Warning over fillers and botox being offered in public toilets

Getty Images Unlicensed practitioners giving cosmetic injections are putting people’s lives at risk, officials say Cosmetic procedures such as fillers, Botox and Brazilian butt lifts are taking place in public toilets, hotel rooms and other “shocking locations” in Britain, officials have warned. People’s lives “are being put at risk every single day” by the lack…

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This battery self-destructs: Biodegradable power inspired by “Mission: Impossible”

In the Mission: Impossible films, superspy Ethan Hunt — played by Tom Cruise — gets orders from his superiors on various devices that self-destruct in five seconds. Could electronics disintegrate into nothing in real life? Binghamton University Professor Seokheun “Sean” Choi has researched disposable “papertronics” over the past 20 years, but the hardest part about…

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When the Earth Was Green review: Gripping account of how plants and animals co-evolved

An artist’s impression of an environment where prehistoric plants thrived Christian Jegou/Science Photo Library When the Earth Was GreenRiley Black (St Martin’s Press (US, available now; UK, later this month)) The behaviour of plants is invisible to the naked human eye. They operate on timescales our imaginations can’t entertain, and they run roughshod over familiar categories…

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Quantum satellite sets globe-spanning distance record

A satellite-carrying rocket blasts off from a commercial aerospace zone in China VCG/Getty Images A small quantum satellite created a secure link between ground stations in China and South Africa, sharing quantum-encrypted data over a record distance of 12,900 kilometres. Similar microsatellites could become part of a future quantum internet. The record-breaking feat, which occurred…

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Spending Review to include £86bn for science and tech

Marc Ashdown Business correspondent Getty Images Areas like Newport in Wales, home to the UK’s biggest semiconductor manufacturing facility, will be allowed to decide how investment is targeted in their communities. The government has said it will spend £86bn on the science and technology sector by the end of this Parliament, ahead of Wednesday’s Spending…

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