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Anyone who has ever stood on the Prime Meridian line at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich in London holding a compass will know that True North and Magnetic North do not align.

Earth’s wandering magnetism means that the magnetic North Pole is constantly shifting, sending metal compass needles darting away from the geographical North Pole — a problem that requires hikers to make continual adjustments when navigating by map.

But next month, for the first time 360 years, True North and Magnetic North will line up.

Y. Haile-Selassie et al. A 3.8-million-year-old hominin cranium from Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia. Nature. Published online August 28, 2019. doi:10.1038/s41586-019‑1513-8.

B.Z. Saylor et al. Age and context of mid-Pliocene hominin cranium from Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia. Nature. Published online August 28, 2019. doi:10.1038/s41586-019‑1514-7.

B. Asfaw. The Belohdelie frontal: new evidence of early hominid cranial morphology from the Afar of Ethiopia. Journal of Human Evolution. Vol. 16, Nov.-Dec. 1987, p. 611. doi:10.1016/0047–2484(87)90016–9.

A black hole is a region of spacetime exhibiting gravitational acceleration so strong that nothing can escape, not even light. These cosmic phenomena are said to form when massive stars collapse at the end of their life cycle. Then, they can continue to grow by absorbing mass from their surroundings, engulfing stars in their path and merging with other black holes.

This is the first in a series of in-depth articles examining China’s efforts to build a stronger, domestic semiconductor industry amid rising trade tensions with US.


After several decades and billions of dollars of investment, only 16 per cent of semiconductors used in China today are manufactured domestically.