Author: Andrew Rogers

Toto Wolff dismissed rivals’ claims about the legality of Mercedes’ 2026 engine.He said the power unit complies fully with regulations and FIA procedures.Wolff accused competitors of missing an opportunity and urged them to “focus on themselves”.Rivals allege Mercedes and Red Bull Racing exploit thermal expansion to raise compression while staying within tests.FIA discussed complaints from Audi, Ferrari, and Honda without resolution.Wolff said the FIA approved Mercedes’ approach and backed its legality.He did not rule out protests after the Australian Grand Prix but said Mercedes feels confident.

Scientists believe cosmic dust helped deliver the building blocks of life to early Earth.Thousands of tonnes reach the planet each year, mostly burning up in the atmosphere.Some survives as meteorites, offering clues about life’s chemical origins.At the University of Sydney, PhD researcher Linda Losurdo has recreated cosmic dust in a laboratory.She used vacuum chambers, star-like gases, and high-voltage plasma to form dust from scratch.The particles contain CHON molecules, essential components of life.Researchers hope the work will reveal how organic matter reached Earth.The study appears in the Astrophysical Journal.

The Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply warned consumer prices could rise as shipping costs surge.CIPS said cracks are forming in global supply chains for computers, machinery, and transport equipment.A late-2025 survey showed supply disruption fears at a two-year high.Twenty-two percent of procurement leaders reported logistics costs rising over 10%.Computer and electrical equipment prices also increased sharply.CIPS chief executive Ben Farrell said volatility now defines global trade.The Freightos Baltic Index showed Asia–US shipping rates jumping nearly 30%.Geopolitical tensions and tariff threats from Donald Trump added pressure to global trade routes.

West Ham United banned a season-ticket holder after he helped display an anti-board banner.The banner urged owners to sell and appeared during a home match against Sunderland.The club cited ground regulations on banner size, not the message itself.Joshua Wood received a five-game ban covering home and away fixtures.He said he did not bring the banner into the stadium and plans to appeal.West Ham said the banner breached safety rules and denied targeting fan protest.

AI-supported breast cancer screening reduced later cancer diagnoses by 12%, a large Swedish study found.Researchers studied 100,000 women in Sweden using AI-assisted mammography or standard double readings.The AI system helped radiologists prioritise high-risk cases and flag suspicious findings.Results published in The Lancet showed higher early detection rates with AI support.Eighty-one percent of cancers were found during screening, compared with 74% without AI.The study was led by researchers from Lund University.Experts say AI could ease radiologist workloads but must not replace human readers.Cancer Research UK called the findings promising but urged further trials.

Google DeepMind launched AlphaGenome, an AI tool designed to identify genetic mutations that drive disease.The system analyses up to one million DNA letters at once and predicts how mutations disrupt gene regulation.Researchers trained AlphaGenome on human and mouse genetic databases.The tool focuses on the non-coding genome, which controls when and where genes switch on.Scientists believe it will help pinpoint mutations behind cancer, inherited diseases, and mental health conditions.AlphaGenome could also support new gene therapies by guiding the design of custom DNA sequences.

Amazon revealed fresh global job cuts after mistakenly emailing workers about layoffs.The message went to staff at Amazon Web Services and included a draft redundancy notice.It wrongly said affected employees in the US, Canada, and Costa Rica had already been informed.The email came from Colleen Aubrey and described the cuts as “Project Dawn”.Amazon announced 14,000 corporate job cuts in October and continues reducing pandemic-era hiring.Chief executive Andy Jassy has warned AI could replace some white-collar roles.The news followed plans by United Parcel Service to cut up to 30,000 jobs this year.

Scientists have launched DinoTracker, an AI app that identifies dinosaurs from ancient footprints with about 90% expert-level accuracy.Researchers trained the system using 2,000 unlabelled footprint silhouettes instead of disputed human classifications.The AI compares shapes using eight key features, including toe spread, heel position, and ground contact.The team published the research in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.The project involved scientists from University of Edinburgh and Helmholtz-Zentrum.The app lets users upload footprints and explore similar examples interactively.Results support earlier findings that some Triassic footprints appear strikingly birdlike.Experts caution these tracks likely came from birdlike dinosaurs, not true early birds.

Google’s AI Overviews cite YouTube more often than any medical website when answering health-related search queries, according to a new study that raises concerns about the reliability of information seen by around 2 billion users each month. Researchers at SE Ranking analysed more than 50,000 health queries made in Germany and found that YouTube accounted for 4.43% of all citations used in AI Overviews, making it the single most referenced source. No hospital network, government health authority or academic medical institution came close to that level of citation. The researchers warned that YouTube is not a medical publisher and hosts…

Japan is developing the L0 Series maglev, a next-generation train expected to reach speeds of up to 603.5km/h, making it the fastest train ever built. Using magnetic levitation technology, the train floats above the track, drastically reducing friction and allowing unprecedented speeds. The L0 Series will operate on the Chuo Shinkansen line, cutting travel time between Tokyo and Nagoya to about 40 minutes, and eventually linking Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka into a single mega-region. A full Tokyo–Osaka journey could take just one hour. However, the project comes at a huge cost – around £52bn (€60bn) so far – and has…