July 2022
More helicopters look set to fly on Mars
The US and Europe are remodelling their plans to bring rock samples back from Mars, for study in Earth laboratories. They hope to simplify the process, cut risk and cost using helicopters instead of a British-built “fetch rover”. Airbus UK engineers, who have been developing the concept for years, have been expressing disappointment, at the […]
Climate change: Campaigners hail ruling on ‘net zero’
Campaigners have hailed a High Court ruling that the government’s ‘net zero’ strategy breaches its obligations under the Climate Change Act. The strategy commits the UK to slash emissions of the greenhouse gases that are warming the planet to reach ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050. The court ruled there was not enough detail on how […]
Apple settles US butterfly-keyboard legal action for $50m
Apple has agreed to pay $50m (£41.6m) to settle a legal action by claimants in the US, over its MacBook keyboards. Customers in seven states claimed the technology giant had sold the “butterfly” keyboards, on MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops, from 2015 to 2019, knowing they had unresponsive and sticky keys that could […]
Netflix loses almost a million subscribers
After enjoying a long reign as the king of streaming, Netflix faces a tough fight to keep its crown. It lost almost a million subscribers between April and July as more people decided to quit the service. The streaming giant has now lost members for two quarters in a row, but the drop was smaller […]
Twitter-Musk takeover dispute heading for October trial
A US judge has ordered that Twitter’s lawsuit against Elon Musk go to trial in October, a blow to the world’s richest man who had asked for a delay. Mr Musk walked away from his $44bn (£36bn) bid to buy Twitter earlier in July, prompting the company to sue him. Twitter hopes that the court […]
Why a network upgrade pushed millions in Canada offline
In early July, a massive network outage at Rogers, a Canadian telecoms giant, forced more than 10 million customers – over a quarter of the country’s population – off their internet or wireless services. The firm is now under intense pressure from regulators to explain what happened. The consequences of the 19-hour nationwide outage ranged […]
Why record heat doesn’t mean record solar power
The UK’s heatwave is helping to generate large amounts of solar power – but experts say it’s actually too hot for the highest levels of electricity generation. Trade body Solar Energy UK says the last few days have seen about 10% of Britain’s electricity come from solar. But its chief executive Chris Hewett says: “The […]
Apple sued over Apple Pay payment system
Apple has been hit with a lawsuit in the US over Apple Pay. The tech giant is being accused of using its market power in the mobile phone industry to fend off competition from other payment card issuers. The class-action complaint was filed in a federal court in California by Affinity Credit Union, an Iowa-based chartered credit […]
Amazon targets 10,000 fake review Facebook groups
Amazon is taking legal action against the administrators of more than 10,000 Facebook groups, the BBC has learned. It says the groups are generating fake reviews on Amazon marketplaces in the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Japan. The tech giant says the groups offer money or free goods in exchange for reviews being […]
James Webb: Nasa space telescope delivers spectacular pictures
Stunning images of a “stellar nursery” and a “cosmic dance” have been acquired by Nasa’s new $10bn space telescope. The two pictures, and others, were presented to the world on Tuesday to mark the James Webb observatory’s readiness to begin science operations. The facility has spent the past six months since launch undergoing testing. Viewed […]
How science is making chocolate taste even better
Luisa Vicinanza-Bedi is an artisan chocolate maker in Nottingham and founder of Luisa’s Vegan Chocolates. “I’ve always had a love for chocolate, but when I discovered all the tastes and nuances of single-origin chocolate – the incredible flavour notes, like a fine wine – my eyes were opened,” she says. Much of the chocolate we […]
Elon Musk became father of twins last year, say reports
Elon Musk’s latest tweets appear to confirm reports he had twins in late 2021 with Shivon Zilis – an executive at his technology company Neuralink. The Tesla chief executive recently had a second child with on-off partner and electronic artist, Grimes. Reports on Wednesday claimed Mr Musk had twins with 36-year-old Ms Zilis in November […]
Apple launches Lockdown Mode to block spyware attacks on at-risk users
Apple has announced a new security feature to protect high-risk users from spyware cyber-attacks. Lockdown Mode will be available in the autumn with the next operating system across all of the company’s iPhones, iPads and Macs. The setting blocks certain functions and prevents unknown users from calling. It comes after Apple devices owned by activists, […]
Call for higher animal welfare standards for Parma ham pigs
Animal welfare campaigners say it is time supermarkets stopped selling premium ham produced by EU farmers still using methods banned in the UK. Compassion in World Farming said most Parma ham on UK shelves is farmed using crates that confine pregnant sows. Called “sow stalls”, the crates have been banned in the UK since 1999 […]
The Best Communities for Mental Health in the U.S.
See which counties received top marks for mental health in the 2022 Healthiest Communities rankings. Mental Health Havens The connection between mental and physical health is well recognized. A person’s emotional and psychological well-being have an impact on their likelihood of engaging in risky health behaviors like smoking or drug use, and poor mental health has […]
Cumbria coal mine: Would it threaten the UK’s climate targets?
The government is is due to announce whether it will approve a new coal mine in Cumbria – the first for 30 years. It would provide fuel for the UK’s steel-making industry which currently relies on Russian coal. But critics fear it would undermine the UK’s climate change targets, which rely on a move away […]
Environmentalists sue Dutch airline KLM for ‘greenwashing’
Environmental groups are suing Dutch airline KLM, alleging that adverts promoting the company’s sustainability initiative are misleading. The groups say it’s the first lawsuit to challenge so-called airline industry “greenwashing”. They argue that KLM adverts and their carbon-offsetting scheme create the false impression that its flights won’t make climate change worse. But KLM says the […]
Tech firms told to do better on child abuse images
The government is giving Ofcom extra tools to ensure tech companies act to prevent, identify and remove child sexual abuse and exploitation content. The powers will be introduced through an amendment to the Online Safety Bill, which aims to police the internet. If the tech firms do not comply, Ofcom will be able to impose […]
Arabs believe economy is weak under democracy
Arabs are losing faith in democracy to deliver economic stability across the Middle East and North Africa, according to a major new survey. Nearly 23,000 people were interviewed across nine countries and the Palestinian territories for BBC News Arabic by the Arab Barometer network. Most agreed with the statement that an economy is weak under […]
China suspends officials for ‘ignoring’ alleged baby abduction
China has suspended two health officials in a southern county for “ignoring” the case of a baby boy who was allegedly abducted from his parents by local officials in the 1990s. His parents recently petitioned police in Guangxi province to investigate. But a local health bureau refused to look into the case, saying he’d been […]
Mumbai: Heavy rains bring Indian city to a standstill
It’s that time of the year again when heavy rains in the Indian city of Mumbai and nearby areas have disrupted the lives of millions of people in the country’s financial capital. Many parts of the city remain inundated in waist-deep water as incessant rains lash the city, causing flooding. India’s weather department has issued […]
South Africa tavern deaths: Tears for teenagers at mass funeral in East London
Wails of grief have filled a mass funeral for teenagers in South Africa who died in mysterious circumstances at a nightclub. Nineteen empty coffins were laid out before thousands of mourners – including South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa – in East London. The children died 10 days ago at Enyobeni Tavern attending a party to […]
Ukraine war: The Russian woman rescued from a Kyiv bomb site
A Russian-Ukrainian family has been irrevocably split by the war in Ukraine after Russian-born Ekaterina Volkova was injured in an air strike and her Ukrainian husband killed in the same attack. This was the second time Russia had dropped a missile on their apartment building. In late April, a Radio Liberty journalist was killed in […]
Twitter challenges India order to take down tweets
Twitter has mounted a legal challenge in India against government orders to take down content. The social media giant has filed a petition with the high court in Karnataka state resisting “several” such orders, sources told the BBC. Twitter was reacting to a letter from the government in June warning of “serious consequences” of non-compliance […]
Climate change: ‘Sand battery’ could solve green energy’s big problem
Finnish researchers have installed the world’s first fully working “sand battery” which can store green power for months at a time. The developers say this could solve the problem of year-round supply, a major issue for green energy. Using low-grade sand, the device is charged up with heat made from cheap electricity from solar or […]
Pentaquarks: scientists find new “exotic” configurations of quarks
Scientists have found new ways in which quarks, the tiniest particles known to humankind, group together. The new structures exist for just a hundred thousandth of a billionth of a billionth of a second but may explain how our Universe is formed. Atoms contain smaller particles called neutrons and protons, which are made up of […]
Scientists discover new giant water lily species
A new species of giant water lily has been discovered – and it’s been hiding in plain sight for 177 years. The huge plant had been in the archives of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and was growing in a number of aquatic collections but it was mistakenly identified as another species. Now a detailed […]
Beet farm near Wymondham in colour-based aphid pest trial
Scientists hope patchworks of multi-coloured crops will help hide them “in plain sight” from pests as a natural alternative to pesticides. Using dyes, the so-called “camo-cropping” trial has been started by the Norwich-based British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO). It has been introduced at Morley Farms, near Wymondham, Norfolk, in an attempt to protect sugar beet […]
UK satellite launch: ‘Everything now is about getting to Cornwall’
All eyes are now on Newquay in Cornwall for the first ever satellite launch from UK soil. Sir Richard Branson’s US company Virgin Orbit successfully placed another seven spacecraft in orbit from California at the weekend and is now focused on moving operations to England. “Everything now is about getting to Cornwall,” said Flt Lt […]
Finding the Higgs: ‘Incredible’ moment in science
Ten years ago, scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern) made an exciting announcement – they had moved one step closer to understanding the origins of the universe with the discovery of the Higgs boson, the so-called ‘God particle’. Physicist Dr Andre David was one of the scientists working at the Large Hadron […]
Using human hair to fight oil spills
Usually our hair is thrown away after it’s cut. But a hairdresser in Wales has been using her customers’ hair to make special mats, which are used to help the planet.
Australia’s devastating floods spur new warning systems
On 27 February, Karl Sprogis and his wife Jill spent most of the night anxiously monitoring flood height data from Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology. Their town, Lismore, was caught in the catastrophic floods that submerged southern Queensland and northern New South Wales in February and March. Those floods have become the most costly in the nation’s […]
UK economic outlook has deteriorated, Bank of England warns
The economic outlook for the UK and the rest of the world has “deteriorated materially”, the Bank of England has warned. Energy and fuel costs are rising rapidly around the world, pushing up prices in general more quickly. However, UK banks are in a position to weather even a severe economic downturn, the Bank said. […]
Norway calls off gas strikes that risked UK supply
Strikes which threatened to cut off most of the UK’s gas imports from Norway have been called off. The Norwegian labour ministry confirmed it had stepped in to end industrial action set for later this week. “Workers are going back to work as soon as possible. We are cancelling the planned escalation,” Lederne union leader […]
British Airways cancels 1,500 more flights
British Airways has cancelled a further 1,500 flights, mostly for July. The wave of cancellations made over the past weeks will affect tens of thousands hoping to jet off this summer from Heathrow and Gatwick. The industry has been struggling with staff shortages as demand for air travel rebounds. British Airways had already removed 10% […]
Pilots’ strike pushes SAS airline into bankruptcy move
Scandinavian airline SAS has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US as a strike by its pilots added to its financial problems. The move will allow the carrier to continue operating, although the strike has grounded about half its flights. SAS said the industrial action meant the airline had brought forward plans to restructure its […]
Rescuers try to save stranded cargo ship near Sydney
Tug boat and helicopter teams have been deployed to rescue 21 crew members who are stranded on their cargo ship, off the coast of Australia. The vessel got into trouble after it lost power and risked being swept ashore to the nearby cliffs of Sydney. The Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter was dispatched and attempted […]
Sri Lanka: ‘I can’t afford milk for my babies’
The smell hits you first – freshly cooked rice, lentils and spinach, served in ladles from steaming pots. Dozens of families – including mothers with babies – are lined up with plates to get a serving of what will likely be their only meal for the day. “We are here because we are hungry,” says […]
Sydney floods: Tens of thousands told to evacuate
Tens of thousands of residents in Australia’s largest city Sydney have been ordered to evacuate their homes after torrential rain and flash flooding. Roads have been cut off, with 18 evacuation orders in western Sydney alone and warnings of more to come. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology has said it expects more heavy rainfall over the […]
Bondi Beach: Huge tides engulf Sydney’s famous beach
Sydney’s Bondi Beach has been engulfed by massive tides after two intense weather systems lashed Australia’s east coast. Locals were stunned by the rare sight of waves spilling on to a promenade.
How Crypto Can Regenerate The World
Kyle Westaway: What is the Green Pill, and why should I take it? Kevin Owocki: It’s up to you whether or not you want to take it. But the green pill is a story of how crypto can regenerate the world. How do we build a world in which we’ve solved our contemporary challenges with sustainability? I […]
Perseverance: Nasa rover begins key drive to find life on Mars
Nasa’s Perseverance rover has reached a big moment in its mission on Mars. Tuesday will see the six-wheeled robot begin the climb up an ancient delta feature in the crater where it landed. It will roll uphill, stopping every so often to examine rocks that look to have the best chance of retaining evidence of […]
Texas migrant deaths: ‘I still have to bring my children home’
It was 25 June when Karen Caballero was seized by an “unexplained heaviness” in her chest. Her children had not been in touch. Two days later, around 8pm, she received a news alert on her cell phone. Dozens of migrants had died of heat inside the back of an abandoned lorry near the city of […]
Missing cryptoqueen: Is Dr Ruja Ignatova the biggest Bitcoin holder?
With cryptomarkets in turmoil, files seen by the BBC suggest an unlikely Bitcoin investor may have also lost a fortune – “the missing cryptoqueen”, Dr Ruja Ignatova. The scammer disappeared in 2017 as her cryptocurrency OneCoin was at its height – attracting billions from investors. Fraud and money-laundering charges in the US have led to her becoming […]
UK and New Zealand expand working holiday visas
The UK and New Zealand will allow more younger people to live and work in both countries for longer. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Kiwi counterpart Jacinda Ardern agreed to extend the Youth Mobility and Working Holiday schemes. The age limit for applicants will go up from 30 to 35, and the maximum […]
Russia moves to take control of Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project
Russia has moved to take over a major oil and gas project in which Shell has a 27.5% stake. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday to take charge of the Sakhalin-2 project. The move could force Shell and Japan’s Mitsui and Mitsubishi to abandon their investments as the economic fallout of the […]
Brazil: Rio’s residents garden their way out of hunger
Not too long ago, Fernanda da Silva was going hungry, like millions of other Brazilians. The 40-year-old mother of three was out of work and money was tight. Her husband’s monthly earnings as a doorman – 1,300 reais ($250), just over a minimum salary – kept their family afloat. “It was really difficult for us,” […]
Hong Kong: Xi Jinping defends China’s rule at handover anniversary
China’s “one country two systems” model of ruling Hong Kong has worked in protecting the city and must continue long term, says Xi Jinping. The Chinese leader mounted a stern defence of the political system in a speech in Hong Kong, following recent international criticism. Hong Kong is marking 25 years since Britain returned the […]
John Lee: Who is Hong Kong’s new hardline pro-Beijing leader?
Former security chief John Lee Ka-chiu has been sworn in as Hong Kong’s next leader, in what is widely seen as a move by the Chinese government to tighten its grip on the city. He is replacing Carrie Lam following the city’s chief executive election in May – in which he was the sole candidate. […]
Texas migrant deaths: Truck driver ‘unaware air conditioner had stopped working’
The suspected driver of a truck where 53 migrants died from heat in Texas did not know that the air conditioner had stopped working, an informant says. According to charging documents filed in federal court, Homero Zamorano did not know of the issue. Officials say he was found hiding near the truck. The Texan is […]