Royal Navy warship destroys supersonic missile in weapons test
A Royal Navy warship has obliterated a supersonic missile in a historic first for the service in a test off the coast of Scotland.
HMS Dragon, a Type 45 destroyer, launched a specially modified Sea Viper missile at an incoming high-speed target.
It marks the first time the Royal Navy has faced down such a target — one that is challenging due to its speed and its ability to carry out corkscrew and weave manoeuvres.
The Sea Viper launched was a specially modified telemetry version, designed to record measurements and valuable data to inform future operations.
The missile firing took place as part of Exercise Formidable Shield, the largest annual live-firing exercise in Europe. The Portsmouth-based ship showcased its ability to defend itself and other
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The Herald Scotland
12 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Inside the Edinburgh firm on a mission to end fuel poverty
Urban Tide is a data company focused on unlocking information to deliver targeted solutions to businesses looking to improve sustainability outcomes. The founders met while delivering an ambitious 'Future Cities' programme that made them realise combining datasets was the future of targeted decision-making, but that many barriers stood in the way. Now the 15-strong company is a key partner in a five-year research project looking to link health data with household data to improve children's health. Specifically, it's looking at preventing the respiratory problems caused by damp and mould in poorly insulated or poorly ventilated homes. It's led by Dr Olivia Swann who is both a paediatrician and a researcher at the University of Edinburgh. 'The work that Livvy [Dr Swann] is doing is pretty fascinating,' Tricker said. 'The UK has the leakiest homes in Europe. It's a combination of having a lot of old stock, the way we build them is not that efficient and we're not really considering the thermal efficiency of buildings. 'The retrofit programme at scale needs to really be ramped up because if we reduce energy, we reduce our bills and make our homes more comfortable. But – and here comes the but –there's a risk if you clad a home and make it nice and insulated, it's not well ventilated. If you don't consider the ventilation systems, you can increase the risk of mould build-up, which can then lead to the risk of black mould, which, if you've children in the house, can lead to an increase in asthma and a whole host of health implications for later life.' Thanks to Urban Tide's unique access to system data from electricity smart meters, it can provide the research team with information that uses AI and household-level information to predict the risk of fuel poverty. Added to this is the Scotland-wide health data, held securely and strictly anonymised, which Swann's team can overlay with the data provided by Tricker's team, as well as other advanced data sets. This research, inspired by the children coming into Dr Swann's clinic with respiratory infections, is only possible now that all the pieces of the data jigsaw are available. Currently, it would not be possible even over the border in England, and interest from partners has exceeded all Swann's expectations. 'I've been really overwhelmed not just with the amount of interest but also just how incredibly collaborative and how much goodwill there is from industry, from policymakers and from third sector,' Swann said. 'We arranged a project launch event and I thought it would be 20 people and some sandwiches. Instead, we had 130 people and 50 different organisations. Most of those people I had met on Zoom or Teams, and then they had come in person because they felt so strongly about this issue. I think that is a real testament to how important people think this issue is and the will for it to be better.' It's the Goldilocks analogy of 'just right' as it applies to the population of Scotland and the quality of the data, alongside the expertise of companies and researchers and the involvement of Scottish government in potentially turning this research into policy that inspires Tricker. 'We're always looking at how we can use data to help solve a number of these large societal challenges,' he said. "So we wanted to build a platform that could bring in real-time data,' he said. 'We work across the transport sector as well, because they collect lots of real-time information. By combining that with other static data sets, you can start to see patterns. 'In the transport sector, for example, we're working with Cycling Scotland and other partners across local authorities and regional transport partners to try and help put in infrastructure where it's needed.' With this research project involving so many datasets from different partners, including, for the first time, Scottish government data on every intervention made so far to make houses warmer, the ethics of data use have been a priority. 'This data could not be harder to bring together,' Swann said. 'All of the data goes into the National Safe Haven, which is incredibly well protected. The data is then linked there, and it's anonymised before we begin to access it. So we never know who anybody is. 'We have a fantastic patient and public engagement group too and a lot of the discussions we've had with them have been about the acceptability of using these different kinds of data, bringing them together and all of the security measures around them.' Tricker adds that the anonymity of the data Urban Tide is using is absolutely key. It is not interested in personal details but looking for patterns in usage so the right interventions can be made. It will shortly be launching which will open up the data it has collected on transport across Scotland, including cycling networks, so it can be used to make local and national decisions. 'I'm quite excited about launching to really showcase some of our AI technologies and obviously help to promote more open data generally as well,' he said. Urban Tide is already working internationally from its Edinburgh base. It is leading an open data training programme for Ireland's public sector to comply with a European directive to make public data more accessible, and the team is also working on smart city plans in the middle-east and Australia. After 11 years of organic growth, bootstrapping and pivoting as the technology and AI capabilities develop, it is now looking to raise some investment. Assisting with this is Mountside Ventures, which it sees as a 'badge of honour' as it selects a only handful of companies to work with each year. 'The next three years are about really consolidating the business and the technology that we've built across UK and Europe and the next round after that would be to expand into America. We're on the journey of the 'three I's, so there's the identification piece, then there's the intervention and then how do you measure impact? We are also cross-sector. It's one of the challenges of our business, having to work in the energy sector, the transport sector, and then combining data from across the different sources. 'But that's also the opportunity because as more data are being opened up and used, the convergence of all these different types of data really unlocks new opportunities.'
BBC News
13 hours ago
- BBC News
World Oceans Day 2025: What is this year's theme?
Sunday 8 June is World Oceans Day. A time to celebrate and raise awareness of issues affecting the world's theme for World Oceans Day 2025 is "Wonder: Sustaining what sustains us", which event organisers say aims to celebrate the wonder and awe that the ocean inspires in us, and the important role that wonder plays in encouraging curiosity, scientific knowledge, exploration, and innovation.A big event will be hosted in Nice, in France, on 8 June, ahead of the 2025 UN Ocean Conference which takes place between 9 – 13 June, is everything you need to know about World Oceans Day and the most important issues facing oceans around the globe today. What is World Oceans Day? On 8 June every year since 1992, the United Nations (UN) has designated a special day marking the importance of the world's call it World Oceans marking it take place across the world and more than 100 countries take part in the 2020, the event called for world leaders to commit to protecting 30% of our oceans by 2030 - in the hope that if that happens it will help combat climate change and protect marine biodiversity. Each year a different theme is year, the theme was Awaken New Depths, focusing on changing our relationship with the seas to ensure the ocean's health and UN holds a live event with special guests discussing topics from the seas to special guests, like actor Jason Momoa who plays Aquaman, are invited to talk too. Why are oceans under threat? According to research released in 2023, oceans across the world have reached record high temperatures, and 2024 was the warmest year on are now warmer than at any other time in recorded human history and the increase in temperature has been directly linked to global believe that human activities - such as the burning of fossil fuels and emissions from factories - are having a bad effect on global temperatures, causing harmful gases to be released into the atmosphere. Those gases end up in the Earth's atmosphere and trap more of the Sun's heat, which then increases the Earth's sea temperatures have a huge effect on sea life and many animals and plants are struggling to adapt. Plastic pollution: How much plastic is in our oceans? There is also the big issue of plastic waste in 2019, the World Wide Fund for Nature - which is the world's largest wildlife and conversation charity - said plastic pollution was causing an environmental than 75% of all plastic ever produced is already pollution kills wildlife, damages natural ecosystems, and contributes to climate change. The problem with plastic is that most of it is not biodegradable. That means it doesn't rot, like paper or food, so instead it can hang around in the environment and take hundreds of years to break than eight million tonnes of plastic enters the world's oceans each year and most of that escapes from 171 trillion pieces of plastic are now thought to be floating in the world's oceans, according to scientists. Ideas for how to celebrate World Oceans Day Although World Oceans Day is an important day to learn more about the crisis state our oceans are in, it is also a day to celebrate oceans that take up 70% of our are some things you can do on the day:You could make some marine themed art. If you fancy making a fish decoration to keep after World Oceans Day is over, check out how to make your very own moving we know how much plastic ends up in our oceans, why not try to avoid using single-use plastics like carrier bags, straws and bottles and switch to reusable and refillable ones instead? Here are some more useful tips on how to cut down on the plastic in your not try eating vegetarian food for a day? There are lots of delicious recipes that don't contain fish or seafood. You could even try this vegan recipe generator to come up with an idea for your next you're lucky enough to live by a beach, why not take part in a beach clean-up event? This way you can do your bit by collecting rubbish that could make its way into the finally, you can learn as much as you can about our oceans and how to protect them.
Daily Mail
13 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Subtle warning signs of 'silent disease' 16m Americans are living with and don't know
Nearly 16 million people have the most deadly type of liver disease, yet 80 percent of them have no idea. About five percent of adults worldwide have metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) a serious liver condition caused by fat buildup, inflammation, and scarring. It's the most dangerous type of fatty liver disease MASH triggers liver scarring, which can progress to cirrhosis, and significantly increases the risk of heart disease, chronic kidney disease, and liver cancer. Just one in five Americans with the condition are actually diagnosed. Most patients do not experience symptoms until the damage is irreversible, making it a 'silent disease'. However, as the condition progresses, individuals may experience fatigue, pain or discomfort in the upper right belly, unexplained weight loss, weakness, and in some cases, jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes). A coalition of researchers from the US, Europe, and South Africa said that MASH-related liver failure and other complications, including deaths, are becoming more severe and common. The scientists behind the report, published in The Lancet Regional Health Europe, are calling for a doubling in MASH diagnosis rates from the 2022 level, about 13 percent (the current rate is just under 20 percent). They estimated that about 2.6 million people in the US, UK, Germany, and France have been diagnosed with MASH. But if testing were adequately improved and scaled up to become more accessible and commonplace, that figure could balloon to 6.1 million. People with type 2 diabetes, obesity, and heart disease should be prioritized for blood work and other screening tests, which will need to skyrocket from about two million to 36 million. Follow-up testing also needs to jump by nearly 1,300 percent to meet patient needs, and in more settings than liver clinics, such as family doctors' offices, and with diabetes and heart doctors. People with diabetes are especially prone to liver damage leading to MASH. Around 30 to 60 percent of diabetics also have MASH. Obesity is another leading risk factor, with estimates suggesting that 75 percent of overweight people and 90 percent with obesity will develop the condition. People with MASH also have a tripled risk of also developing heart disease, including coronary artery disease, stroke, and heart failure, compared to people without the condition. MASH diagnosis is poised for a major shift, mirroring past breakthroughs in chronic disease management. With new treatments approved and others on the horizon, the focus now turns to fixing systemic roadblocks. Currently, limited access to non-invasive tests and reliance on specialists leave most cases undetected until late stages. MASH arises from a cascade of liver damage typically linked to a buildup of fat in the liver, which triggers inflammation that damages liver cells and activates scar-forming cells. What was once healthy liver tissue becomes stiff, progressively crippling the liver's ability to detoxify blood. Though this is often painless until the damage becomes too severe to be reversed. If caught early, people can live normal lifespans with MASH. Lifestyle changes - eating a healthier diet, exercising regularly, and losing between five and 10 percent of one's body weight - can slow down the progression of MASH and repair some of the damage. Doctors may prescribe resmetirom, the first FDA-approved medication for MASH, to work hand-in-hand with those lifestyle changes. But severe damage can cause deadly conditions that cut a person's life drastically short. 'Each late-stage MASH diagnosis represents a missed opportunity for earlier intervention to prevent disease progression, threatening worse [liver] and [non-liver] outcomes for people living with the condition and greater costs for individuals, health systems, and societies,' researchers told a Barcelona medical conference this week. The solution requires concrete changes from moving diagnostics to implementing automated tools in electronic records. The researchers said that success in improving diagnostics goes beyond devising better tests. A fundamental reworking of methods of care is needed that catches at-risk patients before irreversible damage occurs. 'Paradigm shifts do not occur in a vacuum, but arise when leaps in science, technology, and innovation are coupled with changes in perception and understanding within a community,' they said. 'A confluence of factors in 2024 and expected drug approvals in many European countries in 2025 point to a near term tipping point for MASH diagnoses; nonetheless, focused and sustained efforts are needed to turn such opportunities into reality.'
