Those looking up at the sky tonight will spot a larger moon casting a more intense glow than usual. The dazzling display follows a year of exceptional lunar activity, and it comes with a simple explanation. The moon’s orbit around the earth causes seven distinct phases that can make it appear both extraordinarily big and small. Scientists dub the largest moons “supermoons” and the last one of 2022 just passed. The Sturgeon Moon debuted earlier this week, appearing roughly 14…

As part of wider plans to curb carbon emissions, the Government has set 2030 as the point beyond which it will no longer be possible to purchase a new petrol- or diesel-driven car. At present, only 3 percent of cars in the UK are fully electric, with another 2 percent being hybrids. The Government has taken steps to make electric vehicle adoption more enticing — such as by increasing investment in charging points and offering taxation-based incentives. However, the average…

Following top US democrat Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan despite China’s protestations, tensions between Beijing and Washington soared to new heights. Chinese premier Xi Jinping responded by hosting military drills with live fire all around the island, sparking fears that China could soon try to fulfil its promise to take back to state “by force if necessary”. But if a conflict were to break out between the US and China over Taiwan’s sovereignty, experts have warned it could have far-reaching…

Monkeypox — a close relative of smallpox — is a viral disease typically contracted from animal bites or the consumption of improperly cooked meat, but that can spread from person-to-person by close contact. Initial symptoms of infection can include chills, fatigue, fever, and muscle aches — with more severe cases often presenting with a rash on the face and genitals that can spread elsewhere on the body before scabbing over. The virus is known to cause severe disease among certain…

Antarctica’s ice shelves jut out from the ice sheet that covers the continent, and float on top of the Southern Ocean. Each several hundred metres thick, the shelves serve as a buffer, protecting the ice sheet on the mainland from flowing into the ocean and drastically raising global sea levels. However, climate change is warming both the atmosphere and the oceans, accelerating the rate at which the ice shelves are melting. The increasingly rapid melting of Antarctica’s ice shelves is…

At a shareholder conference last week, Mr Musk announced that Tesla is looking to build an additional 10-12 large-scale electric vehicle manufacturing facilities, known as gigafactories. The world’s richest man noted that each of these gigaplants would aim for an output of between one and a half to two million units per factory. He also noted that the EV giant may be able to announce an additional factory this year, with Canada seemingly being the frontrunner. However, Britain could be…

Antarctica’s ice shelves could be melting up to 40 per cent faster than we thought due to coastal ocean currents, a new study warns. Scientists in California have created a new climate model that accounts for the impact of a coastal current called Antarctic Coastal Current (ACC). The researchers say this narrow current causes warm water to melt Antarctica’s ice shelves – floating platforms of ice around the Antarctic coastline. Their model suggests ice shelf melt rates are 20 to…

Every year, celebrities of all ages, backgrounds and levels of talent throw their best shapes on Strictly Come Dancing. However, some of our furry and feathered friends could stand a chance at the Glitterball Trophy, with moves that actually benefit them in the wild. As this year’s line-up for the TV dance contest is announced, MailOnline looks at the best movers and shakers in the animal kingdom. Waggling honeybees tell each other the location of the freshest flowers, while the…

It has lost over a million subscribers, seen a slump in shares and now lost its title as the world’s biggest streaming giant. So it is little surprise that some are questioning whether this the beginning of the end for Netflix. In the same way the online video trailblazer once put the final nail in the coffin of Blockbuster, experts have warned that it too may follow suit unless it is able to reverse its post-pandemic fortunes. Yesterday, Disney edged…

A new study has found that while the large-scale biodiversity extinction taking place right now doesn’t qualify as a mass extinction just yet, the earth is rapidly barrelling towards the sixth such event. Since its formation about 4.5 billion years ago, the Earth has had five mass extinction, where about 75 percent of the planet’s life is wiped out over 2.8 million years, which is merely a blink of an eye on a cosmic scale. Of these catastrophic events, the…

While excavating an early church in Israel, researchers found evidence that confirmed their belief that the sit was the birthplace of St Peter, the most prominent apostle in Christianity. In the Gospel according to St John, three of the apostles, Simon Peter, his brother St Andrew and a third apostle St Philip were born in a place known as Bethsaida. According to St Luke, it was near this site that Jesus performed the miracle of feeding 5,000 followers. In modern…

Testosterone is commonly thought of as increasing sexual urges and aggression in men – but a new study shows it has a cuddly side too. In experiments, researchers injected testosterone into male gerbils to see how they’d behave with their partners. The injections fostered cuddling and ‘friendly behaviour’ and primed them for ‘positive social interactions’, they found. Testosterone influences activity of oxytocin – the so-called ‘cuddle’ or ‘love’ hormone that’s linked with social bonding, say the researchers, although they don’t…

The news comes as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has vowed to increase defence spending following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, placing NATO members on high alert in the process. As a major contributor to the Ukrainian defence forces, Britain has been continually threatened by Moscow, with Russian state TV going as far as suggesting nuclear weapons should be used against the UK. British-based Babcock’s latest deal with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and its subsidiary Elta Systems is aimed at…

EDF customers in the UK are paying nearly two-and-a-half times as much as for their energy bills as their counterparts in France. This came after French President Emmanual Macron imposed strict caps on price rises, forcing the state-owned energy company to sell its power at prices below the market rates. Since April this year, energy regulator Ofgem has set the household price cap at £1,971, while French families on regulated tariffs now face bills of around €950 (£803). Meanwhile, Mr…

The news comes as the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its 169th day, with marginal gains being made by Putin’s troops over the last thirty days. Desperate measures has seen Russian troops use a nuclear power plant as a shield, and has seen Moscow resort to inaccurate long-range missiles as close encounters are frustrated with the arrival of the HIMARS system in Ukraine. The Defence Secretary gave the damming report whilst speaking at a donors conference in Copenhagen yesterday. Mr…

Maritime archaeologists in Northern Germany have found a ship’s wreckage at the bottom of a river that has shocking escaped decay for four centuries. They noted that the cargo vessel did not capsize; rather, it “sank almost standing.” They found that the ship had avoided disintegrating due to decay from ravenous shipworms, which was generally the fate of this ship’s contemporaries. In fact, the vessel still holds the barrels of lime that it was transporting for the stone building industry…