When a bet may not be gambling – the puzzle of prediction markets
Prediction market operators allow speculation on sporting events. PJ McDonnell / Shutterstock Regular stock exchange observers will know all about prediction markets. Users buy and sell contracts that pay a fixed sum if a specified event occurs – a sports team wins a match, a candidate is elected. The price at which such a contract […]
Iran’s threat to cut undersea cables in Strait of Hormuz poses a serious threat to Gulf states
The conflict between Iran and the US appears to have reached a stalemate. The US navy continues to prevent Iranian vessels or others transiting to or from Iranian ports. Iran, meanwhile, threatens shipping moving in or out of the Persian Gulf region via the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has also recently said it will establish […]
Can an ancient virus be brought back to life? What 500-year-old smallpox DNA reveals
JHDT Productions/Shutterstock Smallpox is the only human infectious disease to have been eradicated worldwide. Researchers have now recovered fragments of ancient DNA belonging to variola virus, the virus that causes smallpox, from the naturally mummified remains of two Indigenous people buried in northern Chile. For centuries, smallpox caused devastating epidemics. Its severe form, variola major, […]
Europe’s e-waste is a valuable resource – let’s not throw it away
Robert Kneschke/Shutterstock Throwing something away that is urgently needed, expensive and difficult to source sounds crazy. Yet out of the 60 metals contained in old electronic devices like phones, screens or washing machines, only a few get recycled. That includes precious metals like gold or silver and some other metals like aluminium or copper. The […]
Men and women are turning to genital fillers for pleasure and size – here’s what can go wrong
NMK-Studio/Shutterstock.com Fillers are everywhere now – smoothing lines, plumping cheeks, adding volume around the eyes, nose and lips in clinics up and down the country. But some men are now having fillers injected into their penises to increase their size. These fillers often contain hyaluronic acid, a substance naturally found in the body that draws […]
China is exploring humanoid robots for war – but what role could they play?
At the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, a humanoid robot named Tiangong Ultra ran the 100-metre sprint in a staggering 8.64 seconds, shattering Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt’s legendary human world record of 9.58 seconds. The internet laughed at the robots’ awkward, lurching finishes and spectacular falls – but the laughter masked a chilling reality. […]
New insights into how the brain responds after a severed nerve is repaired could boost recovery
We carry a map of our bodies around in our brains. It’s not a literal picture, but an organised pattern of brain activity. So, touch different fingers and different parts of the brain respond. Remarkably, this arrangement is highly consistent from person to person. Known as the somatopic map, where somato means “body” and topo […]
Synthetic data could ease people’s concerns about privacy breaches. But who gets to create it?
Population-wide data without the privacy risks? IR Stone/Shutterstock For the past decade, most public debates about data have revolved around a familiar anxiety: too much of our personal information is being collected from our records and our online activity, and then shared and monetised. That concern has not gone away. But a shift is now […]
British food was complex, multicultural and flavourful in the 18th century – despite what you might think
King George enjoying a meal by James Gilray (1792). The Met, CC BY-NC The stereotype of bland British food is notorious, and people mock the horrors of jellied eels and overcooked vegetables. Even roast beef and pudding are seen as uninspired compared to the cuisines of other nations. But British food is and has historically […]
North Sea drilling is a distraction: low-carbon transition hinges on prioritising people and jobs
Oleksii Sidorov/Shutterstock Keeping global temperatures within safe limits is incompatible with new fossil fuel extraction, as stated by the International Energy Agency. This should be reason enough to oppose any new North Sea extraction of fossil fuels. The UK oil and gas industry is already in terminal decline, producing just a fifth of the oil […]