25 articles from SUNDAY 8.12.2019

Blue Origin gets set to send thousands of postcards to space and back on test flight

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space venture says it's targeting Tuesday for the next uncrewed flight test of its New Shepard suborbital spaceship, with a cargo manifest that should warm kids' hearts for the holidays. The company said in a tweet today that it'll fly thousands of postcards that have been gathered through its educational program, known as the Club for the Future....

Starwatch: Saturn courts Venus in the evening sky

The two very different planets meet this week near the south-west horizon, before Saturn disappears behind the sunTwo very different planets meet in the evening near the south-western horizon this week. Venus is the nearest planet to the earth. It is almost identical to our planet in terms of size, yet its closer proximity to the sun has rendered it a hellish world, with surface temperatures...

How can you conquer ordinary, everyday sadness? Think of it as a person

New research suggests anthropomorphising your emotions can help you control them. But how do you actually go about it?In the Pixar film Inside Out, the emotions of an 11-year-old girl are personified as perky Joy, petulant Disgust and hulking Anger. Sadness – voiced by The American Office’s Phyllis Smith – is, predictably, a downer with a deep side-parting and a chunky knit. Amy Poehler’s...

Lucy in the Sky review – earthbound tale of an obsessed astronaut

Natalie Portman shines but Noah Hawley’s fact-based drama lacks the right stuffNatalie Portman stars in a drama that is loosely based on the case of Lisa Nowak, the Nasa astronaut who was disgraced after attacking the girlfriend of her ex-lover. The feature debut from Noah Hawley pushes the idea that, once someone has ventured into space, readjusting to life back on Earth can be a struggle. This...

Tigers, elephants and pangolins suffer as global wildlife trafficking soars

Dozens of species are now at risk but a conference this week will showcase new technology that could help stop the illegal tradeThe two young women who arrived at Heathrow in February 2014 en route to Düsseldorf were carrying nondescript luggage. Customs officers were suspicious nevertheless and looked inside – to find 13 iguanas stuffed into socks inside the cases. Astonishingly, 12 of the...

Gene editing will let us control our very evolution. Will we use it wisely? | Dan Rather

I’ve covered some of the biggest stories of our age, but this is the biggest and could change what it means to be humanWe live in a time when science and technology are having an impact on our society in more and more ways. And the decisions that shape how these new fields of knowledge develop ultimately affect all of us. Related: Human Nature review – quiet revolution that began in a yoghurt...