Space agency commissions €100m ClearSpace project after competitive bid processClearSpace-1 is planned for launch in 2025 and will be the first mission to remove an item of space debris from orbit. After a competitive bid process, the European Space Agency has awarded a service contract to a consortium led by the Swiss startup company ClearSpace, which is staffed by space debris experts from the...
Biochemist whose work was at the cutting edge of the understanding of protein structures, their function and evolutionTaxonomy – the classification of objects according to their relationships to one another – conjures up images of 19th-century amateur naturalists measuring fossils or counting the stamens of flowering plants.The biochemist Cyrus Chothia, who has died aged 77, took a taxonomic...
The Dutch justice system is cutting jail populations by offering specialist rehabilitation to people with mental illnessesWhen Stefan Koning, who has a history of psychosis, was found guilty of threatening a stranger with a knife, a long custodial sentence might have felt like the only answer.In fact, after a short spell in jail, he is back at his home in Amsterdam. Continue...
Reducing meat and dairy consumption will cut methane and allow forests to thriveLivestock production needs to reach its peak within the next decade in order to tackle the climate emergency, scientists have warned.They are calling for governments in all but the poorest countries to set a date for “peak meat” because animal agriculture is a significant and fast-growing source of global...
Researchers find no single hotspot but signs of owners releasing birds in health scaresTheir bright green feathers and unmistakable squawk make ring-necked parakeets a striking addition to British park wildlife, but the question of how the tropical birds were first introduced has been a subject of contention.One urban legend traces their origin to a pair released by Jimi Hendrix on Carnaby Street...