The United Kingdom's largest research funder, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), has suspended some grant review processes in medicine, biosciences, engineering and physical sciences. It is also ending or cutting investment in projects in particle physics, astronomy and nuclear physics. Part of the reason is that the government wants UKRI to prioritize studies that generate economic growth. Some of the biggest planned cuts are at the Science and Technology Facilities Council, the part of UKRI that funds UK physicists' participation in international projects such as CERN Europe's particle-physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland. Nuclear physicist Paul Howarth, who on 3 March assumed the role of president of the Institute of Physics (IoP) in London, tells Nature that the country's scientists deserve a more responsible approach from their government. It feels, at the moment, that this move is overly burdensome on the key areas of particle physics, astronomy and nuclear physics, collectively known as PPAN, which are looking at 30% cuts. I would argue that those fields are of fundamental importance and key to physics as a whole. Also, from my point of view, those disciplines help to attract young people into physics in the first place. It doesn't necessarily mean that they then spend a lifetime in those areas ' but they can learn valuable skills and then go and work in other areas of the economy....

Paradiso was trained as a physicist and completed his PhD in experimental high-energy physics at MIT in 1981. His father was a photographer and filmmaker working at MIT, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and the MITRE Corporation, so he grew up in a house where artists, scientists, and engineers regularly gathered and interesting music was always playing. That mix of influences led him to the MIT Media Lab, where he is the Alexander W. Dreyfoos Professor, academic head of the Program in Media Arts and Sciences, and director of the Responsive Environments research group. At the Media Lab, Paradiso conducts research that engages sensing of different kinds and applies it across diverse and often extreme applications. He works on developing technologies that can efficiently capture and process multiple sensing modalities, and leverages this capability in application domains like the internet of things, medicine, environmental sensing, space exploration, and artistic expression. These efforts use that information to help people better understand the world, express themselves, and connect with one another....

The research, published in Nature Medicine on 9 March1, reveals that taking a daily supplement for two years slowed biological ageing in older adults by around four months, compared with those who didn't take them. The aim of studies like this is 'not just identifying how to live longer, but also how to live better', says study co-author Howard Sesso, an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Although it's too early to link the data to clinical outcomes, 'the multivitamin intervention appeared to be on that type of trajectory over two years,' he says. 'This is a very interesting and rigorous study,' says Steve Horvath, a geroscientist at biotechnology company Altos Labs in Cambridge, UK. 'The public appetite for knowing whether everyday supplements can genuinely slow ageing is enormous. This study provides some of the most credible evidence we have to date.' Sesso and his colleagues analysed blood samples from 958 healthy participants in the COSMOS study, a randomized controlled trial in the United States, who were 70 years old on average. The samples were taken at three time points: when they enrolled in the study and after 12 and 24 months....

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved eight pilot programs that will allow a handful of companies, including Archer Aviation, Beta Technologies, Joby Aviation, and Wisk to start widespread electric aircraft testing as early as this summer. The three-year program, which will span 26 states, is designed to ensure U.S. companies lead the way in next-gen aircraft used for personal travel, regional transportation, cargo logistics, and emergency medicine, Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in remarks Monday. The pilot program, known as the Advanced Air Mobility and Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Integration Pilot Program, was announced last year through an executive order by President Donald Trump in an effort to speed up development of the futuristic aircraft. Numerous electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) companies have emerged in recent years with promises of launching urban air taxis and other regional electric aircraft. However, getting those aircraft into commercial operation takes years and hundreds of millions of dollars. The FAA must certify any new aircraft, which is a multi-year process....