Science/Nature

Alien atmospheres recreated on Earth

[ad_1] Image copyright European Southern Observatory Image caption Super-Earths and mini-Neptunes have a radius between one to four times that of Earth Researchers have recreated the chemistry of atmospheres on distant planets for the first time in the lab, according to two new papers. They found that hazes, such as the hydrocarbons that shroud Saturn's moon Titan, can be produced on a class of exoplanets known as super-Earths and mini-Neptunes.Chemical
Science/Nature

Sir John Sulston human genome pioneer dies

[ad_1] Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Sir John had laboratories named after him at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute British genome pioneer Sir John Sulston has died aged 75.He came to prominence as the British face of the international project to decode the human genome.Sir John won a Nobel Prize in 2002 for his work on the development of cells within a humble worm, which paved the way for
Entertainment

Northamptonshire ‘racist’ teacher banned from profession

[ad_1] Image copyright Jim Smillie/Geograph Image caption Philip Pedley taught at Oundle School from 1990 to 2016 A history teacher who made "racist" comments to pupils has been banned from the profession. Philip Pedley, 60, taught at the private Oundle School, in Oundle, Northamptonshire for more than 26 years. A misconduct panel found he told a pupil "your father must have come over, stealing our jobs". He was found guilty
Entertainment

Trump told to mute Twitter critics, not block them, by New York judge

[ad_1] Image copyright @realDonaldTrump/Twitter Image caption The US president has more than 48 million followers on Twitter A judge has advised US President Donald Trump to mute rather than block his Twitter critics after users of the service filed a lawsuit against him.Seven people sued Mr Trump after he blocked them from seeing his tweets, arguing that it was unconstitutional.But District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald suggested the president mute the
Technology

Fake news ‘travels faster’, study finds

[ad_1] Image copyright Getty Images A study of 126,000 rumours and false news stories spread on Twitter over a period of 11 years found that they travelled faster and reached more people than the truth.Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology also found that fake news was more commonly re-tweeted by humans than bots.They said it could be because fake news tends to be "more novel".The most common subject matter
Technology

Burger-flipping robot taken offline after one day

[ad_1] Media playback is unsupported on your device Media captionWATCH: Flippy the burger robot gets to work Flippy the burger-flipping robot that started work this week in a California restaurant has been forced to take a break because it was too slow.The robot was installed at a Cali Burger outlet in Pasadena and replaced human cooks.But after just one day at work the robot has been taken offline so it
Technology

Obamas ‘in talks to make Netflix shows’

[ad_1] Image copyright Getty Images Former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are in talks to produce shows for Netflix, according to the New York Times.The couple would make exclusive content for the US streaming site focused on uplifting stories, the paper suggested.If confirmed, the deal would give a global platform for the Obamas, bypassing mainstream US media such as Fox News.Netflix told the BBC it had no
Education

UK parents help less with homework

[ad_1] Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Parents in the UK admire their children's teachers, but they are too busy to help with the homework Parents in the UK are much less likely to spend more than an hour per day helping with their children's homework compared with parents in other countries, a survey suggests.A survey of 27,830 parents in 29 countries found only 11% of UK parents spent an