New dinosaur sails into history books
A new species of dinosaur was revealed last week on the Isle of Wight by GP- turned-palaeontologist Dr Jeremy Lockwood. The fossils are believed to be 125 million years old and were at first thought to from an iguanodon.
But Lockwood discovered it had long neural spines, suggesting it had a long sail-like structure along its back, separating it anatomically from the iguanodon. The new species will be called Istiorachis macarthurae in honour of Dame Ellen MacArthur, who broke the record for sailing solo around the world in 2005, completing it in just 71 days.
Musk accuses tech giant of AI bias
Elon Musk filed lawsuits against Apple and OpenAI this week, accusing them of conspiring to monopolise the tech market. The world’s richest man claims Apple has shown undue favouritism to OpenAI and its AI chatbot.
In the suit, Musk argues: “Apple and OpenAI have locked up markets to maintain their monopolies and prevent innovators like X and xAI from competing.” He has said it was “impossible” for any company besides ChatGPT to reach the top spot on Apple’s App Store. It’s the latest escalation in his battle against Silicon Valley’s biggest players.
World-first pig lung transplant
Chinese surgeons carried out the world’s first pig-to-human lung transplant, marking a cautious step forward for xenotransplantation. The operation, published in Nature Medicine this week, involved replacing the left lung of a brain-dead man with one from a genetically engineered pig.
The organ survived for nine days, functioning briefly before the body’s immune system attacked it. Even lung transplants between humans often fail quickly, making the short-term success notable. The result shows the challenges — and potential — of using animal organs.
Shingles vaccine’s surprising side effect
A landmark bit of research presented at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Madrid found that the vaccine used for shingles reduced heart attacks and strokes by 20 per cent. Looking at 19 studies, the review found a clear link between vaccination and lower cardiovascular risk.
Although shingles primarily affects older people, the protective effect was observed in adults as young as 18. Scientists think this may be due to the vaccine dampening inflammation, a problem with your immune system, caused by the virus, which is known to strain the heart and blood vessels.
While experts have welcomed the findings, they caution that more research is needed to confirm the results. Next month, NHS England will broaden access to the vaccine, including more immunosuppressed individuals, amid growing interest in its wider health benefits.
Relief for SpaceX with successful launch
After a rocky past few months for Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Starship’s successful launch this week was a much needed win for the space tech company. Starship is what SpaceX intends to use for Project Artemis – an ambitious lunar mission to put humans back on the moon by 2027. Recent months have seen SpaceX suffer some setbacks, including three failed launches and a rocket explosion during ground testing.
But this fourth test flight marked real progress: all 33 engines ignited, the booster separated smoothly, and Starship reached space, travelling nearly 200km above Earth. Though parts of the rocket appeared to catch fire on descent, SpaceX successfully gathered data from each phase of flight.
Experts say there's still a long road ahead before Starship is cleared to carry people, but the test puts Artemis back on firmer footing — even as doubts remain over whether a 2027 Moon landing is realistic.
