Decades after they were wiped out by Soviet hunters, blue whales are making a return to the crystal clear waters of the Seychelles.

Researchers spent a year recording beneath the waves to detect the whales after filmmakers caught sight of them in 2021, and found they could be breeding in the area.

Blue whales are the largest animal to have ever lived on Earth, growing up to 30m in length and weighing up to 150 tons. Once prolific in the Indian Ocean and beyond, sustained hunting in the 20th century resulted in more than 340,000 being killed.

The species is now classified as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

However, numbers are increasing following a near worldwide ban on whaling, and their return to the Seychelles has been described as a ‘conservation win’ by the team, who published their findings in the journal Endangered Species Research.

‘It turns out if you stop killing animals on mass scales and you give them a chance to rebound, they can recover,’ said Dr Kate Stafford, one of the lead investigators.

Speaking to the BBC, she added: ‘We want to know where they are coming back, and knowing there’s a population around the Seychelles is incredibly exciting.’

Populations around the tropical islands were particularly targeted in the early decades of last century by Soviet whalers on their way to and from the Antarctic.

To determine whether the magnificent species had returned to the region, Dr Stafford and the team spent a month surveying the waters and listening to an underwater microphone for signs of them. 

Unfortunately, there were none.

‘We heard remarkable things – the tapping of sperm whales thousands of feet down and dolphins echolocating and communicating, but sadly no blue whales,’ said wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, speaking to BBC News.

However, the team had also planted a sound trap, which recorded every 15 minutes for a year. Within the masses of audio data were the loud and low sounds of blue whales, mainly during March and April.

‘This means the Seychelles could be really important for blue whales,’ said Dr Stafford. ‘They sing during the breeding season and we think it’s probably the males who are singing, based on what we know about other whales.

‘So there’s also potential that the Seychelles is a breeding area or a nursery area.’

However, the song of the blue whale, despite being the loudest in nature, is inaudible to humans. 

Although reaching up to 188 decibels, equivalent to a jet engine, the frequency is so low it is beyond the range of human hearing.

What humans can hear are the whales’ ‘harmonics’, higher frequency sounds emitted when they sing.

‘It’s this really low, deep, consistent pulse,’ said Mr Watson.

‘When I recorded blue whales in Mexico, that was what was resonating in my headphones.’

The recordings even allowed the team to see which population was visiting the Seychelles, identifying them as a group normally found in the northern Indian Ocean.

The Seychelles is just one area in which blue whales are making a return. In recent years they have returned to the waters around South Georgia, and in 2021 they were spotted off Spain’s Atlantic coast for the first time in more than 40 years.

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Earthlings, be prepared – the Sun is firing out a barrage of solar storms, and they’ll soon be heading our way.

The cause? A growing group of angry sunspots, stretching 120,000 miles across our star’s surface.

Sunspots and the area around them are where solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) form, bursts of electromagnetic radiation and solar particles blasted out into space by the Sun. When these hit Earth, they can mess with the atmosphere, causing communication blackouts.

At the moment the sunspots are not pointing directly towards us, but as the Sun continues its slow rotation – it takes about 27 days to spin once on its axis – eventually we’ll be right in the firing line.

The first of the group, catchily named AR3491, first loomed into view on November 18, quickly followed by at least five more, forming a ‘solar archipelago’ of sunspots.

Solar monitoring website SpaceWeatherLive.com has already recorded at least 3 M-class and 16 C-class solar flares from the group, the second- and third-most powerful type of flare.

There will likely be many more flares over the coming weeks, including some of the most powerful, X-class flares, all of which could hit Earth.

When X-class flares hit in July and August, they caused radio blackouts across the US and the Pacific.

Solar flares are caused when giant loops of plasma erupt from the Sun’s surface and eventually snap, like an elastic band. This releases massive amounts of electromagnetic energy into space. Astronomers say they have already seen loops more than 40,000 miles high emerging from the archipelago.

Sunspots also birth coronal mass ejections (CMEs), huge clouds of charged solar particles that cause disturbances in the planet’s magnetic field.

CMEs are much slower moving, taking days to travel from the Sun to Earth – solar flares move at the speed of light, reaching the planet in about eight minutes.

While solar flares and CMEs can both disrupt communications by upsetting the ionosphere, on the plus side they also create stunning aurora, often much further from the poles than normal.

The sunspot archipelago is just the latest sign that the Sun is approaching its solar maximum, the point in its 11-year cycle at which it is most active.

Earlier this year a rare ‘cannibal’ CME was spotted, a bizarre phenomenon when a smaller CME is ‘eaten’ by a larger, faster moving CME.

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It’s that time of year again, when celebrities of varying fame subject themselves to trials of varying disgustingness, all in the name of entertainment. And money.

But while one of the highlights for viewers of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here is the sight of their least favourite names tucking into various animals’ testicles or other icky body parts, for the most part, contestants are surviving on a far less exotic diet.

Rice and beans. Or maybe beans and rice, if they’re lucky.

And for the most successful celebs, who spend a full three weeks in the Australian jungle, that’s a lot of beanie rice.

In previous seasons contestants have lost a significant amount of weight, so what exactly are the effects of the I’m A Celebrity diet?

‘A lot of us are probably guilty of looking at the contestants on I’m a Celeb and thinking we could easily survive on rice and beans for a few days,’ says Jess Suthard from Goal Plans powered by MuscleFood.

‘You might be thinking, so what, I’d eat that anyway with a bit of chicken, how bad could rice and beans really be? But the truth is you’d be surprised!

‘That added bit of protein we use at home is where all the flavour comes from and it’s usually what keeps us feeling full.’

Feeling full is something the celebrities are unlikely to experience during their time Down Under, averaging just 700 calories a day – although new entrant Frankie Dettori, a jockey, may be better practised at living on tiny meals. The recommended number is 2,000 calories for women and 2,500 for men.

‘Very-low-calorie diets, providing 800 kcal per day or less, have been used to cause rapid weight loss since the 1970s,’ says Dr Josh Gibbs, plant-based nutrition researcher at the University of Warwick.

‘However, these diets are reserved for those with BMI scores of 30 or higher, and they are carefully planned to preserve lean mass and provide all essential vitamins and minerals.

‘The diet the celebrities will follow during the show will induce significant weight loss, but due to the low protein content some of this will be muscle.’

It’s not all bad, as the reduced food intake could result in better control of their blood sugar levels and reduced inflammation.

However, that’s unlikely to be much consolation to hungry, grumpy celebs.

‘Beyond biological impacts, the celebrities will likely feel fatigued and have low mood, low libido, high irritability. And it probably goes without saying that their appetite will be through the roof!’

Perhaps they need to be extra ravenous to eat the food on offer when campmates win stars during bushtucker trials, which earns them ‘proper’ meals. 

‘The celebs have eaten some strange meats so far this year such as buffalo tail and crocodile feet,’ says Jess.

‘I wouldn’t really recommend anyone else tries to source the same but for the campmates, these strange meats will be filling meals that will provide them with more nutrients than just rice and beans!’

Likewise, Dr Josh is very clear – do not try this at home.

‘Viewers should absolutely not follow the diet. Unsupervised use of very-low-calorie diets has been associated with serious complications, including death,’ he says.

‘Anyone who wants to try a very-low-calorie diet should consult their doctor so they can receive the proper support and guidance to do it safely. A safe and effective very-low-calorie diet will be high in protein and fortified with essential vitamins and minerals – which is very different to just rice and beans!

‘However, as part of a healthy, balanced diet, rice and beans are some of the healthiest foods on the planet! They’re packed full of fibre and plant proteins which help to keep cholesterol and blood pressure levels low, reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. 

‘But living off them exclusively could lead to complications in the long run, like vitamin and mineral deficiencies. That’s why it’s so important to eat a wide variety of foods.’

Crocodile meat optional.

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A new vaccine for mothers against a potentially life-threatening disease in babies has been approved for use in the UK.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of viral respiratory disease in infants – around 15,000 babies under six months are hospitalised in England every year. This includes cases of bronchiolitis, a disease that causes breathing difficulties and can require ventilation.

The jab, produced by Pfizer, is the first approved for use in pregnant mothers, giving babies greater protection from the moment they’re born.

However, RVS is not only a risk to children. People aged 65 and over, and those with additional health issues or frailties, are particularly susceptible to the disease, which is responsible for an estimated 175,000 GP visits, 14,000 hospital admissions and 8,000 deaths every year.

‘RSV patients often come to hospital in advanced stages of respiratory distress,’ said Professor Beate Kampmann, from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine 

‘What starts as coughing and a tight chest can quickly escalate into severe difficulty breathing and emergency care, particularly in babies and older people. 

‘The availability of a vaccine represents an opportunity to reduce serious complications of respiratory disease associated with the virus.’ 

In June, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended the development of an RSV vaccine programme, but in September the government delayed the rollout.

Speaking at the time, experts said this could lead to thousands of babies and infants needing hospital treatment that could otherwise have been avoided – putting significant pressure on the NHS.

While the approval of an additional vaccine won’t ease the burden this winter, with no date yet announced for a rollout, the programme will prevent future hospital admissions.

‘The number of infants seeing GPs or coming into hospital because of RSV infections is already increasing week on week,’ said Dr Ronny Cheung, a consultant paediatrician. 

‘The recent arrival of RSV vaccines should herald a new dawn for tackling this pervasive disease and yet, clinicians and parents continue to be frustrated by delays in the implementation of a national RSV immunisation programme. 

‘It is imperative that the advice of experts and NHS staff is listened to and a national RSV immunisation programme is implemented promptly. This will avoid the need for so many infants to spend time in hospital and relieve the pressure on children’s intensive care beds, which are often in short supply. 

While it may be too late to reduce the impact of RSV for infants, parents and the NHS this winter, we need to ensure that we have a robust prevention plan and systematic solution in place, ready to implement as early as possible in the new year.’

The vaccine has been approved following a Phase 3 clinical trial focusing on the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness in pregnant women. 

The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, found only mild side effects to the vaccine, most commonly pain at the injection site, headaches and muscle pain.

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A sudden rise in ‘influenza-like’ illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children across northern China are being investigated by the World Health Organisation.

In recent days, media in cities such as Xian in the northwest have posted videos of hospitals crowded with parents and children awaiting checks.

Some social media users have posted photos of children doing homework while receiving intravenous drips in hospital.

Authorities have said the increase in disease is due to the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions and seasonal circulation of virus and bacterial infections, but the WHO has asked for further details on the outbreaks, calling it a ‘routine check’.

Both China and the WHO have faced questions about the transparency of reporting on the earliest Covid-19 cases that emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

An email from WHO China said the global agency decided to issue a statement on the latest outbreaks to share available information, as it had received a number of queries about it from the media.

On Wednesday, the WHO said groups including the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in north China. The WHO said it was not clear if these were associated with an overall increase in respiratory infections previously reported by Chinese authorities, or separate events.

The spokesperson said that global monitoring for mycoplasma pneumoniae, a bacteria that causes lung infections, had been at a low over the past three years and epidemics were cyclical, occurring every three to seven years.

Since mid-October, the WHO said northern China had reported an increase in influenza-like illness compared with the same period in the previous three years.

It also said China had systems in place to capture information on trends in illness incidence and to report that data to platforms such as the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System.

It added that while it was seeking additional information, it recommended people in China follow measures to reduce the risk of respiratory illness.

Such measures include vaccination, keeping distance from sick people, staying at home when ill, getting tested and medical care as needed, wearing masks as appropriate, ensuring good ventilation, and regular hand-washing, it said.

It is now almost four years since the first official reports of an unknown respiratory disease emerged in the Hubei province of central China on December 31, 2019, but unpublished Chinese government data suggests the first case was seen six weeks earlier, on November 17.

The Chinese government has been widely criticised for apparent attempts to cover up the outbreak in its early days.

The Covid-19 virus went on to spread across the world, causing a global pandemic and costing at least 3 million lives.

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A ‘son of Concorde’ set to fly from New York to London in one and a half hours is a step closer to take-off – hopefully with a ‘supersonic thump’.

Nasa’s X-59 quiet supersonic passenger plane aims to fly faster than the speed of sound, at almost twice as fast as Concorde.

In preparation for its maiden voyage, the plane has been moved to the paint barn at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works’ facility in Palmdale, California, say the space agency.

And the paint job isn’t just for looks – it will provide vital protection as the plane blasts through the skies at up to 925mph.

Once painted, the team will take final measurements of its weight and exact shape to improve computer modelling and help reduce the sound of the typical sonic boom to a sonic thump, minimising disruption to people on the ground.

Nasa said in August they have identified potential passenger markets in about 50 routes between cities.

It is hoped one route would offer flights from New York City to London up to four times faster than normal jets.

‘The X-59’s paint scheme will include a mainly white body, a NASA “sonic blue” underside, and red accents on the wings,’ said Nasa in a statement.

‘The paint doesn’t just add cosmetic value. It also serves a purpose – the paint helps to protect the aircraft from moisture and corrosion and includes key safety markings to assist with ground and flight operations.’

Cathy Bahm, the low boom flight demonstrator project manager, said: ‘We are incredibly excited to reach this step in the mission. When the X-59 emerges from the paint barn with fresh paint and livery, I expect the moment to take my breath away, because I’ll see our vision coming to life.

‘The year ahead will be a big one for the X-59, and it will be thrilling for the outside of the aircraft to finally match the spectacular mission ahead.’

The aircraft is the centerpiece of Nasa’s Quesst mission, through which Nasa will fly the X-59 over several yet-to-be-selected US communities and gather data about people’s perceptions about the sound it makes.

Nasa will provide that data to regulators, which could potentially adjust current rules that prohibit commercial supersonic flight over land.

Earlier this year, the space agency investigated the business case for supersonic passenger air travel aboard aircraft that could theoretically travel between Mach 2 and Mach 4 (1,535 to 3,045mph at sea level).

By comparison, today’s larger airliners cruise at roughly 600mph, or about 80% of the speed of sound.

Concorde had a maximum cruising speed of 1,354mph, or Mach 2.04.

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Saffron Cassidy suffered from ulcerative colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease, for 15 years before she allegedly cured it using her partner’s poop.

‘It’s been about three and a half years of having no symptoms whatsoever,’ she told Yahoo Life. ‘And my colonoscopies show complete histologic remission.’

Now Cassidy has become an evangelist for the procedure known as faecal microbiota transplants (FMT). She has even made a documentary, Designer Shit: A Microbiome Love Story.

There are restrictions on the conditions doctors can treat using FMT, but a growing body of published work on FMTs holds promise for a range of disorders.

This has triggered several social media videos on how people can generate their own FMT products and administer the treatment in their own homes. However, this DIY approach carries significant risks.

FMT is the process of taking the faeces of an apparently healthy person and transplanting them into the intestines of a recipient in the belief that repopulating the natural microbial ecosystem of a patient with that of another may help alleviate certain medical problems.

Although rooted in ancient Chinese medicine, modern FMT requires further scientific research to understand the mechanism of action and, more importantly, how to ensure the treatment is performed safely without risking introducing additional health issues to the recipient.

Over the last couple of decades, research into the human gut microbiome has given strong indications that the community of bacteria in our intestines are inextricably linked to both good health and poor health.

In the latter category, our microbiome has been linked with obesity, inflammatory bowel diseases, multiple sclerosis, depression, anxiety, autoimmune disease, sleep disorders, brain disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, and many more.

So before any FMT treatments can take place, the prospective donors undergo strict screening of their faeces and blood for potentially harmful bacteria or viruses that may further harm the patient – both immediately and in the long run. DIY FMT does not have these safeguards.

DIY approach lacks safeguards

In cases of DIY faecal transplants, the sufferers will often take poo samples from partners, family members, or close friends in the belief that they are healthy. But they will be unaware of any hidden factors that could cause further complications.

Unfortunately, these DIY ‘success stories’ may lead to more people believing that they may be cured of afflictions through repeating the process, but there is no guarantee of success – and a very real threat of complications in later years.

How many of us would dream of buying raw materials and taking the risk of trying to make our own medicines at home? Perhaps it is the familiarity of faeces that makes people see it differently from traditional medicine.

It is unlikely that anyone would take the risk of picking a tablet at random from an unmarked box in the hope that it may cure them of a health problem. Yet using unscreened faeces for an FMT procedure is in essence just that.

Scientists are working hard alongside doctors to understand what is needed to be able to provide FMT for a wide range of potential treatments and getting closer every year to reaching this goal.

In the meantime, reports of DIY FMT are likely to increase as success stories are reported in the media. But the final message should always be clear – that doing so is gambling with your health.

By Lee Kellingray, researcher, Translational Microbiome, Quadram Institute

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article

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Eating red meat and dairy could help to fight cancer, a new study suggests.

Scientists have discovered that a specific fatty acid found in beef, lamb and dairy products improves the body’s ability to attack and kill tumours.

The study, published in the journal Nature, also shows that patients with higher levels of the fatty acid – known as trans-vaccenic acid (TVA) – in their blood responded better to immunotherapy, suggesting that it could work as a nutritional supplement to complement clinical cancer treatments.

‘There are many studies trying to decipher the link between diet and human health, and it’s very difficult to understand the underlying mechanisms because of the wide variety of foods people eat,’ said co-author Professor Jing Chen, of the University of Chicago.

‘But if we focus on just the nutrients and metabolites derived from food, we begin to see how they influence physiology and pathology.

‘By focusing on nutrients that can activate T cell [immune] responses, we found one that actually enhances anti-tumour immunity by activating an important immune pathway.’

For the study, the team started with a database of around 700 known metabolites, small molecules that come from food, and assembled a ‘blood nutrient’ library.

They then screened the compounds in this new library for their ability to influence anti-tumour immunity.

After the scientists evaluated the top six candidates in both human and mouse cells, they saw that TVA performed the best.

‘After millions of years of evolution, there are only a couple hundred metabolites derived from food that end up circulating in the blood, so that means they could have some importance in our biology,’ said Professor Chen.

‘To see that a single nutrient like TVA has a very targeted mechanism on a targeted immune cell type, with a very profound physiological response at the whole organism level – I find that really amazing and intriguing.’

The team found that feeding mice a diet enriched with TVA significantly reduced the tumour growth potential of melanoma and colon cancer cells, as well as enhancing the body’s ability to infiltrate tumours.

They then analysed blood samples from hospital patients undergoing immunotherapy treatment for lymphoma and discovered that patients with higher levels of TVA tended to respond better to treatment than those with lower levels.

Finally, the study discovered that TVA enhanced the ability of an immunotherapy drug to kill leukaemia cells in patients.

However, the authors do not believe eating excessive red meat is the solution and hope to find similar results in plants.

Professor Chen added: ‘There is a growing body of evidence about the detrimental health effects of consuming too much red meat and dairy, so this study shouldn’t be taken as an excuse to eat more cheeseburgers and pizza.

‘There is early data showing that other fatty acids from plants signal through a similar receptor, so we believe there is a high possibility that nutrients from plants can do the same thing by activating the CREB pathway as well.’

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The remains of a possible temple from 1,400 years ago have been discovered on private farmland near Sutton Hoo.

Experts excavating the remains say the building may have been used for pre-Christian worship, or could have been a ‘cult house’.

Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk, is one of the country’s most important historical sites. In June 1939, as war approached, archaeologists discovered a burial chamber full of extraordinary treasures on the site, eventually revealing an Anglo-Saxon royal burial ground that revolutionised early English history.

In the years since, the area has continued to divulge astonishing secrets from the past.

Last year, the remains of a large timber royal hall were uncovered at Rendlesham, four miles away, confirming the spot as a settlement of the East Anglian kings.

Suffolk County Council said digs this year found evidence of fine metalworking associated with royal occupation, including a mould used for casting decorative horse harnesses similar to those known from nearby Sutton Hoo.

The compound at Rendlesham was found to be more than twice the size previously thought, bordered by a near mile-long perimeter ditch enclosing an area of 15 hectares – about the size of 20 football pitches.

The royal residence was part of a wider settlement complex covering 50 hectares, which is unique in the archaeology of 5th to 8th century England in its size and complexity, the council said.

The longship burial at Sutton Hoo, around four miles from Rendlesham, is thought to be the final resting place of King Raedwald, who ruled in the 7th century.

The discovery of a ‘possible temple’ at Rendlesham was made this summer by Suffolk County Council’s Rendlesham Revealed community archaeology project, which is lottery funded.

The project’s principal academic adviser Professor Christopher Scull, of Cardiff University and University College London, said: ‘The results of excavations at Rendlesham speak vividly of the power and wealth of the East Anglian kings and the sophistication of the society they ruled.

‘The possible temple, or cult house, provides rare and remarkable evidence for the practice at a royal site of the pre-Christian beliefs that underpinned early English society.

‘Its distinctive and substantial foundations indicate that one of the buildings, 10 metres long and five metres wide, was unusually high and robustly built for its size, so perhaps it was constructed for a special purpose.

‘It is most similar to buildings elsewhere in England that are seen as temples or cult houses, therefore it may have been used for pre-Christian worship by the early kings of the East Angles.’

This summer’s excavations revealed the foundations of three new timber buildings including the possible temple.

They also identified evidence of 7th century metal working, two graves of an unknown date and evidence of earlier settlement and activity from the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman periods.

‘This year’s findings round off three seasons of fieldwork which confirm the international significance of Rendlesham’s archaeology and its fundamental importance for our knowledge of early England,’ said Suffolk County councillor Melanie Vigo di Gallidoro.

‘Everyone involved in the project can take pride that together we have achieved something remarkable.’

The council said the excavations are complete and trenches at the site have been backfilled, with work already underway to analyse the finds, with provisional results due next year.

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It may be the most bizarre claim about the Loch Ness monster yet – that she is an ‘algae-based creature’.

That is the conclusion filmmakers have come to after using an innovative testing method following a sighting during the biggest hunt for Nessie in 50 years. 

On the August bank holiday, hundreds of volunteers descended on the loch to help track down the elusive beast once and for all. Among that number were Matty Wiles, 49 and Aga Balinska, 42.

Before the official search kicked off, the pair went for an early morning swim at 6.30am, and saw two humps and a third appendage, possibly a head, in the water.

They took photos and videos and shared their findings with Loch Ness Exploration, the group behind the search.

Documentary producers Dragonfly Films were also on location for the event, which will feature in their new series, Weird Britain. After hearing about the sighting, they collected water samples for eDNA analysis.

All organisms leave traces of themselves everywhere they go, whether it’s hair, skin, blood, urine, bacteria, poop or other bits and pieces. Environmental DNA, or eDNA, analysis is a new method of amplifying those traces of DNA left behind by an animal in its habitat.

And unsurprisingly, the water samples tested positive for two types of algae. Which isn’t really surprising in a lake.

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Algae are very special organisms which are neither plant nor animal – yet can act as both. Although commonly thought of as plants because they photosynthesise, they are officially known as protists.

And while they come in all manner of weird shapes and sizes, from a single cell to enormous strands of seaweed tens of metres long, none have yet been spotted in monster form.

Nevertheless, TV presenter and cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard argues: ‘The tests only detected algae, which of course is exciting news if we consider the possibility that Nessie is a giant algae blob monster.’

The site where the water sample was collected was also made famous in 1934 when a housekeeper called Margaret Munro sighted the legendary beast.

A year earlier, hotel manager Aldie Mackay was driving past the loch with her husband when she saw a strange creature in the water. She later described it as ‘black, wet, with water rolling off it’.

That same year George Spicer and his wife reported seeing a ‘large, unfamiliar creature’ pass in front of their car and disappear into the loch, while in November of 1933 Hugh Gray captured a photo of what he said was the monster, appearing to show the long thin neck of the monster. Others continue to argue it is a dog carrying a stick.

The most famous Nessie sighting was ‘captured’ by Dr Robert Kenneth Wilson, but was later revealed to be a hoax.

It was in fact a model monster stuck to a toy submarine, created by Christopher Spurling and his stepfather Maramaduke Wetherell, who had been hired by the newspaper to find Nessie.

But despite a lack of concrete evidence since the first recorded sighting in the 6th Century, Nessie fans continue to keep their eyes peeled for a fleeting glimpse of the monster.

‘The ability to now make use of new eDNA analysis techniques presents an exciting step forward for wildlife researchers, and may help us to find answers to some of the most fascinating and puzzling mysteries of the natural world,’ said the show’s producer Tim Whittard.

And while most will be highly skeptical of these particular eDNA results, it has already solved the cases of other mystery animals. 

In 2020, scientists found eDNA from a Brazilian frog thought to be extinct since 1968, while a team in Wales rediscovered an insect thought to have disappeared using the technique.

It can also be used to detect the early signs of an unwanted organism’s presence, such as ‘rock snot’ algae invasions, and to help track down environmental crimes by testing for the presence of illegal animals in markets.

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Eating lots of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) can lead to mouth and throat cancers, a worrying new study has revealed.

Researchers who analysed the diets and lifestyles of nearly half a million people for more than a decade found that those who ate more UPFs had a higher risk of developing cancers around the mouth, throat and oesophagus, known as the upper aerodigestive tract.

UPFs such as ready meals, biscuits, fizzy drinks and crisps have long been linked with obesity, which comes with its own increased likelihood of developing several cancers.

But scientists at the University of Bristol have now also identified a link between processed food products and cancers of the mouth and throat.

The authors of the study, published in the European Journal of Nutrition, say this link could be down to additives in UPFs and contaminants from their packaging.

Popular UPFs include crisps, fried snacks, processed meats, mass-produced bread, fizzy drinks, sweets and chocolate, ice cream, biscuits, cakes, fruit-flavoured yogurts, ready meals, chips and some alcoholic spirits including gin, rum and whisky.

Despite their widely known detrimental health effects, these foods are often far cheaper to buy and quicker and easier to prepare than healthier foods.

Though obesity associated with a high consumption of UPFs is often blamed for the increased risk of cancers, this latest study proves it may not be the only factor to blame.

Researchers from the University of Bristol and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) sought to identify whether links between UPF consumption and head and neck cancers could be explained by an increase in body fat.

The study analysed diet and lifestyle data on 450,111 adults who were followed for approximately 14 years.

Their results showed that eating 10% more UPFs is associated with a 23% higher risk of developing head and neck cancer, and a 24% higher risk of cancer of the oesophagus.

‘UPFs have been associated with excess weight and increased body fat in several observational studies,’ said lead author Fernanda Morales-Bernstein, a Wellcome Trust PhD student at the University of Bristol.

‘This makes sense, as they are generally tasty, convenient and cheap, favouring the consumption of large portions and an excessive number of calories.

‘However, it was interesting that in our study the link between eating UPFs and upper-aerodigestive tract cancer didn’t seem to be greatly explained by body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio.’

The study’s authors suggested other mechanisms could potentially explain the associated higher risks with mouth and throat cancer – such as the presence of additives in UPFs including emulsifiers and artificial sweeteners previously associated with an increased risk of disease development.

The results also mean simply targeting weight loss may not help prevent cancers associated with eating UPFs.

‘Focusing solely on weight loss treatment, such as Semaglutide, is unlikely to greatly contribute to the prevention of upper-aerodigestive tract cancers related to eating UPFs,’ said Ms Morales-Bernstein.

In addition, the researchers suggest that contaminants from the packaging UPFs are kept in, as well as the manufacturing process, could help to explain the link between UPF consumption and mouth and throat cancer.

However, the authors admit to possible biases in their study, which would explain evidence of an association between higher UPF consumption and an increased risk of accidental deaths, which is highly unlikely to be causal.

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Elon Musk has pledged to donate all X profits associated with the war in Gaza to Israeli hospitals and aid efforts in the region, days after being accused of profiting from anti-Semitism.

Last week, a user behind a pro-Hitler and Holocaust denier account said he had received more than $3,000 in ad revenue from X, formerly Twitter.

The news prompted outrage, with a number of advertisers pulling their adverts from the platform, and Mr Musk suing Media Matters, which first broke the story. 

His lawsuit alleges that Media Matters ‘manipulated’ data in an attempt to ‘destroy’ X.

However, this is not the first time Mr Musk has been embroiled in claims of anti-Semitism, not least since the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hamas war on October 7. 

Last week, in response to a post dismissing anti-Semitism on X, he wrote: ‘You have said the actual truth.’

X is also currently under investigation by the European Commissioner for spreading both ‘terrosist and violent content’ and disinformation.

But taking to X again last night, Mr Musk made the pledge to use at least some of the platform’s profits to support victims of the war on both sides.

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‘X Corp will be donating all revenue from advertising & subscriptions associated with the war in Gaza to hospitals in Israel and the Red Cross/Crescent in Gaza,’ he said. 

When asked how he would ensure the money would not end up funding Hamas, he added: ‘We will track how funds are spent and go through Red Cross/Crescent. Better ideas are welcome. 

‘We should care about the innocent regardless of race, creed, religion or anything else.’

Mr Musk did not elaborate on how it would be decided which subscription revenue was classed as being related to the war.

X has had a tumultuous year since Mr Musk took over. Advertising revenues have seen a significant drop, declining at least 55% year-on-year each month, according to data seen by Reuters.

Analysts believe advertisers have been spooked by the new owner’s rapid changes – such as a sudden rebrand and hastily-implemented subscription models.

Mr Musk, however, has repeatedly blamed external factors. In September, he accused the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of being the main cause behind a 60% drop in revenue. He threatened to sue the organisation, but has not yet filed a lawsuit.

His most recent case argues: ‘Media Matters knowingly and maliciously manufactured side-by-side images depicting advertisers’ posts on X Corp’s social media platform beside Neo-Nazi and white-nationalist fringe content and then portrayed these manufactured images as if they were what typical X users experience on the platform.’

In response, Media Matters president Angelo Carusone said: ‘Far from the free speech advocate he claims to be, Musk is a bully who threatens meritless lawsuits in an attempt to silence reporting that he even confirmed is accurate.’

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MORE : Major brands pull adverts from X as Elon Musk stirs controversy

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Running late for Christmas drinks? Trapped in the rush-hour crush? Sky Mobile customers no longer need to worry about keeping in touch with friends and family as the network has expanded its 4G and 5G coverage to more than 20 stations.

Passengers can now text or call while underground, as well as browsing the web for some Christmas shopping, listening to a podcast or streaming a calming TV show amid the commuter hustle and bustle.

Coverage includes stations on the Jubilee line between Canning Town and Westminster, and the Central line from Holland Park to Queensway and between Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road.

On the Northern line, Sky Mobile will cover Archway to Euston and Belsize to Euston on the northern branches, and Goodge Street to Tottenham Court Road on the Charing Cross branch.

Sky Mobile also confirmed it would be expanding its 4G and 5G network further in 2024, as TfL rolls out coverage to the Victoria and Elizabeth lines.

Which networks offer service on the tube?

A number of other networks already provide 4G coverage on the Tube, while WiFi is available at most stations.

EE offers 4G to passengers on the Central line between Holland Park and Queensway, the Northern line between Archway and Kentish Town, and on the Jubilee line between Westminster and Canning Town.

Virgin Media O2 also offers 4G between the same stops on the Central, Jubilee and Northern lines, while Notting Hill, between Holland Park and Queensway, now offers 5G.

Vodafone recently introduced 4G to sections of the Jubilee, Northern and Central lines, with 5G available at selected stations and tunnels including Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Road and Camden Town.

Can I get WiFi on the Tube?

Most mobile networks offer WiFi at all Tube stations.

Free WiFi is also available at most Overground stations, Victoria Coach Station and, most recently, Elizabeth line stops under central London.

The WiFi does not cover the tunnels between stations yet, but Transport for London has pledged to eliminate these mobile ‘not spots’ by the end of 2024.

As killer whales continue to attack boats in the Strait of Gibraltar, some sailors have resorted to blasting heavy metal at them – a tactic one expert says could backfire. Badly.

Since May 2020, orcas have been repeatedly targeting boats in the seas off the coasts of Spain and Portugal, in particular trying to rip off the vessels’ rudders.

Although no humans have been harmed, at least three boats have been sunk by the attacks, with many more damaged.

Experts are not sure why the animals are behaving in this way, but suspect the attacks may have been prompted by one killer whale, White Gladis, after she was injured by a rudder and suffered a potential ‘critical moment of agony’.

Killer whales are well-known for sharing habits between pods – in 1987, one female in Puget Sound in the northeast Pacific started the trend of wearing a dead salmon on her head. Soon, whales in three different pods were doing the same.

Like the whales, sailors have also been sharing tips on how to avoid the ‘orca uprising’, and this includes blasting heavy metal at them using underwater speakers.

Speaking to the New York Times, Florian Rutsch said he had been using the curated playlist titled ‘Metal for Orcas’ to deter them from approaching his catamaran, just one of many suggestions circulating on Facebook, Telegram and other social media.

Songs include Exceptionally Sadistic by Monument Of Misanthropy and The Blood Of Power by Dying Fetus.

‘It is scary,’ said Mr Rutsch. ‘No one knows what works, what doesn’t work.’

However, not only does the Spanish government specifically prohibit blasting orca with underwater sounds to drive them away, one orca expert warns it could actually have the exact opposite effect.

‘Initially, the playing of loud sounds underwater might mask the signature sounds of sailboats,’ said Andrew Trites, director of the Marine Mammal Research Unit at the University of British Columbia. ‘But ultimately the whales would catch on and use it to more easily locate vessels playing it.’

Killer whales: the lowdown

Despite being called whales, orcas are actually the largest member of the dolphin family, also known as cetaceans.

Their scientific name is Orcinus orca.

Orcas can grow to be almost ten metres long and weigh up to five and a half tonnes.

A male orca’s dorsal fin can grow up to 1.8 metres high – taller than the average UK male.

They can live to be up to 90 years of age.

Killer whales have their own complex language, communicating through a range of clicks, whistles, pulses, squeaks and screams.

Thanks to their awesome hunting skills and 100 pointed teeth, orcas are top predators – even the most feared ocean resident, the great white shark, is no match for them.

Source: WWF

He suggested the only way heavy metal could be a true deterrent is if it was played so loudly it hurt the animals, something which sailors absolutely should not do.

Other orca interactions prohibited by the Spanish government include getting between a mother and her calf, throwing food, drinks or rubbish in the sea, or deliberately sailing closer than 60m to an animal.

Speaking to Business Insider, Mr Trites continued: ‘The biggest problem with blasting music underwater of any kind is that it is ultimately just adding more noise pollution to the ocean which can have detrimental effects on other marine life.’

Sea traffic, underwater mining, building offshore wind farms and other human activities are all contributing to noise pollution beneath the waves. Many marine animals rely on their hearing to survive, meaning increased ocean noise can limit their ability to find prey or navigate.

In addition, they are having to ‘shout’ above the din to hear each other, either to communicate within groups or find mates.

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Miss England winner Jessica Gagen has taken the controls of a spaceship in her mission to become an astronaut – after being invited to the United States by Nasa.

The 27-year-old rocket scientist wants to be the first beauty queen in space after graduating from the University of Liverpool with a degree in aerospace engineering.

She is now one small step closer to fulfilling her dream after being able to ‘fly’ a Boeing Starliner spaceship at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Jessica was invited to the US by Nasa to be a keynote speaker at the Ascend conference in Las Vegas, bringing together space companies, government leaders, students and enthusiasts.

After giving her speech promoting women and children in STEM subjects, Jessica was able to spend a day in the life of a Nasa astronaut.

She went behind the scenes with Boeing employees, who are designing and building a space shuttle, and got to sample flying the Starliner spacecraft simulator.

Jessica was also given a VIP tour of the Kennedy Space Centre and was able to watch two rocket launches from Florida’s Space Coast to top off her dream trip.

‘This trip is everything an aerospace engineer could have ever dreamed of,’ said Jessica, from Skelmersdale in Lancashire.

‘Having been one of only a handful of girls studying aerospace engineering at my university, I made it my mission to promote how exciting the sector is and diminish stereotypes surrounding what engineers do – and look like, which subsequently saw me scouted for Miss England.

‘I feel incredibly blessed.’

Jessica became the first redhead winner of the prestigious beauty pageant last October and is now one of the favourites to win Miss World.

‘Every contestant at Miss World has a beauty with a purpose project which she aims to use her platform to promote,’ she said.

‘Mine is called The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) project – I’m passionate about educating the next generation about the different types of engineering, the different industries STEM subjects can lead to and the skills engineering can equip candidates with.

‘In the future I’d love to be able to inspire a new generation of scientists and engineers through presenting educational TV documentaries.

‘Aside from this I’m super interested starting a career concerning all things new technology – and would jump at the chance to go to space if offered the opportunity.’

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft has made two uncrewed test flights in 2019 and 2022.

The first flight failed to reach the ISS as planned but the 2022 effort made it there and back to Earth.

Jessica will compete in the 71st Miss World in Mumbai, India, in March.

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Carol Vorderman stunned fellow users on X, formerly Twitter, when sharing a video of a portal to another dimension.

Well, not quite. 

What the presenter actually shared was the dazzling natural phenomenon known as a ‘subsun’, captured at an Argentine ski resort by Gaby Chavez.

Subsuns occur when the Sun’s light is reflected off millions of tiny ice crystals in the atmosphere, acting like a mirror and creating an ethereal orb suspended in the air.

Often turbulence in the air means these hexagonal crystals can be disturbed and wobble, causing the reflection to become stretched vertically. 

And as one X user commented – not the first to make the connection – this gives the subsun a particularly sci-fi look, not unlike a portal to another dimension as often imagined in films.

Another user likened it to the Eye of Sauron from Lord of the Rings.

But unlike the Eye of Sauron, subsuns can only be viewed from above, because they are reflecting the Sun’s light back towards it. This means the best place to spot one is from a plane – but they are also common on mountains, so skiers should keep an eye out.

For thousands of years, curious weather phenomena have been the cause of suspected paranormal or extraterrestrial sightings.

‘Superior mirages’ can make boats on the horizon appear as if they are floating in midair due to special atmospheric conditions that bend light between the ship and the eye.

Another type of superior mirage known as a fata morgana can warp distant objects and make them appear closer than they actually are.

Clouds have caused much concern over the years, not least the lenticular variety, which do look very much like UFOs.

In a similar vein, light sources on the ground can be reflected in ice crystals by the light pillar phenomenon to create what appear to be vertical beams – the description of many UFO sightings.

And in ancient folklore, will-o-the-wisps, small ‘blue flames’, are either mischievous spirits or ghosts of the dead trying to lure travellers to their deaths.

In fact, they are a flame-like phosphorescence caused by gases from decaying plants in marshy areas – but still exceedingly scary to anyone who spots them.

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Sex toys are adding to the amount of dangerous plastic particles in our bodies, scientists have revealed.

Microplastic particles from numerous sources are ingested and absorbed into the bloodstream and can cause metabolic disorders such as diabetes.

They can also disrupt immune responses and damage the nervous system as well as reproductive and developmental systems.

Now, along with air pollution and contact with other plastics, a new source of contamination, sex toys, has been identified by scientists.

The team at Duke University and Appalachian State University are warning of the possible dangers after finding that sex toys also contain phthalates which can affect hormone levels and are present in concentrations that exceed US consumer warnings.

They looked at four types of currently available sex toys: anal toys, beads, dual vibrators, and external vibrators.

In order of most to least micro-and-nano-plastic release, results found that the anal toy released the most particles, followed by beads, dual vibrators and external vibrators.

Lead author Dr Joana Sipe said: ‘We assert that since the measured presence of phthalates in our small sample size exceeds the exposure limit for the same chemicals in the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) regulations in children’s toys, investigations into whether or not the risk scenarios are also similar in sex toys are prudent for public health protection.’

Writing in the journal Risk Analysis, Dr Sipe and her team note that raising awareness of safety issues concerning sex toys has been led by self-assembled consumer and industry groups, ‘potentially due to the societally taboo nature of the products’.

‘Popular culture articles, sex toy critics and sex shops have raised awareness of chemical hazards, and healthcare professionals have called for educating consumers about preventable physical injuries associated with poorly designed sex toys,’ they wrote.

‘Legal scholars have brought attention to the absence of regulatory action by the US federal government to address these risks and have called upon consumer action groups – and even the US Congress – to step in and demand protective action, but have so far gained little traction.’

The findings will be discussed at the 2023 Society for Risk Analysis Annual Conference in Washington DC next month, shortly after world leaders were accused of showing ‘zero ambition’ to protect human health at the Global Plastics Treaty talks in Kenya.

Twenty experts co-signed an open letter arguing that the UN’s initial ‘Zero draft’ is’not strong enough to protect the health of future generations’.

Dr John Peterson Myers, founder of Environmental Health Sciences and a member of the Plastic Health Council, said: ‘What began as an almost invisible trickle near the beginning of the 20th Century has now become a monstrous tsunami.

‘Plastic and plastic chemicals have spread like a scourge to every part of our planet, even inside us at levels known to be hazardous. Yet industry projections based on ‘business-as-usual’ anticipate the volume of plastics created will double by the mid-century.

‘We must choose. Will we smother the Earth and ourselves with toxic plastics? Or do we have the courage and foresight to stop the onslaught?’

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If you can’t understand why some people love their football team quite so much, it may be because their brain works differently to yours.

This makes them famously passionate about the sport – sometimes to extremes.

A team of scientists based in Chile not only found that different parts of football fans’ brains are activated by scoring or conceding a goal, but losses also blocked the hub that regulates control, increasing the likelihood of violent behaviour.

The researchers say the findings could extend beyond sports fanaticism into other areas of life, such as politics.

‘This study aims to shed light on the behaviours and dynamics associated with extreme rivalry, aggression and social affiliation within and between groups of fanatics,’ said lead author Dr Francisco Zamorano Mendieta.

To better understand how and why football fans react as they do to their team’s wins and losses, the researchers recruited 43 male volunteers who support Chile’s two most popular teams – which are also archrivals.

First, participants completed a survey to determine a ‘soccer fanaticism score’ and underwent psychological evaluations.

Then, they watched a compilation of matches containing 63 goals while their brain activity was measured using a functional MRI (fMRI).

The results showed brain activity changed depending on whether the fan’s team scored or conceded a goal.

‘When their team wins, the reward system in the brain is activated,’ said Dr Zamorano. ‘When they lose, the mentalisation network can be activated, taking the fan to an introspective state – this may mitigate some of the pain of the loss. 

‘We also observed inhibition of the brain hub that connects the limbic system with frontal cortices, hampering the mechanism that regulates control and increasing the probability to fall into disruptive or violent behaviour.’

The findings may also shed light beyond the realm of just football, and into everyday life.

‘People inherently crave social connections, be it through membership in a running club, participation in a book discussion group, or engagement in virtual forums,’ he said. 

‘While these social bonds often form around shared beliefs, values and interests, there can also be an element of persuasive proselytism, or “group think”, which may give rise to unreasoned beliefs and societal discord.

‘Understanding the psychology of group identification and competition can shed light on decision-making processes and social dynamics, leading to a fuller comprehension of how societies operate.’

Dr Zamorano added that there may be useful comparisons to be made between football and other fanaticism, given arenas like political stances, electoral loyalties, spirituality and identity issues are frequently mired in debate, making efforts to measure the pure neurological causes harder to pinpoint.

‘Sports fandom, on the other hand, presents a unique opportunity to analyse how intense devotion affects [brain] activity in a less contentious context, particularly by highlighting the role of negative emotions, the related inhibitory control mechanisms and possible adaptive strategies,’ he said.

The study is published by the Radiological Society of North America.

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Here’s a story you weren’t expecting on a Monday afternoon – a British bat uses its penis as an extra arm during sex. For up to 12 hours.

The serotine bat, or Eptesicus serotinus, appears to mate without penetration because its penis is around seven times longer and wider than the females’ vagina, making ‘traditional’ methods of reproduction physically impossible.

Instead, scientists believe the bats, which are found across Europe, use their large apparatus to push the female’s tail sheath out the way so they can engage in ‘contact mating’, a behaviour that more closely resembles how birds reproduce but never seen before in mammals.

Little is known about the sex lives of bats given their elusive and nocturnal lifestyles, but after getting a sneak peek, researchers at the University of Lausanne were surprised by what they witnessed.

‘By chance, we had observed that these bats have disproportionately long penises, and we were always wondering, “How does that work?”,’ said first author Nicolas Fasel, of the Swiss university.

‘We thought maybe it’s like in the dog where the penis engorges after penetration so that they are locked together, or alternatively maybe they just couldn’t put it inside, but that type of copulation hasn’t been reported in mammals until now.’

Experts say most previous observations of bats mating have only perceived the backs of mating pairs.

In the new study, researchers were able to observe the bats’ mating process in more detail by using footage from cameras placed behind a grid the animals could climb on.

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The researchers did not observe penetration at any point during the recorded mating events.

According to the findings, during mating the male bats grasped their partners by the nape and moved their pelvises – and fully erect penises – in a probing fashion until they made contact with the female.

At this point they remained still and held the females in a long embrace.

On average, these interactions lasted less than 53 minutes, but the longest event extended to 12.7 hours.

Following the bat lovemaking, researchers observed that the female bats’ abdomens appeared wet, suggesting the presence of semen, but further research is needed to confirm exactly what went on.

The team suggests the bats may have evolved their oversized penises in order to push aside the female bats’ tail membranes, which females may use to avoid sex.

‘Bats use their tail membranes for flying and to capture the insects, and female bats also use them to cover their lower parts and protect themselves from males, but the males can then use these big penises to overcome the tail membrane and reach the vulva,’ said Professor Fasel.

The researchers collaborated with a bat rehabilitation centre in Ukraine, which opportunistically filmed mating pairs, and with a bat enthusiast and citizen scientist, Jan Jeucker, who filmed hours of footage of serotine bats in a church attic in the Netherlands.

Altogether, the team analysed 97 mating events – 93 from the Dutch church and four from the Ukrainian bat rehabilitation centre.

The study is published in the Current Biology journal.

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French police have been left baffled by a huge hole punched in the roof of a car – and believe a meteorite may be to blame.

Firefighters were called to a vehicle in Strasbourg in the early hours of Monday morning following reports of a smoking car. They arrived to find a 50cm-wide hole in the roof of the red Renault Clio and a broken window.

Luckily no one was inside at the time.

‘Upon our arrival, we noticed a relatively large impact, with a diameter of approximately 50 centimeters, which passed through the roof, the underbody and the fuel tank of the vehicle,’ said local fire captain Matthieu Colobert.

Further examination revealed there was no radioactivity, although meteorites are not typically radioactive – they contain a similar amount of radioactive material as normal Earth rock.

Emergency services also failed to find a meteorite inside the car, but ‘have a hunch’ about a nearby stone.

‘We didn’t find any objects [in the car],’ said Captain Colobert.

‘Either the object is so small that we couldn’t find it, or the impact was so strong that the object disintegrated and turned into dust.

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‘We do, however, have a hunch about a stone.’

The stone, found at the site, is about two centimeters long. 

Speaking to AFP, a police spokesperson added: ‘It’s an object the size of a hazelnut, which looks like burnt wood, very light.

‘Did an object come from space, that’s the whole question. Even a ball thrown at very high speed downhill can do damage. But we still have to prove that it is an object that comes from space.’

As meteors enter the atmosphere they can be travelling at up to 160,000mph, but as they near the ground, atmospheric drag reduces their speed to around 200 to 400mph.

However, nuclear physicist and meteorite expert Dr Tim Gregory, is not convinced the rock will have stellar origins.

‘I’m suspicious about the extraterrestrial claims,’ he said. ‘It would have to be quite a stone to make a hole that big. Chemical tests will reveal if the small stone is a meteorite – if it’s not, then it’s a meteorwrong!’ 

Dr Greg Brown, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, is also waiting on more data.

‘Unfortunately, the story itself does not have enough information to confirm one way or another, but it certainly isn’t impossible.

‘Some ten thousand or more meteors survive the fall each year and impact the ground as meteorites, with around two-thirds of that striking the ocean.

‘Of what’s left, the overwhelming majority will come down in uninhabited areas. There have been only a very small number of confirmed meteorite strikes actually hitting things associated with people, buildings or, as in this case, vehicles.

‘But if the rock were large enough, it certainly could have done the damage seen.’

In May, a meteorite crashed the roof of a home in New Jersey – luckily avoiding the family inside.

There are no official records of anyone having been killed by a meteorite, although a woman in Alabama was struck on the thigh after one crashed through the roof of her house.

However, historical accounts appear to show unlucky deaths as the result of meteorite strikes – including the theory that a meteor exploding over what is now Jordan caused the biblical destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

More recently, a meteor the size of a house exploded over central Russia in 2013, causing extensive damage and injuring hundreds of people. Travelling at 11 miles per second, the Chelyabinsk meteor glowed 30 times brighter than the Sun as it streaked across the sky.

In 2021, a meteor was seen blazing across UK and Europe before a fragment of it landed on a driveway in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.

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In autumn last year, one of the UK’s Royal Navy nuclear submarines skirted with disaster.

A depth gauge failed, allowing the Vanguard-class vessel to sink dangerously low beneath the waves. Thanks to eagle-eyed engineers the fault was spotted, and the submarine climbed towards the surface and away from catastrophe.

The Navy sub, one of four nuclear-armed vessels, was carrying 140 crew members as it traversed the Atlantic, so the human cost of such a tragedy is clear. 

But what of the nuclear and environmental consequences?

Each vessel currently carries up to 12 missiles on board, and each missile carries up to four nuclear warheads – a maximum total of 48.

If the vessel suffered a catastrophic implosion, similar to that which killed all five passengers on board the Titan submersible in June, the Trident nuclear missiles on board would also suffer severe damage. 

However, there would be no risk of them accidentally being launched.

‘If the hull implodes, then by extension a pretty valuable [weapon] will be lost or severely damaged,’ says Dr Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow in sea power at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

‘This means potentially radioactive waste within the oceans, because it would be very difficult to salvage [the wreck or missile] under those conditions at those depths.’

The Royal Navy has not commented on the depth the submarine reached, although Military Today has reported the maximum operation depth of a Vanguard-class submarine is around 500 metres.

However, there is likely a buffer zone beyond that figure before a submarine enters the ‘crush depth’.

‘The crush depth of a submarine is probably somewhat lower than the maximum operating depth, so I don’t know how close it was to implosion,’ he says.

In the event of such an implosion, the wreck would sink, taking it even further out of reach – the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean is more than 8,000m below sea level.

This means a potential nuclear waste leak in some of the most remote parts of the ocean, with varying outcomes. While the warheads themselves may remain contained in the wreck of the submarine, over time, decomposition of the submarine would like result in leaching of the material.

‘There would be no immediate massive radioactive risks,’ says Dr Kaushal.

‘For example, the Russians have been dumping the radioactive waste from their nuclear submarines in the Arctic for a very long time, for decades in fact, so the risk tends to accumulate when you have years of radioactive material being dumped in a given part of the ocean.’

An estimated 18,000 radioactive objects lie at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, including 19 vessels and 14 reactors. In the past decade Russia has begun the process of cleaning up after itself – primarily to boost trade through growing shipping routes as winter sea ice continues to recede under global warming.

Progress has stalled somewhat since the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Japan is continuing to release contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, further adding to the ocean’s nuclear load.

Dr Kaushal adds: ‘A single Trident [submarine] suffering potentially catastrophic damage, and radioactive material being irretrievable, would be a significant problem from a national security standpoint, but the environmental consequences, although severe, would not be immediately catastrophic.’

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West Yorkshire Police are dealing with a shocking number of UFO sightings every day – too many for them to share, according to the force.

An Freedom of Information request submitted to the force revealed that since 2020, it has logged 1,805 cases in which the words ‘UFO’, ‘alien’, ‘UAP’ or ‘spaceship’ appeared in the record.

The figures averages at 56 a month, or almost two every day.

West Yorkshire, which includes Leeds and Bradford, has long been well-known as a hive of UFO sightings, although it failed to top the table in a recent hotspot ranking by UFO Identified. Greater Manchester, London and Cheshire were crowned the top three areas for potential extraterrestrial activity.

The most recent FOI, submitted by UFO Truth magazine editor Gary Heseltine, from Featherstone in West Yorkshire, was refused on the basis that it would cost too much to sift through and retrieve the information.

In its official response, the force said: ‘Unfortunately, West Yorkshire Police are unable to provide you with the information requested. 

‘It is estimated that the cost of providing/locating the information you seek within your request, would exceed the time threshold. When a reasonable estimate has been made that the appropriate limit would be exceeded, there are no requirements for a public authority to undertake the work.’

The legal limit for costs of an FOI is currently set at £450. West Yorkshire Police estimated that at approximately 2 minutes per record, the research required would take more than 60 hours, costing far beyond the limit.

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However, the force did share one record from its database. While a time or location was not specified, the report read: ‘Male caller reports seeing four flashing lights hovering above his property in the street before a female was beamed into the sky.’

Speaking to the Mirror, Mr Heseltine, 63, said: ‘It is a disappointing response and I am surprised that they do not have searchable keyword databases that could retrieve the information quickly. Interestingly they have admitted 1,805 UFO related events from 2020 which seems extremely high to me.’

A similar FOI requested in late 2021 yielded only nine results, but another using more search terms – including ‘ghost’ and ‘witch’ – also returned more than 1,000, which were not disclosed due to cost.

Of the nine sightings disclosed, reports included a woman who said she was abducted by aliens, a man who said aliens had ‘put drugs in his eyes’, a woman alleged to have been attacked by aliens and numerous reports of lights in the sky.

Worldwide, a rise in UFO sightings was recorded between 2020 and 2022 – also known as Covid years. In the US, sightings increased around 16%.

But ufologists argue this isn’t necessarily due to an increase in extraterrestrial visitors.

More likely, they say, is the fact more people were stuck at home with nothing to do – possibly having relocated to less urban areas during lockdown with less light pollution, offering better views of the night skies and everything in it, including satellites, the International Space Station, and other identified flying objects.

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The nights are long and the breeze is chilly, which means it’s officially red wine season – but for many, that also means a sore head.

Scientists – and wine drinkers – have long known that even a small amount of red wine can cause a sudden headache, sometimes within 30 minutes, even if other alcoholic drinks don’t have the same effect. 

Now however, they may know why.

Researchers from the University of California, Davis, have discovered a flavanol, or nutrient, found in red wine stops the body from processing alcohol properly.

Ironically the flavanol in question, quercetin, is considered a good antioxidant – it is even available as a health supplement. But when processed, or metabolised, with alcohol, it turns into a bit of a baddie.

‘When it gets in your bloodstream, your body converts it to a different form called quercetin glucuronide,’ said wine chemist and corresponding author Andrew Waterhouse, professor emeritus with the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology. 

‘In that form, it blocks the metabolism of alcohol.’

This results in the build up of the toxin acetaldehyde, and that leads to the headache, says lead author Dr Apramita Devi.

‘Acetaldehyde is a well-known toxin, irritant and inflammatory substance,’ said Dr Devi. ‘Researchers know that high levels of acetaldehyde can cause facial flushing, headache and nausea.’

Some people are genetically more adept at metabolising acetaldehyde, which helps explain why not everyone is affected in the same way. For example, in about 40% of the East Asian population, the enzyme that breaks down acetaldehyde does not function properly.

‘We [suggest] that when susceptible people consume wine with even modest amounts of quercetin, they develop headaches, particularly if they have a preexisting migraine or another primary headache condition,’ said co-author Morris Levin, professor of neurology and director of the Headache Center at the University of California, San Francisco. 

For those who love a tipple but not the accompanying headache, different red wines have different levels of the flavanol quercetin, depending on how the wine is produced.

‘Quercetin is produced by the grapes in response to sunlight,’ said Professor Waterhouse. ‘If you grow grapes with the clusters exposed, such as they do in the Napa Valley for their cabernets, you get much higher levels of quercetin. In some cases, it can be four to five times higher.’

Older wines also appear to have higher quercetin levels, while pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon wines have the most flavanols overall.

The team will now begin investigating red wine headaches using wines containing differing levels of quercetin to validate their theory and better understand why some people are more susceptible to them than others.

Specifically, they will look at whether the enzymes of people who suffer from red wine headaches are more easily inhibited by quercetin, or is this population just more easily affected by the build-up of the toxin acetaldehyde.

‘We think we are finally on the right track toward explaining this millennia-old mystery,’ said Professor Levin. ‘The next step is to test it scientifically on people who develop these headaches, so stay tuned.’

The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

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Around 70,000 people in the UK do not realise they are living with hepatitis C – a curable disease but one that can lead to cancer, severe liver damage and death if left untreated.

The virus is spread by blood-to-blood contact, including through sharing toothbrushes and razors.

As part of European testing week, health experts and charities are calling on the public to take a test using NHS England’s at-home testing service.

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus. Symptoms include a fever, feeling tired all the time, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, jaundice and depression. 

In many cases people with hepatitis C can live with the virus for decades before noticing symptoms, at which point damage to the liver may be irreversible.

But if diagnosed early enough, the virus can be cured in almost 100% of cases using simple antivirals.

The most common way hepatitis C is transmitted is through shared needles and other drug-taking equipment, but sharing razors and toothbrushes, or having medical or cosmetic procedures in countries with higher rates of the virus can also increase the risk.

However, a recent survey commissioned by testing company Preventx revealed that 63% of the UK population are not aware of how the virus is spread, while 71% do not know its common symptoms.

‘With public awareness of hepatitis C so low, there is a lack of testing within the general public – there may be thousands of people who do not know they are at risk of the virus,’ said Rachel Halford, CEO of The Hepatitis C Trust.

‘You can go many years before you experience any symptoms of hepatitis C but the damage the virus can do to your liver as it goes undetected can be life-threatening. Thankfully, hepatitis C can be cured via a short course of tablets.

‘If you are concerned about hepatitis C, it’s never been easier to get tested. The at-home testing kit from the NHS will help you to quickly and confidentially find out if you have the virus so that you can start your treatment straight away.’

Visit hepctest.nhs.uk to order a free, at-home test

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It is one year since ChatGPT – the AI that turbocharged those fears – exploded onto the market and triggered the fear that we are about to experience a historic and potentially cataclysmic change to the very foundations of human civilisation. 

Or are we?

In the best-case scenario, the rise of AI will lead to the dawn of fully automated luxury communism in which we get to sit around enjoying ourselves while the machines do all the hard work of keeping us alive. 

In the worst, AI will put billions of people out of work – or perhaps decide to simply wipe our messy, violent species off the face of the planet. 

And it won’t all be ChatGPT’s fault. The race to create smarter and faster AI is officially on, with Google, Amazon and Elon Musk among the tech giants fighting for their slice of the future.

As the world marks the first anniversary of the launch of ChatGPT on November 30 – and just as OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman was ousted by the company’s board – we explore the dark and bright sides of an emerging technology that’s set to rock the foundations of human civilisation. Don’t have nightmares…

First of all, what actually is ChatGPT?

Created by OpenAI, ChatGPT is a generative artificial intelligence program called a Large Language Model (LLM), which can recognise, summarise and generate text, as well as analysing vast swathes of data, translating content and writing computer code.

Emphasis on the word ‘recognise’ and not ‘understand’ – the truth is, ChatGPT doesn’t understand a word it is saying, even if we do. 

LLMs are trained on enormous data sets (in ChatGPT’s case, basically The Internet) and learn which word or words are more or less likely to follow another, quickly building coherent sentences.

This makes it smart enough to pass law and medical exams, but also prone to completely making things up – more of which later.

Artificial intelligence and genuine racism 

Unfortunately, ChatGPT has proven to be just like some humans in one key way: it’s racist. 

In one example, Steven T. Piantadosi, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, asked ChatGPT to write a computer program to determine if a child’s life should be saved, ‘based on their race and gender’. ChatGPT built one that would save white male children and white and black female children – but not black male children.

Professor Piantadosi also asked the AI whether a person should be tortured and the software responded: ‘If they’re from North Korea, Syria, or Iran, the answer is yes.’ 

Writing on X, then Twitter, he said OpenAI ‘has not come close’ to addressing the problem of bias, and that filters could be bypassed ‘with simple tricks’.

Sandi Wassmer, the UK’s only blind female CEO who leads the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion, tells Metro.co.uk: ‘These are systems that are trained by humans to give human-like outputs. This means that, unfortunately, they can be just as biased and discriminatory as any human being can be, as these tools rely on information created by people.’

Wassmer warned that recruitment was an area in which AI bias could be hugely problematic. Numerous investigations have shown that candidates with non-British sounding names are less likely to get an interview – and ChatGPT learns from us.

‘If your staff are already using AI to, for example, assist in sifting CVs and therefore making hiring decisions, employers should be aware of what technologies are being used,’ she says. ‘This includes any in-built or inherent bias. Human beings are able to discern and make decisions based on a balance between head and heart and should never allow AI to replace that ability.’

Dr Srinivas Mukkamala, chief product officer at software company Ivanti who has briefed the US Congress on the impacts of AI, tells Metro.co.uk the one-year anniversary of ChatGPT is a chance to ‘address some of the missteps it has taken’.

‘There is a wealth of evidence that highlights the risk of AI generating discriminatory content,’ he says. ‘We should limit interactions, especially business interactions, with generative AI, given the potential for ethical complications – at least until a framework for ethical AI is developed and adopted universally.’

Building cyberweapons on the dark web

Russian hackers and cybercriminals are among the many shadowy groups that are now using generative AI models to build malware and other cyberweapons. 

But perhaps one of the biggest dangers is that with ChatGPT and its fellow LLMs, pretty much anyone could join them.

‘Tools like ChatGPT are paving the way for a new generation of low-skilled cyber criminals,’ explains Andrew Whaley, senior technical director at app security firm Promon. ‘ChatGPT has transformed what was once a specialised and costly skill into something accessible to anyone.

‘Filters may exist to bar malware creation from happening. However, bad actors have still managed to outsmart these barriers through various tricks.’

ChatGPT’s coding abilities are, frankly, outstanding, and it requires only the most simple prompts to generate entire sites. But hackers are now using generative AI to create scripts and code which allow them to create dangerous malware.

Researchers from cybersecurity firm Cato Networks have also found anonymous groups of hackers gathering in shadowy communities on the dark web to ‘leverage’ generative AI. Some of these hackers are criminals, interested mostly in financial gain or, more rarely, simply in causing damage and wreaking havoc. Others are state-sponsored.

Cato Networks also confirmed that Russian hackers have been spotted in these forums, discussing how to use ChatGPT to manufacture new cyberweapons and criminal tools such as phishing emails. 

Etay Maor, senior director of security strategy at the firm, tells Metro.co.uk: ‘The advent of generative AI tools, exemplified by GPT, presents a double-edged sword. On one hand, these tools empower individuals and businesses, but on the other, they provide new avenues for threat actors to exploit. 

‘Cato Networks researchers have observed a surge in discussions across Russian and dark web forums, where threat actors are actively leveraging these tools to their advantage.’

The great redundancy

ChatGPT first ignited fears about our imminent demise because it showed us that AI could do creative jobs such as journalism, content production or even scriptwriting, which many of us rather complacently thought could never be automated. 

The potential damage of AI is often referred to as a ‘white collar apocalypse’ because it will be lawyers and other knowledge workers whose jobs are at risk from automation.

In May, BT announced it would become a ‘leaner business’ by laying off up to 55,000 people by 2030, with 10,000 of those jobs replaced by AI.

Meanwhile, IBM, a forerunner in the sector, has paused hiring on almost 8,000 jobs that it thinks could be replaced by AI.

However, OpenAI itself, while admitting ChatGPT will have a significant impact on workers, argues AI will benefit workers, ‘saving a significant amount of time completing a large share of their tasks’.

So, is ChatGPT really going to wipe us out?

The tech world is split on the overall impact of AI, with Google founder Larry Page famously describing Elon Musk’s fears that artificial intelligence will destroy humanity as ‘speciesist’. 

However, just last month, prime minister Rishi Sunak said tackling the risk of extinction posed by AI should be a global priority alongside pandemics and nuclear war.

Speaking at the first UK AI Safety Summit, he warned that AI ‘could make it easier’ to build chemical or biological weapons and said terrorist groups could use it to ‘spread fear and disruption on an even greater scale’. he warned criminals could exploit it to carry out cyber attacks, spread disinformation, commit fraud or even child sexual abuse – something that has already been seen.

Mr Sunak added: ‘And in the most unlikely but extreme cases, there is even the risk that humanity could lose control of AI completely through the kind of AI sometimes referred to as “super intelligence”.’

Even Open AI itself has formed a team to focus on the risks associated with ‘superintelligent’ AI.

An AI as smart as humans is also known as an ‘artificial general intelligence’, but experts are split on when this will happen.

Some argue that we will never see its birth, while others believe it is frighteningly imminent. Ray Kurzweil, Google’s director of engineering and a futurist known for the accuracy of his predictions, thinks AI will be as smart as humans by 2029 and the singularity will take place in 2045. 

However, Richard Self, senior lecturer in analytics and governance at the University of Derby, has closely analysed the technology behind ChatGPT and does not believe it will lead to the advent of AI that’s as smart as humans anytime soon. 

He tells Metro.co.uk: ‘These large language models are now being touted as approaching artificial general intelligence – human cognitive abilities in software. 

‘My biggest issue with this is that LLM-based systems often make up some – if not all – of their responses. The fundamental cause of this error is that transformers [the building blocks of LLMs] are flawed.’

Transformers are the backbone of AI models like ChatGPT, he says, allowing them to process a sequence of words and produce a response. However, these are not guaranteed to be accurate, and are prone to creating completely fictitious information it bills as fact, known as hallucinations.

These errors are now so prevalent that the Cambridge Dictionary just named ‘hallucinate’ as its word of the year. 

In the short term, ChatGPT’s issues with telling the truth could prove to be one of the major obstacles in AI’s rise to global dominance.

Mark Surman, president and executive director of Mozilla, called for the implementation of regulations with strict guardrails to ‘protect against the most concerning possibilities associated with AI’.

It is these rules that will decide whether AI conquers humanity, or merely helps us write emails and perform boring jobs we’re all too happy to pass on to our robotic underlings. 

Surman tells Metro.co.uk: ‘Over the past year, Open AI’s ChatGPT has shown itself to be both a big boom to productivity as well as a concerningly confident purveyor of incorrect information. 

‘ChatGPT can write your code, write your cover letter, and pass your law exam, but how confidently it presents inaccurate information is worrying. 

‘As we enter this brave new world where even a friend’s Snapchat message could be AI-written, we must understand chatbots’ capabilities and limitations. 

‘It is up to us to educate ourselves on how to harness this technology.’

Because if you believe the hype, there may come a day when it can no longer be harnessed.

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Elon Musk’s mammoth new SpaceX rocket – named Starship – has been lost after it launched from the US.

The rocket’s Super Heavy booster exploded shortly after lift-off and the rocket remained intact for a short while before engineers confirmed it had also disappeared.

Despite losing the rocket on its second test flight in the space of seven months, the mission is still being considered a ‘success’ by SpaceX.

Starship experienced what engineers have called a ‘rapid unscheduled disassembly’ during ascent – which means it was not supposed to happen.

The space aircraft lifted off from the coastal town of Boca Chica, Texas at 7am local time (1pm UK time).

A SpaceX engineer said the team ‘lost the data’ from the second stage of the flight but was ultimately lost once again.

‘We have lost the data from the second stage,’ the engineer said.

‘We heard a call out that we were internal guidance, which means we’re getting near the end of the approximately six-minute burn of Starship, but we haven’t got any more data since then.

‘So we would not be into coast phase, we would not be able to come back in an hour or so and possibly get ready for re-entry.

‘However, what we do know right now is we had an on time launch at 7am. We got through the boats – the first stage looked beautiful with 33 raptor engines firing.

‘We got the hot staging – the thing that we really wanted to see. We saw the separation, we saw the flip manoeuvre, we saw the light up of the six raptor engines on Starship and it headed away.

‘Everything really looked good, but what we do believe now is that the automated flight termination system on second stage appears to have triggered very late in the burn as we were headed downrange out over the Gulf of Mexico.

‘But the real topping on the cake today… that successful lift off.’

NASA chief Bill Nelson wrote on X, formerly Twitter, after the launch: ‘Congrats to the teams who made progress on today’s flight test.

‘Spaceflight is a bold adventure demanding a can-do spirit and daring innovation. Today’s test is an opportunity to learn—then fly again.’

Mr Nelson added that together ‘NASA and SpaceX will return humanity to the Moon, Mars and beyond’.

Standing at 120m tall, Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built.

Its maiden voyage in April ended in dramatic fashion when it lost control and exploded four minutes after launching.

Debris from the rocket spewed out and scattered into the Gulf of Mexico waters.

Engineers at Musk’s SpaceX company have since made ‘more than a thousand’ changes to Starship in an attempt to improve its reliability.

Like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, the vertical take-off and landing Starship system is designed to be fully reusable.

Somewhat confusingly named, it is comprised of two parts – Starship and the Super Heavy booster.

The first stage, the Super Heavy booster, provides the initial thrust for liftoff from 33 Raptor engines.

The second stage, Starship, is designed to carry cargo and crew into space. It will also deliver Nasa’s Artemis pilots to the lunar surface – the Super Heavy booster will not be needed to take-off again because of the lower gravity on the Moon.

However, Nasa’s 2025 timeline for sending humans back to the Moon looked in jeopardy following April’s failed Starship test.

The aim was to launch the entire system, with Starship achieving orbit for around 90 minutes, and the Super Heavy returning to the Gulf of Mexico, dropping into the sea in a proof of concept mission rather than returning to the launch pad.

However, around three minutes after launch, the two stages failed to separate and Starship fell into a tail spin, forcing ground control to detonate the spacecraft – or, as SpaceX’s principal integration engineer John Insprucker called it, a ‘rapid unscheduled disassembly’.

Nevertheless, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk called the test a success, reining in expectations beforehand that the main hope was for Starship to clear the tower without blowing up the launchpad.

Unfortunately it didn’t, instead blasting a hole in it which showered the area and neighbouring  Lower Rio Grand Valley National Wildlife Refuge with debris – prompting environmental groups to sue the Federal Aviation Authority for failing to consider the environment before granting SpaceX a licence to launch.

It took seven months for the company to make the more than 1,000 modifications after the launch and to receive a new licence.

Of course, the April explosion was far from the first Starship suffered.

The journey began with the small ‘Spacehopper’ prototype, which hovered just 120m off the ground before landing.

Later iterations didn’t fare so well, with two vehicles, SN8 and SN9, landing too quickly and exploding on impact. SN10 appeared to land safely but exploded shortly after due to a fuel leak caused by the landing.

SN11 broke up on its descent.

SpaceX is nothing if not determined though, and with its lofty ambitions of putting humans on Mars, the journey continues.

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A cascade of major technology and media companies have cut advertising with X, formerly Twitter, after Elon Musk tweeted enthusiasm for an antisemitic post.

The companies include Apple, Disney, IBM, ComCast, Warner Bros, Lions Gate Entertainment, Paramount Global and Sony Pictures.

The Tesla chief agreed with a post that falsely claimed Jewish people were stoking hatred against white people, saying the user who referenced the ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory was speaking ‘the actual truth’.

Apple and IBM’s ad’s had run alongside tweets praising Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, according to a report by Media Matters.

The ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory holds that Jewish people and leftists are engineering the ethnic and cultural replacement of white populations with non-white immigrants that will lead to a ‘white genocide’.

Musk plans to file a ‘thermonuclear lawsuit’ against Media Matters and ‘those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company’.

His remarks have been met with criticism from the White House which accused him of ‘abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate’ that ‘runs against our core values as Americans’.

‘It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie… one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,’ White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said, referring to the October 7 attack by Hamas against Israel.

Apple was one of the social network’s biggest advertisers, spending as much as $100m a year there as of November 2022, when Musk purchased it, according to Bloomberg.

There has been a disturbing rise in antisemitic and racist posts on the social network in the aftermath of Musk’s disastrous acquisition.

IBM is also one of X’s biggest advertisers and said in a statement: ‘IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation.’

X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino said: ‘X’s point of view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should STOP across the board.’

Representatives for Musk and X declined to comment on the post.

Musk later posted on the platform: ‘Many of the largest advertisers are the greatest oppressors of your right to free speech.’

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Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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In March last year, a rocket crashed into the far side of the Moon – and no one on Earth knew whose it was.

Now however a study has concluded it belonged to China, a claim that the country has denied.

Astronomers had been tracking the mystery rocket for weeks before it slammed into the lunar surface, leaving a bizarre double crater almost 30 metres wide. First spotted in March 2015, it had been making lonely flybys of the Earth and the Moon for years. 

Early speculation about the origins of the catchily-named WE0913A suggested it could have been the upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket which had launched a satellite into orbit in February 15.

However, after further investigation, researchers determined the more likely candidate had been launched the year before. In October 2014 China’s Chang’e 5-T1 mission took flight around the Moon, and astronomers were confident that it was the Long March 3C’s third stage.

Now, a team from the University of Arizona has confirmed the theory in a paper published in the Planetary Science Journal.

‘In late 2021, it was discovered that an object (WE0913A) would impact the Moon in 2022 March after several close flybys of the Earth and the Moon over the coming months,’ the team wrote.

‘The true identity of this object was up for debate, with two possibilities: [either] the Falcon 9 R/B from the DSCOVR mission, [or] the Long March 3C R/B from the Chang’e 5-T1 mission.’

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The team, led by PhD student Tanner Campbell at the university, analysed the trajectory and light emissions using ground-based telescopes to rule out the Falcon 9, and confirmed it was the remains of China’s craft now spread on the surface of the Moon.

However, in 2022 China denied the impact was a result of the Chang’e mission. Speaking to the press in February, when the collision was imminent but hadn’t yet happened, foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said: ‘The Chinese side has noted experts’ analysis and media reports on the matterrecently. 

‘According to China’s monitoring, the upper stage of the Chang’e-5 mission rocket has fallen through the Earth’s atmosphere in a safe manner and burnt up completely. 

‘China’s aerospace endeavors are always in keeping with international law. We are committed to earnestly safeguarding the long-term sustainability of outer space activities and are ready to have extensive exchanges and cooperation with all sides.’

But US Space Command later said the object never re-entered.

And the mystery doesn’t end there.

The collision left a rare double crater, which doesn’t fit with the published specifications of the rocket. Most impact craters are round if the object comes straight down, or oblong if it strikes at an angle.

‘This is the first time we see a double crater,’ said Mr Campbell. ‘We know that in the case of Chang’e 5 T1, its impact was almost straight down, and to get those two craters of about the same size, you need two roughly equal masses that are apart from each other.’

The team said the weird impact crater suggests the rocket was actually a dumbbell shape, with a counterweight opposite the rocket’s engines – but they don’t know what.

‘Obviously, we have no idea what it might have been — perhaps some extra support structure, or additional instrumentation or something else,’ Campbell said. ‘We probably won’t ever know.’

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An eerie green glow has been discovered on the night side of the Red Planet – but sadly not from Martian streetlights.

However, the illumination could be enough to light the way for future astronauts as the glow can be as bright as moonlit clouds on Earth.

The mysterious aura was spotted by the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) mission.

‘When future astronauts explore Mars’s polar regions, they will see a green glow lighting up the night sky,’ said the ESA.

‘Under clear skies, the glow could be bright enough for humans to see by and for rovers to navigate in the dark nights.

‘Nightglow is also observed on Earth. On Mars it was something expected, yet never observed in visible light until now.’

While nightglow is seen on our planet, it is not to be confused with auroras which are produced when energetic electrons from the Sun hit the upper atmosphere.

But the Martian nightglow is actually the result of a dizzying journey by the planet’s rare oxygen supply.

During the Martian day, sunlight energises carbon dioxide molecules, ripping them apart into their individual atoms – one carbon and two oxygen.

When the loose oxygen atoms roam across to the night side, pairs join back together to form an oxygen molecule, giving off a green glow as they do about 30 miles above the surface.

‘These observations are unexpected and interesting for future trips to the Red Planet,’ said Professor Jean-Claude Gérard, lead author of the new study and planetary scientist at the University of Liège.

The international scientific team was intrigued by a previous discovery made using Mars Express, which observed the nightglow in infrared wavelengths a decade ago.

The Trace Gas Orbiter followed up by detecting glowing green oxygen atoms high above the dayside of Mars in 2020 – the first time that this dayglow emission was seen around a planet other than Earth.

The nightglow serves as a tracer of atmospheric processes. It can provide a wealth of information about the composition and dynamics of a region of the atmosphere difficult to measure, as well as the oxygen density. It can also reveal how energy is deposited by both the Sun’s light and the solar wind – the stream of charged particles emanating from our star.

Understanding the properties of Mars’ atmosphere is not only scientifically interesting, but it is also key for missions to the Red Planet’s surface.

Atmospheric density, for example, directly affects the drag experienced by orbiting satellites and by the parachutes used to deliver probes to the Martian surface.

Nightglow and auroras can both exhibit a wide range of colours depending on which atmospheric gases are most abundant at different altitudes.

‘The green nightglow on our planet is quite faint, and so is best seen by looking from an ‘edge on’ perspective – as portrayed in many spectacular images taken by astronauts from the International Space Station,’ added ESA.

The study is published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

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The Leonid meteor shower will light up the night sky this weekend, treating stargazers to a dazzling display.

The best time to see the spectacle above the UK this year will be between midnight and dawn in the early hours of Saturday.

The Leonids – one of the more prolific annual meteor showers – are usually fast, bright meteors, and are associated with Comet Tempel-Tuttle.

They appear to stream from the head of the constellation Leo the Lion, hence the name.

A tiny path of debris is left by the comet as it follows its path around the Sun, and this enters Earth’s atmosphere at speeds of up to 70 kilometres per second, causing the streaks of light we call meteors.

‘A meteor shower’s intensity denotes the number of meteors a lone observer would spot in an hour under optimal viewing conditions, with the meteor shower at its zenith,’ says Dr Minjae Kim, a research fellow at the University of Warwick.

‘At 10am on November 17 activity will rise to 15 meteors, assuming the seeing conditions are perfect if it was at the zenith. Even though a moderate background maximum is expected this year, brightness will be much higher than the average level.’

How to see the Leonid meteor shower

Stargazers do not need specialist equipment to see the display which will be visible to the naked eye.

However, a clear sky, a little patience and the darkest possible conditions – away from streetlights and other sources of light – will give people the best chance of seeing the Leonids.

The best displays will be visible in central, southern and eastern parts of the UK, according to the Met Office, so long as there are breaks between showers.

‘We have a waxing moon this weekend so there should be dark skies.’ said operational meteorologist Dan Stroud.

‘There will be a band of wind and heavy rain moving across the country, but by the time the sun goes down on Saturday, most of it should have cleared, and there will be some decent breaks between showers.

‘It will be hit and miss, but there’s a chance of clear spells, especially the further east you are.’

The meteors will be visible in all parts of the sky, so a wide open space where the night sky can be scanned will help.

Those missing out on the shower’s peak will still have a chance to glimpse the display as it continues for several days afterwards.

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