Science & Technology

A million-year-old skull from China has rewritten human evolution

It may have begun in Asia, not Africa, and much earlier than previously thought

Is the AI bubble history repeating itself? Ask a chatbot

The AI industry is run on hype and inflated expectations. But the numbers won’t always go up

Brain-training firm struggles to remember who it has worked with

Lovebrain claimed a dazzling array of global brands as clients. It wasn’t all true

The wheels have come off Musk’s monstertruck

It was touted as the future of motoring, but has proved to be a turkey in a stainless steel jacket

The machines that made Manchester

Within the city’s Science and Industry Museum, a whirling, spinning array of engines are still the stars of the show in a fine £18.9m makeover

Ten UK data centres could cancel EV emissions gain

Research has underlined the lack of transparent and reliable figures for expected emissions driven by data centre growth

Medical funding cuts could kill future breakthroughs

Slashed budgets on both sides of the Atlantic will hinder the kind of life-saving science that may soon cure Huntington’s

The party should rethink its manifesto

Labour made promises, but times have changed

Obituary: David Baltimore, the visionary virologist

‘Giant discoveries’ in molecular biology earned him a Nobel prize and a stellar reputation

Tech turmoil threatens investment drive in UK

Three sudden exits from the top of science and investment have raised fresh questions about Britain’s abilities to attract talent and capital

The millionaire guinea pigs risking death to live for ever

Firms offering untested ‘longevity’ jabs and therapies were once based in offshore free zones. Now a US state is relaxing the rules

The twins helping scientists break new ground

Genetically identical siblings can shed light on understanding mitochondria and aid research into treatment

Stop AI ‘companions’ destroying young lives

ChatGPT helped Adam Raine write a suicide note. I lost my sister to a website. Ofcom must curb the use of chatbots

Carbon dioxide: the stuff of life

Carbon dioxide may have caused the climate crisis, but a new study argues it is also the ‘miracle molecule’ that made Earth habitable

Robot games triumphs bring Chinese tech domination closer

Gold-medals galore in Beijing highlight another sector in which the rest of the world is falling behind China

‘AI will help our work but it’s not our colleague’

The personification of algorithms erodes what it means to be human

New breakthroughs turn the tide against cancer

Although the prevalence of some cancers is increasing, the condition is far less deadly than it once was

Nick Foster: ‘Predictions are mostly nonsense’

The high-flying futures designer tells the truth about the remarkable field in which he works