Technology

The active ingredient in magic mushrooms that gives them their psychedelic effect might be as good as, in not better than a leading drug used to treat depression, a new study suggests. Researchers from Imperial College, London compared the therapeutic potential of psilocybin – found in the mushrooms – with a six-week course of the

Specialist thermal heating machines which convert used PPE into reusable plastic blocks within one hour have been installed inside five NHS hospitals. The equipment, developed in Cardiff, allows hospital waste such as gowns, curtains and single-use masks to be turned into metre-long blocks on site. They are then collected, processed and re-developed into a range

A biotech company comprised of scientists from the University of Bristol is launching a bid to start a clinical trial of a nasal spray treatment for the coronavirus. Halo Therapeutics wants to commercialise their discovery of a molecule which their research says changes the shape of the COVID-19 virus’s spike protein, preventing it from human

A woman who was sexually abused and raped as a child has waived her right to anonymity to speak out against the harmful affects of easily-accessible pornography. Dandy Doherty says she was sexually abused at the age of 11 and raped at the age of 15 – and that her abusers were the same age

A scientific experiment has produced evidence researchers believe points to a previously undiscovered fundamental force of physics. All interactions in the natural universe – from a hand catching a ball falling from the sky, to magnetism and radioactive decay – are based on four fundamental forces. Physicists largely understand how these four forces – gravity,

Changes to the way we check in to venues and shops on the NHS Test and Trace app have been made ahead of the reopening of hospitality and retail from Monday. The updates to the app have come into effect to coincide with the availability of rapid lateral flow tests for everyone in England from

Stranger Things stars Gaten Matarazzo and Noah Schnapp were among the names joining US chat show host Jimmy Fallon for a charity stream of Among Us. The event marked Fallon’s debut on the game-streaming platform Twitch, where he played the popular whodunnit multiplayer game Among Us. Joining Matarazzo and Schnapp, who play Dustin and Will

From the outside, it looks like the sort of huge industrial site typical of West China. A dry, dusty corner of the country where 3,000 people are at work. But beyond the security gates at the main entrance, behind a padlocked and guarded door, is something entirely different: a secret Bitcoin mining farm. “The government

It seems incongruous to talk about a third wave when the second is still so firmly on the way out. Cases, hospital admissions and deaths are a fraction of what they were at their peak in January. The long lockdown and the rapid rollout of the vaccine have been highly effective. But the daily stats

Yahoo Answers is going to be shut down after more than 15 years of providing the web with hilarious content. The website is first slipping into read-only mode from 20 April, before being shut down entirely on 4 May – redirecting visitors to the Yahoo homepage instead. When the site disappears then all of its

Properties linked to an organised crime group responsible for selling MDMA on the dark web have been raided by officers from the UK’s National Crime Agency and US Homeland Security. Two men, aged 24 and 31, were arrested during the raids on Thursday, one in South Shields and another in Hebburn, while two others remain

For the first time researchers have quantified the impact of man-made climate change on global agricultural productivity, finding it has plummeted by 21% since 1961. The world’s population has more than doubled in the past 50 years – from 3 billion to more than 7.6 billion today – demanding more efficient use of agricultural resources.

For the first time researchers have quantified the impact of man-made climate change on global agricultural productivity, finding that the sector is 21% down from where it would have been. The world’s population has more than doubled in the past 50 years – from three billion to more than 7.6 billion today – demanding more

Delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic have cost NASA almost $3bn since last March, a report says. COVID-caused facility closures, mandatory remote working and disruptions to the materials supply chain have caused an enormous headache for NASA, according to the space agency’s office of inspector general (OIG) audit report. It follows a previous report into

In a breakthrough proof-of-concept test, scientists have managed to take human DNA samples from the air, which could have applications in forensic investigations. Environmental DNA (eDNA) is an emerging field allowing scientists to conduct bio monitoring and ecological research by sampling the environment for DNA, which is later analysed. It has previously been used in

Virgin Galactic has unveiled its latest spaceplane model, the SpaceShip III, the first of which will be named VSS Imagine. Ground testing is starting immediately and glide flights are planned for this summer to launch from Spaceport America in New Mexico. Unveiling the design, Virgin Galactic celebrated the plane being “finished entirely with a mirror-like