Science

Updated: 15:01 EST

China set for 2018 mission to the far side of the moon

The new Chang'e 4 space mission will launch in June, when a Long March 4C rocket (left) will carry a 425kg relay satellite and place it 60,000km behind the moon. A second launch later in the year will send a lander and rover (previous Chinese rover, top right) to the far side of the moon, which will be guided to a safe landing by the satellite. The rover will also contain a 'gardening kit' to pave the way for a human outpost by examining how plants grow on the lunar surface. It will be the first ever landing on the lunar far side, an unexplored region of the Moon called South Pole-Aitken Basin, a vast basin in the southern hemisphere of the far side which extends from the South Pole to Aitken crater (pictured).

F-35 set for 2018 combat  'baptism of fire' mission

The much delayed F-35 could finally be put into combat for the first time in 2018, it has been revealed.   The F35-B, which can take off and land vertically on an amphibious assault ship, is expected to deploy with two Marine expeditionary units to the Pacific and Central Command theaters in the spring and summer, officials said. It comes ten years after the much delayed and overbudget plane took its first flight. 

NEW Researchers at University College London used a new scanning technique to identify the mummy, which has been on display at Chiddington Castle in  Kent

January 1st 2018 could see the biggest leap in online dating sign-ups ever. Millions of single Brits - spurred on by Meghan and Harry - are set to swipe, with 11pm expected to be peak time.

FILE - Rescue boats float on a flooded street as people are evacuated from rising floodwaters brought on by Tropical Storm Harvey on Aug. 28, 2017, in Houston. The storm, which later became a hurricane, dumped record rainfall throughout the Houston area. There were six major Atlantic hurricanes in 2017; the average is 2.7. A pair of recent studies found fingerprints of man-made global warming were all over the torrential rains from Harvey that flooded Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Parts of the US were on fire, underwater or lashed by hurricane winds. The rest of the world, however, was spared more than usual from the drumbeat of natural catastrophes.

Why does our self-control falter, so often leaving us to revert to our old ways? Marco A Palma, a human behavior researcher at Texas A&M; University explains what we know from scientific research.

Galaxy Note 8 owners have reported that they are unable to charge or turn on their handsets after the batteries ran dry. It is believed the issue is due to the power management circuit

The world's first 88-inch 8K OLED display boasts 33 million pixels - four times as many pixels as current 4K UHD TVs - although so far there is very little 8K content to watch on it.

University of East Anglia (UEA) and the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) have found that continued climate change could dry out the Earth and increase the risk of drought.

Users around the world will be able to continue to use the Facebook owned app but won't be able to create new accounts or re-verify existing accounts.

Great balls of ice! Unusual frozen spheres spotted on the shores of Lake Michigan as temperatures across the Midwest and Northeast plummet

The bizarre phenomenon of floating ice balls has once again appeared in Lake Michigan amid frigid weather this holiday season. Video uploaded to Newsflare shows the balls floating off the lake's shores at the pier of St Joseph Lighthouse in St Joseph, Michigan. The filmer writes: 'Unique ice balls forming along the shore of Lake Michigan. The balls form when chunks break off massive ice sheets on the lake in winter.

The clay seal, discovered near Jerusalem's Western Wall, depicts two figures wearing striped clothing facing each other above an inscription which means 'belonging to the governor of the city.'

The 170 million year old jawbone from a dog-sized crocodile-like creature is one of the only found anywhere in the world and was discovered on the Isle of Skye.

In this, Dec. 20, 2017 photo, Jennifer Rocca, left, a teacher librarian at Brookfield, Conn., High School, left, works with Ariana Mamudi, 14, a freshman in her Digital Student class. The required class teaches media literacy skills and has the students scrutinize sources for their on-line information. (AP Photo/Stephen Dunn)

Lawmakers want schools to incorporate media literacy - including the ability to evaluate and analyze sources of information - into lesson plans.

The video is unquestionably harrowing to watch — an emaciated polar bear stumbling through a terrain devoid of snow and ice - but is it proof that climate change is killing the bear?

A disturbing new trend of inappropriate cartoons specifically designed to entice children to click on dangerous videos is sweeping YouTube with many appearing the 'suggested' videos list.

The glowing meteor was spotted in Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, Durham, Northumberland and other places in the North of England and in some parts of Scotland. Hundreds spotted the rare sight.

How light pollution REALLY affects your view of the night sky: Stunning short film reveals dramatic differences across the United States

It might be easy to forget the brilliance of the night sky when brightly lit skylines and cities that ‘never sleep’ have become the norm for so many. But, a stunning new short film now stands as a stark reminder. ' Lost in Light II - a short film on Light Pollution ,' from filmmaker and night sky photographer Sriram Murali, pans across several ‘levels’ of light pollution, from San Francisco (level 8) to Goblin Valley State Park, Utah (level 1).

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Dr Josiah Zayner 'wants to help humans modify their genes'

California-based Dr Josiah Zayner, 36, made headlines last month when he became the first person known to have edited his own DNA (artist's impression top left). The biochemist attempted to give himself super strength by removing a protein that inhibits muscle growth in his left arm, via an injection of DIY gene therapy. Now Dr Zayner (main image) has said we are 'slaves to the genomes we have', claiming humanity will develop into a new species thanks to widespread genetic engineering.

Apple's new patent was published on December 28. The document describes a system that could supply power to multiple devices, using both wired and wireless connections.

Most observed volcanic activity takes place along the Pacific Ring of Fire, experts say. While some may calm down without eruption, others may enter a phase of eruption in months to come.

The software itself is entirely legal, but can by downloading apps can stream illicit content, with sellers often labelling them as 'Fully Loaded', 'Jailbroken' or 'Plug and Play'.

YouTube, based in San Bruno, California, has struggled to halt a recent surge in the number of disturbing videos slipping past its computer and human moderators.

The Unicode Consortium is tasked with setting the global standard for the icons. It's a heady responsibility and it can take years from inspiration to a new symbol being added to our phones.

Among the early findings in the salamander's genome is a family of genes that can provide clues to the unique ability of salamanders to rebuild complex tissue, according to Swedish researchers.

An investigation by New York-based nonprofit group ProPublica claims content reviewers do not always abide by the company's guidelines and interpret similar content in different ways.

The helmet, developed by Ford and King's College London, measures a driver's brainwaves to monitor mental energy and focus at different points on the road.

Today Texas has joined the ever growing list of places Apple is facing legal action over its slowdown of older iPhonee, with three owners claiming Apple misled customers.

Gloucestershire-born John McAfee, who made millions creating the popular McAfee anti-virus software, claims his Twitter account was compromised as part of an elaborate cryptocurrency scam.

Roscosmos said it had lost contact with newly-launched satellite the 'Meteor-M' after it blasted off from Russia's new Vostochny cosmodrome in the Russian Far East.

The latest version of the Nokia 3310, released by Finland-based firm HMD Global, houses a new operating system that can run basic Android apps, according to documents leaked from China.

A 'virtual cocktail' glass developed by scientists at the National University of Singapore tricks your brain into thinking it is experiencing a flavour by fooling your senses of sight, smell and taste.

Roman Tanatalus bowl could be first practical joke device

The Tanatalus bowl (main image and inset), found in Vinkovci, eastern Croatia, soaked unsuspecting dinner party guests (top left, stock) in wine could have been the earliest prankster device. The find, which is the first known example of a 'greedy cup', could even have been enjoyed by Roman emperors. From the outside, this silver vessel appears to be a normal drinking mug. However, the sculpture leads onto a pipe that causes the liquid to drain from the bottom when the bowl is filled to a certain height (bottom left).

The tech giant said 'We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down', and revealed it is slashing the price of a replacement battery, and will show users exactly how much their battery has degraded.

Tyler Barney, a high school student in Mt Juliet, said he made the discovery that decreased performance has to do with phones lithium-ion batteries when his iPhone 6s 'became buggy,

The tool, called Tacotron 2, was trained on examples of human dialogue and text transcripts to generate more realistic speech. It was rated comparable to professional recordings.

From inaccurate colors or misplaced spots, to the inclusion of antennae that don’t exist in real life, biologists have revealed their top gripes about animal emoji on Apple and Android.

The Good Housekeeping Institute has released a guide showing how you should slice up your cheeses differently depending on the texture, size and shape of the block.

Sir David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II, which attracted 10.5 million viewers, has been named the best TV programme of 2017, beating series four of Line of Duty and Big Little Lies.

SpaceX raises Elon Musk's 'megarocket' at Cape Canaveral

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. Now SpaceX has raised the rocket for the first time on the same pad as the Saturn V Apollo 11 moon rocket. f all goes according to plane, the Falcon Heavy will lifting off and enter orbit before two of its booster rockets separate off and return to Earth at Cape Canaveral in controlled landings. The centre core of the rocket will separate from the main module, containing Musk's car, and then begin its own controlled descent back to Earth, landing on a drone ship.

January's first full moon, which is nicknamed the Wolf Moon, will peak on January 1st at 9:24 p.m. ET, although it will appear full and bright for the days immediately surrounding the new year as well.

Xylella fastidiosa is ‘one of the most dangerous’ diseases in the world. The Royal Horticultural Society says people should not buy plants grown abroad to prevent the disease reaching Britain.

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. DF-17 could hit 10 times the speed of sound.

FILE - This July 25, 2017, file frame grab from video shows the Nest Cam IQ camera. As people get voice-activated speakers and online security cameras for convenience and peace of mind, are they also giving hackers a key to their homes? Many devices from reputable manufacturers have safeguards built in, but safeguards aren't the same as guarantees. (AP Photo/Ryan Nakashima, File)

Internet-connected lights, locks and speakers are close to becoming everyday household items. However, installing them could also be giving hackers a key to your home.

The 16-foot-long shark named Mary Lee was tagged in the Atlantic Ocean back in 2012 by Ocearch – but, the team now says her transmitter hasn’t sent out a signal since June.

NASA captures newly created iceberg cracking into pieces

In September 2017, a new iceberg calved from Pine Island Glacier, one of the main outlets where the West Antarctic Ice Sheet flows into the ocean. However, just weeks later B-44 shattered into more than 20 fragments. NASA says an area of relatively warm water, known as a polyna, has kept the water ice free between the iceberg chunks and the glacier front. The polynya’s warm water could have caused the rapid breakup of B-44, it is believed.

This almighty toy crane built by LEGO lover Dawid Szmandra in Poland stands at about 10 feet tall and takes up half the size of a large living room. It is still 24 times smaller than real life Liebherr cranes.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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).

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).

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.

The ultimate bird's eye view: Camera mounted on the back of an eagle gives incredible perspective as it soars some 12,000ft above the Swiss Alps

This is the spectacular first-person view of an eagle soaring above the Aiguille du Midi, one of the Mont Blanc mountains in the Swiss Alps. The two-minute clip shows exactly what the bird sees as it flies some 12,000 feet high. Published on YouTube in 2014 by web channel FREEDOM, the clip forms part of a selection of footage taken with cameras attached to eagles' backs. The viral video has been viewed more than 600,000 times.

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.

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.

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.

Previous research has claimed to have found traces of the biblical ship on Mount Ararat, and now a US researcher has says he is convinced the vessel's remains are there.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In the episode ‘Metalhead,’ Black Mirror explores what could happen if machines turned on us, revealing a terrifying quest for survival in a world where robo-dogs can outrun and outsmart humans.

Scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral next month, Musk has boasted it will have double the thrust of the next largest rocket in use - and has shown his Tesla inside the fairing.

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 T-rex has long been regarded as the slickest villains of the prehistoric world but tyrannosaurus Rex may looked very different to what we imagine according to a new documentary.

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 Mongee Banana is grown by D&T; Farm in Japan's Okayama Prefecture, where it is sold on the fruit counter of department store Tenmanya Okayama.

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.

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.

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.

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'.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Speaking at a conference, Jeff Ashby, is director of safety and mission assurance for Jeff Bezos's space firm Blue Origin, said the firm is 'a year out' from human flights.

Giphy, the GIF website, ranked the most-viewed GIFs of the year. The most popular, with 340 million views, is of a knit gnome knitting a heart.

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 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.

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, while the other will take samples from a comet.

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.

A dig at Tell es-Sultan, led by researchers from Italy and Palestine, uncovered traces of manganese oxide inside ancient mother of pearl shells – and, they say this was once the basis of eyeliner.

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.