Fascination of investors such as Elon Musk with uploading their brains to computers is hindering progress in curing disease, say scientists

It has been an excellent year for neurotech, if you ignore the people funding it. In August, a tiny brain implant successfully decoded the inner speech of paralysis patients. In October, an eye restored sight to patients who had lost their vision.

It would...

Nobel prize-winning biologist whose discovery, with Francis Crick, of the structure of DNA solved the mystery of genetic inheritance

James Watson, who has died aged 97, had an extraordinary gift for science, combined with ruthless ambition and an arrogant disregard for most of his peers. These combined qualities earned him a key role in one of the 20th century’s most profound scientific...

Parenthood can seem an impossible dream for many, and online sperm donor groups offer a solution, but they can be a murky world

A man going by the name “Rod Kissme” claims to have “very strong sperm”. It may seem like an eccentric boast for a Facebook profile page, but then this is no mundane corner of the internet. The group where Rod and other men advertise themselves is a community...

Robert Beattie, 82, has found specimens of a 151m-year-old midge that challenge what we know about how the insects evolved

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As a boy, holidaying with his family in the New South Wales coastal town of Gerringong, Robert Beattie found a shell in a rock. It turned out to be hundreds of millions of years old –...

Endocrinologists warn taking testosterone unnecessarily can suppress the body’s natural hormone production

Social media misinformation is driving men to NHS clinics in search of testosterone they don’t need, adding pressure to already stretched waiting lists, doctors have said.

Testosterone therapy is a prescription-only treatment recommended under national guidelines for men with a clinically...

Last weekend’s Cambridgeshire train attack brought up a question that we often ask ourselves. But the answer isn’t simple

Emma Kavanagh is a psychologist who has worked for the police and the military

The devastating attack on train passengers in Cambridgeshire last weekend was shocking. There has been talk of heroes who risked their lives to help others, and of those who hid to save their...

Modern research shows the public work together selflessly in an emergency, motivated by a strong impulse to help

It was early morning on 1 January last year when Colin McGarva dived into a flooding river in Worcester to rescue an unconscious woman. McGarva said he didn’t think twice about the risk to himself, or the devastating loss his newborn son would suffer had he too been swept away by...

Nobel prize winner shaped medicine, crimefighting and genealogy but later years marred by racist remarks

James D Watson, whose co-discovery of the twisted-ladder structure of DNA in 1953 helped light the long fuse on a revolution in medicine, crimefighting, genealogy and ethics, has died, according to his former research lab. He was 97.

The breakthrough – made when the brash, Chicago-born...

While he has a penchant for cars and jets, the world’s richest person reportedly lives a relatively modest life.

A legal team’s reliance on AI-invented case law exposes how blind trust in ChatGPT can wreck careers.

Both units at the Koeberg nuclear power station now have the licences needed to keep operating until the mid-2040s.

The tech billionaire believes Optimus could play a big role in the lives of people around the world.

Business AI, a South African start-up backed by Mustek, has launched an AI marketplace for businesses.

The CSIR has developed an online platform for banks and telecoms operators to report cybercrimes directly to the police.

Chinese AI developer DeepSeek made its first public appearance in almost a year after it became a global sensation.

TechCentral is ending 2025 on a high note: the publication notched up record monthly readership in October.