Funding for $5bn tour could be cut back Saudi focus now more on football and esport The future of LIV Golf is in doubt, with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund preparing to cut funding for the $5bn rebel tour. LIV executives were late arriving at the tour event in Mexico...
Andy Simpson, the unluckiest England rugby player in history, finally gets his Test cap
Longsuffering hooker, who warmed bench for 21 Tests and lost part of a thumb, is getting RFU recognition at last Initially, Andy Simpson thought it was a Saturday morning wind-up. Someone from the Rugby Football Union museum was phoning to tell him that, at the age of 71, he was...
Can you stop malaria crossing borders? One nation’s bid to wipe out the disease
Informal migration, plus climate change and rising numbers of cases globally, are complicating the tireless efforts of the landlocked African country to eradicate the killer disease The freezer is filled with blue-lidded tubes of cows’ blood, ready to be defrosted and used to feed the colony of mosquitoes. “Also, you...
Sperm whales’ communication closely parallels human language, study finds
Analysis shows whales’ coda vocalizations are ‘highly complex’ and remarkably similar to our own We may appear to have little in common with sperm whales – enormous, ocean-dwelling animals that last shared a common ancestor with humans more than 90 million years ago. But the whales’ vocalized communications are remarkably...
Hidden treasures: Spanish archaeologists discover trove of ancient shipwrecks in Bay of Gibraltar
Researchers identify wrecks at the bottom of the sea from as far back as fifth century BC, from Europe and beyond Spanish archaeologists exploring the bay that curves between the southern port of Algeciras and the Rock of Gibraltar have documented the wrecks of more than 30 ships that came...
Effect of ‘gamechanger’ Alzheimer’s drugs ‘trivial’, review concludes
Data assessed from 17 clinical trials of anti-amyloid drugs found no ‘meaningful effect’ on cognitive decline Drugs that have been hailed as a gamechanger for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease make no noticeable difference to patients, according to an extensive review. The analysis of clinical trials in people with mild...
The surprising value of boring chats, ‘super El Niño’ and Alzheimer’s evidence reviewed – podcast
Madeleine Finlay sits down with co-host and science editor Ian Sample to discuss three eye-catching stories from the week, including a review into the effectiveness of a new class of Alzheimer’s drug that was once hailed as a game-changer in slowing the progress of the disease. Also on the agenda...
Microsoft counters MacBook Neo with free Game Pass and Office bundle on Windows laptops
College students who purchase eligible Windows laptops before July 31 can receive a free year of Microsoft 365 Premium, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and a customized Xbox controller. Retailers including Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart, and Dell are leaning into the promotion, surfacing models designed to rival the MacBook Neo on......
Popular WordPress plugins backdoored after ownership change, putting thousands of websites at risk
A popular brand of WordPress plugins was recently weaponized to download and spread malicious code. The new, potentially massive supply chain attack was unveiled by Austin Ginder, a WordPress developer and founder of the WP hosting service Anchor. The entrepreneur found that the threat was already affecting some Anchor customers,......
Spotify launches physical book sales, expands audiobook features
Physical books may seem like an odd market for a tech-first company, but it is perhaps not as far-fetched once you dig in a bit. Spotify already offers audiobooks, and has grown its library from 150,000 titles to over 700,000 in just two years. Offering another way into books complements......