Vodafone said its Monday outage, which knocked broadband and mobile data users offline for several hours, was caused by a “non-malicious software issue”.

The Traitors has returned to UK screens with its biggest viewing figures ever as 19 celebrities compete to be crowned the winner. The game depends on being able to accurately spot a liar, but are any deception detection methods actually backed up by science?

Madeleine Finlay speaks to Timothy Luke, a senior lecturer in the department of applied psychology at the University of Gothenburg, to...

The answers to today’s questions

Earlier today I set these three puzzles, loosely based around 1729, the “taxicab number”. To read about the link between London cabs and 1729 please read the original post.

1. Square pair

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Report raises concerns about liability issues and lack of testing as development of AI health tools booms

The use of artificial intelligence in healthcare could create a legally complex blame game when it comes to establishing liability for medical failings, experts have warned.

The development of AI for clinical use has boomed, with researchers creating a host of tools, from algorithms to help...

Breakthrough raises new possibilities for regenerative medicine, which uses patient’s own cells to repair damaged tissues

Scientists have grown embryo-like structures in the laboratory that produced human blood cells, raising new possibilities for regenerative medicine.

The ability to generate blood stem cells in the laboratory may one day make it possible to treat patients in need of bone...

A tourism initiative in India’s first dark sky reserve has brought new hope to a community as employment means they can stay close to their roots and culture

The snow-flecked peaks surrounding the village of Hanle are bathed in golden light as the sun sets. In the valley, 28-year-old Tsering Dolkar secures a telescope to its tripod and focuses the lens beneath a clear sky.

Zipped into warm...

Do you have the knowledge?

Around 1919, the British mathematician G. H. Hardy hopped on a London cab on his way to visit his Indian colleague Srinivasa Ramanujan.

The cab’s licence number, 1729, seemed dull to Hardy but his pal fervently disagreed. “It is a very interesting number,” said Ramanujan. “It is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways.”

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Conjunction just after midnight on 14 October will show brightest stars of Gemini shining brightly below moon

It is worth staying up for this pleasing view of the moon as it encounters Jupiter and the brightest stars of Gemini, the twins. The chart shows the view looking east from London at 00:30 BST in the very early morning of 14 October.

Gemini will have risen a little earlier and will now...

Two decades after the material was first produced, some UK firms have reaped its potential but others are struggling

After graphene was first produced at the University of Manchester in 2004, it was hailed as a wonder material, stronger than steel but lighter than paper. But two decades on, not every UK graphene company has made the most of that potential. Some show promise but others are...

Alcohol, suicide and injuries driving rises among teenagers and young adults despite overall rates falling, authors say

The world faces “an emerging crisis” of higher death rates among teenagers and young adults, according to a major study on the causes of death and disability worldwide.

The reasons vary from drug and alcohol use, and suicide in North America, to infectious diseases and...

The particles are in our blood, brains and guts – and scientists are only beginning to learn what they do

Microplastics have been found almost everywhere: in blood, placentas, lungs – even the human brain. One study estimated our cerebral organs alone may contain 5g of the stuff, or roughly a teaspoon. If true, plastic isn’t just wrapped around our food or woven into our clothes: it is...

Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10, which could make users vulnerable – here’s how to get Windows 11.

Doctor and medical editor who inaugurated the International Congress on Peer Review and Scientific Publication

In deciding what research to publish and how to appraise it, medical journals bear a heavy responsibility – as seen when it goes awry. In 1998, for instance, the Lancet published a paper falsely linking autism with the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine. They retracted the...

The regulator has given it “strategic market status”, opening the door to what it calls “proportionate interventions.”

The latest in the military shooter series is a pivotal release for publisher Electronic Arts.