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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Technology
Jon Weeks and Rachelle Abbott

OPINION - Virgin Galactic’s first commercial spaceflight: Tech & Science Daily podcast

Virgin Galactic will launch its first commercial flight on Thursday, from a launchpad in New Mexico.

As part of the 90-minute flight the crew will carry out science experiments, such as measuring the air quality to inform future flights, but also to record how certain liquids and solids interact in microgravity.

The three man crew will be joined by an astronaut instructor, and will conduct 13 scientific research experiments in total.

It’s hoped a gene discovery linked to faster progression of multiple sclerosis could pave the way for the development of treatments, to tackle the life-long condition

Professor Stephen Sawcer from the University of Cambridge told Tech & Science Daily how this genetic evidence will help them secure funding from pharmaceutical companies, and how potential treatments could also translate to other conditions, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s Disease.

Scientists have been left baffled after a planet somehow avoided being engulfed by its dying host star.

The planet, called 8 Ursae Minoris b, is about the size of Jupiter and continues to exist, despite its host star transforming into a red giant.

For the first time ultra-low frequency gravitational waves have been seen by the human eye.

They were seen using six of the world's most sensitive radio telescopes after 25 years of observation, and they’re thought to have come from pairs of supermassive black holes found in the centres of merging galaxies.

And the rest

140 major brands are paying for ads that end up on unreliable AI-written sites, researchers are developing an AI tool that could speed up dementia diagnosis, the smart gloves that ‘could allow stroke patients to relearn to play the piano’, and are octopuses capable of dreaming?

Listen above, and find us on your Spotify Daily Drive or wherever you stream your podcasts.

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