On this edition of the Sky News Daily podcast with Dermot Murnaghan, we discuss NASA’s launch of the Perseverance rover – the first leg of returning rock samples to Earth with the hope of finding microbial life and paving the way for humans to go to the planet. We look at why we go to
Donald Trump has suggested a delay to November’s presidential election, claiming it will be the “most inaccurate and fraudulent in history”. However, election dates are set by the US Congress and are enshrined in federal law – meaning they would require an act of Congress to change. There are also no constitutional provisions for a
NASA’s next-generation Mars rover Perseverance blasted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Thursday atop an Atlas 5 rocket on a $2.4 billion (roughly Rs. 17,974 crores) mission to search for traces of potential past life on Earth’s planetary neighbor. The next-generation robotic rover – a car-sized six-wheeled scientific vehicle – also is scheduled to deploy
NASA has successfully launched its new Perseverance rover to Mars, beginning a mission to search for signs of alien life on the planet. The Mars 2020 mission launched on the back of an Atlas V rocket, the most powerful currently in use by humanity, which took its payload to an altitude of greater than 250
Coronavirus is “bubbling up” in up to 30 areas across the UK, Boris Johnson has warned. The prime minister said levels of COVID-19 are “going down” in Leicester – the first city subject to a local lockdown – but Britons have to be wary of a “really damaging second wave”. “It’s absolutely vital as a
US tech firm International Business Machines on Thursday launched a research partnership with Japanese industry to accelerate advances in quantum computing, deepening ties between the two countries in an emerging and sensitive field. Members of the new group, which includes Toshiba and Hitachi, will gain cloud-based access to IBM’s US quantum computers. The group will
Tour operator Tui is to shut 166 high street stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland in the face of the downturn in travel caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Around 350 shops will remain following the closures, which the travel firm said was a result of changes in customer’s shopping habits, with the
It’s a familiar sight at Nigambodh Ghat, Delhi’s largest Hindu crematorium. A section of it carved out just for COVID-19-related deaths. Hurried last rites performed on a 65-year-old man who succumbed to the virus this morning. His loved ones have to bid a distant and hurried farewell – everyone deprived of a traditional ritual.
Pepper’s skill set includes making phone calls, identifying missing items in the kitchen and occasional aerobics instruction. Now, after a surge in loneliness among vulnerable groups during the coronavirus pandemic, this robot’s potential as a companion have earned her a role in a Scottish university’s assisted living experiment with artificial intelligence. Scientists at Heriot-Watt University
NASA’s latest Mars rover Perseverance launches Thursday on an astrobiology mission to look for signs of ancient microbial life — and to fly a helicopter-drone on another world for the first time. Take-off is scheduled for 7:50 am (5:20 pm IST) from Cape Canaveral, Florida on board a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. If
A sculpture depicting a dollop of whipped cream topped with a cherry, a fly and a drone has been unveiled at London’s Trafalgar Square. The installation of the Fourth Plinth – home to a rolling commission of public artworks – was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The dystopian artwork by British artist Heather Phillipson,
England suffered the highest levels of excess deaths of any country in Europe over the first half of 2020, the Office for National Statistics has said. But while England endured the largest overall increase in deaths, the report says Spain had the highest peak. Prime Minister Boris Johnson reacted to the news by saying there
6:33 PM ET For the past month, much of the talk at the MLS is Back Tournament has been about the players and staff living in the bubble, the self-contained, Truman Show-like environment designed to keep out COVID-19. But Charlie Lyon isn’t just living in the bubble, he’s also existing in a pool. This is
A Minister for Food Security is urgently needed to deal with the threat posed by COVID-19, Brexit and climate change, according to a cross-party group of MPs. Millions of people have struggled to access food as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, with the number of food bank users doubling during lockdown. The Environment, Food
The mysterious origins of Stonehenge’s giant sarsen stones have finally been uncovered. A sample of one of the megaliths taken by a maintenance worker in 1958 has revealed the 20-tonne stones come from West Woods – just 15 miles away from the site, near Marlborough. Robert Phillips worked for a Basingstoke-based diamond cutting business that
People with coronavirus symptoms in England will be told to self-isolate for 10 days instead of seven, according to reports. Health Secretary Matt Hancock is expected to announce the increase in isolation period on Thursday, but it is not clear if Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will adopt the same policy. Those who have come