Science & technology
Well informed
Can you breathe stress away?
It won’t hurt to try. But scientists are only beginning to understand the links between the breath and the mind
Richard Casement
The Economist’s science and technology internship
We invite applications for the 2025 Richard Casement internship
Dancing with death
A better understanding of Huntington’s disease brings hope
Previous research seems to have misinterpreted what is going on
Down’s and Alzheimer’s
Volunteers with Down’s syndrome could help find Alzheimer’s drugs
Those with the syndrome have more of a protein implicated in dementia
I can do it with a distributed heart
Training AI models might not need enormous data centres
Eventually, models could be trained without any dedicated hardware at all
Return of the House of Wisdom
How the Gulf’s rulers want to harness the power of science
A stronger R&D base, they hope, will transform their countries’ economies. Will their plan work?
The long shots
Cancer vaccines are showing promise at last
Trials are under way against skin, brain and lung tumours
Smoke and sensors
New firefighting tech is being trialled in Sardinia’s ancient forests
It could sniff out blazes long before they spread out of control
Lift-off at last?
Can Jeff Bezos match Elon Musk in space?
After 25 years, Blue Origin finally heads to orbit, and hopes to become a contender in the private space race