Author: Andrew Rogers

Researchers say cosmic dust may explain how organic molecules reached early Earth.Thousands of tonnes of space dust hit Earth each year, mostly burning in the atmosphere.Some fragments survive as meteorites, carrying clues about star formation and chemistry.At the University of Sydney, PhD researcher Linda Losurdo recreated cosmic dust in a laboratory.She simulated dying stars by energising gas mixtures inside a vacuum tube.The process produced dust containing carbon-based molecules essential to life.Scientists hope this work explains how meteorites gained organic matter.The study appears in the Astrophysical Journal.

Rising shipping costs could push up prices for computers, machinery, and transport equipment this year, warns Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply.CIPS said cracks are forming in global supply chains as logistics, energy, and raw material costs surge.A late-2025 survey showed supply disruption fears at a two-year high among procurement leaders.Shipping and logistics face the steepest increases, with many reporting double-digit cost rises.Electronics and transport equipment prices are already climbing, fuelling inflation concerns for 2026.Geopolitical tensions and trade uncertainty are driving volatility across global markets.

West Ham United banned season-ticket holder Joshua Wood for five matches after he helped hold an anti-board banner.The club cited a breach of stadium rules, saying the banner exceeded permitted size limits.The letter made no reference to the banner’s message calling on owners to sell.Wood said he did not bring the banner into the ground and merely lifted it from under his seat.He claimed other fans asked him to help display it during protests against David Sullivan and Karren Brady.West Ham said the banner posed safety risks and denied targeting protest.Wood plans to appeal the ban.

AI-supported breast screening cut later cancer diagnoses by 12%, a major Swedish trial found.Researchers studied 100,000 women and compared AI-assisted mammography with standard double readings.AI flagged high-risk scans and reduced missed cancers after screening.The study, published in The Lancet, showed higher early detection and fewer aggressive cancers.Lead author Kristina Lång of Lund University urged careful rollout with human oversight.Cancer Research UK said the results were promising but need wider confirmation.

Google DeepMind launched AlphaGenome, an AI tool that helps identify genetic drivers of disease.The system predicts how DNA mutations disrupt gene regulation across different cells and tissues.AlphaGenome can analyse up to one million DNA letters at once.Researchers trained it using large public human and mouse genetics databases.The tool targets mutations linked to cancer, heart disease, autoimmune disorders, and mental illness.Scientists say AlphaGenome could speed up disease research and support new gene therapies.Experts call it a major advance in understanding the genome’s non-coding regions.

Amazon revealed a fresh round of global job cuts through an email mistakenly sent to staff.The message reached workers at Amazon Web Services and included a draft notice about layoffs.It wrongly stated that affected employees in the US, Canada, and Costa Rica had already been informed.The email was signed by Colleen Aubrey and referred to the cuts as “Project Dawn”.Amazon has not confirmed the new layoffs but cut 14,000 corporate roles in October.Chief executive Andy Jassy has warned AI may replace some white-collar roles.The news followed job cut plans from United Parcel Service, a major Amazon partner and rival.

Scientists have launched an AI-powered app called DinoTracker that identifies dinosaurs from fossil footprints.The system analyzes footprint shapes using eight key features and matches expert classifications about 90% of the time.Researchers from the University of Edinburgh and Helmholtz-Zentrum trained the AI on 2,000 unlabelled footprints to avoid human bias.Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team said the approach clusters prints more reliably than earlier methods.The app lets users upload footprints, compare similar tracks, and test shape variations.The results support earlier findings that some ancient tracks appear birdlike, though scientists caution they likely came from birdlike dinosaurs…

The US Securities and Exchange Commission dismissed its lawsuit against the Winklevoss twins’ crypto exchange after investors recovered all assets. Regulators cited full repayment to Gemini Earn users through the Genesis Global Capital bankruptcy process in 2024. The decision reflects a friendlier crypto stance under Donald Trump, who pledged broader digital asset adoption. The SEC charged Genesis and Gemini Trust Company in 2023 over an unregistered lending program. New York regulators later secured a settlement and banned Gemini’s lending services in the state. Gemini’s Nasdaq debut last year highlighted renewed institutional confidence in cryptocurrencies.

Coca-Cola has sued Vue Entertainment following the cinema chain’s decision to replace Coca-Cola with PepsiCo as its soft drinks supplier across Europe. The move ended a nearly 25-year relationship after Vue put the contract out to tender and selected PepsiCo in March last year for a deal running until at least 2030. Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Great Britain filed legal action to recover alleged unpaid debts linked to the contract’s termination. Vue acknowledged there were disputed amounts on both sides but said the issue involved less than £100,000. Vue’s founder and chief executive, Tim Richards, criticised the legal approach, saying the…

Google’s AI Overviews cite YouTube more often than any medical website when answering health-related searches, according to a new German study that raises concerns about how reliable these summaries are for users. Researchers at SE Ranking analysed more than 50,000 health queries made via Google searches in Germany and found that YouTube accounted for 4.43% of all sources cited by AI Overviews — the highest share of any single domain. By comparison, no hospital network, government health authority or academic institution came close. Other frequently cited sources included Germany’s public broadcaster NDR and medical reference sites such as MSD Manuals…