The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has defended the UK from more than 700 cyber attacks in the last year alone, according to figures given in its annual review. The UK has been beset by cyber attacks since the outbreak of Covid-19 in March and the NCSC has been focusing its resources on the pandemic response. The … Read more
Scientists have created a patch made from rubbery electronics that can be placed directly onto the heart to collect data that can help treat heart disease. The flexible patch is capable of measuring electrophysiological activity, temperature, heartbeat and other indicators, all at the same time. The University of Houston team behind the project said their … Read more
Finnish telecommunications giant Nokia has been selected by Nasa to deploy a “space-hardened” 4G network on the surface of the Moon, as part of its plans to establish a sustainable human presence on Earth’s planetary satellite by 2028. Nasa’s ambitious ‘Artemis’ project aims to return humans to the Moon; to set up a long-term human … Read more
The engineering profession needs to do more to explain to the public how its work is related to science and the part played by ‘unknown unknowns’. Risk is in the news more than ever at the moment. Our collective behaviour depends on understanding it, but public debate reveals confusion that I believe needs to be … Read more
The UK Government has announced the establishment of a new apprenticeship designed to train space engineering technicians, equipping them with the technical skills needed for a career in the space industry. Currently, apprentices training for roles in the space sector gain qualifications as general apprentices or craft apprentices. The new scheme – which will begin … Read more
After months of extensive upgrades to its Deep Space Network dish in Australia, Nasa has made contact once more with the Voyager 2 probe, which had been flying solo since March. The Voyager 2 probe, which last year became only the second man-made object to leave the solar system after its sibling Voyager 1, can now only … Read more
A spider web-inspired solution made possible using 3D printing could provide unprecedented protection for smartphone screens in the future. A research team at Polytechnique Montréal, Canada, has demonstrated a fabric designed using additive manufacturing which they claim can absorb up to 96 per cent of impact energy without breaking. This could lead to the creation … Read more
Researchers are looking to recruit young people to use their MyMoodCoach app in order to assess the effectiveness of digital self-help apps. The app is designed to prevent anxiety and depression and improve wellbeing and brings together the latest research on self-monitoring, self-help techniques and cognitive behavioural therapy. The team from the University of Exeter … Read more
A new type of soil created by engineers at The University of Texas at Austin can pull water from the air and distribute it to plants, potentially expanding the map of farmable land around the globe to previously inhospitable places and reducing water use in agriculture at a time of growing droughts. The team’s atmospheric … Read more
IBM has announced that it will split into two companies by the end of 2021. It will concentrate on forward-facing services such as cloud computing and AI, and form a new company to manage legacy IT infrastructure. The new company will be created from IBM’s Managed Infrastructure Services, which belongs to its Global Technology Services … Read more