An explosion and fire at the main oil terminal of the west African nation of Guinea has killed 18 people and injured over 200, of whom 85 were still in hospital two days later. The cause of the incident, which occurred on 18 December, is still unknown and an investigation has been opened. The blaze […]

Vivian Cheung, an RNA biologist and human geneticist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, has lost her employment discrimination claim against the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Cheung’s lawsuit alleged that HHMI had not renewed her funding because of her disability. She says that she will now appeal the jury’s finding against her. […]

Almost three years after a liquid nitrogen release at a chicken processing plant in Georgia killed six workers and hospitalised several others, the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has concluded that the incident was triggered by multiple equipment and process failures, and made much more severe by inadequate emergency preparedness. Specifically, the […]

From anti-ageing drugs to space-based solar power, the UK’s innovation agency has picked 50 emerging technologies that look set to shape the country – and the world – in 2040 and beyond. ‘In this report, we are not seeking to predict the future, but to stimulate curiosity, share knowledge and consider the art of the […]

Over the years I have been asked many times if I would recommend Arthur Koestler’s The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man’s Changing Vision of the Universe (1959, ppb 1964) and if I wouldn’t, what would I recommend instead? My answer to the first question is a clear, yes/no, maybe, don’t know! The answer to the second one is complex. […]

Chemical recycling, an alternative technology for reclaiming plastic waste, has been gaining traction in recent years. Sometimes called advanced recycling, this technology refers to processes that break plastics down into a range of chemicals, rather than simply mechanically breaking them apart for remoulding. Chemical recycling is still in its infancy though, and now a new […]

Sequencing giant Illumina is set to sell off Grail, as directed by both the US and EU competition authorities. Illumina’s appeal against the US Federal Trade Commission’s decisions regarding the merger were denied, and so the company has accepted that it must relinquish control of Grail. The cancer detection firm will either be sold off […]

Two new chemical mechanisms behind cloud formation have been discovered in experiments at Cern. The mechanisms, which involve the interaction of iodine oxoacid and sulfuric acid vapours to nucleate water droplets, provide new insights into cloud formation above oceans and in the polar regions and will help to improve the accuracy of important climate change […]

During the Cop28 world climate conference the glitzy yachts moored in Dubai Marina shared their berths with a very different vessel: the world’s first ship that can be powered by ammonia. However, global maritime rules mean that despite the ship being ready to set sail fuelled by ammonia, it’s not currently allowed to. For an […]

It’s been a year since ChatGPT burst onto the world stage. The AI-powered text generator was notable for its convincing and natural-sounding responses and it quickly proved popular – it’s now approaching 200 million users. But after a year the question remains whether the large language models (LLMs) that enable tools such as ChatGPT will […]