Audiobook read by AI is the opposite of soothing

When I can't get to sleep I do something strange. I put on an audiobook. A specific one: The Unknown Universe by Stuart Clark. I must have listened to it more than 70 times but I still can't entirely explain the appeal. It's not the most dazzling book on science. And it's not the most famous. It's possible that there's something about trying to understand challenging concepts such as dark energy that is soporific. Or maybe there's something reassuring about the perspective it provides. Why worry about tomorrow's presentation when the entire universe might one day go out like a light?
However, one thing I do know is that the soothing human narrator, David Timson, is important. And I know this because I tried a

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The Independent

6 hours ago

• The Independent

King Charles pays tribute to ‘resilience' of Antarctic scientists facing 24 hours of darkness

King Charles sent a personal message to British Antarctic researchers to mark the southern hemisphere's shortest day, praising their "critically important" scientific work. The message, part of the BBC World Service's midwinter broadcast, highlighted the researchers' resilience and commitment to understanding Earth's fragile systems. Charles, a known environmental advocate, stressed the importance of collaboration and giving back to nature to sustain the planet. The midwinter broadcast is a tradition for personnel at British Antarctic Survey stations, involving celebrations, music, and messages from home. This Antarctic midwinter coincides with high temperatures and thunderstorm warnings across parts of the UK, potentially leading to the hottest day of the year.

Daily Mail​

9 hours ago

• Daily Mail​

Mini black holes could be hiding in your HOME, scientists warn

Black holes are some of the most violent and destructive objects in the universe. And as terrifying as it sounds, thousands of these mysterious voids could be whizzing through your home at this very moment. Scientists believe the universe may be littered with objects called primordial black holes. According to some calculations, as many as 1,000 could be passing through every square metre of the planet each year. One of these black holes might even blast straight through your head, without you ever knowing it was there. Primordial black holes are ancient entities formed in the very first moments of the Big Bang, which have been drifting through the universe ever since. However, these are not the star-swallowing, galaxy-churning supermassive black holes that appear in science-fiction blockbusters like Interstellar. Instead, they are microscopic singularities no larger than a hydrogen atom, ranging from the mass of a single bacterium to that of a medium-sized asteroid. The black holes in your home Typically, black holes form when a star with a lot of mass collapses in on itself until it forms an ultra-dense point known as a singularity. These points of matter have such a strong gravitational pull that even light is pulled in - hence why they appear 'black'. However, primordial black holes might form in a slightly different way. In fact, these would have formed so early on in the universe that stars wouldn't have even had time to form. Dr De-Chang Dai, a black hole researcher from Yangzhou University, China, told MailOnline: 'Primordial black holes are black holes created soon after the Big Bang. 'At this period, the temperature and energy density of the universe were very high.' So, when small pockets of 'overdense' matter formed, this high energy squished them into very small black holes. What are primordial black holes? Primordial black holes are microscopic pieces of ultra-dense matter, just like normal black holes but smaller. Scientists think they may have been formed at the very beginning of the universe rather than out of collapsing stars. Their masses could range between 100,000 times less than a paperclip to 100,000 times greater than the sun. We haven't found proof that they exist, but they might form part of the 'dark matter' which makes up a large part of the mass of the universe. Over the 13.8 billion years that followed, some of these black holes would have slowly evaporated away through a process called Hawking Radiation, leaving behind only tiny remnants. The main reason scientists are so interested in these currently theoretical objects is that they are one of the best candidates for dark matter. Dark matter is a hypothetical substance which scientists have proposed to make up the mass which seems to be missing from galaxies. Although we can't see it or interact with it, scientists estimate that dark matter might make up around 27 per cent of the universe. Since primordial black holes don't radiate much energy and are almost impossible to detect, while also holding a lot of mass, they are a good fit for this role. Professor Dejan Stojkovic, a black hole physicist from the University at Buffalo, told MailOnline: 'In the light of all these null results from the direct and indirect dark matter searches, primordial black holes appear to be the least exotic possibility.' If these tiny black holes really are what scientists have been calling 'dark matter' then they should be found almost everywhere in the universe, including in our solar system. How many primordial black holes are there? Since we know how much dark matter there is supposed to be, scientists can actually work out how many primordial black holes we should expect to encounter. However, this will depend on how much mass scientists think a primordial black hole contains. Dr Sarah Geller, a theoretical physicist from UC Santa Cruz, says that if primordial black holes exist then they probably have a mass of 'a billion billion grams each' - around the size of an asteroid. Dr Geller says: 'Supposing that they make up all of the dark matter then we can expect there to be at least one within a distance of 5 Astronomical Units from the Sun - a distance of about Jupiter's orbit.' Likewise, Valentin Thoss, a black hole researcher and PhD candidate at the University of Munich told MailOnline: 'If their mass is ten trillion tonnes, which is comparable to a very heavy asteroid, there would be on average a few dozen within the planetary zone of the solar system. 'Within 20 years we can expect one to fly past Earth at a distance of around 200 million kilometres, which is roughly the distance between the sun and Earth.' However, the lighter each individual black hole is the more will be needed to make up the mass of dark matter in the universe, and some researchers think they could be much lighter. Scientists used to think that black holes would eventually evaporate over time to the point that they just vanished. But new research suggests that there might be a limit which slows down this evaporation over time until they reach a stable mass. This could allow black holes to be much smaller than researchers had previously thought possible. Professor Stojkovic suggests that all the primordial black holes might have shrunk to become 'Planck mass remnants', weighing just 10 micrograms. At this mass, the universe would be so full of primordial black holes that 1,000 per year would pass through every square metre of Earth. What happens if a black hole hits me? The fact that there are black holes hanging around the solar system might sound alarming, but just how worrying that is depends on the black holes' mass. If the black holes are as small as Professor Stojkovic suggests they could be, then there is nothing to worry about at all. '1000 crossings per year per square metre is not drastic at all since 10 micrograms is about the mass of a bacteria. 'We have trillions of bacteria around us at any moment, though they are not moving very fast.' These tiny black holes would pass through your body without even disturbing your cells, let alone causing any noticeable damage. As the predicted mass of the black holes gets larger the chances of one hitting Earth becomes rarer, but they also have the possibility of creating more damage. Travelling at around 180 miles per second (300 kilometres per second) a black hole with a mass between that of an asteroid and a small planet would pass through Earth in seconds. However, this wouldn't be like an asteroid of normal density hitting Earth. Because primordial black holes are so small, about the size of an atom, scientists say their passage through solid matter would be like a bullet going through a cloud. If one were to hit Earth it might leave a very small tunnel straight through the planet and create some unusual seismic signals but otherwise wouldn't be detectable. But if one of these larger primordial black holes hit you, then you definitely would feel it. Dr Geller says: 'Most likely this wouldn't be great for that person's health. 'The primordial black hole would go right through a person, and though it leaves only a very tiny hole, it might impart some velocity and give the person a real kick!' Previous calculations suggest that a black hole with a mass of seven trillion tonnes would hit with as much force as a .22-calibre rifle bullet. Just like a gunshot, that would be enough power to rupture organs, tear flesh, and destroy your brain. Fortunately, this is right up at the higher end of primordial black holes possible masses and you would need to be extremely unlucky to encounter one of these. Dr Geller says:' In practice, the chances of such a collision are vanishingly tiny: it's much more likely you could succeed in dropping a peanut from an aeroplane at random into a field the size of a million football fields and hit a single specific blade of grass.' BLACK HOLES HAVE A GRAVITATIONAL PULL SO STRONG NOT EVEN LIGHT CAN ESCAPE Black holes are so dense and their gravitational pull is so strong that no form of radiation can escape them - not even light. They act as intense sources of gravity which hoover up dust and gas around them. Their intense gravitational pull is thought to be what stars in galaxies orbit around. How they are formed is still poorly understood. Astronomers believe they may form when a large cloud of gas up to 100,000 times bigger than the sun, collapses into a black hole. Many of these black hole seeds then merge to form much larger supermassive black holes, which are found at the centre of every known massive galaxy. Alternatively, a supermassive black hole seed could come from a giant star, about 100 times the sun's mass, that ultimately forms into a black hole after it runs out of fuel and collapses. When these giant stars die, they also go 'supernova', a huge explosion that expels the matter from the outer layers of the star into deep space.

Daily Mail​

10 hours ago

• Daily Mail​

Can't sleep in the heat? Scientists reveal simple sock hack that's guaranteed to help you doze off

With the UK in the grips of 2025's first heatwave, many of us will be struggling to doze off amid the tropical heat. If you can't sleep in the heat, scientists may have a counterintuitive solution. Although it might seem bizarre, putting on a pair of socks before you head to bed could be the key to drifting off peacefully. Studies have shown that this simple hack can help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and get a better night of rest. Wearing socks has even been proven to be effective at bedroom temperatures up to 23°C - hotter than nighttime temperatures in many places across the country this weekend. This strange trick works because our bodies' sleep and temperature regulation systems are deeply linked. Professor Eus van Someren, head of the Department of Sleep and Cognition at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, told MailOnline: 'The brain not only regulates body temperature, but also reads out skin temperature. 'It may interpret warm feet as the right moment to fall asleep.' Why should you wear socks to bed? Our core body temperature has a day-night rhythm, starting to drop in the evening to reach its lowest point around four in the morning. That means the best time to sleep is when the core body temperature is on its way down. Normally, your body would cool itself close to bedtime by sending blood to the skin in a process called distal vasodilation, which makes the skin hot. Professor van Someren says this is like 'opening the radiator in the heating system in your home.' When you put on socks, this increases the temperature of your skin and creates signals that your brain mistakes for the warming caused by vasodilation. Your brain will then believe that it is time to fall asleep, and you will find it easier to drift off. But wearing socks also helps you get to sleep in a more counterintuitive way. When our skin becomes hot, the brain's temperature control system sends a signal to the body telling it to start venting heat by sending hot blood into veins near the surface. This causes an increase in vasodilation, sending blood rushing to the skin and dropping the core body temperature down to safe levels. Dr Michael Gradisar, head of sleep science and clinical psychologist and Sleep Cycle, says that wearing socks can trick the body into triggering vasodilation. This, in turn, causes the core body temperature to drop and helps you drift off to sleep. Dr Gradisar says: 'For people who need extra help warming their feet to assist their natural thermoregulation, socks can be helpful.' That might be especially useful if you suffer from Raynaud's phenomenon, poor circulation, or other conditions that interfere with blood flow to the extremities. A study published in 2018 by researchers from Seoul National University found that wearing bed socks significantly improved sleep even when the room was a toasty 23°C. Those who wore socks to bed fell asleep 7.5 minutes faster on average and woke up more than seven times less frequently during the night. How can you get the most out of this trick? To make this trick work for you, it's important that you maximise the amount your core body temperature falls before bed. Studies of skin heating techniques show that the best results were achieved when the feet were warmed about one hour before bedtime. That means you should put on socks before you get into bed to trigger the core cooling process early. Wearing the right material can also make a big difference, as you don't want anything that will trap too much heat or moisture. Dr Gradisar says that 'natural fibres like wool help' since these offer the best balance of breathability and warmth. Likewise, a study of sleepers conducted at 30°C and relative humidity of 50 per cent found that those wearing Merino wool sleepwear got a better night's rest than those wearing cotton. Additionally, if you can find a way of cooling down your body while your feet stay hot, that will ensure the best temperature gradient for sleep. Dr Gradisar recommends using a fan or other means to try and keep the bedroom as cool as possible. However, with temperatures over 30°C forecast this weekend, it is also important to avoid making your feet too hot during the night. Professor Bill Wisden, an expert on the neuroscience of sleep from Imperial College London, told MailOnline: 'Heat is like any intrusive stimulus such as pain, or noise or vibration. It wakes you up. 'Even if the socks help you go to sleep, having hot feet in summer will wake you up!' So, if you do find yourself getting too hot as you doze, simply kick the socks off before falling asleep. The increased vasodilation will linger for a while afterwards, and exposing your feet to the air could produce an even greater drop in core temperature, helping you fall asleep faster and stay asleep all night. What if you find socks uncomfortable? Many people may find the idea of wearing socks to bed an extremely unpleasant thought. Luckily, if you are one of those people who like to let their feet breathe, there is another way to get the same effects. Anything you can do to raise the temperature of your skin before getting ready for bed will trigger the same vasodilation effects as putting on a pair of socks. Professor Wisden says: 'I recommend just before bedtime, take a hot shower or warm bath, even on a warm evening. 'At the end of the day, this raises the probability that you will drift off to sleep.' You don't even need to have a full bath or shower if that seems like too much effort. Studies have shown that simply bathing the feet up to the ankle in 40°C water for about 20 minutes, one to two hours before bed, helps people fall asleep about 10 minutes faster on average. So, although it might sound odd, if you want to beat the heat this weekend, the best thing to do is to get as hot as possible before bed.