×Bygene-editing trials for treating sickle cell disease and beta thalassaemia are being extended to include children aged under 12 after the therapies proved successful in ongoing trials involving people aged between 12 and 35. The aim is to treat children early enough to prevent them getting lasting damage from these .“The results are superb,” says at Imperial College London, a doctor who is involved in the trials, which include patients from multiple sites across the European Union, UK and US.Now, the challenge will be making the treatment widely available, which could be an issue because...…×Bygene-editing trials for treating sickle cell disease and beta thalassaemia are being extended to include children aged under 12 after the therapies proved successful in ongoing trials involving people aged between 12 and 35. The aim is to treat children early enough to prevent them getting lasting damage from these .“The results are superb,” says at Imperial College London, a doctor who is involved in the trials, which include patients from multiple sites across the European Union, UK and US.Now, the challenge will be making the treatment widely available, which could be an issue because...WW…

×ByBitcoin’s value has plunged by 22 per cent in the past five days as investors rush to sell the cryptocurrency amid fears that an asset bubble is bursting.The average buyer is after the world’s most popular cryptocurrency shed a trillion dollars in value in two months.For El Salvador, which staked its economy on the success of bitcoin when it became in September 2021, the crash has wiped out more than half of its bitcoin holdings – and could be the death knell for its national crypto experiment.AdvertisementEl Salvador has invested heavily in creating and promoting the bitcoin...…×ByBitcoin’s value has plunged by 22 per cent in the past five days as investors rush to sell the cryptocurrency amid fears that an asset bubble is bursting.The average buyer is after the world’s most popular cryptocurrency shed a trillion dollars in value in two months.For El Salvador, which staked its economy on the success of bitcoin when it became in September 2021, the crash has wiped out more than half of its bitcoin holdings – and could be the death knell for its national crypto experiment.AdvertisementEl Salvador has invested heavily in creating and promoting the bitcoin...WW…

REMEMBER the last time you had a stomach bug and just wanted to crawl into bed and pull up the covers? That is called “sickness behaviour” and it is a kind of short-term depression. The bacteria infecting you aren’t just making you feel nauseous, they are controlling your mood too. It sounds absurd: they are in your gut and your feelings are generated in your brain. In fact, this is just an inkling of the power that microbes have over our emotions. In recent years, such organisms in the gut have been implicated in a range of conditions that affect mood, especially depression and anxiety....…REMEMBER the last time you had a stomach bug and just wanted to crawl into bed and pull up the covers? That is called “sickness behaviour” and it is a kind of short-term depression. The bacteria infecting you aren’t just making you feel nauseous, they are controlling your mood too. It sounds absurd: they are in your gut and your feelings are generated in your brain. In fact, this is just an inkling of the power that microbes have over our emotions. In recent years, such organisms in the gut have been implicated in a range of conditions that affect mood, especially depression and anxiety....WW…

×ByBirds, reptiles, amphibians and fish may see kinds of colours we can’t even imagine, say researchers whose experiments with wild hummingbirds show they perceive five so-called non-spectral colours.Almost all of the correspond to a single wavelength. Such colours are called spectral colours because they are part of the visible spectrum, ranging from red and yellow to blue and violet.The exception is , which can be evoked only by a combination of red and blue light, not by any single wavelength. For this reason, it is known as a non-spectral colour. “For us, purple is kind of special,”...…×ByBirds, reptiles, amphibians and fish may see kinds of colours we can’t even imagine, say researchers whose experiments with wild hummingbirds show they perceive five so-called non-spectral colours.Almost all of the correspond to a single wavelength. Such colours are called spectral colours because they are part of the visible spectrum, ranging from red and yellow to blue and violet.The exception is , which can be evoked only by a combination of red and blue light, not by any single wavelength. For this reason, it is known as a non-spectral colour. “For us, purple is kind of special,”...WW…

×ByCone-shaped sails are so last year. If we really want to send probes outside our solar system, spherical sails may be the way to go.Earlier this year, billionaire Yuri Milner announced Breakthrough Starshot, an ambitious plan to accelerate tiny probes through space at a fifth of the speed of light. At that speed, an could reach our closest neighbouring star system in just 20 years, sending back pictures of anything interesting once it arrived.The LightSail spacecraft successfully showed last year that it is possible for to propel spacecraft using rays of sunlight. But to achieve the...…×ByCone-shaped sails are so last year. If we really want to send probes outside our solar system, spherical sails may be the way to go.Earlier this year, billionaire Yuri Milner announced Breakthrough Starshot, an ambitious plan to accelerate tiny probes through space at a fifth of the speed of light. At that speed, an could reach our closest neighbouring star system in just 20 years, sending back pictures of anything interesting once it arrived.The LightSail spacecraft successfully showed last year that it is possible for to propel spacecraft using rays of sunlight. But to achieve the...WW…

×BySeismic wave data has revealed giant structures 2900 kilometres beneath the surface of Earth, at the boundary between Earth’s molten core and solid .Analysing data from hundreds of major earthquakes, Doyeon Kim at the University of Maryland and his colleagues have found a new structure beneath the volcanic Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The structure, known as an ultra-low velocity (ULV) zone, is about 1000 kilometres in diameter and 25 kilometres thick, says Kim.These structures are called ULV zones because pass through them at slower velocities, but what they are...…×BySeismic wave data has revealed giant structures 2900 kilometres beneath the surface of Earth, at the boundary between Earth’s molten core and solid .Analysing data from hundreds of major earthquakes, Doyeon Kim at the University of Maryland and his colleagues have found a new structure beneath the volcanic Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The structure, known as an ultra-low velocity (ULV) zone, is about 1000 kilometres in diameter and 25 kilometres thick, says Kim.These structures are called ULV zones because pass through them at slower velocities, but what they are...WW…

×ByIt is dust to dust for Mars’s moon Phobos. There is new evidence that the misshapen little moon has repeatedly gone through a cycle of being and then spread into a ring around Mars before coalescing into a solid moon again.This ring-moon cycle was proposed in 2017, and new simulations by Matija Ćuk at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, and his colleagues show that such …No commitment, cancel anytime*Offer ends 19/10/2022. *Cancel anytime within 14 days of payment to receive a refund on unserved issues.Existing subscribers, please with your email address to link your account...…×ByIt is dust to dust for Mars’s moon Phobos. There is new evidence that the misshapen little moon has repeatedly gone through a cycle of being and then spread into a ring around Mars before coalescing into a solid moon again.This ring-moon cycle was proposed in 2017, and new simulations by Matija Ćuk at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, and his colleagues show that such …No commitment, cancel anytime*Offer ends 19/10/2022. *Cancel anytime within 14 days of payment to receive a refund on unserved issues.Existing subscribers, please with your email address to link your account...WW…

×BySpider silk is good for more than just catching flies. It could also be used to manufacture lenses for capturing extremely high-resolution images of the insides of biological tissues.One particular type of spider silk, called dragline silk, is generally used as the “frame” of a spiderweb because it is incredibly tough – stronger by weight than steel. Cheng-Yang Liu at National Yang-Ming University in Taiwan and his colleagues used dragline silk from Pholcus phalangioides spiders, also known as , as a sort of scaffold on which to build lenses.To make a lens, they covered a strand of...…×BySpider silk is good for more than just catching flies. It could also be used to manufacture lenses for capturing extremely high-resolution images of the insides of biological tissues.One particular type of spider silk, called dragline silk, is generally used as the “frame” of a spiderweb because it is incredibly tough – stronger by weight than steel. Cheng-Yang Liu at National Yang-Ming University in Taiwan and his colleagues used dragline silk from Pholcus phalangioides spiders, also known as , as a sort of scaffold on which to build lenses.To make a lens, they covered a strand of...WW…

×ByThe algorithms that ride-hailing companies, such as Uber and Lyft, use to determine fares appear to create a .By analysing transport and census data in Chicago, Aylin Caliskan and Akshat Pandey at The George Washington University in Washington DC have found that ride-hailing companies charge a higher price per mile for a trip if the pick-up point or destination is a neighbourhood with a higher proportion of residents than for those with predominantly white residents.“Basically, if you’re going to a neighbourhood where there’s a large African-American population, you’re going to pay a...…×ByThe algorithms that ride-hailing companies, such as Uber and Lyft, use to determine fares appear to create a .By analysing transport and census data in Chicago, Aylin Caliskan and Akshat Pandey at The George Washington University in Washington DC have found that ride-hailing companies charge a higher price per mile for a trip if the pick-up point or destination is a neighbourhood with a higher proportion of residents than for those with predominantly white residents.“Basically, if you’re going to a neighbourhood where there’s a large African-American population, you’re going to pay a...WW…

×ByBreakthrough Starshot has taken the first step towards their grand plans to one day send spacecraft to Alpha Centauri. On June 23, the to send light-propelled spacecraft to our nearest star sent the tiniest-ever satellites into orbit.An Indian rocket , called Sprites, into space. Two of them are attached to the sides of other, larger satellites: the Latvian Venta satellite and the Italian Max Valier satellite. Once communications are established, the Max Valier satellite will release the other four Sprites to orbit on their own.Each Sprite is a four-gram square of circuit board measuring...…×ByBreakthrough Starshot has taken the first step towards their grand plans to one day send spacecraft to Alpha Centauri. On June 23, the to send light-propelled spacecraft to our nearest star sent the tiniest-ever satellites into orbit.An Indian rocket , called Sprites, into space. Two of them are attached to the sides of other, larger satellites: the Latvian Venta satellite and the Italian Max Valier satellite. Once communications are established, the Max Valier satellite will release the other four Sprites to orbit on their own.Each Sprite is a four-gram square of circuit board measuring...WW…