Mission will put first astronaut in orbit for a year, a key step in Beijing’s plan to put people on the moon by 2030
China has launched its Shenzhou-23 mission in which an astronaut will spend a full year in orbit for the first time, a crucial step in Beijing’s ambition to send humans to the moon by 2030.
The Long March 2-F rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan launch centre in north-western China...
La Brea Tar Pits – the only urban, active ice age excavation site in world – gets a mammoth face lift for the first time in nearly 50 years
Los Angeles is known for famous museum such as the Getty and the Lacma, but perhaps fewer people are aware that – in the heart of the city – lies a museum that contains one of the world’s most remarkable fossil sites.
Technological interventions face huge financial or practical challenges, but there is another way
In 2019, my scientific research was nearly brought to an early end when my team and I published the bombastic statement that natural forest restoration was the “best climate change solution” available in a paper for the peer-reviewed journal Science.
Project Hail Mary, Jurassic Park: from dino-mosquitoes to a spaceship’s roar, pointless mistakes on the scientific details make me wince
On the advice of my teenage son, I recently went to the cinema to see Project Hail Mary. The film has science in it. I am a science writer and so he was convinced I would like it.
Imagine my surprise partway through, however, when I found myself seething so...
The government’s A.I. Security Institute, staffed by alumni from OpenAI and Google, is becoming a model for countries grappling with A.I.’s emerging risks.
Demand for security engineers has surged as artificial intelligence generates a glut of new code and models like Anthropic’s Mythos create new concerns.
SpaceX launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet on a test flight on Friday. It was an upgraded version of the spacecraft Nasa is counting on to land astronauts on the moon. It blasted off from the southern tip of Texas, carrying 20 mock Starlink satellites that were released midway through the hour-long flight that stretched halfway around the world. Despite some engine trouble, the...
Exclusive: New biography uncovers Frank Hawking’s papers in which he lamented that his son had ‘little initiative’
In exploring the physics and geometry of the universe, Stephen Hawking became a world-renowned pioneer of black hole theory, writing the bestselling book A Brief History of Time, which has sold more than 13m copies, and inspiring people to “look up at the stars and not down at...
The US supreme court has preserved nationwide access to mail-order abortion pills – for now. As Carter Sherman explains, the fight to protect this medication is far from over, as a nationwide, near-total abortion ban could be on the horizon. Carter speaks with Dr Angel Foster, co-founder of the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project, who reveals how the legal battle over abortion...
The launch is the 12th test flight of the mega-rocket that CEO Elon Musk is building to get people to Mars one day
SpaceX launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet on a test flight Friday, an upgraded version that Nasa is counting on to land astronauts on the moon.
The redesigned mega-rocket made its debut two days after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced he’s taking the company public. It...
Sink or swim? | Deep vision | Sacrificial candidate | Diverting days out
Sir Christopher Ball telling people their future longevity is in their own hands and to stop blaming others (Report, 20 May) is akin to telling a drowning man to pull himself together and swim, without asking what were the circumstances that put him in the water in the first place. Life and longevity is a complex issue and...
Google asked a federal appeals court on Friday to reverse a judge’s ruling that it had violated antitrust laws, as well as a requirement it share some data with rivals.
After a busy Google I/O, the company’s chief executive sits down with the hosts of “Hard Fork” to discuss the future of Google Search, how he’s using A.I. agents and his advice for college graduates.
From infections and allergies to brain diseases and autoimmune disorders, a wave of trials offers hope
Clinical trials of immunotherapies have rocketed in the past decade as researchers have turned their understanding of the body’s defences into powerful new treatments. Leading the pack are cancer therapies, but researchers have other conditions in their sights, from infections and allergies...
IPO filing from Elon Musk’s company reveals closer look at finances, cosmic ambitions and tech empire’s quirks
SpaceX publicly released an investor prospectus on Wednesday as part of its plan for a $1.75tn debut on the US stock market next month, revealing unseen details about the finances and future plans of Elon Musk’s flagship company. In addition to new information on operating costs and...
The Kusuma Neolithic Hall, based on Durrington 68 site, will allow visitors to ‘step back in time’ into the lives of those who built the stone circle
It may have been a place for ceremony or a barn for pack animals. It could have been a place for weary labourers to rest their heads. Or perhaps there was no building at all.
English Heritage has unveiled a 7-metre-high reconstruction of what a...