James FitzGerald and Holly Honderich BBC News, London and Washington DC Watch: Musk defends government cuts in surprise White House appearance A new advisory body created by US President Donald Trump and led by the world’s richest man has been tasked with cutting US government jobs and other spending. Elon Musk is leading this effort…

(left) The helmet discovered in Denmark (right) a Weisenau-type Roman helmet found in Germany – credit: Velje Museums / Carnuntum Museum CC 2.5. When it comes to archaeological discoveries, few things excite as much as a soldier’s helmet. The epitome of looking into the face of the past, they’ve helped historians infer so much about…

Paul Burnell BBC News, Manchester PA Media Andrew Malkinson was wrongly convicted of rape in 2004 and spent most of two decades behind bars The lawyer for Andrew Malkinson, who spent 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, has said his client is at risk of losing access to social housing…

Ruden AS workers in front of the Kimbiji aquifer site – credit Ruden AS Firms that conduct exploratory surveys for oil drilling have been sitting on mountains of geologic data that are now used to locate hidden aquifers of water for African communities. Two-thirds of the African population is affected by water scarcity, but while…

Bernd Debusmann Jr, at the White House, and Mike Wendling BBC News EPA US President Donald Trump has said he had a “lengthy and highly productive” phone call with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in which the leaders agreed to begin negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. In a post on his Truth Social platform,…

Sombrero ground lizard – credit: Richard Brown / Fauna & Flora © Originally published on Mongabay by Shreya Dasgupta A tiny lizard found only on one tiny Caribbean island has seen a dramatic 1,500% increase in its population, after just a few years of island restoration efforts. In 2018, researchers estimated there were fewer than…

Daniel De Simone BBC investigations correspondent BBC MI5 lied to three courts while defending its handling of a misogynistic neo-Nazi state agent who attacked his girlfriend with a machete, the BBC can reveal. Arguing for secrecy, the Security Service told judges it had stuck to its policy of not confirming or denying informants’ identities. In…

24 years ago today, the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) – Shoemaker spacecraft successfully orbited and landed on the asteroid Eros 433, a first for humanity. The second-largest known near-Earth object, Eros was the perfect target for landing as NEAR Shoemaker could orbit its 13 by 33-kilometer bulk—which it did, for a whole year from…

Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr said the display of a banner highlighting Rodri’s Ballon d’Or win before kick-off at Manchester City motivated him even more to win the Champions League play-off first leg. Spain midfielder Rodri claimed the prestigious honour ahead of the Brazil winger last October, with Real boycotting the ceremony in Paris because…

Cancer growth (top left) was reverted back to a health state (bottom right) – credit Dongkwan Shin et al. What if the best course of action in the fight against cancer isn’t to fight at all? Rather than killing these mutated cells, a new study from Korea presents a treatment wherein they can be changed…