World’s oldest DNA is extracted from the tooth of a mammoth

The world’s oldest DNA is 1.2 million years old and comes from a previously unknown genetic lineage of mammoth, called the Krestovka mammoth, a new study reveals.   Researchers analysed genomes from three ancient mammoths, using DNA recovered from mammoth teeth buried in Siberian permafrost.  One genome dated back 1.2 million years and has been named the … Read more

UK will run world’s first controversial Covid-19 challenge trial

Britain has become the first country in the world to green light a controversial study where volunteers will be deliberately infected with coronavirus. The ‘human challenge trial’ will start next month in London after sealing approval from the UK’s clinical research ethics body today. Researchers will purposefully expose up to 90 healthy adult volunteers under … Read more

World’s weird weather: How polar vortex is creating topsy-turvy temperatures in northern hemisphere

All across the northern hemisphere from Athens, Greece, to Athens, Texas, snowfalls have blanketed streets and temperatures have plunged to freezing in places where winter usually requires no more than a jacket.  Around the North Pole, winter’s ultra-cold air is usually kept bottled up 15 to 30 miles high. That’s the polar vortex, which spins … Read more

World’s first flying car that travels 100mph at altitudes of 10,000ft is cleared for by the FAA

The dream of a flying car just got one step closer to reality, after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted approval to a hybrid ground-air vehicle that can soar at speeds of 100 mph. The Terrafugia Transition received a Special Light-Sport Aircraft airworthiness certificate from the agency, giving it the green light for takeoff.  A … Read more

World’s first robot ARTIST is set to exhibit series of self-portraits

World’s first robot ARTIST named Ai-Da is set to exhibit series of self-portraits which were created while she ‘looked’ in mirror with her camera eyes AI robot Ai-Da is named after the 19th-century mathematician Ada Lovelace Capable of drawing people from life using camera eye and a pencil in her hand Ai-Da’s work will be … Read more

Spin on the sofa: Fiat’s Abarth launches world’s first ‘virtual test drives’

Going for a spin on your sofa: Fiat offshoot launches world’s first VIRTUAL test drives in lockdown to experience an Abarth before buying Italian car firm Abarth has launched a trial of lockdown virtual reality test drives Customers are sent a VR headset to their home with a pre-recorded test route The aim is for … Read more

World’s oldest printed Valentine’s Day card reveals real-life Bridget Jones berating her man

World’s oldest printed Valentine’s Day card reveals woman berating her man for ‘ghosting’ her as long ago as 1797 The 224-year-old correspondence is illustrated with delicate design and portrait It was published on January 12, 1797, by John Fairburn of 146, Minories, London Writer Catherine Mossday writes she has ‘repeatedly requested’ for a Mr Brown By … Read more

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: A peek into the world’s best hotel room

Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond The Lobby Rating: Adrian Dunbar’s Coastal Ireland Rating: All anyone can think about right now is holidays. The schedules are packed with travel shows, and the infuriating comments by ministers that no one should be planning getaways just make us more desperate to book our flights. Even when I’m watching dramas … Read more

Chase Coleman III named world’s top hedge fund manager after making $3bn last year

A descendant of the last Dutch governor of New York has been named the world’s top-earning hedge fund manager for 2020 after adding $3 billion to his fortune in just one year. Chase Coleman III,  who is related to Peter Stuyvesant who governed New York in the 1600s, topped Bloomberg’s annual list of the top-earning hedge … Read more

World’s Covid would fit in a COKE CAN

Every single SARS-CoV-2 particle, the virus causing Covid-19, would fit into one can of Coke, a British mathematician has calculated.  Covid-19 has so far infected at least 106million people worldwide and killed more than 2.3 million of these cases. But the virus itself is tiny, measuring just 100 nanometers, or 100 billionths of a meter, across … Read more