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CND protest at Fairford
Worth the risk?
A new funding agency for science claims it will be tolerant of failure – but the signs are that it aims only to replicate existing venture capitalism, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and JOEL HELLEWELL
CUTTING EDGE: Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR) which can perform laparoscopic surgery on the soft tissue of a pig without human help

LAST month the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria) announced the appointment of a new CEO, in line with its intention to launch around the end of this year.

Aria is a new funding agency modelled on venture capital funding for high-risk “moonshot” research that will sit alongside, although independent of the umbrella British research funding agency UK Research and Innovation.

The new CEO, Ilan Gur, has a background in venture capital.  

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Science and Society / 19 November 2025
19 November 2025

Neutrinos are so abundant that 400 trillion pass through your body every second. ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT explain how scientists are seeking to know more about them

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump during a press conference at Chequers, near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, on day two of the president's second state visit to the UK, September 18, 2025
Features / 2 October 2025
2 October 2025

Once again, working people have been betrayed with false promises about jobs in an industry that is actually making climate change worse, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

UNRECOGNISED POTENTIA:L: Girl students conduct an experiment by throwing cotton balls to demonstrate the instinctive reaction of flinching at The Big Bang Fair 2025, for young scientists and engineers, at the NEC in Birmingham on June 18 2025
Science and Society / 16 July 2025
16 July 2025

What’s behind the stubborn gender gap in Stem disciplines ask ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT in their column Science and Society

POISON: Centivax workers study antivenom to counteract the bites of various snakes at the company lab in San Francisco
Science and Society / 7 May 2025
7 May 2025

A maverick’s self-inflicted snake bites could unlock breakthrough treatments – but they also reveal deeper tensions between noble scientific curiosity and cold corporate callousness, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT