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Common UK garden animals like hedgehogs, rabbits and even the domestic cat have the potential to harbour new strains of coronavirus, a new study reveals. UK researchers used machine learning to predict associations between 411 strains of coronavirus and 876 potential mammal host species. Their machine learning model integrated characteristics extracted from genomes, such as protein structure, as … Read more
North America’s megafauna — giant animals such as woolly mammoths and bear-sized beavers — were driven to extinction by a near-glacial climate, a study claimed. Researchers from Germany used a new statistical method to estimate the changing population sizes of the giant animals from the radiocarbon record. They found that megafauna numbers responded to climatic shifts, and they … Read more
Although we sometimes need time to consider our answers carefully, we’re more likely to be considered liars if we pause to think before we speak, French psychologists warn. In experiments, volunteers watched videos and listened to audio recordings of people answering questions in a range of scenarios, with different response times. The volunteers judged slower … Read more
There is probably no ‘Planet Nine’ at the edge of the solar system, astronomers claim, after a study found unusual orbits used to predict its existence ‘may be an illusion’. Experts from the University of Michigan examined the results of a number of solar system surveys to look for evidence of the long-theorised ‘super Earth’ … Read more
The UK Space Agency is actively searching for the next British astronaut and is looking beyond the able-bodied for the first time. A recruitment drive from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the UK has launched today with the ultimate goal of hiring and training people who will be sent to the moon before the … Read more
Chemicals in cocoa can boost memory abilities in older people, a new study suggests. US researchers found flavanols – plant chemicals that are abundant in cocoa beans – improved performance in a list-learning task for people aged between 50 and 75. Flavanols belong to a group of compounds called polyphenols, which are also abundant in red … Read more
With so many different pancake recipes available, it can be difficult to know which to rely on for a decadent stack. But help is at hand, as scientists have used artificial intelligence (AI) to come up with a recipe for the most delectable pancakes this Shrove Tuesday. Monolith, an Imperial College London spin-off, applied its … Read more
The largest fossil of an ancient deep-sea fish once thought to be extinct was recently found—entirely by mistake. Paleontologists in the UK were given what they were told was a pterodactyl bone, but after a closer inspection, the team realized it wasn’t one bone. The specimen was identified as a thin bone of plates belonging … Read more
Gay men are more likely than lesbians to be discriminated against because of the sound of their voice, according to a new study. Researchers found heterosexuals who believed gay people can be identified by how they talk were more likely to hold anti-gay attitudes. That was especially true if they thought you couldn’t get rid … Read more
Sauropod dinosaurs emerged in South America some 230 million years ago, but despite living during the supercontinent Pangea it took them 15 million years to reach Greenland – when it should have taken 20 years. A team from Colombia University suggests a ‘climatic phenomenon’ may have allowed the enormous creatures to finally make the journey. … Read more