More than 100,000 people are eager to make themselves at home on another planet. They’ve applied for a one-way trip to Mars, hoping to be chosen to spend the rest of their lives on uncharted territory, according to an organization planning the manned missions. The Mars One project wants to colonize the red planet, beginning in 2022. There are financial and practical questions about this venture that haven’t been clarified. […]

  Is it informative or worrying to know in detail what’s happening in our bodies? Dr Kevin Fong investigates how information is moving from doctor to patient – and what that means for the management of our health. There is a famous scene in the movie The Matrix where Keanu Reeves’ character, Neo, is offered the choice between a red pill and a blue pill. The former would open his […]

A Buddhist mob has attacked a mosque in the Grandpass area of the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, leaving at least five people injured. Buddhists and Muslims clashed after the attack, and police imposed a curfew in the area. Last month, a group of Buddhist monks had protested near the mosque, demanding it be relocated. In recent months hardline Buddhist groups have mounted a campaign against Muslim and Christian targets. Several […]

Six people have been killed in a volcanic eruption on a tiny island in Indonesia, officials have said. Mount Rokatenda, on the island of Palue some 2,000km (1,250 miles) east of Jakarta, spewed ash and rocks 2km into the air. Disaster officials said hot ash covered a nearby beach, leaving four adults and two children dead. The volcano had been rumbling since late last year, forcing the evacuation of hundreds […]

America’s foreign policy has gone into a tailspin. Almost every major initiative from the Obama administration has run into sharp, sometimes embarrassing, reverses. The U.S. looks weak and confused on the global stage. This might come as happy news to some opponents of the administration who enjoy seeing Barack Obama fail, but it shouldn’t. America’s failure in international strategy is a disaster-in-the-making for its allies and for the people who […]

Lightning is a discharge of static electricity that occurs when there is an imbalance in the electrical charge between the cloud and the earth’s surface. Put very simply, it is a giant electric spark in the sky – a very powerful one. A single bolt could be a billion volts. It can stop a person’s heart and cook their internal organs. On average three people die in the UK each […]

  Signs of economic recovery are popping up in Europe. But not in Greece. Stuck in recession for a sixth consecutive year, Greece reported a jobless rate of 27.6% in May, a new record high. The unemployment rate stood at 27% in April. Most worrying is the rate of youth unemployment. Almost 65% of Greeks aged 15-24 are unable to find work. The figures are adjusted to take account of […]

Even before the Snowden affair, US-Russian relations were in trouble. The interaction and body language between Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland in June was astoundingly tense. After a meeting on the sidelines of the summit, the two men sat on stage for a few snapshots, silent and sullen, until they made an effort for the rolling cameras, said a few words and forced […]

A suicide bombing at a funeral for a policeman in south-western Pakistan has killed at least 28 people including a senior police officer, police say. They say that the blast in Quetta, capital of Balochistan, also wounded at least 50 people. Quetta police chief Mir Zubair Mehmood told the AP news agency that the bomber detonated his explosives just before the funeral service was about to start. No-one has claimed […]

Experts found the carcass of a polar bear in Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean Lack of sea ice and seals forced the bear to search further afield for food Scientists claim climate change has reduced sea ice to record lows and is to blame for the death of this animal But some experts add that commercial trade in Canada is also to blame for falling polar bear numbers The skin […]