15 articles from SUNDAY 20.10.2019

Starwatch: Sirius, the dog star, rises to brighten winter nights

The brightest star returns this week, twinkling and sparkling unmistakably in the southern skyThere’s a treat in store all week for early risers. Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, will be glittering in the southern sky in the pre-dawn hours. Having been absent from view for several months, the star is now rising shortly after midnight. Located just 8.6 light years away, Sirius is...

New haptic arm places robotics within easy reach

Imagine being able to build and use a robotic device without the need for expensive, specialist kit or skills. That is the vision that researchers have now turned into reality, creating a lightweight, affordable and simple solution for everyday users.

Why the mother who started gender-reveal parties regrets them

Celebrating the discovery of your unborn baby’s sex has been coopted by people with repressive, polarised ideas, says the woman who began the trendIn 2008, Jenna Myers Karvunidis was pregnant and itching to throw a party. “Life is hard, but I like to have fun,” she explains. “I think it’s important to mark moments of joy.” Karvunidis (who loves celebrating so much that she baked a cake...

Moving to Mars review – a rendezvous with the red planet

Design Museum, LondonThis fascinating show offers close encounters with an actual Mars rover, footage from the planet’s surface – and ambitious plans for inhabiting it, should the need arise…On the surface of Mars, temperatures average about -60C. The thin atmosphere, containing almost no oxygen, is unbreathable. Intense solar radiation, were you to survive the cold and asphyxiation, would...

‘Curb drink culture’ says drugs expert David Nutt

New restrictions needed for leading cause of deaths of men under 50New restrictions are needed on Britain’s drinking culture, which is behind a huge rise in deaths of men and women under 50, according to the government’s former chief drug adviser, sacked a decade ago for claiming that ecstasy and LSD were less dangerous than alcohol.Ahead of a speech to the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies...

Six-year-old’s death leads to hope of new drug for childhood cancer

Parents of Abbie Mifsud created the charity that has funded vital research on brain stem tumoursResearchers say they are close to testing a drug that could tackle a previously untreatable childhood brain cancer. The condition is known as DIPG – diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma – and every year it affects between 30 to 40 boys and girls, aged between five and 10. All develop tumours caused by...

Niger floods force 23,000 from their homes

Floods in southeast Niger have forced 23,000 people to flee their homes since early October, officials said Saturday, threatening a new humanitarian crisis in a region already wracked by Boko Haram Islamist violence.

What happens if your mind lives for ever on the internet?

It may be some way off, but mind uploading, the digital duplication of your mental essence, could expand human experience into a virtual afterlifeImagine that a person’s brain could be scanned in great detail and recreated in a computer simulation. The person’s mind and memories, emotions and personality would be duplicated. In effect, a new and equally valid version of that person would now...