Cast Of Thousands/Shutterstock Finland steadily ranks as the happiest country in the world. In March 2024 the country was, for the seventh year in a row, ranked as the happiness champion. The ranking is based on one simple question, using a ladder metaphor, that is asked to people across nearlyContinue Reading
Catastrophic collapses of major bridges are thankfully rare. Notable examples in the last couple of decades include the failure of the I35-W in Minneapolis in August 2007, and the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa 11 years later. When such events do occur, public attention is understandably focused onContinue Reading
If you’ve seen portraits painted by Pablo Picasso or Francis Bacon, you might not be surprised to hear that both men may have suffered from a disorder that affects how faces are perceived. Prosopometamorphopsia (PMO) is a condition where faces appear distorted, and sometimes even demonic. In most cases, theseContinue Reading
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on 26 March was a shocking and tragic event. Six people remain unaccounted for in the disaster, which saw the world’s third largest continuous truss bridge fall into the Patapsco river. The cause was Singapore-flagged container ship, the Dali, whichContinue Reading
Bartlomiej K. Wroblewski / Shutterstock Google and the XPrize Foundation have launched a competition worth US$5 million (£4 million) to develop real-world applications for quantum computers that benefit society – by speeding up progress on one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, for example. The principles of quantum physics suggestContinue Reading
Popular social media platform TikTok stands accused of holding US data in China, fostering censorship, and spreading disinformation. Its popularity poses a dilemma for US politicians, but especially Democrats who have heavily relied on the app to reach its core base of young voters. Is it “time up” for TikTokContinue Reading
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Distinctive Collections archive is quiet while the blizzard blows outside. Silence seems to be accumulating with the falling snow. I am the only researcher in the archive, but there is a voice that I am straining to hear. I am searching for someone –Continue Reading
NASA/CXC/M.Weiss Our Sun is both our best friend and our worst enemy. On the one hand, we owe our very existence to our star. Earth and the other planets in the Solar System formed out of the same cloud of gas and dust as the Sun. And without its light,Continue Reading
SuperBIT waiting for launch while its giant helium balloon is inflated. Bill Rodman/NASA An astronomical telescope designed to complement the ageing Hubble Space Telescope lifted off from New Zealand’s south island on April 16 2023. But as a sphere the size of a football stadium rose silently and slowly overContinue Reading
Richard Branson, next to White Knight Spaceship 2. Jared Ortega/Shutterstock In a decade or two, journeys into space could become as normal as transatlantic flights. In particular, the number of humans travelling into space with the help of commercial companies, such as Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, will increase significantly.Continue Reading
