After moving from South Korea I struggled to fit in. But I began to see a new way of understanding empathy through debatingWhen I moved from South Korea to Australia at the age of eight, I learned the worst part of crossing language lines was adjusting to live conversation – to its rapid, layered rhythms and many about-faces. Once spun out, the best I could do was wait for a topic change or long...

It was not immediately clear if space agency will be able to make fixes in time to meet next backup launch date of MondayNasa called off its latest attempt to launch the groundbreaking Artemis 1 moon rocket on Saturday after failing to stem a fuel leak discovered during tanking. It was the second time in five days that technical issues had kept the spacecraft on the launchpad.Mission managers...

Remains from Chad desert provoke rancorous dispute over whether species was earliest to walk uprightIt is a dispute that has taken a long time to reach boiling point. Seven million years after an apelike creature – since nicknamed Toumaï – traversed the landscape of modern Chad, its means of mobility has triggered a dispute among fossil experts. Some claim this was the oldest member of the...

Four minutes of idle chat with a stranger could lead to new connections, a study by economists findsThe golden rule of small talk, as anyone who has worked behind a bar can testify, is don’t say what’s on your mind. Rule two, avoid any reference to politics, religion, money, death, health and sex. The price of a pint and the weather are safe bets, and can be discussed in idle chat night after...

Space agency to cause collision with Dimorphos to test if it can avert sci-fi fears of catastrophic impact with EarthIn a few weeks, Nasa controllers will deliberately crash their $330m Dart robot spacecraft into an asteroid. The half-tonne probe will be travelling at more than four miles a second when it strikes its target, Dimorphos, and will be destroyed.The aim of this kamikaze science mission...