Vampire bats "socially distance" when they are sick, a new study suggests. Dozens of bats were captured from a hollow tree in Belize; some were injected with a substance that mimics the symptoms of a bacterial infection, while the other half got saline injections and...
Hopes that the population will become immune to COVID-19 have been dashed by new research showing antibodies fall rapidly after recovering from the disease. So-called herd immunity has been proposed by some scientists as a better alternative to lockdowns in tackling...
Apple is preparing to update both the AirPods and the AirPods Pro, according to a new report that suggests they are part of a wide range of new audio products being planned by Apple.Both versions of the wireless earphones will get smaller, according to the new report...
Water has been definitively found on the Moon, Nasa has said, and there are a set of “water traps” that could hold it stably.The research suggests that water could be distributed right across the lunar surface, not just trapped in the cold, shadowed parts of the...
The Nord N10 5G, which OnePlus touts as the “most accessible premium 5G experience”, comes with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, as well as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 690 chipset.It also has a 6.49-inch FHD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate, and a 4300mAh battery...
Water could be more common on the moon than previously thought in what would provide "everything that NASA needs" for future lunar missions. Natural supplies of water there would allow astronauts to hydrate themselves and help to provide fuel for other space projects....
Nasa has announced the “unambiguous” presence of water on the Moon.The major announcement “contributes to Nasa’s efforts to learn about the Moon in support of deep space exploration”, the US space agency said.A live stream of the event appeared on Nasa’s website, as...
The new boss of the contact-tracing app has only taken the job for six months, Sky News has learned, raising concerns about the rapid turnover of executives at the top of the troubled Test and Trace programme. Gaby Appleton, a director of academic publishing company...
Astronauts can lose as much as 10% of bone density during six months in space, according to NASA, because there's no gravity for their body to push against. To offset the effect, they exercise for two hours a day, at least six days a week. But a London engineer says a...
Falling rates of COVID-19 among students could be masking an underlying epidemic, research by Sky News has revealed. The Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said this week that Tier 3 restrictions were unnecessary because cases in the city were falling. Our analysis...
People told to isolate by the contact-tracing app are not able to claim government financial support, Sky News has learned, raising fears that low-paid workers will be forced to choose between health and hardship. A leading poverty charity said the situation was...
Remdesivir, an antiviral drug originally developed to treat Ebola, has been approved for use on COVID-19 patients in the US. The treatment, which is given through an IV in hospital, was signed off by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is thought to prevent...
Boston Dynamics has said that its robot dog, Spot, will soon be upgraded with an additional robot arm.Spot, which recently became commercially available for $74,500 (approximately £60,000), has apparently been purchased 260 times according to the company’s CEO Rob...
Sony has revealed the apps and streaming services that will be available on the PlayStation 5 when it launches next month.Noting that consoles are no longer just gaming platforms but that “movies, TV shows, music, and gaming livestreams only add to the PlayStation...
SpaceX has aborted the launch of the latest batch of its Starlink internet satellites.The failed launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida comes just four days after the 14th batch of Starlink satellites were successfully deployed to low-Earth orbit.Such a rapid launch...
Twitter says it has "no evidence" that Donald Trump's account was hacked, after an ethical hacker claimed to have broken into it using just the password "maga2020!".Juddson Deere, the White House deputy press secretary, also told The Independent that the claims by the...
WhatsApp has added new business features intended to allow companies to chat with people as they do with friends.The tools allow businesses to more easily set themselves up as special users on the app, which then means they can open conversations that will sit...
Researchers have discovered a “spooky” similarity between how human brains and artificial intelligence computers see three-dimensional objects.The discovery is a significant step towards better understanding how to replicate human vision with AI, said scientists at...
The COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca has been shown to work as planned by new analysis. A method to check the inoculation contains all the correct parts was developed by a team at Bristol University, providing greater evidence that...
The company claims that over 1.5 billion matches have been created in the 20 countries where the feature is available.The service is opt-in within the main Facebook app, with a separate profile created that’s shared with prospective matches. Its main feature, called...
Nasa is preparing to grab a piece of asteroid and bring it back to Earth.The dramatic manoeuvre will be the culmination of two years that a Nasa spacecraft has spent orbiting and examining an asteroid known as Bennu, hundreds of millions of miles away.The Osiris-Rex...
Facebook has launched its own dating feature to rival existing apps such as Tinder. Facebook Dating will appear on the social network's mobile app and website for users in the UK and Europe from Wednesday. It will allow people to explore potential romantic...
Shares in Tesla have risen after the electric car maker reported its fifth consecutive quarterly profit. The California-headquartered company has overcome disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to post a 39.2% increase in third-quarter revenues to $8.77bn...
Nasa will hold a major event to announce an “exciting new discovery” about the Moon, it has said.The space agency did not reveal details about the discovery but suggested that it “contributes to Nasa’s efforts to learn about the Moon in support of deep space...
The sharp rise in coronavirus cases is stretching the capacity of the Test and Trace service, forcing untrained staff to take on contact-tracing jobs, according to a leaked internal email seen by Sky News.. The measures taken to strengthen the service have raised...
Microsoft has launched its cloud computing capabilities, Azure, into space by partnering with Elon Musk.The company developed Azure Space so that it might be used to simulate space missions, or analyse satellite data.It says that as well as the space industry, the...
An asteroid is heading towards Earth ahead of election day – but is almost certain to skip actually paying a visit, let alone posing any danger.Excitement has increased over the object known as 2018VP1 in recent days. The asteroid will pass by on 2 November, the day...
Earth could be visible to alien civilisations on planets outside our solar system, scientists have found.One of the major projects of astronomers in recent years is looking for exoplanets, or other worlds beyond our solar system. When they are found, the key question...
The key to making stronger buildings and planes could lie in the anatomy of a crush-resistant insect that can survive being run over by a car, scientists have found. To understand the secret behind the impressive strength of the inch-long diabolical ironclad beetle,...
Netflix will give away two days of free subscriptions to everyone in India as it experiments with new ways to encourage people to sign up.The promotion comes after it stopped offering free trial periods and instead committed to try a number of different ways of...
The price of bitcoin hit a record high for 2020 on Wednesday, after PayPal announced plans to integrate cryptocurrency into its online payment platform.Bitcoin’s price rose by more than 5 per cent following the news, taking its total gains since last week above...
TikTok videos that promote false antisemitic conspiracy theories about George Soros and the Rothschilds have been watched by million and remain easy to find on the platform, despite the company saying it is cracking down on racist and misleading content.Such...
A new boss - the third in six months - has been appointed to lead the contact tracing app for England and Wales, Sky News has learned. Gaby Appleton, a former director at Elsevier, one of the world's biggest academic publishing companies, has already started work on...
The Independent has been given an exclusive look at the first-ever series filmed using Snapchat Spectacles.The docuseries, First Person, follows young people around the world solving environmental problems and tackling the climate crisis with innovation.The10-episode...
Nasa’s audacious mission to grab a piece of an asteroid has been successful, the space agency said on Wednesday morning, as data show its Osiris-Rex spacecraft has managed to “tag” the object and may now commence its journey back to Earth.According to Nasa, the...
A NASA spacecraft has successfully descended on an asteroid to collect a sample to return to Earth, the space centre has confirmed. On Tuesday, the Osiris-Rex made a four-and-a-half hour journey from its orbit of the Bennu asteroid 200 million miles from Earth to...
Scientists have discovered a new organ in the throat while carrying out research on prostate cancer. Previously experts thought there were only microscopic salivary glands inside the nasopharynx region behind the nose. But researchers at the Netherlands Cancer...
Sobriety tags that monitor criminals' alcohol levels every 30 minutes are being rolled out in Wales from today. The ankle tags will be handed out to "alcohol-dependent" offenders as part of new abstinence orders that can ban them from drinking for four months. They...
Buildings will be the most difficult innovation challenge of the climate crisis, Bill Gates has said.The Microsoft founder made the prediction during a “fireside chat” at the GeekWire Summit last week. While he supports renewable energy projects like solar and wind...
A new lawsuit – the biggest antitrust case since a crackdown on Microsoft more than 20 years ago – says that the company has used its dominance over online search and advertising to stifle competition and harm consumers.The case was hailed by lawmakers, who desired...