Emily Smith

Space 24 July 2019 NASA/SPLBy Leah Crane IT HAS long been a mystery why planets tend to spin in the same direction as their stars do. The answer may lie in whether they are made from huge rocks or pebbles. The standard model of planetary growth states that planets coalesce from giant rocks that are…

The US body that regulates sunscreen has declared that 12 of the 16 popular active ingredients might not actually be safe. Here’s what you need to know Technology 24 July 2019 Koen Suyk/Epa/ShutterstockBy Jessica Hamzelou SUMMER has returned to the northern hemisphere, and many will be reminded to slather on the sunscreen to keep sunburn…

Feather colour might make a difference to flight efficiencyHarry Collins / Alamy By Donna LuDark feathers may help birds fly more efficiently. They heat up the animals’ wings and the surrounding air, which might help increase airflow over the wing. Svana Rogalla and her colleagues at the University of Ghent studied several bird species to…

Light pollution leaves sparrows more vulnerable to West Nile virusClaude Mondestin / 500px/Getty By Chelsea WhyteExposure to artificial light at night has been shown to affect the immune responses of some birds, and now a study has found that light pollution can extend the infectious period of West Nile virus in house sparrows. “These birds…

Smooth sailingPlanetary Society/Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License By Leah CraneAn experimental spacecraft has set sail in space. LightSail 2, developed by space advocacy group The Planetary Society, has unfurled a solar sail and begun harnessing sunlight to propel itself through space. The craft was launched on 25 June aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Now,…

Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye thinks there’s a problem with how we anonymise dataBryce Vickmark By Donna LuTo protect privacy, data collected about us is sometimes anonymised before being used, such as for scientific research or by advertising companies wanting to hone their algorithms. The process involves removing personally identifiable information – including direct identifiers like names…

Staff at the US embassy in Havana reported a strange illness in late 2016ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty By Ruby Prosser ScullyThe brains of US diplomats who were struck down with a mysterious illness while stationed in Cuba appear to have undergone changes that are unlike any known disorder. The findings are tentative, but if borne out they…

Boris Johnson has been named the new leader of the UK Conservative PartyNEIL HALL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock By Adam VaughanWelcome to the latest “take out the trash day”. In the past 36 hours, the UK government has put out 42 consultations and papers, just days before parliament’s summer recess and Boris Johnson becomes prime minister. These are not insignificant…

Did life on Earth begin with jelly-like blobs?iStock / Getty By Michael MarshallBlobs of simple carbon-based compounds could have been the precursors to the first living cells. A new study suggests that such droplets could have formed quickly and easily on the young Earth. “We were able to find these interesting microdroplet structures that could…

Humans 22 July 2019 Ancient hominins used fire to cook foodMaor Winetrob / Alamy By Colin BarrasDid cooking make us human? New evidence from Kenya suggests early hominins were roasting meat over fires 1.5 million years ago. The discovery pushes back evidence of fire use by hundreds of thousands of years, and lends weight to…