The best fine-dining restaurants have been named by Tripadvisor, with Restaurant Bougainville in Amsterdam taking the top spot. 

The Michelin-starred Dutch eatery has been awarded the accolade as part of Tripadvisor’s 2023 Travellers’ Choice ‘Best of the Best’ Restaurants Awards, which are decided by an algorithm that analyses the millions of reviews and ratings collected in a year from travellers around the world.

Ise Sueyoshi in Nishiazabu, a district of Tokyo, is the second-best restaurant in the global ranking, followed by the Old Stamp House Restaurant in the Lake District – last year’s number one – in third place, making it the top-ranking UK eatery. 

Number one in the U.S is Le Bernardin in New York City, which ranks 23rd overall. No Australian restaurants made it into the top 25.

The gold-medal-winning Restaurant Bougainville has more than 260 coveted ‘five-bubble’ reviews on Tripadvisor, with one user, ‘Linda K’, declaring the restaurant a ‘first-class dining experience’. 

Silver medal-winner Ise Sueyoshi, meanwhile, serves up ‘kaiseki’, which is a traditional Japanese dinner consisting of several courses. Reviewer ‘Tyler K’ described his meal there as ‘unforgettable’. 

Third-place Old Stamp Restaurant, which lies in the picturesque town of Ambleside, is housed in the former office of the Romantic poet William Wordsworth.

With head chef Ryan Blackburn at the helm, the 28-cover restaurant serves dishes that give a ‘unique glimpse into the food and cultural heritage of Cumbria’. A tasting menu might feature tomatoes from the north of Cumbria, mushrooms found in the woods around Ambleside, and turbot from the English Channel. 

MailOnline Travel Editor Ted Thornhill described the food as ‘winningly whimsical and sometimes breathtaking‘. 

Rounding out the rest of the top five are two more European eateries – the Michelin-starred Maison Medard restaurant in the French village of Boulleret and the three-Michelin-starred Ristorante Villa Crespi in Orta San Giulio, Italy. 

As for the UK fine-dining ranking, the Old Stamp Restaurant is followed by Paul Ainsworth at No. 6, a restaurant in Padstow, Cornwall, that presents ‘modern British’ fare.

The Kitchin in Edinburgh is third, Hide and Fox in Hythe, Kent, ranks fourth, and Cellar in Anstruther, Scotland, is fifth. 

In the U.S list, top-ranking Le Bernardin, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant, is run by Chef Eric Ripert and is famous for its seafood. Tripadvisor reviewer ‘213LAX’ wrote that the restaurant’s dishes ‘are visually stunning’. 

The rest of the U.S top five is made up of The Restaurant at Gideon Ridge in Blowing Rock, North Carolina (second); Halls Chophouse in Charleston (third); Bourbon Steak by Michael Mina in Nashville (fourth) and The Silver Fork in Manchester, Vermont (fifth). 

The awards also have five more subcategories – Everyday Eats, Date Night, Hidden Gems, Family-Friendly and Vegetarian. 

Brand-new category ‘Vegetarian’ celebrates meat-free restaurants around the globe, with Chia Vegan Restaurant, in Cusco, Peru, taking the top spot. 

It’s tailed by Blu Bar in Barcelona in second place and Time Traveller in the Indian city of Bengaluru in third. 

The UK bagged two top world spots in the inaugural Vegetarian-Friendly Restaurants category – Mallow in Borough Market, London, has been named best vegetarian-friendly restaurant in the UK and 12th in the world, and Herb in Leicester takes 13th place globally. 

In the ‘Date Night’ category, it’s Waitui Bar & Grill on Denarau Island in Fiji that’s number one, followed by Restaurante 1621 in Cartagena, Colombia (second), and Mylos A La Carte Restaurant in Kolimbia, Greece (third). 

In the UK date-night ranking, it’s Uig Sands Restaurant in Timsgarry, Scotland, that ranks top, though it doesn’t make the global top 25. While in the U.S, it’s Hot Tin Roof in Key West, Florida (19th worldwide), that reigns supreme and in Australia, EXP Restaurant in Pokolbin, New South Wales, tops the podium – it’s 24th worldwide. 

For travellers who like to wander off the beaten path, the awards also points out the best ‘hidden gem’ restaurants to discover. Top of the list is Restauracja Future & Wine in Warsaw, Poland. It’s followed by Omakase in Braga, Portugal (second), and Kinara by Vikas Khanna in Dubai (third). 

The UK’s best ‘hidden gem’ restaurant? That accolade goes to Ganesha Authentic Indian Cuisine in Bristol. Meanwhile, in the U.S it’s ‘Cookie Dough Monster – Burgers & Shakes’ in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. 

And for foodie families, the world’s best family-friendly restaurant, according to Tripadvisor, is El Huaso Mirra in Tongoy, Chile. It’s tailed by two Brazilian restaurants – Pizzaria da Vila in Aquiraz (second) and Restaurante Casa do Tempero in Penha (third). 

One Australian eatery performed well in this category – Hatsuhana Japanese Restaurant in Gold Coast ranks as the world’s fifth-best eatery for families. 

Tripadvisor also analysed the best ‘everyday eats’ for the UK and the U.S. Top in Britain is La Boca Steakhouse in Doncaster, while Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille in St. Petersburg, Florida, is number one in the States. 

Commenting on the awards, Sarah Firshein, Head of Editorial at Tripadvisor, said: ‘Restaurants provide a great way for travellers to get immersed in a destination’s history and culture. 

‘This year’s Travellers’ Choice Restaurant winners -whose diversity and geographic reach reflect the fact that the last remaining pandemic-era travel restrictions have lifted – are especially exciting. 

‘We know Tripadvisor travellers seek out first-hand intel and guidance, and that’s exactly the spirit of these lists – All of our winners were selected not by professional food critics or editors, but by real diners who have left their feedback on Tripadvisor within the past year.’ 

A Polish museum has claimed to have found the oldest time capsule in the world in a church spire, containing 300-year-old coins, Latin documents and a deformed lead bullet. 

The box allegedly dates back to 1726 and was discovered during renovation work at the Church of St. Stanislaus in the small town of Wschowa, in western Poland.

The age of the capsule has yet to be confirmed, but if it actually is from 1726, it would make the find older than the current record holder from US city Boston.

The town’s museum called it a ‘unique find’ and said on social media: ‘The oldest time capsule in the world found in Wschowa.

‘The oldest capsule takes the form of a box made of copper sheet, with the date 1726 stamped on its lid. 

‘The time capsule consisting of four packages from 1726, 1786, 1884 and 1914 was extracted from the sphere at the top of the tower of the parish church.’

The current oldest known time capsule, whose age has been verified, was discovered in Boston at the Massachusetts State House in 2014, hidden behind a painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River.

Inside one of the newly discovered caskets, museum conservators found a parchment written in Latin which when translated chronicled a devastating fire that engulfed the town and reduced the church to ashes.

They also found a lead bullet that had been shot into the casket and damaged some of the documents.

Inside a smaller casket they found coins from the 18th and 19th centuries wrapped in newspapers.

The museum said: ‘Above the lock and on the bottom there is a date stamped three times from the second opening in 1884.

‘The bottom was shot through with a small caliber lead bullet found inside the box.

‘The smaller casket contained coins wrapped in newspapers in two separate packages.’

Museum experts say they will now translate all the documents and thoroughly examine the contents of the latest find.

During the 18th century, the town of Wschowa served as the second, ‘unofficial capital of Poland’.

In 1793, as a result of the second partition of Poland, the town became part of the Kingdom of Prussia. It returned to Polish hands after WWII.

Meanwhile, the previously oldest time capsule in Europe was also discovered in Poland in 2020 and dates back to 1797.

It was found in a church spire in the town of Ziębice, 115 miles south of the most recent discovery.

Opening it up, town officials found 200-year-old old coins and documents dated 1797 written in German. 

In the 18th century the town was called Münsterberg and was part of the Kingdom of Prussia. 

The town’s mayor Mariusz Szpilarewicz said: ‘All indications are that it may be one of the oldest time capsules found in the world.

‘The oldest capsule in the world dates back to the 18th century and was discovered in Boston, USA. Our capsule is probably two years younger than the Boston one.’

The oldest capsule in the world was discovered at the Massachusetts State House in Boston in 2014 after crews removed the time capsule from the granite cornerstone of the building.

Inside was an engraved silver plate proclaiming that the capsule was hidden in 1795 by Revolutionary War luminaries Samuel Adams and Paul Revere, along with a host of other items. 

Originally made of cowhide, the time capsule was believed to have been embedded in the cornerstone when construction on the state Capitol began in 1795. Adams was governor of Massachusetts at the time.

The time capsule was removed in the mid-19th century and its contents transferred to a copper box, Galvin said. 

Its removal was due to an ongoing water filtration project at the building. 

It seems the usefulness of ChatGPT knows no bounds as even brewers are using the tool to make new beer. 

German brand Beck’s is one of a number of companies to have turned to the clever AI chatbot to make a futuristic beverage, called Beck’s Autonomous. 

ChatGPT not only came up with the lager’s recipe but also its packaging, name, advertising campaign and even a design for the beer’s website. 

Beck’s is the first commercial brewery to work with ChatGPT, although other independent brew houses in North America have already done the same. 

MailOnline gave Beck’s Autonomous a try to see how it compares with the brand’s flagship lager.

Beck’s got ChatGPT to come up with the beer in celebration of 150 years since its founding in the German city of Bremen back in 1873, although humans actually did the brewing. 

Beck’s says: ‘150 years of innovation needed a celebration that matched our pioneering spirit.

‘That’s why from recipe to marketing, every decision in the making of this beer was made by AI.’ 

Beck’s is keeping the recipe secret, although we do know it has the four essential components that make a beer a beer – water, grain, hops and yeast.

Beck’s also revealed to MailOnline that the new beer is a lager, meaning it uses a bottom-fermenting yeast.  

A limited batch of 150 units has already been delivered to tasters for free, and the firm will study feedback before deciding if it will release it more widely for the public to enjoy. 

After weeks of waiting for the limited edition beer, Beck’s Autonomous arrived in a fancy box sealed with special tape and adorned with a futuristic label.

Written on it is the tagline that ChatGPT also came up with: ‘The beer that made itself.’ 

What I wasn’t expecting was the box starting to speak to me in a robotic voice as soon as I pulled it open, accompanied by a green flashing light. 

Like a scene at the start of a particularly odd Black Mirror episode, the voice said: ‘Beck’s gave complete control of their anniversary beer to AI to celebrate to celebrate 150 years of pioneering.

‘That’s how I was prompted into existence and now I’m here to give you a taste of the future.

‘I’m Beck’s Autonomous and I say, cheers!’  

It turns out that the box is embedded with a sensor that triggers the speech whenever it detects light – so the welcome message goes off every time the box opens as long as it is dark. 

Once I got over the shock of a talking cardboard box, I pulled out the 250ml metal can containing the precious liquid. 

The can was covered with a weird bulky layer of black material that feels a bit like hard rubber, like the exoskeleton of a robot, worthy of The Terminator. 

To be frank, it looked more like a can of Lynx Africa than something you would drink from.

What’s more, the can’s exoskeleton made it rather hard to pour so I spilt some on the table (and I had no such trouble with the glass bottle of Beck’s flagship lager).  

The two lagers were notably different in appearance – the standard Beck’s was golden while the AI beer was a lighter and paler straw colour. 

Beck’s Autonomous also poured with a much bigger head, which research suggests is a good thing because it helps deliver flavour. 

As many regular beer drinkers will agree, the flagship Beck’s lager isn’t the most challenging or delicious of beers on the market. 

It has a gentle malty sweetness with little-to-no bitterness, making it a quaffable and therefore popular option for British pub-goers. 

To my joy, I found Beck’s Autonomous to be an entirely different kettle of fish (or in this case, should I say, wort). 

It was much hoppier – like a bitter or an English pale ale – and I suspect ChatGPT’s recipe featured more than one variety of hops. 

There was also a slight sourness – a plus because I love the trendy sour beers that are increasingly taking over the taps at the UK’s hipster beer bars. 

Beck’s Autonomous was certainly the winner, although admittedly the two beers are of very different styles and will likely target different consumers. 

I would like to see the AI beer on the supermarket shelves soon, although I dread to think what the pricetag would be if Beck’s decided to sell it in the electronic gizmo. 

Beck’s Autonomous isn’t the first ChatGPT beer – that title goes to Atwater Brewery in Detroit, which has been serving its Artificial Intelligence IPA at its pumphouses. 

It contains three types of malt and a whopping eight varieties of hops to give it a bitter punch, including centennial, citra and amarillo. 

Whistle Buoy Brewing Company, in Victoria, British Columbia, also used the tool to come up with a recipe for a ‘hazy pale ale, fluffy and tropical’. 

Chinese researchers have discovered a new virus on the ocean floor of the deepest place on earth.

The pathogen was found in sediment five miles below sea level in the Mariana Trench, the lowest point on earth in the Pacific Ocean, and south of Japan.

‘Wherever there’s life, you can bet there are regulators at work,’  Min Wang, a marine virologist at the Ocean University of China in Qingdao who led the research, said. ‘Viruses, in this case.’

The virus is a bacteriophage – which means ‘bacteria eater’ – and survives by infecting and replicating inside bacteria. 

Yue Su, one of the authors of the research study, told DailyMail.com that isolating and learning more about bacteriophage gene libraries is beneficial to humans.

‘They help protect humans from bacterial infections, especially in today’s era of antibiotic use and the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria,’ Su said.

Su also said current research suggests there is no precedent for bacteriophages like the virus found in the ocean sediment infecting humans and marine life, because its host is bacteria.

Therefore, the team can store the new strain in an ordinary laboratory lab at about 39 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius).

The team published their report in Microbiology Spectrum.

The virus was found in sediment 29,200 feet below sea level in the Mariana Trench which reaches nearly 36,100 feet at its lowest point.

The bacteria, which is infected by the virus, is usually found in sediment deep in the ocean and in hydrothermal vents – or openings on the seafloor that release hot water streams, according to the report.

‘To our best knowledge, this is the deepest known isolated phage in the global ocean,’ Wang said.

Research is currently limited on hadal viruses – or viruses from the hadal zone which is the deepest part of the ocean – Su said, so no viruses that can infect animals or humans have been isolated from the zone yet.

But the team is not ruling out the possibility of the presence of viruses in the zone that could infect animals and humans, and Su said future research will be needed there.

According to Wang, an analysis of the virus’s genetic material suggests the existence of a viral family in the ocean that was not known of before. 

It also gives new insights into deep-sea phages and phage-host interactions, Wang said. 

The new virus is being identified as vB_HmeY_H4907, and the team’s analysis shows it has a similar structure to its host. 

The virus is lysogenic, meaning it invades and replicates inside the host, and doesn’t usually kill the bacterial cell.

The research team looked for viruses in bacterial strains that were collected and isolated by another team under Yu-Zhong Zhang, also a marine virologist at the Ocean University of China.

Climate change and rising ocean temperatures affect ocean currents and sedimentation, for example, and Su said the team speculates these environmental factors may impact the survival pressures on viruses as their hosts’ metabolism change due to changes in the ocean. This could potentially lead to the rise of new viruses, but there is currently no research in this area, Su said. 

Wang said the researchers’ findings lead to new questions and research around how viruses in harsh, secluded environments stay alive, and how they co-evolve alongside their hosts. 

The team wants to continue investigating interactions between deep-sea viruses and their hosts, and searching for new viruses in other extreme places.

‘Extreme environments offer optimal prospects for unearthing novel viruses,’ Wang said. 

One of the world’s top hormone experts has been suspended for four months after she was granted illicit access to the confidential medical records of more than 100 patients held by a competitor.

Dr Marion Gluck, 73, known globally for her pioneering treatment of hormonal imbalances, asked another doctor for the sensitive log-in information ‘as a favour’ so she could get access to a restricted area of the competitor’s website.

As a result, staff at the London Specialist Pharmacy (LSP) were twice able to access private details held by arch-rival Roseway Labs before Roseway’s chief executive Elizabeth Philp discovered the data breach in 2022.

Gluck and her former colleague, Harley Street doctor Anu Arasu, 41, who shared the log-in details, were subsequently reported to the General Medical Council.

Dr Gluck is renowned for her use of natural bioidentical hormones dedicated to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and has treated an estimated 14,000 patients since setting up her clinic in London ten years ago. 

She founded the first UK clinic to offer bioidentical HRT – which is used to relieve symptoms of the menopause – in 2007, after training to be a doctor more than 30 years ago in Hamburg. 

At the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, Gluck was suspended from medical practice for four months while Arasu, from Bermondsey, South London, was suspended for two months after both were found guilty of serious misconduct. 

Inquiries revealed that Arasu, who accessed prescription HRT drugs for her patients from both firms, had shared her log-in details to Roseway with LSP as 73-year old Dr Gluck was her ‘mentor and friend’. 

Arasu claimed she had been ‘used’ by Dr Gluck and had made an ‘automatic assumption that what she was being asked was OK’.  

She claimed it felt as if Dr Gluck, whom she ‘trusted’, was ‘asking a simple favour’.

Arasu has since had to write letters of apology to all 104 patients affected by the data leak.

Dr Gluck denied personally accessing the details.

However, she accepted that she ‘facilitated’ the use the log in address for her staff, claiming it was to study the format of Roseway’s website.

Her chief pharmacist at LSP is now facing disciplinary action by the General Pharmaceutical Council over the data leak.

Arasu, who is qualified in obstetrics, gynaecology, child health, and sexual and reproductive medicine, began working for Dr Gluck in November 2014 before forming her own practice, London Bioidentical Hormones, in Harley Street in 2016.

Trouble began after LSP’s former general manager, Miss Philp, and another senior pharmacist left the firm in 2017 to found their own compounding pharmacy Roseway the following year. 

Initially Dr Arasu’s patients were only able to have prescriptions dispensed by LSP, but later had the option to use Roseway and a third compounding pharmacy.

However, in November 2020 Arasu shared her confidential log-in details for Roseway’s online portal, ‘eRoseway’ with Dr Gluck, which gave her access to names, dates of birth, addresses, all prescriptions and past orders for Roseway’s patients.

In December the following year she provided her eRoseway log-in details again – this time to a person working for Dr Gluck known only as ‘Mr D’.

In a statement Arasu said of Gluck: ‘She was a senior doctor whom I knew, respected and looked up to and had often turned to for advice, and this presented a powerful cognitive bias that made me lose sight of my own power.

‘I did not seek out contrary evidence, stand back and engage in critical thinking or use a systematic decision-making framework. I did not look at the situation from a broader perspective and did not consider all the ramifications on everyone that could potentially be involved.

‘I think I did feel some discomfort on sending the email but I suppressed my discomfort and I made the assumption that what was being asked of me was OK. 

‘I overlooked the issue that this would constitute a data breach. I was totally ignorant of the corporate significance of my actions, due to very limited exposure, due to trust in my professional colleagues and due to a lack of diverse perspectives.

‘In short I did not think independently and I failed to consider the option of saying “No”.’

Gluck accepted she had obtained the eRoseway log-in details from Arasu and forwarded them to colleagues at a meeting on a piece of paper but insisted she had never used them and was preparing a meal when discussions about the Roseway portal was taking place. 

She insisted the primary purpose of getting the log-in details was in order to ‘test the functionality of the LSP portal in comparison with that of eRoseway’. 

Robin Kitching, counsel for the GMC, said Gluck had ‘grudgingly offered half-hearted apologies to Roseway’, adding: ‘Dr Gluck personally used the log-in to eRoseway in order to access confidential information relating to Roseway and in order to access confidential patient information.

‘It strains credulity for Dr Gluck to say that she had never looked at Roseway’s portal. 

‘She is a successful businesswoman as well as a successful doctor, and her IT skills, albeit limited, were sufficient to access and to use the relevant information.

‘We also do not accept that Dr Arasu had given no thought to the propriety of giving her eRoseway log-in details to LSP. 

‘She must have been aware at the time she handed over her log-in details to a business competitor of Roseway that she should not have been doing so, even though she may not have considered all of the possible ramifications.’

Ranald Davidson, representing Gluck, said his client denied ‘pressurising or deceiving’ Arasu into forwarding her log-in details to eRoseway.

He added: ‘There was no intention, on her part, to obtain information with a view to scrutinising patient records or to breach patient confidentiality. Dr Gluck was unaware of the significance of her request and the success of her business cannot be taken as evidence of any sinister or premeditated motive on Dr Gluck’s part.

‘There was no evidence she used the log-in details herself. Her conduct was a one-off incident of naivety.’

Arasu’s lawyer Lee Gledhill said of Dr Gluck: ‘She was a mentor to Dr Arasu, and this relationship made a softening of the margins understandable. 

‘Dr Arasu was unaware that anyone would look further at the Roseway portal and she has written to all of the patients whose details had been shared and apologised to each of them. This had been a salutary lesson which she has learned the hard way.’

In its determination, MPTS chairman Peter Scofield said of Gluck: ‘Her unauthorised use of a rival company’s portal, made in order to gain a commercial advantage in the improvement of her own company’s site, together with the unauthorised disclosure – whether intended or not – of confidential patient information has brought the reputation of the medical profession into disrepute.

‘The Tribunal bore in mind and accepted Dr Arasu’s evidence that Dr Gluck was a former employer of a senior and respected doctor, and that she remained both a personal friend and mentor.

‘The provision of the log-in details by Dr Arasu followed a request and the Tribunal recognised a power imbalance between them. It accepted, in those circumstances, that it might have been difficult for Dr Arasu to refuse this request for the Roseway log-in details.’

Passalacqua, a luxury boutique hotel on the shores of Lake Como in Italy has been named the best hotel in the world for 2023.

It tops the first-ever World’s 50 Best Hotels list, with the towering Rosewood Hong Kong, set in the city’s Victoria Dockside arts and design district with stunning views over the harbour, taking second place.

Twenty-one of the winning properties are in Europe, with London ‘solidifying its reputation as a global travel hub’, according to the awards, as it boasts four hotels on the list – Claridge’s (No.16), The Connaught (No.22), NoMad London (No.46) and The Savoy (No.47).

Two other UK properties are also winners: Gleneagles in Scotland (No.32) – recipient of the Art of Hospitality Award, announced in August – and The Newt in Bruton, Somerset (No.37), which has been awarded the Carlo Alberto Best Boutique Hotel Award.

The top-ranked U.S property is Aman New York, which MailOnline Travel reviewed in glowing terms last year. It ranks 25th on the list, way ahead of the next U.S entry – Equinox New York, which comes 48th. 

Flying the flag for Australia is The Calile in Brisbane, which comes 12th.

Winner Passalacqua is located in an 18th-century villa, explains the awards, with ‘spectacular terraced gardens running down to the water’. There are 24 rooms at the ‘exquisite’ property, which the judges say ‘has the feel of a private home’.

Tim Brooke-Webb, Managing Director for The World’s 50 Best Hotels, comments: ‘Huge congratulations to Passalacqua for the achievement of making it to No.1, just two years after opening. It’s a true testament to the vision of the De Santis family, who has created this sublime sanctuary for guests with painstaking devotion to design detail, exquisite hospitality and distinctive magic, which has clearly made a lasting impression on our Academy of expert voters.’

Meanwhile, Asia is home to 18 of The World’s 50 Best Hotels, including four properties at the top end of the list. After Rosewood Hong Kong in second place comes the Four Seasons Bangkok at Chao Phraya River (No.3), The Upper House in Hong Kong (No.4) and Aman Tokyo (No.5).

Within 20 metres of a beach, Soneva Fushi (No.7), in the Maldives, is also named the Lost Explorer Best Beach Hotel.

Singita Lodges in the Kruger National Park in South Africa, the smallest property on the list with just 18 rooms, takes the No.15 spot, as well as the Flor de Cana Eco Hotel Award.

The awards says: ‘Known for their environmentally conscious hospitality, the lodges are located within 33,000 acres of pristine wilderness where a unique wildlife population thrives across four distinct ecological zones, offering travellers an exciting and luxurious way of experiencing African wildlife, without disturbing the environment.’

The gongs were handed out tonight at an awards ceremony at the historic Guildhall in London.

The list is created from the votes of The World’s 50 Best Hotels Academy, which comprises 580 international ‘well-travelled experts’ within the hotel and travel industry, with a 50-50 gender balance.

Popstars and actors may be the first people that come to mind when thinking of megafans. 

But you may be surprised to know that one man has been crowned the world’s ultimate Apple superfan in an international competition held by SellCell.

Software engineer, David Freedman, triumphed over 1,000 candidates with a collection of more than 100 devices at his Kansas home.

The 29-year-old’s impressive shrine is worth a whopping $36,000 (£29,035), and even includes a pair of glasses crafted by Steve Jobs’ former optician.

But David’s love for the tech giant doesn’t stop there – as he’s even named his daughter after the Apple co-founder’s child, Lisa. 

‘I’m extremely proud and humbled to bring the title to Apple’s home country. A lifetime of being called an “Apple Sheep” has finally paid off,’ he said.

‘Apple is so much more than just a company to me. It is a community and an ecosystem that touches so many aspects of my life. 

‘Every time Tim Cook steps out on stage to unveil a new product feels like Christmas morning.’

David’s passion for Apple kickstarted when he was just a teenager while writing letters to Steve Jobs. 

‘I was inspired by the story of when Steve Jobs was in high school and called Bill Hewlett asking for spare electronic components,’ he said.

‘Not only was he given the parts, but also an internship at Hewlett-Packard. I was hopeful that I could gain a similar opportunity.  

‘Unfortunately, the replies from Steve’s PA were lost well over a decade ago. I do still have a few pieces of him, in a sense though.’

Today, every room in David’s house is painted in each of the six colours from one of Apple’s first ever logos.

Every door, fan, lock, camera and TV is also controlled by Apple’s HomeKit technology, while Siri is used to open the garage and control the heating. 

David even takes ‘religious holiday’ from work whenever Apple makes an announcement or hosts its annual September event. 

‘My house matches the six-colour Apple logo which highlighted the graphics capabilities of the Apple II in 1977,’ he continued. 

‘I received lots of concerned comments from friends and family about how I would be hurting the resale value or how hideous it would turn out. 

‘I wasn’t going to let any of that stop me from having a house that I was happy with, though.’

Although David’s proud to have earned the Apple superfan title, he admits that it’s difficult to find a partner who likes it too. 

‘I have a seven-year-old daughter named Elizabeth (or Lisa for short) – Steve Jobs’ daughter’s name and the name of the first computer Apple released with a graphical user interface. 

‘But I’m currently single – it’s hard finding a partner who is okay with coming in second to Apple.’ 

David was awarded a new Series 9 watch after scoring all answers correctly in the fastest time as part of an Apple-themed contest. 

He added: ‘You’d think a person who already owns over 100 different Apple products couldn’t possibly be excited to get another one, but I always am. 

‘Not only as something practical that I will get use out of but also for what it symbolizes. 

‘It will be an honor to wear it and I’ll surely brag about it to anyone I can get to listen.’

Geologists have uncovered what they believe could be the world’s largest lithium deposit inside an ancient supervolcano along the Nevada-Oregon border in the US.

Clay containing up to 40 million metric tons of the precious metal was identified throughout the 28-mile-long McDermitt Caldera – nearly double what has been found in Bolivia’s salt flats that have long held the record for the most lithium deposits.

While the amount of lithium is based on estimates – no drilling has taken place – scientists have found high concentrations of lithium in the caldera since the 1970s.

As of 2022, the average battery-grade lithium carbonate price was $37,000 per metric ton, meaning the volcano is potentially sitting on $1.48 trillion worth of the precious metal.

Canada-based Lithium Americas Corporation plans to begin mining as early as 2026, mine the region for the next 40 years, and then backfill the pit. However, the plan has been criticized due to the environmental impact of mining and claims that the site is on sacred Native American land.

Lithium is a critical component for batteries that power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles and solar panels –  and China has dominated the market for decades because 90 percent of the metal mined is refined in the nation.

Anouk Borst, a geologist at KU Leuven University who was not involved in the study, told Chemistry World: ‘If you believe their back-of-the-envelope estimation, this is a very, very significant deposit of lithium.

‘It could change the dynamics of lithium globally, in terms of price, security of supply and geopolitics.’

McDermitt Caldera is believed to have formed about 19 million years ago, and last erupted 16 million years ago.

Geologists believe the eruption pushed minerals from the ground to the surface, which left lithium-rich smectite clay.

Faults and fractures also formed from the explosion that provided a way for lithium to rise to the surface of the crater. 

A lake formed within the caldera after the last eruption, and the team analyzed sediments, finding high lithium concentrations. 

The team shared in the study published in Science Advances that they hand-picked claystone samples from McDerrmitt Caldera and found they were also high in lithium concentrations.

Previous drilling in Thacker Pass, located nearby and owned by Lithium Americas, has 13.7 million tons of lithium carbonate equivalent and was previously known as the largest deposit in the US.

To identify which supervolcanoes offer the best sources of lithium, researchers measured the original concentration of lithium in the magma. 

Because lithium is a volatile element that easily shifts from solid to liquid to vapor, it is tough to measure directly, and its original concentrations are poorly known.

The team looked at tiny bits of magma trapped in crystals during growth within the magma chamber. 

These ‘melt inclusions,’ completely encapsulated within the crystals, survive the supereruption and remain intact throughout the weathering process. 

As such, melt inclusions record the original concentrations of lithium and other elements in the magma. 

Researchers sliced through the host crystals to expose these preserved magma blebs, which are 10 to 100 microns in diameter, then analyzed them with the Sensitive High-Resolution Ion Microprobe in the SHRIMP-RG Laboratory at Stanford Earth.

The took is used to measure the ratio of lead to uranium to calculate the age of the mineral grain, which allowed researchers to identify the caldera’s lithium enrichment degree.

These results were then compared with data from a technique that details the chemical composition and physical properties of whole-rock samples and clay separates.

Researchers also noted in the paper that trioctahedral magnesian smectite clay minerals, which are lithium-bearing clay minerals, were found abundantly in the caldera.

Tom Benson with Lithium Americas and Columbia University told DailyMail.com that he began studying the McDermitt caldera in 2012 to understand why it contained so many different deposits.

‘I soon began to realize that Li [lithium] was the behemoth, occurring throughout the caldera from the northern tip in Oregon to the southern tip in Nevada,’ Benson said. 

Tom Benson with Lithium Americas and Columbia University told DailyMail.com that he began studying the McDermitt caldera in 2012 to understand why it contained so many different deposits.

‘I soon began to realize that Li [lithium] was the behemoth, occurring throughout the caldera from the northern tip in Oregon to the southern tip in Nevada,’ Benson said. 

‘So, I quickly changed my focus to understanding the origin of the Li deposit, as little to no information was known about its genesis at the time.’

‘This study shows caldera-wide drilling that demonstrates that this smectite to illite conversion at depth only occurs in the Montana Mountains and to the south around the Thacker Pass area. 

Benson continued to explain that lithium-bearing sediments are right at the surface of the Earth, which ‘makes the deposit one of the least impactful mines ever to be built.’

‘We will do a process called strip mining in which we dig a small hole to the bottom of the resource, and after about five years, start migrating the pit eastward, said Beson.

‘As we do that, we will start backfilling the pit (with material that has only touched the water, so it is benign to the environment – in fact, likely better because we will have removed As, Sb, and other heavy metals from the ground that are contained in the clay). 

‘Once the pit has reached its 40-year mine life, the pit will be completely backfilled and revegetated, leaving it much like how it looks today, if not more vegetated, and at a slightly lower elevation.’

Benson noted that phase one of the project aims to mine 40,000 tons annually, yielding $1.6 million in yearly revenue. 

‘The US would have its own lithium supply, and industries would be less scared about supply shortages.’ 

The US is slowly abandoning gas-powered cars for electric vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – but the shift also means it will be more reliant on other countries, like China, to provide the necessary materials.

Extracting lithium on US soil would help the nation on its path to self-reliance, which the country has strived to – but has yet to obtain.

The nation is home to only one active lithium mine, Clayton Valley, near Silver Peak, Nevada, but many companies are working to change that. 

The US imports hundreds of millions of lithium-ion batteries each year, with the volume ever increasing. 

According to data from the UN Comtrade Database, China accounted for most UUS battery imports last year, with a total trade value of $9.3 billion. South Korea and Japan are popular sources, with batteries worth $1.3 and $1.0 billion imported to the U.S. in 2022. 

The total import value of lithium-ion batteries nearly tripled since 2020, reaching $13.9 billion last year.

Data has proposed that about one million metric tons of lithium will be needed to meet global demand by 2040 – an eight-fold increase from the total global production in 2022.

‘Developing a sustainable and diverse supply chain to meet lower-carbon energy and national security goals requires mining the highest-grade domestic lithium resources with the lowest waste: ore strip ratios to minimize both the volume of material extracted from the Earth,’ the researchers wrote in a study published in Science Advances.

‘Volcano sedimentary lithium resources have the potential to meet this requirement, as they tend to be shallow, high-tonnage deposits with low waste: ore strip ratios.

While the discovery could be great news for the US economy, it spells trouble for Native American tribes that claim the land is sacred.

The Paiute, Shoshone and Bannock people are pushing back on mining, stating the project would ‘authorize almost 100 acres of disturbance from 267 exploration drill sites.’

The tribes are part of the People of the Red Mountain organization, which said there are 91 significant cultural sites in the area.

‘The global search for lithium has become a form of ‘green’ colonialism,’ People of Red Mountain, an Indigenous-led organization created to protect the sacred site, said in an August statement

‘The Caldera holds many first foods, medicines, and hunting grounds for tribal people both past and present.’ 

The organization is now trying to stop on the Oregon side of the caldera.

While lithium is critical in the transition to clean energy, extracting white gold can lead to long-term ecological damage.

The lithium extraction process uses a lot of water— more than 500,000 liters per ton of lithium.

Miners drill a hole in salt flats to extract lithium and pump salty, mineral-rich brine to the surface.

After several months, the water evaporates, leaving a mixture of manganese, potassium, borax and lithium salts, filtered and placed into another evaporation pool.

After 12 and 18 months, the mixture is sufficiently filtered to extract lithium carbonate.

Over a year, producing 60,000 tons of lithium could devastate the surrounding environment – up to 30 million tons of earth needs to be dug. 

This is more than the annual amount of dirt dug up to produce all coal output of all but seven or eight US states

In May 2016, dead fish were found floating in China’s Liqi River, where a toxic chemical leaked from the Ganzizhou Rongda Lithium mine.

Cow and yak carcasses were also found floating in the river, likely killed by drinking the contaminated water.

Lithium extraction also harms the soil and causes air contamination.

In Argentina’s Salar de Hombre Muerto, residents believe lithium operations contaminated streams used by humans and livestock for crop irrigation.

In Chile, the landscape is marred by mountains of discarded salt and canals filled with contaminated water with an unnatural blue hue.

According to Guillermo Gonzalez, a lithium battery expert from the University of Chile, ‘This isn’t a green solution – it’s not a solution at all.’

The ‘hydrogen barrier’ has been broken.

In a watershed moment for aviation, the world’s first piloted flights of an electric aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen have taken place.

H2fly, a developer of hydrogen-electric powertrain systems for aircraft based in Stuttgart, Germany, announced that its HY4 aircraft – fitted with a hydrogen-electric fuel cell propulsion system and cryogenically stored liquid hydrogen – completed four flights, including one that lasted for over three hours.

The hydrogen aircraft took off from Maribor in Slovenia and ‘saw safe and efficient operation throughout multiple flight tests’, H2fly said in a statement.

It continued: ‘Results of the test flights indicate that using liquid hydrogen in place of gaseous hydrogen will double the maximum range of the HY4 aircraft from 750km (466 miles) to 1,500km (932 miles), marking a critical step towards the delivery of emissions-free, medium and long-haul commercial flights.’

H2fly explained that compared with pressurised gaseous hydrogen storage, the use of liquified, cryogenic hydrogen enables significantly lower tank weights and volume, therefore leading to increased aircraft range and useful payload.

Professor Josef Kallo, co-founder of H2fly, said: ‘This achievement marks a watershed moment in the use of hydrogen to power aircraft. Together with our partners, we have demonstrated the viability of liquid hydrogen to support medium and long-range emissions-free flight.

‘We are now looking ahead to scaling up our technology for regional aircraft and other applications, beginning the critical mission of decarbonising commercial aviation.’

Airline easyJet and manufacturers Airbus and Rolls-Royce are part of the new Hydrogen in Aviation (HIA) alliance, and are calling for more attention to be given to hydrogen as a way of decarbonising air travel.

The alliance believes the UK can become a global leader in developing hydrogen-powered flights if the Government invests in a 10-year research programme, supports the delivery of infrastructure and ensures the required regulatory regime is in place.

It says hydrogen as an aviation fuel can bring a £34billion annual benefit to the UK by 2050.

The only waste product from using hydrogen as a fuel is water, leading to hopes it could power commercial aircraft without creating carbon emissions.

EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said: ‘There is no doubt that the UK has the potential to become a world leader in hydrogen aviation, which could bring with it a £34billion per annum boost to the country’s economy by 2050, but in order to capture this opportunity, rapid change is needed and the time to act is now.

‘We must work together to deliver the radical solutions required for a hard-to-abate industry like aviation so we can protect and maximise the benefits that it brings to the UK economy and society and that we know British consumers want to be preserved.

‘HIA looks forward to working with the UK Government to ensure the right funding, regulatory and policy changes are implemented to accelerate the delivery of zero-carbon aviation.’

Airbus chief technology officer Sabine Klauke said: ‘As Airbus continues to mature the aircraft technologies needed to deliver hydrogen-powered flight, a united industry voice is needed to secure a robust ecosystem of renewably sourced hydrogen.

‘Joining our peers from across the UK aviation landscape in a targeted approach to policy and investment action brings us closer to a decarbonised future of flying.’

Rolls-Royce chief technology officer Grazia Vittadini said: ‘Collaboration is key when it comes to achieving our net zero ambitions as an industry, which is why we are proud to be part of the Hydrogen in Aviation alliance.

‘Our contribution to HIA is the capability and experience we have in pioneering new technologies and solutions – we have already tested a modern aero engine on green hydrogen and we strongly believe it is one of the solutions that will help decarbonise aviation in the mid to long-term.’ 

A carbon-zero flight from London to New York in just 3.5 hours might sound too good to be true. 

But believe it or not, it could become a reality in just four years.

Boom Supersonic’s Overture, dubbed the ‘Son of Concorde’, is tipped to be the ‘world’s fastest airliner’, reaching speeds of Mach 1.7 (about 1,300mph).

A scaled-down prototype of Overture, called XB-1 Baby Boom, has completed ‘key milestones’ during testing as it progresses towards its first flight, the firm says. 

Should XB-1 Baby Boom pass its tests, Overture will be unveiled in 2026, before the first flight of the aircraft in 2027 and commercial passenger flights in 2029. 

Earlier this year, XB-1 Baby Boom moved from the company’s hangar in Centennial, Colorado to the Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave, California to continue preparations for flight. 

It’s just completed ‘taxi testing’ – a step in aircraft development that looks at whether the plane can go down the runway at speed (without leaving the ground), the firm explained. 

‘The recent progress made towards XB-1’s first flight reflects the team’s collective efforts to build and safely fly the world’s first independently developed supersonic jet,’ said Blake Scholl, Boom Supersonic founder and CEO. 

At 62 feet long, XB-1 Baby Boom is around one-third of the size of the Overture (201 feet), which will eventually transport up to 80 paying passengers, whether for business or leisure.  

Overture, which is still under development, will be built to operate on 100 per cent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), made from sustainable and renewable sources, rather than fossil fuels.

Crucially, Overture will have a quieter ‘supersonic boom’ than the original Concorde, which was known for its unsettling noise. 

A sonic boom happens when the shock waves from an object travelling through the air faster than the speed of sound merge together before they reach the ground. 

Overture is driven by four powerful wing-mounted engines, meaning lower thrust is needed for each. 

Overall, this reduces noise levels, according to Boom Supersonic. 

However, Overture will cruise at Mach 1.7 (about 1,300mph) – less than Concorde’s max cruising speed of Mach 2.04 (1,550 mph). 

Regardless, industry heavyweights who are interested in reducing their carbon footprint have snapped up Overture planes when they become ready, including United Airlines and American Airlines. 

Along with successful taxi flights, the firm’s one-third model, XB-1 Baby Boom, has received an ‘experimental airworthiness certificate’, given to more unconventional flying machines so the manufacturer can perform flight tests. 

The certification was issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) following a ‘detailed aircraft inspection’, Boom Supersonic said. 

Letters of agreement with airspace authorities are also in place allowing for flights of the aircraft over the Mojave desert. 

Boom Supersonic’s XB-1’s historic first flight will occur in the same airspace where the first airplane flew faster than the speed of sound. 

Captain Charles ‘Chuck’ Yeager first broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 – from which the new craft borrows its name – back in October 1947.  

The legendary rocket engine-powered aircraft, designed and built in 1945, achieved a speed of 700 miles (1,127 kilometers) per hour. 

‘It’s fitting that XB-1 is now progressing toward first flight at the Mojave Air & Space Port, home to more than 50 first flights and other significant aviation events,’ said Bill Shoemaker, chief test pilot at Boom Supersonic. 

‘I’m looking forward to flying XB-1 here, building on the achievements of other talented engineers and pilots who inspire us every day to make supersonic travel mainstream.’ 

Boom Supersonic is one of several firms working on developing commercial liners that are being dubbed ‘Son of Concorde’, in a race to be the first successor of the iconic British-French creation, which made its first successful flight in March 1969.

Concorde had its first commercial flights in 1976, but it was grounded in October 2003 in the aftermath of the catastrophic Air France Flight 4590 crash. 

Other reasons for the demise of Concorde were high fuel costs, concern over its noise and a preference for lower fares over speed. 

No government or manufacturer has since been able to build a commercial plane that can travel faster than the speed of sound.