Science

Updated: 14:50 EST

The 2017 YZ4 asteroid was first spotted at Mount Lemmon Survey Observatory in Arizona and will be the 52nd to pass between Earth and the moon this year (stock image). Anything that flies closer than six million miles of our planet is a near earth asteroid and could cause severe damage were it ever to crash into Earth. The asteroid, which is 22.6 to 49 feet in diameter (7 to 15 metres), skimmed past Earth at 4.56pm GMT (11.56 ET) this afternoon at a distance of just 139,433 miles (224,000 km).

Details of Chinese 7,680mph hypersonic aircraft emerge

Last month, China conducted the first flight tests of its new hypersonic ballistic missile, revealing new insight on how it might operate in the real world. The DF-17 is a ballistic missile equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), which is said to be capable of achieving speeds of up to 7,680 miles per hour (12,360 kph) – or 10 times the speed of sound. In the tests, the missile’s payload flew roughly 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) in about 11 minutes with the HGV, though intelligence experts suspect it could one day achieve over 1,500 miles (2,500 km).

NEW The Falcon Heavy is expected to blast off early next year on an unmanned mission with a unique payload - Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla roadster car.

NEW Powercast's technology, set to be demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month, creates a coverage area similar to WiFi, to automatically charge devices over the air.

NEW South Korea's Communications Commission has asked for an explanation of the issue from Apple, while in France a consumer group has filed filed preliminary, legal complaints in court.

The new image shows Saturn's moon Enceladus drifting before the rings, which glow in sunlight.Just visible at the moon's south pole is a plume of water ice that spews from an underground ocean.

University of Exeter researchers found having an unpredictable boss prone to mood swings was worse for staff morale than a consistently moody manager (stock image).

With fears increasing that the bitcoin bubble is set to burst, prices are swinging up and down wildly, with the cryptocurrency shedding 18 per cent of its value in a single day last week.

Up to 30 fossolised eggs were found by construction workers on Christmas Day in the city of Ganzhou, which is known in China as the 'hometown of dinosaurs', according to Chinese state media.

Real-life Transformers: £50,000 folding electric car modelled on shape-shifting robots is developed in Japan

NEW Called 'Earth-1', the folding car (pictured) was developed by Tokyo-based firm Four Link Systems and was designed after the shape-shifting robots that feature in the popular anime series 'Mobile Suit Gundam'. The £52,000 ($70,000) concept vehicle is expected to gain approval to run on public roads soon, opening the way to public sales.

A psychiatrist from the University of New Mexico Children's Hospital has warned spending time apart helps our subconscious work out if our new love interest is the one (stock image).

Luciana Vega, an 11-year-old aspiring astronaut was revealed as the 2018 doll of the year on Thursday while 20 girls filled the Good Morning America studio wearing NASA jumpsuits.

A set of letters for sale at Sotheby's include two from the 35-year-old married captain to his mistress Emma Hamilton - and one where he complains about the behaviour of his wife, Fanny.

Happy days: Tim Cook has seen his pay go up (PA)

A bonus of 560,000 shares paid out in September added $89 million (£66 million) to Tim Cook's earnings, Cupertino-based company Apple disclosed in a regulatory filing.

The new section 'Recommended for You' contains three to five suggested posts and is rolling out on Android and iOS, reports suggest (stock image).

Researchers from Cardiff University interviewed people attending accident and emergency with injuries from violence in Cardiff, Blackburn and Leicester (stock image).

Rare intersex shark found off the coast of Taiwan

The intersex Pacific spadenose shark was caught in a fishing trawl in the southern Taiwan Strait, and landed at Xiamen, China, earlier this year. Measuring just 1.6 feet (0.5 metres) long and weighing 0.4 kg (0.79 lbs), the predator is one of only a handful of intersex sharks ever found, and the first of its species. At first it appeared to be a fully grown male, with a developed pair of penis-like appendages called claspers (file photo in inset) that extend from the pelvic fin. But a study of the animal's interns found it had a complete pair of ovotestes - gonads that contain both ovarian and testicular tissue. The Pacific spadenose shark is a close relative of the Silvertip (file photo).

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Doll unearthed as part of 'world's oldest toy collection'

A prehistoric doll (left image) with almond-shaped eyes made of soapstone - comprising mainly talc and designed for a Bronze Age child - has been unearthed in Siberia. Another plaything, a mythical dragon-like animal head (bottom right image), made from antler or horn, was found in the same grave of a small child in Siberia's remote Khakassia region. The finds have been added to what has been described as 'the oldest toy collection in the world' following a series of 4,500-year-old discoveries in the area. The collection features a group of ghoulish figurines (one of eight pictured top right) discovered with a baby's remains in a birch-bark cradle two years ago, which have been hailed as the oldest rattles ever found.

The move is part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's push to give the conservative kingdom a high-tech look. Both companies already sell products in Saudi Arabia via third parties.

More than a dozen new 'green' records were set this year for Britain's power sector thanks to rising solar and wind generation, figures from the Warwick-based National Grid show.

Rail passengers will get faster internet connections by 2025 under new Government plans. The faster Wi-Fi would mean that every passenger on a train could watch videos simultaneously.

Facebook is offering political parties support to help them win elections. The social media giant has set up a government and politics unit and had staff involved in Donald Trump's US election campaign.

Advances mean 44 per cent of current roles, generating wages of £290 billion in wages, could be automated, the London based Institute for Public Policy Research think-tank found.

A study on the Sonos Play:1 and Bose SoundTouch speakers from Trend Micro revealed a number of security ‘gaps’ that could give anyone access to the device from a remote location.

Elon Musk will send his Tesla car to Mars on SpaceX rocket

A tourist has got the first glimpse of to fairing of Elon Musk's megarocket loaded up with the car he hopes to blast to the red planet (right).  Scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral on the same pad as the Saturn V Apollo 11 moon rocket on its first unmanned mission next month, Musk has boasted it will have double the thrust of the next largest rocket in use. Earlier this week he revealed pictures of a the rocket's payload - carrying a cherry red Tesla roadster (left).  

More than 6,000 motorists have been caught at least twice for driving while distracted by using a mobile phone, in the past four years. Over 400 drivers were caught three times,

Weighing just 13g, the Zanco tiny T1 has a tiny 64 x 32 pixel display alongside its mini keypad. Measuring 1.9 x 0.8 x 0.5 inches, it can make calls, and send and receive texts  - but not much else.

Fingerprint-analysis software used by thousands of US law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, could be vulnerable to Russian hacking, it was claimed on Wednesday.

The Meteor-M - blasted off from Russia's Vostochny cosmodrome in the Far East. However, the rocket had been programmed for take-off from Baikonur - which Moscow leases from Kazakhstan.

All the lawsuits - filed in U.S. District Courts in California, New York and Illinois - seek class-action to represent potentially millions of iPhone owners nationwide.

Noah's Ark could be buried on Mount Ararat in Turkey

Previous research has claimed to have found traces of the biblical ship (right, artist's impression) on Mount Ararat (left), and now a US researcher has says he is convinced the vessel's remains are there. More than 100 scientists from around the world have come together as part of a three-day international symposium on Mount Ararat and Noah's Ark in Ağrı in Turkey. In 2010, a group of evangelical Christian explorers claimed to have found traces of the biblical ship on the mountain. But their research was widely dismissed by experts who said it lacked real evidence.

Lockheed Martin has been granted $110 million to develop low-cost subsonic cruise missiles that can fly in ‘swarms.’ Initially, the collaborative missiles will be demonstrated from the F-16 aircraft.

Residents of the Russian city of St Petersburg have been left baffled by mysterious blue snow that has fallen there, with many concerned it was due to toxic chemicals in the atmosphere.

Donning purple gloves, Dr Michael Lewis, a doctor based in Woodland Hills, California, tackled the unnamed patient's sebaceous cyst using an array of sharp surgical tools.

As AI continue to grow as conversationalists, experts say exchanges between humans and chatbots have begun to edge into ‘flirty’ territory, which can affect customers’ trust in the service.

In two studies, Michael Lynn, Professor of Food and Beverage Management at Cornell University, has found that tipping enhances restaurant customers’ overall satisfaction.

Researchers from Harvard Business School found that when a person is at the back of a queue the pressure sometimes causes them make decisions they later regret (stock image).

The 'headless chicken monster' of the Gulf of Mexico revealed: NOAA dive captures footage of bizarre deep sea creatures

A remotely operated vehicle exploring the region has captured a look at a bizarre sea cucumber as it fed on the seafloor, known as the ‘headless chicken monster.’ The so-called headless chicken monster (left), a sea cucumber called Enypniastes eximia, was spotted during Dive 11 of the NOAA Okeanos mission in the Gulf of Mexico. Before wrapping up the expedition for the year, the team also captured footage of a metallic-looking squid (top right), and a colony of pink ‘ice worms’ (bottom right).

A new virtual identification system is being tested in China and will be launched by the authority in January. People could use their digital card to travel, apply for credit cards or register a new business.

The Menlo-Park based firm behind the popular messaging platform has said it will not continue to issue updates on these operating systems, preferring to focus on iOS and Android.

A set of wooden slips found in the Chinese province of Hunan contain an order from emperor Qin Shihuang for a nationwide search for the elixir of life, along with replies from local governments.

FILE - In this Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, file photo three wind turbines from the Deepwater Wind project stand in the Atlantic Ocean off Block Island, R.I. Fishermen are turning a wary eye toward an emerging upstart: the offshore wind industry. New Bedford, Mass., fishermen say they're concerned about navigating a forest of turbines to get to their historical fishing grounds and getting trawling gear caught up on transmission cables on the seafloor. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

Fishermen dread the possibility of navigating a forest of turbines as they make their way to the fishing grounds that have made New Bedford the nation's most lucrative fishing port for 17 years.

This Nov. 21, 2017 photo, oysters grow on larger shells at the Earle Naval Weapons Station in Middletown N.J. Coastal communities around the world are planting oyster reefs to protect shorelines against the damaging effects of waves during storms, including the Navy pier that suffered $50 million worth of damage during Superstorm Sandy in 2012. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

Environmentalists say 'living shorelines' including oyster colonies are far preferable to, and cheaper than, armoring the coast with steel seas walls or wooden bulkheads that accelerate erosion.

So that's what it was! Incredible time-lapse footage shows Elon Musk's Space X rocket blasting off for the last time this year after causing 911 calls and a Twitter frenzy because it was thought to be an ALIEN UFO

A photographer from Arizona captured an incredible 40-second time-lapse video of the latest SpaceX launch last week from central California. With nearly 2,500 original images the video is made up of 1,315 images taken by Jesse Watson. The strange sight caused a stir amongst the residents of Southern California with a number of calls to 911 and a twitter frenzy erupting. Elon Musk fuelled speculation with a mischievous tweet referring to it as a 'nuclear alien UFO from North Korea'.

The AI Christmas songs are the latest results from research scientist Janelle Shane. It was trained on over 200 Christmas carols, from ancient, traditional songs to popular modern tunes.

We are able to distinguish speech due to a section of the right posterior temporal lobe, one of the four major lobes in a mammalian brain, new research from a German university has found.

Google's latest neural image assessment system (NIMA) is using AI to scan all the pictures you took on your phone for quality and then help choose the most attractive ones.

The world's largest cryptocurrency's rebound comes after falling nearly 30 per cent on Friday from an all-time high of $19,843 to $11,159.93 - losing more than a quarter of its value in a single day.

The Oklahoma Geological Survey reports the number of quakes of at least that magnitude during 2017 was 294 through mid-December, compared to 624 total during 2016.

From late nights socialising to excited children waking us up early, our sleep can take a hit at Christmas. The test from Dublin-based company Easca Mattress can rate your driving reaction time.

Bronx Zoo reveals its new arrivals in 2017

Ranging from a rare gelada (top right), the only one bred in a US zoo, to a colony of little penguins (bottom left) and a snow leopard, the The animals are not only attracting big audiences, but also helping safeguard their species future, the wildlife conservation society, which runs the zoo, says. The WCS operates five wildlife parks in New York City and works in nearly 60 countries and across the world's ocean saving wildlife and wild places.

EXCLUSIVE: Dr Martin Pracher, a German lecturer in technical art history, was taken aback to find that Salvator Mundi had changed, according to photographs taken then and now.

Roscosmos is currently reviewing plans for a five-star hotel on board the ISS. The 'orbital suite' will feature four cabins with personal portholes so tourists can look down on Earth.

The large white raptors have descended on the Great Lakes region and northeastern U.S. in huge numbers in recent weeks, allowing researchers to study them and fit trackers.

NASA shared an image of an asteroid that appears to have a snowman imprinted on its surface, thanks to three ‘well-placed impacts’ stacked atop each other. t was captured by the Dawn craft.

The findings, made by researchers at the Earth institute at Columbia University in New York, study projects that in coming decades the effects of high humidity will lead to heat related deaths

A new species of marine spider that only emerges at low tide in Australia has been named after the reggae music legend Bob Marley. Unlike other spiders, these intertidal species are truly marine.

What has an elastic bend but is hard enough to stop a speeding bullet? Diamene, say scientists, a new material that's been created using two layers of graphene at the The City University of New York.

The birth of our solar system: Hypnotic animation reveals how a stellar nursery could have formed in the 'wind bubble' of a massive dead star

Our solar system may have been born in a massive bubble around an ancient dead star, according to a new theory. Scientists say stellar wind from a giant type of star known as a Wolf-Rayet could have created a bubble with a dense shell, where dust and gas became trapped before condensing into stars. Supernovae of these stars, which burn the hottest of all stars, are known to produce certain materials that were abundant in the early solar system.

A new powerful virus has been found that can mine cryptocurrency off a smartphone and shut down its internet services, according to the Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab.

Apple customers from Los Angeles have filed a lawsuit with the US District Court for the Central District of California accusing the firm of interfering with their devices without consent.

Shoppers are expected to spend over £160 million ($214 million) today on their last big shop before Christmas in the London-based retailers stores and website, but a glitch may cut into this figure.

This is the moment Santiago residents thought they were witnessing a UFO dance around the sky. The Chilean city is the perfect spot to view the sky due to its dry air and clear skies.

Experts at chemical company Kao Corporation in Tochigi, Japan, found nutmeg acted on the same cold-sensitive receptor as menthol It could be used to produce longer-lasting toothpastes and gums.

Users can track his progress with The North American Aerospace Defence Command, which follows Father Christmas as he leaves his top-secret toy factory in the North Pole this Sunday.

David Adger, of Queen Mary University of London, has investigated what language the famous green character would have been speaking after he was born.

Researchers from University College London found a change in a part of DNA , which they named EFC#93, suggests early warning signs of women developing life-threatening breast cancer.

Fisherman reveals terrifying 'alien creatures' of the deep

The Murmansk-based fisherman Roman Fedortsov has revealed a trove of terrifying catches, from eight-legged arthropods to fish with dagger-like teeth. These creepy images could make you think twice before dipping your toes at the beach again. These incredible creatures live in the 'twilight zone' of the ocean. This is the area between 660 to 3,300 feet (200 to 1,000 metres) below the surface which is known as the Mesopelagic zone. Some of these strange fish baffled even Mr Fedortsov. Pictured clockwise from top left; unidentified fish; an Angler fish; unidentified fish; unidentified fish; bearded sea devil and a frilled shark.

The feature is available through the app's built-in messaging service, called Direct, and is available as part of the latest update for iOS in the Apple App Store and for Android in Google Play.

Researchers from Otago University in Finland highlight a recent study in Finland that found both religious and non-religious people responded the same way to the idea of God (stock).

Toshiba Corp. unveiled a pan-tilt camera which it jointly developed with the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning (IRND), to inspect the interior of the damaged primary containment vessel of Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 2 in Yokohama, Friday, Dec. 22, 2017. The device shown to media Friday is 13 meters (43 feet) long and designed to give officials a deeper view into the nuclear plant's Unit 2 primary containment vessel, where details on melted fuel damage remain largely unknown. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

The snake-like device is designed to give officials a deeper view of the Fukushima nuclear plant following its triple meltdowns after the 2011 quake and tsunami.

Prague's Karlovy Lazne Music Club has employed a specially adapted former automotive industry robot as a DJ in the popular nightspot. It's shaped like a giant arm capped with a pincer.

Esther Beadle, 29, from Newcastle who has been single for 18 months put Initio's new scent Psychedelic Love, £190, to the test on a night out to find out if it really lives up to its promise.

Bina48 successfully completed the course at Notre Dame de Namur Universit, in Belmont, California. participating in class discussions via Skype, before attending a final session in person.

The price of Bitcoin is falling fast (PA)

The price of Bitcoin has fallen from nearly $20,000 earlier this week to around $12,000 as steam appeared to be running out of its year-end rally, though it is still well up from January's $900.

The giggling gorilla! Adorable moment orphaned ape laughs as she's tickled by one of her rescuers 

This is the moment an orphaned baby gorilla rescued from cruel animal traffickers starts giggling uncontrollably while being tickled. Lulingu, whose parents were killed when she was just eight months old, can be seen laughing while playing with one of her rescuers at a sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The tiny ape rolls around in excitement and can be heard grunting as the carer tickles her under the armpits.

Located 530 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Grus (The Crane), pi1 Gruis is a cool red giant. Our sun will swell to become a similar red giant star in about five billion years.

The bureau did not name any specific toys or brands, but it said any internet-connected toys with microphones, cameras or location tracking may put a child's privacy or safety at risk.

The research, led by a team from the University of East Angila, worked with the Norfolk-based project Sing Your Heart Out. It found group singing improved mood and well-being.

Scientists used observatories around the world, including from Hawaii using the Pan-Starrs telescope, to make findings about the strange object detailed in a newly published study.

Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology and Rice University discovered particles that have no mass, but move extremely slowly. They say it could be used for quantum computers.

Tom Rutledge, the chief executive officer of Charter Communications, is leading the charge to crack down on password sharing for TV streaming.

Can YOU tell what's real? Amazing video reveals a mind-bending optical illusion that makes flat objects look 3D

Not everything on this table is real, and what you’re actually seeing is a simple ‘anamorphic’ illusion created by Sage Hansen from Texas. The moment you move, the image becomes distorted and the viewer can see it is an illusion. Leonardo da Vinci was the the earliest known modern artist to use anamorphosis in 1485.

FILE - In this Tuesday, April 18, 2017, file photo, a conference worker passes a demo booth at Facebook's annual F8 developer conference, in San Jose, Calif. Facebook says it is changing how it identifies "fake news" stories on its platform to a more effective system. The social-media network had put "disputed" labels on stories that fact-checkers found false. Instead, now it will bring up "related articles" next to the false stories that give context from fact-checkers on the stories' problems. Facebook says that in its tests, fewer hoax articles were shared when they were managed this way. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)

The social-media network had put 'disputed' labels on stories that fact-checkers found false.Now it will bring up 'related articles' next to the false stories that give context from fact-checkers on problems.

The research, led by Columbia University, suggests that weather shocks in countries around the world have increased applications by asylum seekers hoping to enter the EU.

Increasingly iPhone users in China - a country of more than a billion people - are concerned about their iPhone X's security features. Pictured is a son unlocking his mother's iphone using Face ID.

New 3D sensing and AR functions expected to come to the iPhone's rear camera in 2019 will require more power consumption - prompting Apple to find ways to increase battery capacity.

A global study found a rise in sex-related Google searches over the festive period. These peaks broadly corresponded to an increase in births nine months later, according to Indiana University.

The study, by an academic at Oxford University, is based on diary entries from eight to 18-year-olds, gathered in 2000 and 2015, on how they spend their time (stock image).

The photo posted to Slashleaks suggests the device will have a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner just beneath the camera, correcting an issue in the current line-up that has frustrated many.

Researchers from the University of Twente in Enschede, Netherlands, developed shoes fitted with laser beams that create an obstacle which patients with Parkinson's will step over.

Archaeologists unearth 5,000-year-old eyeliner in Jericho

Archaeologists have discovered the remarkable remains of 5,000-year-old makeup at one of the world’s oldest cities. A decades-long dig at Tell es-Sultan, led by researchers from Italy and Palestine, has uncovered traces of manganese oxide inside ancient mother of pearl shells (pictured center) – and, they say this was once the basis of a substance used as eyeliner. The team has also found countless other artifacts that stand as testament to the growth of Jericho and its interactions with neighboring cities spanning centuries, including the remains of a child buried (left) with jewelry, scarabs (right) and ancient perfume jugs.

Volcanic eruptions could help cool down the planet next year, the Met Office has said. This is because a weather event called La Nina – cooler than average sea temperatures in the south Pacific.

Co-founded by former Apple and NASA employees, Ripcord makes a radical robotic digitization system that uses AI to do everything from removing staples to scanning and shredding.

The decline of the much-loved greenfinch is caused by a widespread and severe outbreak of a disease called trichomonosis, that was first seen in finches in the UK in 2005.

Experts have warned that the higher number of petrol cars hitting British roads compared to diesel threatens to derail the Government’s ambitious climate change targets.

Even now, with bitcoin up 1,600% since the start of the year, I do wonder about buying some. The reason being that I suspect we aren’t at the top of the classic bubble chart yet.

Researchers in Germany have found that after getting into a fight, crows attempt to 'kiss and make up' by touching and preening each other - even if it's with a relative stranger.

Giphy's 25 most popular GIFs of 2017

Giphy has released its round-up of the most popular GIFs of the year, and though some are no-brainers, others may come as a surprise. The website announced that 300 million people share over two billion of the moving image files every day, but not all GIFs are created equal. Some seem to tap into universal truths better than others, making them go-tos to express particular emotions. Others are just cute.  But one thing that every GIF in the top 25 have in common? Each was shared at least 32 million times this year.

The tiny animals, which will weigh just half a kilogram (one pound) when fully grown, have been pictured safely tucked away in an underground burrow at Antwerp Zoo.

Nigel Lang, 49, form Sheffield, pictured, was detained and taken in for questioning for four hours in July 2011 when police wrongfully arrested him on suspicion of downloading child abuse images.

New research by Liverpool University suggests animals are four times more likely to get ill in the run-up to Christmas due to greater accessibility to chocolate.

Researchers from the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy, found pregnancy scans reveal foetuses show a dominance for their right or left hand in the womb.

Josh Daly, from Bristol, was born without his left hand, but his 3D-printed version has arrived just in time for Christmas. Now he can pull crackers and open presents with his sister Eve for the first time.

The Foreign Secretary, who arrived in Moscow yesterday, said the UK 'cannot accept' Russia's 'destabilising' cyber activity against the West and said Britain is 'prepared' to launch retaliatory attacks.

The World Health Organisation will include ‘gaming disorder’ in its list of illnesses for the first time next year. It has decided to classify excess gaming as a mental health condition.

Is your phone listening to your every word you say?

We all know ‘targeted advertising’ has been prevalent for some years now, via our social media apps and search engines. Facebook was one of the first to introduce it four years ago. It’s no big secret: go on the John Lewis website and choose a blouse, or Google Nigella’s smart eye-level oven, and the next time you log on to Facebook or Instagram, there’s a good chance they’ll pop up as adverts there. But when writer Jen Lewis saw an advert on Facebook of a woman wearing exactly the same clothes she was at that moment (left and right), she started to believe businesses snooping on customers one step too far.

The Independent Schools' Bursars Association, based in Basingstoke, says that the cyber-attacks have increased in severity in recent months, with one parent paying £70,000 ($94,000) to hackers.

A four-year trial on the gel will be carried out in April. The method, devised by Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, has already been shown to be effective in an initial 6-month study.

Scientists at the University of Toronto have re-evaluated the ancient species 'Habelia optata', finding it belongs to the group of invertebrate animals called the arthropods.

Russian boffins with clipboards and laptops watch on as the poor animal squirms inside a water tank before the lid is finally opened and the upset pup is dragged out by its paws.

Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion said there was a seven to 40 per cent chance the island of Hokkaido could be hit by a quake exceeding 8.8 magnitude in 30 years.

NASA picks two finalists in space exploration competition

NASA has picked two finalists to determine what its next missions will look like. One will search for signs of alien life on Saturn's moon Titan, pictured right, while the other will take samples from a comet, pictured top left. The missions were chosen under NASA's New Frontiers competition programme, aimed at launching a robotic exploration into space in the mid-2020s based around the research priorities of the wider scientific community. The concepts were chosen from 12 proposals that had been submitted starting as of December of last year. NASA will choose one winner from its New Frontiers programme in July 2019.

Researchers from the University of York directly observed microbial activity in Arctic and Antarctic snow for the first time, revealing bacteria remain active even in the harsh environment.

In the highest-quality image yet, researchers have revealed a look at the 2.3 light-year-long filament, showing how it appears to curve in a way that points right at the black hole, Sagittarius A.

Magic Leap's 'mixed reality' Lightwear goggles are tethered to a tiny computer that can clip to your pocket. According to the firm, the Creator's Edition will go on sale next year.

Nick Pope, former head of the Ministry of Defence's UFO project based in London, claims that the scans may have 'awoken the intelligence inside,' and aliens may now be watching our every move.

Apple says the software update is actually prolonging the life of the phone and stopping them from shutting down as their batteries age and become less effective.

Amazon recently filed patents for two potential services, titled 'AmazonTube' and 'OpenTube' that could rival Google's YouTube.

Scientists from the Universities of Bristol, Cardiff, and Southampton have revealed how some regions in the Game of World realm might not be very different than places on Earth.

DARPA is working to build a new, Rubik's cube-like software that would render a computer virtually 'unhackable' by transforming computer circuits into 'unsolvable puzzles.'

Elon Musk reveals his Dragon Heavy megarocket

The vast rocket, which is ultimately three Falcon 9 rockets linked together, will have the combined thrust to eventually launch 140,000 pounds (63,500kg) of cargo into orbit. 'Falcon Heavy to launch next month from Apollo 11 pad at the Cape. Will have double thrust of next largest rocket. Guaranteed to be exciting, one way or another,' Musk originally posted. 'Payload will be my midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing Space Oddity.

Tech company Choosey have tried to fuse tradition with technology by launching printed Christmas cards with personalised videos that require a phone or a tablet to use.

A team of geologists setting out to study volcanic rocks on Scotland's Isle of Skye instead discovered evidence of a 60 million-year-old meteorite impact.

Bill Buchanan, a cryptography expert from Edinburgh Napier University, says some websites are 'cryptojacking' unsuspecting users' computers to mine bitcoin.

Thursday's vote means that internet service providers will be able to control whether users can access online pornography based on the amount they are paying.

Incredible images of an Air Force jet (pictured) passing in front of the sun has revealed how NASA will visualize shockwaves of the future supersonic X-plane.

Technology experts have also warned that North Korea's cyber army is doubly lethal because there is little chance to hit back against it given its lack of connectivity.

While the door was first discovered in 2010 in Tiberias, archaeologists from the Hebrew University's Institute of Archaeology have only now revealed it to the public now.

Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson battle heats up

The battle of the billionaires between Jeff Bezos (left), Richard Branson (middle) and Elon Musk (left) looks set to finally blast its first people into space next year.  Speaking at the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference in Colorado, Jeff Ashby, a former NASA astronaut who is director of safety and mission assurance for Jeff Bezos's space firm Blue Origin, said the firm is now 'a year out' from human flights. It comes as Richard Branson claimed in October he will travel to space on his Virgin Galactic craft within six months.

In this Monday, Dec. 18, 2017, photo, Pokemon Go is played at a park in San Francisco. Pokemon Go is unleashing its digital critters in Apple's playground for augmented reality, turning iPhones made during the past two years into the best place to play the mobile game, according to the CEO of the company that makes Pokemon Go. (AP Photo/Michael Liedtke)

An upcoming game update from Niantic relies on built-in Apple software called ARKit that gives the iPhone's new ways to serve as a portal into augmented reality.

Three psychology experts at Bath and Dhaka Universities break down the intriguing phenomenon of the right-side head tilt when we kiss.

The new treatment, pioneered by Harvard University researchers, used a technique called Crispr CAS-9, which modifies DNA in living cells. Deafness is genetic in over 50 percent of cases.

These hilarious online ripostes and conversation threads show that the internet can bring out the witty and surreal side of the internet, not just the unpleasant trolls.

A photographer in Kelly, Wyoming was in for a surprise when she stumbled across a bizarre wall of snow that appeared to be moving towards her.

California-based Elon Musk quickly deleted the tweet, but not in time to stop some of his 16.7 million global followers from noticing and sharing the message via the social media site.

Eating at least one serving of salad or leafy greens every day may delay brain aging in older people, helping them to retain better memories and cognition, according to a new Rush University study.

World's largest plane with a wingspan longer than a FOOTBALL FIELD taxis down the runway for the first time ahead of its 2019 test flight

Stratolaunch used the aircraft’s six Pratt & Whitney turbofan engines (bottom) to conduct a low speed taxi test (top right) at the company’s facility at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. Stratolaunch successfully travelled down the runway at 25 knots (28 miles per hour/45km/h). Once low-speed taxi tests have been safely completed, the company will begin the next phase of taxi testing, which will include increased speeds. Once testing has been completed, the aircraft (top left) will be used to launch satellites and other objects into space. This could include a Dream Chaser spaceship, which could act as a mini-shuttle to reach low Earth orbit destinations and return astronauts or payloads to a runway within 24 hours.

Scientists from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln showed men images of women and found that after drinking alcohol they were likely to look at their chests and waists than faces (stock).

China is set to open its first solar motorway that can generate electricity under sunlight. The two-kilometre-long road contains weight-bearing solar panels and is paved with transparent concrete.

Internal emails between several big names at San Francisco-based Twitter have been leaked online, and show that they all have conflicting ideas of what verification means.

The peach stones were found nearly 14 feet (4.3 metres) below the current surface in Saint Mark's Basicilia (stock image), Albert Ammerman at Colgate University in Hamilton said.

The Byzantine-era building, uncovered in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, may have once served as a meeting ground for ancient pilgrims, scientists said.

The chilling items, set for auction in Ashford, Kent, include a rare German 'sawback bayonet' blade that caused such horrendous wounds it was banned under the 1929 Geneva Convention.

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University used specially designed mini treadmills and swimsuits to study how hatchlings cope with disorientation. They found they're 'crawling machines.'

Incredible NASA image shows 'glowing' Antarctic iceberg

NASA’s airborne Operation IceBridge mission has captured a stunning image of an Antarctic iceberg surrounded by an otherworldly blue halo. At first glance, the striking neon color appears artificial – but, according to the space agency, the submerged layer of the eroded iceberg truly is ‘the bluest of ice.’ The remarkable effect was spotted during a flight to Victoria Land, as the aircraft passed over Antarctica’s McMurdo Sound.

According to Sinolink analyst Zhang Bin, shipments could be as low as 35 million in first quarter – roughly 10 million less than previously estimated. Apple will also slash sales forecast to 30 million units.

New figures from Bloomberg show that the world's 500 richest people saw their wealth expand this year from $4.4 trillion to more than $5.3 trillion.

Professor David Nutt of Imperial College says alcosynth will be the new booze within 10 or 20 years, it's said. The man-made alternative has the same effects but doesn't damage your health.

Supersonic passenger travel, which died out with the Concorde's demise in 2003, will make a comeback by mid-2020s if three U.S.-based companies can make jets quiet and efficient enough.

A killer whale calf is believed to have died in agony after being blown ashore by the ferocious 90mph gales of Storm Caroline. It was found lifeless on a Shetland shoreline.

Most mainstream car maker currently looking to ramp-up driverless car development in preparation for the coming years, but they may find the British market the most difficult to crack.

The picture was taken in July on Salisbury plain and shows six British Army snipers camouflaged in the greenery. The Household Cavalry tweeted the challenge on Christmas Day.

If Elon Musk had peered out of his California office window last week he might have caught a glimpse of the new electric car that's set to challenge his Tesla brand's market dominance.

It seems this little plastic ship was discarded in a town or city close to Britain’s east coast, for eventually — perhaps via a gutter or stream — it found its way into the North Sea.

Schmidt, who joined Google in 2001 to act as 'adult supervision' for founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, will become a technical advisor to the company while continuing to serve on its board.

Nearly 1,000 pieces of litter are discarded for every 100 metres of coastline – with single-use containers most at fault according to new research by the Marine Conservation Society.

The terrified 10-month-old ape, who was being offered for sale as a pet in Cameroon, had been kept tied to a chain at night. Now he is enjoying life with three other apes at a rescue centre.

Fibre optic cables could be laid along England’s busiest motorways to beam live travel information to car dashboards in the future.

AE1 vanished without a trace on September 14, 1914, with 35 British and Australian sailors on board off the coast of Papua New Guinea, until its wreck (pictured) was discovered this week.

NHSquicker has been launched by the Health and Care IMPACT Network, a collaboration between the NHS across Devon and Cornwall and academics from the University of Exeter.

According to new NASA research, heat created by the gravitational pull of moons formed in large collisions could be enough to extend the lifetimes of these subsurface oceans.

Emotional viewers of the BBC One programme took to Twitter to express their dismay at the state of the oceans after a pilot whale was filmed cradling her dead baby round the ocean.

University of Arizona researcher Keith Meyers analyzed annual county level fallout patterns across the US. He found the amount of deaths from 1951-1973 could be as much as 695,000.

NASA has captured the highest-resolution images yet of a massive asteroid that skimmed past Earth earlier this month. Asteroid 3200 Phaethon is now known to be 3.6 miles (6 kilometers) wide.

When it comes to popularity on Instagram, New York rules the roost. It's the most Instagrammed city and dominates the location rankings, too, with Times Square and Central Park at No2 and No3.

With a wingspan of 38.8 metres (127 feet) and powered by four turboprop engines, the AG600 aircraft is capable of carrying 50 people and can stay airborne for 12 hours.

Experts speculate the gold coin, found in Monks Kirby, Warwickshire, may have been dropped by one of Richard's soldiers fleeing the pivotal Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485.

Technicolour waters in Cambridgeshire appear to have been caused by a toxic leak from a local business, an investigation has revealed.

Inspired by his fear of being buried alive, composer Frederic Chopin asked that his heart be removed from his body in Paris, to be enshrined in his native Poland.

The craft has been developed by BAE Systems, in conjunction with the University of Manchester, who has announced the successful completion of the first phase of flight trials.

The quiz has left internet users from around the world scratching their heads. The challenging questions test your numerical and linguistic skills, and ability to problem solve.

Two Canadian amateur explorers discovered 15,000-year-old caves just 30 feet underneath the surface of Montreal, it was revealed on Tuesday.

Joe Nadeau, principal scientist at the Pacific Northwest Research Institute in Seattle, believes eggs are an active player in reproduction and have a control over their offspring.

Research company Flashlight, which released the report, said the situation is so worrying that one American bank has banned buying flights in Russia using its reward scheme.

The 'AI child' created by Mountain View-based researchers from Google is proof machine-made programmes are now more accurate than ones created by humans.

The International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled to fly over the UK at around 4:40 pm GMT (11:40am ET) on December 19, and will appear as a bright streak in the night sky.

The Exo-K9 exoskeleton is a 3D printed mask for dogs with injuries to their jaw. It was developed by veterinarians and biomedical engineering students at the University of California, Davis.

British spy agencies are to use computer algorithms to keep tabs on 20,000 former terror suspects because they don't have the manpower to physically watch all of them at once.

Researchers from the University of Birmingham have tested a new tool on a sample of 400 apps, and found that several banking apps had a critical vulnerability.

The space rock which floated into our solar system has withstood the intense heat of the sun because it is coated in a special crust, a new study from the University of Belfast suggests.

Villagers in China were left baffled by a strangely shaped cloud that appeared in the sky last week. Incredible footage captured on phone shows the orange-hued cloud floating in a clear sky.

The company behind the technology, Shanghai-based Yitu Technology, said Dragonfly Eye scans images from the country's national database. It is currently being used in Shanghai.

Based on photographs released by North Korea, analysts have determined the Hwasong-15 - an ICBM launched yesterday - is taller, wider and capable of carrying a much bigger payload.

iPhone maker Apple prevailed in the US Supreme Court a $120 million patent suit against Samsung, one of several legal battles between the tech giants

The US justices let stand without comment a 2016 appeals court verdict reinstating the award for Apple, which sued Samsung over patents for 'slide to unlock' and other features on smartphones.

Stunning footage of peccaries in Arizona captured what appears to be mourning, as a herd repeatedly visited the body of a dead peccary, sniffing it, nuzzling it, and protecting it.

DigitalGlobe, a satellite-imaging company, released stunning images on Thursday of some of 2017’s biggest events as seen from space, like the August hurricanes that hammered Texas.

Researchers from the Global Wildlife Conservation found the new species in Kaieteur National Park and the Upper Potaro area in Guyana – parts of an intact forest landscape.

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of 'large scale engineering' at the Roman port of Lechaion, on the Corinthian Gulf, Greece.

It is controlled using small sensors in the fingers, and a demonstration video shows it pinching and gripping, with each finger moving independently.

These close-up shots of Jupiter (pictured) were taken during a Nasa space probe and capture swirling clouds in the planet's northern and southern hemispheres.

Sound engineers from San Francisco-based firm Charles M. Salter Associates, explored the mechanism of exploding eggs as part of expert witness testimony (stock image).

The find (left) was made in the coastal city of Ashdod, by a team of researchers from Tel Aviv University and Leipzig University.

After an unusually warm October, Britain could be facing a 'full La Nina event' that brings both a White Christmas and puts the nation at risk of a flu pandemic.

Experts at Las Cumbres Observatory in Goleta, California, have been studying an event known as iPTF14hls which appeared for more than 600 days, six times longer than others of its type.

The image was taken on October 24 when Nasa's Juno spacecraft was 20,577 miles (33,115 kilometres) above the tops of the clouds of the planet.

The tanks that fought epic duels in the North African desert, among European towns and in the jungles of Asia have been brought stunningly to life. Among the stunning vehicles are the infamous Tiger Tanks.

The unidentified fishing vessel, which is marked with Japanese lettering, was found within the Arcadia Beach State Recreation Site in Oregon and covered in gooseneck barnacles.

Known as a 'moonbow', the hypnotic phenomenon was captured from the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides by a half American half Italian photographer Guiseppe Petricca.

This is the latest creation by London-based Land Rover and Range Rover customiser Kahn Designs and it laughs in the face of ice, snow and just about everything you'd encounter on and off road.

Tony Ferguson had been enjoying a trip to Nottingham with a friend when the pair visited the 500 caverns in the City of Caves that lie below the Broadmarsh shopping centre.

Scientists from Santa Clara-based Nvidia have combined a pair of artificial intelligence system to generate photo-realistic faces of 'fake' celebrities.

The images and video were created by researchers from Durham University, using the skull of the skeleton that was found in Durham in 2013.

Samantha went on sale in London this summer, but demand for the bot has become so high that its designers are looking to go into mass production in Wales.

Stunning photos show indigenous Kamaiurá people diving underwater and swimming under a waterfall in the Amazonian basin in a remote part of Brazil.

There is a lack of contemporary evidence that Leonardo was responsible for Salvator Mundi, which was sold in New York on Wednesday night by Christie's.

Scientists with the Event Horizon Telescope, a ‘virtual Earth-sized telescope,' expect to spot the edge of the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy in 2018.

Alphabet's Waymo self-driving unit is launching a ride-hailing service for the general public with no human driver behind the steering wheel. The firm has been testing on public roads in Arizona.

The remarkable 'tattooed' lobster was trapped by Karissa Lindstrand off the coast of Gran Manan in New Brunswick. It was being loaded into a crate to have its claws banded.

The Antonov AN-22 is rarely spotted and drew a crowd of aviation enthusiasts to witness it. It flew in from Helsinki, Finland.

Launching from Blue Origin's West Texas Launch Site yesterday, the test featured the latest version of the firm's reusable New Shepard rocket, its first flight in 14 months.

Coventry based car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover is taking part in the UK Autodrive project, the largest trial of connected and autonomous vehicle technology in the country.

As tourist Matthew Poole filmed the patient predator stalking its next meal on the Sand River bank at Beyond Kirkmans Kamp in South Africa, his shot was invaded by two lovers.

Ginger cats on the lookout for pesky dogs in the park can rest easy, as a new study by researchers from the University of Bari, Italy, has revealed that pooches are colour blind.

The tombs were found across the Nile from the southern city of Luxor in the 1990s by German archaeologist Frederica Kampp. However, she had only reached the entrance gate and 'never entered'.

Google Earth partnered with environmental sensor network firm Aclima to map air pollution across California, with the hopes of using the information to help build smarter, more sustainable cities.

The UK Department for Transport claims that it is likely to be 'at least a couple of decades' before an operational Hyperloop system is ready, due to the 'scale of the technical challenges involved.'

From a poodle's strut to a basset hound's lolloping gait, scientists plan to capture the movements of different breeds to make on-screen animated dogs played by humans more authentic.

For years we have only been able to imagine what this treasure looks like because shortly after World War II it was stolen from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich by a cat burglar.

The Soreq creek in Jerusalem is full of mosquitoes that serve as food for web-weaving long-jawed spiders that reproduce in their multitudes.

MekaMon, which launches today on the Apple store for £300 ($300), was created by Bristol-based company Reach Robotics and has bot-on-bot brawls in real life and on the screen.

In 2007, the German government drilled seven boreholes behind Staufen's town hall for geothermal energy. Staufen lies above a layer of anhydrite, beneath which is a layer of groundwater.

A new analysis of the 'Dali skull', found in China's Shaanxi Province, shows it is remarkably similar to the earliest known fossil of our species, found in Morocco in June.

Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser was carried to an altitude of 10,000 and then dropped to glide to the ground and land on a runway at Edwards Air Force Base.

Experts led by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute in Daejon, South Korea, have reported the discovery of a strange celestial body 22 light years away.

Researchers at Duke University found that bonobos at Lola Ya Bonobo Santuary, Democratic Republic of Congoelp strangers get food when there's no sign of receiving anything in return.

The cub was aged between six and eight weeks old when it died for unknown reasons on the bank of Tirekhtykh River, in the Abyisky district of Yakutia.

The new map of reported UFO sightings in the US was created by Data Solutions Engineer Adam Crahen of the Data Duo , using data from Kaggle UFO sightings.

Scientists from the Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere caught the rare frilled shark while working off the Algarve coast this week.

The 'lone genius' scientist stereotype could be dangerous, as the opinion of a lone commenter may be considered equal with that of hundreds of people who have made the subject their life's work

The man, from Grass Valley, California had been posting in an online forum speculating about the delivery dates for the vehicle before Tesla stepped in to deliver it within days.

Construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, in southern France has been dogged by delays and a surge in costs to about $23.7bn.

More than 120 clips of newly declassified nuclear tests that took place across the US have so far been posted to YouTube to immortalise the historic footage online.

The latest concept images for a floating island habitat off the coast off Tahiti take inspiration from the rich Polynesian culture, in particular from traditional navigation.

Researchers at the University of Oxford radiocarbon tested the relic, long though to belong to St Nicholas, and found it dates from the correct historical period.

The new Bell Helicopter successfully achieved its first flight on Monday as it moves closer to replacing the famous Black Hawk. Bell released video of its V-280 Valor during take-off in Amarillo, Texas.

The craft, seen hidden under a cloth, is believed to be a radical new craft using electric 'hairdryer' to allow it to land and take off vertically. Boeing will unveil their mystery aircraft on December 19th.

Virgin Hyperloop One completed a third phase test at its DevLoop track in Nevada, where its hyperloop pod was able to reach dizzying speeds of 240 miles/hour (387 km/hour).

These incredible images from iFixit reveal several surprises inside the handset. Apple managed to cram in two batteries for instance, allowing them to arrange them in an L shape to optimise space.

A stunning new map from Imgur user Fejetlenfej shows the complex network of rivers and streams in the contiguous United States, highlighting the massive expanse of basins across the country.