Science

French utility company EDF says operations in Somerset will start a year later as delay costs firm ‚¬2.5bn Britain €™s first new nuclear plant in a generation at the Hinkley Point C site will face further delay, at a cost of ‚¬2.5bn to the French utility company EDF. EDF said the first reactor at the site in Somerset will begin operations a year later than planned in 2030 €“ almost 13 years after construction work began €“ after a series of delays to the project. The latest delay will wipe almost £3bn from the French state-owned developer €™s accounts and take the total cost of building the nuclear plant to £35bn, or almost double the estimate of £18bn when it was given the green light in 2016.

Astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20, 1962, but he was known also for a succinct and profound quote, with which he elevated the idea of space travel to a metaphysical level. “To look out at this kind of creation out here and not believe in God is to me impossible," John Herschel Glenn Jr said after the second and last time he traveled to space in 1998. On his spaceflights, he said, he prayed every day — a seeming dichotomy as science and the concept of God are seen as adversarial ideas.

In 1974, Lt. Colonel Randall Lanning manned the launch controls that could deploy nuclear weapons in the event of a Soviet attack. He looks back at one night that's still etched in his memory.

Water samples are taken from the Potomac River in Maryland in January. A massive pipe that moves millions of gallons of sewage ruptured and sent wastewater flowing into the Potomac River northwest of Washington, D.C. Nathan Ellgren/AP hide caption In January, part of a decades-old sewer line in Maryland collapsed by the Potomac River. Over the following days, the broken pipe dumped more than 200 million gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac near Washington, D.C.

FILE - Eric Dane arrives at a promotional event for the series "Euphoria," in Los Angeles, April 20, 2022. Jordan Strauss/Invision via AP hide caption Eric Dane, the celebrated actor best known for his roles on "Grey's Anatomy" and "Euphoria" and who later in life became an advocate for ALS awareness, died Thursday. He was 53.

Morocco is facing mounting international scrutiny after animal welfare groups accused authorities of carrying out a large-scale cull of stray dogs as the country prepares to co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup. A joint investigation and advocacy campaign led by the International Animal Welfare and Protection Coalition (IAWPC) alleges that hundreds of thousands of dogs are being killed annually - and warns that as many as three million could ultimately be targeted in what campaigners have described as a “mass slaughter”. The claims, strongly denied by Moroccan authorities, have drawn global attention, including from Oscar-nominated actor Mark Ruffalo, who called the alleged plan a “moral failure”.

Kochi, An artery forceps was found inside the abdomen of a Punnapra native, five years after she underwent surgery at Alappuzha Medical College in Vandanam, relatives said on Friday. Usha Joseph was shifted to a private hospital in Kochi on Friday to undergo a procedure to remove the surgical instrument. According to relatives, Joseph underwent surgery for the removal of a uterine fibroid at the medical college on May 2021.

Every dawn in Bengaluru, pourakarmikas, with their bare hands take on the daily risk of sorting through the city’s rotting food, diapers and dust. The essential sanitation workers climb into garbage trucks and wade into piles of garbage. Their service is vital to the functioning of the “Silicon Valley of India,” but it is fraught with dangers they should not have to take.

Dane died on Thursday afternoon, 10 months after he revealed he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a type of motor neurone disease Eric Dane, an actor in hit shows Euphoria and Grey €™s Anatomy, has died aged 53, less than a year after he publicly revealed he had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Dane died on Thursday afternoon, his representatives announced in a statement. He first revealed in April that he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a type of motor neurone disease.

The first detailed genetic map of cancer in pet cats reveals striking similarities with human versions of the disease, possibly helping find new ways to treat cancers in both. Scientists analysed tumour DNA from almost 500 domestic cats, uncovering key genetic mutations linked with the condition. Cancer is one of the main causes of illness and death in cats, however, very little is known about how it develops.

This week, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested, Prince William spoke about understanding his own emotions, and an Amazon delivery van got stuck in the sea. But how much attention did you pay to what else happened in the world over the past seven days? Fancy some more?

Daffodils in the Vale of Glamorgan on Thursday. Spring is just around the corner A major change in the UK's weather pattern is heading our way. The brief spell of cold weather with frost, ice and hill snow is ending, with temperatures set to jump by up to 10C from Friday onwards.

The peace of lush, rural landscape in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province disguises the anxiety that is stalking the land. This is the epicentre of a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak that has – in the past year – swept across eight of the country's nine provinces, devastating animal herds, with many cattle being killed to halt its spread. Farmers are fearful that they could lose their livelihoods altogether as other countries take action and stop the import of South African animal products.

Residents in and around Bloomington were urged to take immediate cover after a Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) tornado warning was issued Thursday evening, per local time, with a heightened risk of destructive winds and life-threatening conditions. The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Indianapolis said the warning remained in effect until 7:30 pm EST and covered parts of Monroe County, including Clear Creek, Ellettsville and Trevlac. Officials estimated more than 136,000 residents were within the alert zone, along with 25 schools and three hospitals.

Lion DNA has been used to successfully prosecute poachers for the first time in the world, it has emerged. Wildlife crime experts have only just revealed how they were able to identify the individual animal from body parts found in a suspect's village, as they matched a profile on Zimbabwe's lion database. A blood sample had previously been taken from the male lion, which was being tracked by authorities in Hwange National Park - using a radio collar.

It is not unusual for avalanches to be in the news in the northern hemisphere at this time of year, the height of the annual ski season. But Tuesday's deadly incident in California, which took the lives of eight skiers and left one more unaccounted for, and the difficult situation in much of the Alps - where there have been more fatalities than usual this year - has put a spotlight on avalanches and how prepared winter sports enthusiasts should be for them. The two situations would seem to be very different.

The skiers who died in an avalanche in California's Lake Tahoe backcountry are said to have been part of a tight-knit group who often went on ski excursions together. Eight people died after an avalanche struck near Castle Peak in the Sierra Nevada mountains on Tuesday, and rescue teams are searching for a ninth who is presumed dead. Six members of the 15-person ski group have been rescued.

New Delhi: India’s full membership to the International Energy Agency (IEA) is in its final stages, Fatih Birol, executive director of IEA said on Thursday during a press conference on the agency’s ministerial meeting this week in Paris. IEA member governments unanimously agreed to move ahead on building deeper institutional ties with Brazil, Colombia, India and Vietnam – and to expand cooperation on critical minerals through the IEA’s Critical Minerals Security Programme, the IEA said. Key member governments include the United States, Japan, Germany, the UK, Canada, France, and Australia, with the European Commission.

Postponement of ACIP meeting this month comes as US pediatricians challenge committee’s legitimacy in court A meeting of the US vaccine advisory panel that had been planned for later this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reportedly been postponed amid legal challenges the panel is facing over its validity. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which provides guidance on who should receive specific vaccines, had originally been set to convene from 25 to 27 February, according to the CDC’s website. The postponement comes as health secretary and longtime vaccine critic Robert F Kennedy Jr has intensified efforts to reshape federal vaccination policy.

A single nasal spray vaccine could protect against all coughs, colds and flus, as well as bacterial lung infections, and may even ease allergies, say US researchers. The team at Stanford University have tested their "universal vaccine" in animals and still need to do human clinical trials. Their approach marks a "radical departure" from the way vaccines have been designed for more than 200 years, they say.