Cloud services competition probe to be launched by Ofcom
A probe into the dominance of technology titans Amazon, Microsoft and Google in cloud services is being launched by UK watchdog Ofcom to check on the strength of competition in the sector. The regulator is set to launch a market study in the “coming weeks” that will assess how well the market is working, as […]
Astronomers detect hot gas bubble around the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole
Astronomers have detected a hot gas bubble swirling around the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole. They say the finding helps to us to better understand the mysterious environment of the black hole called Sagittarius A*. The observations suggest the gas bubble is on an orbit similar in size to that of Mercury, but making the […]
Boss admits Pinterest ‘not safe’ when Molly Russell used site before ending life
A senior executive from social media giant Pinterest has apologised as he admitted the site was “not safe” when schoolgirl Molly Russell used it. The company’s head of community operations, Judson Hoffman, told North London Coroner’s Court that self-harm or suicide content that violates its policies “still likely exists on our platform” and conceded it […]
Extra-terrestrial water found for first time in meteorite that fell in UK
Extra-terrestrial water has been found for the first time in a meteorite that has fallen in the UK. The Winchcombe meteorite, which crashed into a driveway in the Gloucestershire town last February, is also thought to hold clues about where the water in the Earth’s vast oceans came from. Ashley King, a researcher in the […]
Neptune and rings shine in photos from new space telescope
Nasa has released new shots of Neptune, the solar system’s outermost planet, taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. The pictures, taken in July, show not only Neptune’s thin rings, but its faint dust bands, never before observed in the infrared, as well as seven of its 14 known moons. Webb showed Jupiter at its […]
Sleep quality more important than duration to stay healthy, research suggests
Experiencing good quality sleep is more important than getting the recommended seven to nine hours when it comes to keeping illnesses at bay, a study suggests. New research has found that people who do not get quality sleep or enough sleep are nearly three times as likely to fall ill with colds, flu and other […]
Robot ‘taught to laugh at jokes’
A robot has been taught to laugh at jokes in a bid to make it more human. Researchers at Kyoto University in Japan are using artificial intelligence (AI) to train robots about appropriate laughter – and to differentiate between chuckles and rip-roaring squeals. Writing in the journal Frontiers in Robotics and AI, they describe working […]
In-depth competition probe launched into Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal
Microsoft’s proposed 68.7 billion US dollar (£59.7bn) takeover of games publisher Activision Blizzard is to face an in-depth investigation amid concerns the deal is anti-competitive, the UK’s competition watchdog has confirmed. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it has referred the takeover for a so-called phase two probe after Microsoft said it would not […]
Constipated scorpions and love at first sight inspire winners of Ig Nobels
The sex lives of constipated scorpions, cute ducklings with an innate sense of physics, and a life-size rubber moose may not appear to have much in common, but they all inspired the winners of this year’s Ig Nobels, the prize for comical scientific achievement. Held less than a month before the actual Nobel prizes are […]
Missing moon may be answer to how Saturn got its rings
The answer to the mystery of how Saturn got its famous rings may lie in a moon that went missing millions of years ago, according to scientists. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US believe that this moon, named Chrysalis, orbited the ringed planet for several billion years until it was […]