Science and Tech

Getty Images Once everywhere the magnetic keycard is being phased out As he slipped the key card into the reader on his hotel room door and tried the handle – to no avail – he realised what he had done. For years, Steven Murdoch, a security researcher at University College London, had taken care not to put tickets or cards …

Dahlia Katz Comedian Anesti Danelis used AI to make his show for the Edinburgh Festival “Why did the politician bring a ladder to the debate? To make sure he could reach new heights with his promises!” Ask AI to write a political joke, and the above is an example of what you can get. Perhaps not funny enough to deliver …

The IOC announced the inaugural games will be hosted by Saudi Arabia. Not all are happy

Phool dev Shahni Phool dev Shahni makes a living harvesting makhana or lotus seeds Like his father and grandfather before him, Phool dev Shahni once made a living by diving to the bottom of 8ft-deep (2.4m), muddy ponds. “I used to dive in 7 to 8ft of water for hours a day – coming to the surface to breathe after …

Hysata Paul Barrett’s firm has developed tech to make cheaper green hydrogen “If you remember being a kid and blowing up a balloon or into a milkshake, your cheeks got sore because there is an energy penalty associated with bubble formation.” Paul Barrett, the Dublin-born chief executive of the Australian green energy firm Hysata, is explaining the plan to create …

As New Yorkers experience flash floods and severe thunderstorms, NYC emergency officials have begun using drones for the first time as an early weather warning system. The drones are an addition to other forms of emergency messaging, including social media and text alerts.

We speak to the BBC journalist who exposed an online con.

Getty Images Climeworks’ Icelandic plant captures CO2 direct from the atmosphere It could be a scene from science fiction. Towering over dark, mossy lava fields are stacks of noisy machines the size of shipping containers, domes, and zig-zagging silver pipes. Found 30km (19 miles) southwest of Iceland’s capital Reykjavik, this is the world’s largest direct air capture (DAC) facility. Called …

A BBC reporter has been given an in-depth insight into how pig butchering scams work after being targeted himself. Scammers refer to their victims as pigs, whom they fatten up to be “butchered” – or conned, out of as much money as possible. Cyber correspondent Joe Tidy was befriended on Instagram by fraudsters pretending to be an attractive 36-year-old woman …

Jacki Thrapp American Jacki Thrapp found that it was cheaper to fly to Europe to see Taylor Swift For Nashville native Jacki Thrapp flying to Europe this summer to see her idol Taylor Swift perform live was a “no brainer”. With the cheapest tickets for the remaining US dates of Swift’s continuing Eras Tour now costing $2,500 (£2,000) on the …