Large tech companies such as Google and Meta will have to abide by new competition rules or risk facing huge fines, the U.K. government said.
The new Digital Markets Unit (DMU) will be given powers to clamp down on "predatory practices" of some firms, the BBC reports. The regulator will also have the power to fine companies up to 10% of their global turnover if they fail to comply.
Besides boosting competition among tech firms, the rules also...
Argentine paleontologists have announced the discovery of an apex-predator dinosaur that measured three storeys from nose to tail and eviscerated its prey with sharp, curved claws, Phys.org reports.
The six-ton giant, the largest megaraptor unearthed to date, fed on smaller dinosaurs that it ripped to shreds with its talons before digging into their intestines, paleontologist Mauro Aranciaga told AFP.
It would have been the "apex predator" of its time, said Aranciaga – well deserving of its...
A Texas law forbidding social media giants from regulating certain forms of online speech has been blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The legislation would have prevented larger tech companies from banning or censoring Texas users for their views.
Republicans in the state said it was necessary to combat what they claimed was social media's liberal bias.
But tech groups argued that the law was a violation of the private companies' freedom of speech rights.
In a rare...
"Go pee on the rhubarb!"
Engineer Fabien Esculier has never forgotten his grandmother's unconventional approach to gardening. In fact, it has inspired his career.
Human urine may seem like a crude way of fertilizing plants in the era of industrial agriculture, but as researchers look for ways to reduce reliance on chemicals and cut environmental pollution, some are growing increasingly interested in the potential of pee, Tech Xplore reports.
Plants need nutrients – nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium –...
Ministers of European Union countries are discussing how to lessen their dependence on energy supplies from Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine.
Germany has acknowledged EU nations are still divided on a possible Russian energy embargo, the BBC reports. The energy minister says his country could handle an oil ban by the end of the year, but not a ban on gas.
Hungary has reiterated that it opposes a ban on either fuel.
Germany...
On April 27 on the straight of the Space Shuttle airstrip at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, the car created by the Politecnico di Milano-PoliMOVE broke the world speed record for a fully autonomous car on a straight (the previous record held by Roborace was 282.42 kph). The Politecnico Team had already achieved the record on April 26 but decided to raise the bar and improve its performance, Tech Xplore reports.
The speed of 309.3 kph...
By Scarlett Howard, Adrian Dyer, Andrew Greentree and Jair Garcia, The Conversation
"Two, four, six, eight; bog in, don't wait."
As children, we learn numbers can either be even or odd. And there are many ways to categorize numbers as even or odd.
We may memorize the rule that numbers ending in 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9 are odd while numbers ending in 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8 are even. Or we may divide a number...
Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have detected two rocky alien worlds orbiting a nearby M dwarf star known as HD 260655. The newly found exoplanets are larger and at least two times more massive than the Earth, writes Tomasz Nowakowski of Phys.org.
TESS is conducting a survey of about 200,000 of the brightest stars near the sun with the aim of searching for transiting exoplanets. So far, it has identified over 5,600 candidate exoplanets...
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has sold roughly US$8.5 billion worth of shares in the electric car maker, just days after he agreed to buy Twitter.
The sale has led to speculation that it will help to finance his planned $44-billion buyout of the social media platform, the BBC reports.
Twitter's board agreed on Monday to accept a takeover offer from Musk.
Shares in Tesla fell sharply earlier this week, amid speculation that Musk would sell part...
A new genetic study involving more than 2,000 dogs and 200,000 survey answers from dog owners has revealed that a dog's breed is a poor predictor of behaviour on its own, reports Phys.org.
The first-of-its-kind, peer-reviewed study – conducted by professors, students, and researchers at University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School – is set to appear this month in the journal Science.
The major findings go against the popular beliefs that breed plays a role in how aggressive,...
