COP21 Paris Climate Change Summit: Countries agree to keep warming “well below” 2C December 12, 2015 Countries gathered in Paris for the UN's COP21 climate change summit have at last agreed on a deal, which involves keeping warming to "well below" 2C. French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said the "ambitious and balanced" deal would be a "historic turning point" if it goes ahead. "The world is holding its breath, it's counting on [...]
Countdown to Christmas 2015: Six of the most amazing and useful inventions of the year December 12, 2015 The stream of inventions flowing out of labs across the world never seems to stop, and 2015 has been no exception – over the last 12 months, a huge number of new inventions have been presented to us by scientists. Only today, we learned that American technicians managed to develop robots that can learn in [...]
Nasa shows us the surface of Pluto in unprecedented detail and in colour December 11, 2015 It may have been relegated to non-planet status, but Pluto is still an important body within our solar system. Now, for the first time, Nasa has shown us what this “plutoid” looks like close up and in colour, using high-resolution images taken earlier this year by its New Horizons spacecraft. The craft passed just 10,000 [...]
DuPont and Dow Chemical agree to $130bn merger December 11, 2015 DuPont and Dow Chemical are merging, the two companies have confirmed. In a statement, the American chemical firms said their boards of directors had “unanimously approved” the deal, which is worth $130bn (£86bn) and will result in the creation of DowDuPont. It is an all-stock merger of equals, which means shareholders in each company will own approximately 50 per [...]
Obesity is a “national threat” like terrorism, says UK’s chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies December 11, 2015 Obesity has become such a serious health problem in the UK that it should be considered a “national threat” alongside terrorism and climate change, according to Britain's chief medical officer. In her annual report, Dame Sally Davies said obesity was a “growing health catastrophe” resulting in higher disease rates and greater burden on health resources, and that [...]
Scientists have taught robots to learn as quickly and easily as humans December 11, 2015 Until now, robots have taken a lot longer than humans to remember things. Typically, they have to be exposed to an object or event hundreds or even thousands of times before it sticks in their computerised minds, whereas in the case of humans just a couple of encounters tends to do the trick. So while [...]
Oxford is where the UK’s most motivated and hard-working people are found December 9, 2015 Of all the cities in the UK, nowhere is more dedicated to hard work than Oxford, according to a new study by Xactly. By asking 1,500 employed people from cities around the country whether they would carry on working even if they didn't need to, they found that 28 per cent definitely would. But in [...]
Poultry market set to suffer following US avian flu outbreak December 9, 2015 Christmas is nearly here, but high turkey prices could end up spoiling the fun for some. The cost of the festive bird has been pushed higher by an outbreak of avian flu that occurred in the US earlier this year, and this is likely to impact global trade of turkey, according to the FT. During [...]
Dow Chemical and DuPont merger talks: Here’s what you need to know about the potential mega-deal December 9, 2015 Two of the world's biggest chemical companies are on the verge of joining forces – DuPont and Dow Chemical, each worth around $60bn (£40bn), could announce a deal before the end of this week. According to reports, the merger between the two American companies would result in the one of the biggest deals of the year. But [...]
Men lose their brain power faster than women, but their bodies stay in better shape December 9, 2015 Men might not really be from Mars and women almost certainly aren't from Venus – but in the battle of the sexes, one gender has more staying power when it comes to their brains. Women's minds stay in tip-top condition for longer than men's, but their bodies deteriorate faster, according to a new study in [...]
