A researcher has assembled historical footage and photographs, including a BBC film of scientist Susan James testing helicopter noise levels at the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough, to document the scale of the UK's former scientific civil service. In the early 1980s that service employed tens of thousands of scientists and engineers across more than 70 research centres, including the RAE and the Building Research Establishment in Watford, running national programmes in aerodynamics, weaponry, acoustics and building science.
nature.com
· 2026-08-25
Researchers writing in the International Journal of Cultural Property found that mummified human and animal remains circulating in the collector market pose genuine health hazards, not just legal ones. Historic embalming methods often used toxic heavy metals like arsenic, mercury and lead, while dormant bacteria, fungi and yeasts in the tissue can reactivate and multiply, especially after poor storage. The paper cites prior findings of dangerous fungal spores in mummies at sites including Palermo's Capuchin Catacombs and a Krakow church crypt.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-08-24
A finalized feasibility study for Chilean telecom regulator Subtel, conducted by Salience Consulting and Pioneer Consulting and funded by CAF with partial backing from China's MCDF Finance Facility, concludes that a fiber-optic cable across the Drake Passage to Antarctica is technically achievable. The study proposes either a minimum build connecting three facility clusters near King George Island for about $370 million, or a nine-landing optimal build linking bases run by Chile, Argentina, Brazil, the US and the UK for roughly $620 million.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-08-24
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