News (old posts, page 867)

‘Huge advances in cancer and rare diseases’: 25 years of the human genome – podcast

It has been 25 years since Bill Clinton announced one of humanity’s most important scientific achievements: the first draft of the human genome. At the time, there was a great deal of excitement about the benefits that this new knowledge would bring, with predictions about curing genetic diseases and even cancer. To find out which of them came to pass, and what could be in store over the next two-and-a-half decades, Madeleine Finlay is joined by science editor Ian Sample, and hears from Prof Matthew Hurles, director of the Wellcome Sanger Institute

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‘Is this AI?’: surfing world in awe after ‘best air ever’ pulled off by 18-year-old Australian

  • Hughie Vaughan widely hailed for ‘stalefish backflip’ manoeuvre

  • Central Coast teenager stuns with move at wave pool in Texas

A step change in the evolution of surfing brought about by an Australian teenager has electrified the world of extreme sport and drawn praise from the doyen of skateboarding, Tony Hawk.

Eighteen-year-old Central Coast surfer Hughie Vaughan produced what has been dubbed a “stalefish flipper” at a competition in a wave park in Texas this week that has already been viewed millions of times on social media.

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Club World Cup: Inter send River Plate home as all four Brazilian clubs reach last 16

  • Italian club progress to knockout round with 2-0 win

  • Fluminense complete full Brazilian contingent in last 16

Inter scored twice in the last 18 minutes to beat River Plate 2-0 and progress to the knockout stage of the Club World Cup as Group E winners and send the Argentinian side home.

Francesco Pio Esposito scored Inter’s first goal seven minutes after River had been reduced to 10 men by the dismissal of Lucas Martínez Quarta, and Alessandro Bastoni added the second in stoppage time.

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Trump officials cite ‘new intelligence’ to back president’s claims of success in strikes on Iran

Tulsi Gabbard and the CIA director say Iran’s nuclear sites were ‘destroyed’, amid reports of White House efforts to limit sharing of classified information with Congress

Donald Trump’s administration ratcheted up its defence of the US’s weekend attacks on Iran, citing “new intelligence” to support its initial claim of complete success and criticising a leaked intelligence assessment that suggested Tehran’s nuclear programme had been set back by only a few months.

The growing row came amid reports that the White House will to try to limit the sharing of classified documents with Congress, according to the Washington Post and the Associated Press.

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The world wants China’s rare earth elements – what is life like in the city that produces them?

More than 80% of China’s rare earth reserves are located in Baotou, an industrial hub of 2.7 million people that abuts the Gobi desert

Central Baotou, an industrial hub of 2.7 million people that abuts the Gobi desert in north China, feels just like any other second-tier Chinese city. Large shopping malls featuring western chains including Starbucks and KFC stand alongside street after street of busy local restaurants, where people sit outside and children play late into the evening, enjoying the relative relief of the cooler temperatures that arrive after dark in Inner Mongolia’s baking summer.

But a short drive into the city’s suburbs reveal another typical, less hospitable, Chinese scene. Factories crowd the city’s edges, with chimneys belching white plumes of smoke. As well as steel and silicon plants, Baotou is home to China’s monopoly on rare earths, the metallic elements that are used in oil refining equipment and car batteries and that have become a major sticking point in the US-China trade war.

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NBA draft: Cooper Flagg goes to Dallas Mavericks as No 1 overall pick

  • 18-year-old had brilliant college career with Duke

  • Mavs only had 1.8% chance of winning No 1 overall pick

The Dallas Mavericks did what everyone knew they would on Wednesday when they selected Cooper Flagg as the No 1 overall pick in the NBA draft.

“I’m feeling amazing. It’s a dream come true, to be honest,” Flagg said after he was selected, surrounded by his family. “I wouldn’t want to share it with anybody else.”

Click here for every draft pick

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