture the “elusive” sight on camera, with social media groups devoted to swapping tips growing in size.
The aurora australis is always more visible in New Zealand and Australian skies during autumn and winter – beginning in March in the southern hemisphere – but this month, the southern lights have been more visible than usual, analysts say. Auroras – beautiful light shows in the night sky – are seen when sunspots erupt, causing solar storms which send material from the sun towards Earth.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Surgeons raise concerns that people using jabs are unaware of risks of redundant skin
From unbearable side-effects to cravings curbed: readers on weight-loss jabs
A surge in the number of people using slimming jabs to lose weight could lead to a rise in patients travelling abroad for tummy tucks or other surgery to remove excess skin, surgeons have said.
Drugs such as liraglutide and semaglutide, which could help people reduce their weight by more than 10%, have been approved for use on the NHS for certain groups of people with obesity, although supplies of the latter under the brand name Wegovy have yet to arrive in the UK.
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