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A nationwide electronic warfare system can disrupt satellite navigation to prevent Russian attacks in Ukraine. Plus: antique clocks give a window into scientific innovation of times past.

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Anatolii Steepannov/AFP/Getty

Drone defence

Ukraine is deploying a nationwide electronic warfare system to confuse satellite navigation. Known as Pokrova, the system aims to prevent Russian missiles and drones from finding their targets and may already be in operation. The “spoofing” system interferes with GPS and other satellite navigation systems such as Russia’s GLONASS and Europe’s Galileo, collectively known as Global Navigation Satellite Systems, or GNSS. It is likely to also affect satellite navigation for people in Ukraine. Read more

Positive steps

A dance mat-style game that prompts players to step on different arrows prevents falls among older people, probably by improving their strength, balance and reflexes. Our balance naturally declines with age, with falls being a common cause of serious injury among older people. Vision problems, muscle weakness and conditions such as dementia, heart disease and low blood pressure can also raise the risk. To help prevent falls, Daina Sturnieks at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, designed a game called smart±step. This provides both cognitive and motor training by prompting players to step, at varying speeds, onto targets on a wireless electric floor mat. Read more

Get access to our expert coverage of the latest breakthroughs in science, including the search for a clean wonder-fuel that could speed our path to net zero. 

More headlines

• Tiny tornadoes: Some animal cells generate twister-like currents that mix up their contents.

   

• Alternative plastic: Marine animals may be more likely to eat biodegradable plastics than conventional plastics.

   

• Bot war: Tens of thousands of bots tussled on Twitter to try to shape the debate as a Chinese spy balloon flew over the US and Canada last year.

   

• Reason to be Happy: Leading economist Kaushik Basu's new book argues that we can increase our overall happiness by thinking more clearly.

The Palace Museum

Zimingzhong, or “bells that ring themselves”, were lavish antique clocks brought to China by European missionaries during the Qing dynasty. They were highly prized by Chinese emperors, who collected and displayed them in their hundreds in Beijing’s Forbidden City palace to highlight their royal status and opulent taste. Much of what made the zimingzhong so prestigious was the technology inside the intricate casings, requiring hundreds of skilled craftspeople to produce just one clock. Powered by mechanisms still used today in some timepieces, some of the complex devices may even have been used to time the duration of celestial events. The clock pictured above is part of the new exhibition Zimingzhong: Clockwork treasures from China’s Forbidden City at the Science Museum in London. Read more

Whale watching and marine ecosystems in the Azores Islands: Portugal

7 May 2024 | 7 days

Experience the hidden paradise of the richly biodiverse Azores islands, their lush flora and fauna, volcanic craters, lagoons and picturesque towns. This is a rare opportunity to actively take part in whale research and get an opportunity to watch the social interactions of whales as they descend into the water. 

Can you use science to help us answer our readers' questions? The best answers will be published in our Last Word section. This week we ask:

When I invent a time machine, what is the earliest period in Earth’s history in which I could comfortably survive?

Thanks for reading!

Sam Wong

Assistant news editor, New Scientist
Email me at newsletter@newscientist.com

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