6465

1398

Gang

5

60

545

933 933

Today, Mars is a planet of extremes – it’s bitterly cold, has high radiation, and is bone-dry. But billions of years ago, Mars was home to lake systems that could have sustained microbial life. As the planet’s climate changed, one such lake – in Mars’ Gale Crater – slowly dried out. Scientists have new evidence that supersalty water, or brines, seeped deep through the cracks, between grains of soil in the parched lake bottom and altered the clay mineral-rich layers beneath. The findings published in the July 9 edition of the journal Science and led by the team in charge of the Chemistry and Mineralogy, or CheMin, instrument – aboard NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover – help add to the understanding of where the rock record preserved or destroyed evidence of Mars’ past and possible signs of ancient life. Photo of a network of cracks in Martian rock slab called "Old Soaker." "Old Soaker": The network of cracks in this Martian rock slab called "Old Soaker" may have formed from the drying of a mud layer more than 3 billion years ago. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Full image and caption › “We used to think that once these layers of clay minerals formed at the bottom of the lake in Gale Crater, they stayed that way, preserving the moment in time they formed for billions of years,” said Tom Bristow, CheMin principal investigator and lead author of the paper at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “But later brines broke down these clay minerals in some places – essentially resetting the rock record.” Mars: It Goes on Your Permanent Record Mars has a treasure trove of incredibly ancient rocks and minerals compared with Earth. And with Gale Crater’s undisturbed layers of rocks, scientists knew it would be an excellent site to search for evidence of the planet’s history, and possibly life. Using CheMin, scientists compared samples taken from two areas about a quarter-mile apart from a layer of mudstone deposited billions of years ago at the bottom of the lake at Gale Crater. Surprisingly, in one area, about half the clay minerals they expected to find were missing. Instead, they found mudstones rich with iron oxides – minerals that give Mars its characteristic rusty red color. Scientists knew the mudstones sampled were about the same age and started out the same – loaded with clays – in both areas studied. So why then, as Curiosity explored the sedimentary clay deposits along Gale Crater, did patches of clay minerals – and the evidence they preserve – “disappear”? Minerals are like a time capsule; they provide a record of what the environment was like at the time they formed. Clay minerals have water in their structure and are evidence that the soils and rocks that contain them came into contact with water at some point. “Since the minerals we find on Mars also form in some locations on Earth, we can use what we know about how they form on Earth to tell us about how salty or acidic the waters on ancient Mars were,” said Liz Rampe, CheMin deputy principal investigator and co-author at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Previous work revealed that while Gale Crater’s lakes were present and even after they dried out, groundwater moved below the surface, dissolving and transporting chemicals. After they were deposited and buried, some mudstone pockets experienced different conditions and processes due to interactions with these waters that changed the mineralogy. This process, known as “diagenesis,” often complicates or erases the soil’s previous history and writes a new one.

Since Apple announced a wide-range of updates at WWDC in June, from iOS 15 to macOS 12 Monterey, the one big feature that has stuck out to many users has been Safari. After years of seeing incremental updates, this year saw a huge redesign where tabs are beside the address bar, while being able to group them so you can go back to them when needed. However, there’s a difference between an idea that sounds good, and when it’s used in the real world. The same seems to be occurring here, where testers have expressed their frustrations, to the point where Apple are constantly improving Safari’s new design further in the latest beta releases. Looking at Apple’s other apps, it seems as though the company is missing a trick that could make everyone happy, thanks to a blogger who pointed this out. It may surprise you to know, but Safari was not the first browser from Apple for macOS. It began with Internet Explorer back in 1996, when Apple was on the ropes. It wasn’t until 2003 that Safari was unveiled, developed under huge secrecy by the company, which would allow users to use the web how Apple wanted to, with a great design, great security, and front-facing features that could work well in-tandem with Mac OS X at the time. Fast forward to the present, and Safari is in its fourteenth version, alongside being available for iOS, iPadOS, and up to a point, watchOS. While the web browser was available on Windows for a certain number of years, it only started to be a prevalent force once it appeared on the iPhone back in 2007. A web browser that was made for desktop browsing, compared to what other mobile PC browsers offered back then on Windows Mobile and Nokia E73 devices, was revolutionary. As times changed, competitors such as Opera and Firefox offered features that extended the function of a web browser further with VPN and messaging apps built in. But across the board, web browsers are at a point where we can play Xbox games on them, on our iPads or Chromebooks.

Intel is already prepping its next-gen successor to the Phantom Canyon NUC known as NUC 12 'Serpent Canyon' which would offer 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs and Xe-HPG based DG2 graphics chips. In a slide that was leaked over at Weibo (via HXL), it can be seen that the enthusiast variant of the NUC 12 series which will be known as Serpent Canyon, will be replacing the NUC 11 series. The PC will offer two key components, a brand new CPU architecture in the form of Alder Lake and a new in-house GPU option in the form of Xe-HPG powered DG2. The NUC 12 'Serpent Canyon' series will come in three flavors, the top variant will feature an Alder Lake Core i7 CPU with up to 16 GB Discrete graphics. This will be followed by a Core i7 variant with up to 12 GB Discrete graphics and finally, we have the entry-level Core i5 variant with an 8 GB GPU. Leaked specifications for Xe-HPG DG2 SKUs confirm that 16 GB, 12 GB and 8 GB GPUs do exist so that's what we are going to end up getting in the next-gen Mini PCs from Intel. Now it isn't explicitly mentioned which GPU the NUC 12 will be offering but considering that the Mini PC launches next year, it is pretty much confirmed to offer Intel's Xe-HPG based DG2 GPUs. The discrete graphics will offer HDMI 2.1, Mini DP 2.0, and DP 2.0 outputs. As for the rest of the specifications, it looks like the Intel Alder Lake CPUs will be attached to dual-channel DDR4-3200 SODIMMs (1.2V) with up to 64 GB capacities. This confirms that Alder Lake CPUs will have support for both DDR5 and DDR4 memory baked within their memory controller. In terms of I/O, the NUC 12 will rock support for 2 Gen 4x4 and 1 Gen 3x4 (2280) M.2 drives, the Optane Memory M10/H10 solution, front and rear Thunderbolt 4 ports, Intel 2.5GbE (i225-LM) for LAN, Intel Wireless-AX411 (Bluetooth 5.x + WiFi 6E), a total of 6 USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports & 2 USB 2.0 ports (internal headers), a 3.5mm headset jack, 7.1 channel digital audio via HDMI or DP ports, a beam-forming, quad-mic array with Alexa support and a power input for 19V (230/330W) C13 AC power plug. As for the design, Intel will keep the Skull logo featured on the NUC 12 and will be RGB-lit plus users will have the option to replace it and customize it themselves. A Vertical stand would be included in the package along with a 3-year warranty. Currently, there are no Alder Lake CPU configurations that have been mentioned but we will know in the coming months as we get closer to launch.

Intel is already prepping its next-gen successor to the Phantom Canyon NUC known as NUC 12 'Serpent Canyon' which would offer 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs and Xe-HPG based DG2 graphics chips. In a slide that was leaked over at Weibo (via HXL), it can be seen that the enthusiast variant of the NUC 12 series which will be known as Serpent Canyon, will be replacing the NUC 11 series. The PC will offer two key components, a brand new CPU architecture in the form of Alder Lake and a new in-house GPU option in the form of Xe-HPG powered DG2. The NUC 12 'Serpent Canyon' series will come in three flavors, the top variant will feature an Alder Lake Core i7 CPU with up to 16 GB Discrete graphics. This will be followed by a Core i7 variant with up to 12 GB Discrete graphics and finally, we have the entry-level Core i5 variant with an 8 GB GPU. Leaked specifications for Xe-HPG DG2 SKUs confirm that 16 GB, 12 GB and 8 GB GPUs do exist so that's what we are going to end up getting in the next-gen Mini PCs from Intel. Now it isn't explicitly mentioned which GPU the NUC 12 will be offering but considering that the Mini PC launches next year, it is pretty much confirmed to offer Intel's Xe-HPG based DG2 GPUs. The discrete graphics will offer HDMI 2.1, Mini DP 2.0, and DP 2.0 outputs. As for the rest of the specifications, it looks like the Intel Alder Lake CPUs will be attached to dual-channel DDR4-3200 SODIMMs (1.2V) with up to 64 GB capacities. This confirms that Alder Lake CPUs will have support for both DDR5 and DDR4 memory baked within their memory controller. In terms of I/O, the NUC 12 will rock support for 2 Gen 4x4 and 1 Gen 3x4 (2280) M.2 drives, the Optane Memory M10/H10 solution, front and rear Thunderbolt 4 ports, Intel 2.5GbE (i225-LM) for LAN, Intel Wireless-AX411 (Bluetooth 5.x + WiFi 6E), a total of 6 USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports & 2 USB 2.0 ports (internal headers), a 3.5mm headset jack, 7.1 channel digital audio via HDMI or DP ports, a beam-forming, quad-mic array with Alexa support and a power input for 19V (230/330W) C13 AC power plug. As for the design, Intel will keep the Skull logo featured on the NUC 12 and will be RGB-lit plus users will have the option to replace it and customize it themselves. A Vertical stand would be included in the package along with a 3-year warranty. Currently, there are no Alder Lake CPU configurations that have been mentioned but we will know in the coming months as we get closer to launch.

The president of the UK's upcoming climate change conference is under fire for travelling to more than 30 countries in seven months. Several places visited by Alok Sharma were on the Covid red list - but he used an exemption for ministers to avoid quarantine on his return. The government said face-to-face meetings were "crucial" ahead of the COP26 climate summit. But opposition parties have accused Mr Sharma of hypocrisy. Wales' First Minister Mark Drakeford called his itinerary - which was all published on government websites - "inexplicable". He said government ministers should "demonstrate that we too mean business" in tackling climate change if they want the public to follow suit. Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine said it was "completely and utterly irresponsible" for the minister to come back from red list countries without quarantining. The Daily Mail - which first reported the story - also claimed Mr Sharma held a meeting with Prince Charles days after returning from Bangladesh - a red list country - before going on a visit to a primary school. Mr Sharma tweeted pictures of his meeting with the prince, including one showing participants sitting inside without wearing masks. He is currently in Brazil - also a red list country - and has tweeted that he is having "constructive meetings". Mr Sharma left his post as business secretary in January to take over the presidency of COP26 - the United Nations climate change conference due to take place in Glasgow in November. Since then, he has met with dignitaries across the globe to discuss climate commitments ahead of the conference - despite the ongoing pandemic. Asked by the BBC's Nick Robinson in June how he defended his air travel when he is leading on environmental policy, he said it was "really important" to meet other governments to discuss plans and the visits had been "targeted". But Mr Drakeford said ministers "couldn't exempt themselves" from changes required to tackle climate change. Hypocrisy' He told BBC News: "I accept that there are some crucial meetings where being in the same room with other people does bring a new dimension to your ability to make progress. "[But] was that necessary 30 times in the lead up to COP26? That, I think, is a completely different matter. "We need to maximise the way in which we avoid travel, and we avoid adding to the emissions that creates and we need to lead by example, and I am afraid that is not what we are seeing." The Green Party's Baroness Jones also said she "despaired at the inability of Tory ministers to grasp their hypocrisy of talking about our climate emergency then behaving as normal." But Conservative Culture Minister, Caroline Dinenage, said Mr Sharma had a "huge job" with the upcoming conference and success could "only be achieved by these really strong collaborative conversations that [he] has been pursuing around the world". And Allegra Stratton, the PM's spokeswoman for COP26, said Mr Sharma had travelled to "meet key players and negotiate success for us all," and was doing "vital work". A government spokesman added: "Helping the world tackle the climate emergency is an international priority for the government. "Virtual meetings play a large part, however face-to-face meetings are key to success in the climate negotiations the UK is leading as hosts of COP26 and are crucial to understanding first-hand the opportunities and challenges other countries are facing in the fight against climate change." It is also understood the government plans to offset the emissions associated with travel by Mr Sharma and other UK officials in the run up to COP26.

Malcolm Wilson has been there, seen it and done it all in a rally career spanning more than 40 years. This is a man who rallied through the fabled Group B era, has represented Ford in the World Rally Championship in one shape or form through three decades and experienced the buzz (and stress) of running both Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz in the same team. So what does he really think about his sport’s embrace of hybrid technology from 2022? Wilson is hard to impress. He is from Cumbria, after all. Has it genuinely, honestly got his juices flowing? “Honestly, yeah,” he replies with a smile. “After I went to spectate up in our forest during testing, I was excited, absolutely. There’s no question that it’s rallying’s biggest revolution… probably even bigger than the Group B era.” At the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed, Wilson’s M-Sport team and Ford revealed the new Puma Rally1 that will compete in the new-look WRC next year. The compact crossover, which will replace the Fiesta supermini, popped and banged its way up the hillclimb with the best of them, offering an all too familiar and well-loved soundtrack. When Formula 1 turned full hybrid in 2014, the complaints drowned out the feeble sound of the turbocharged 1.6-litre V6s, but it should be a different story on the WRC’s special stages. “It’s a sensible step for rallying, because everyone knows how difficult it is to accept change, and we don’t want to lose the noise and atmosphere,” says M-Sport team principal Richard Millener. “We’re reflecting the cars that are currently out there in showrooms and on the road. It’s an exciting opportunity for us.” Given the way of the world, it’s beyond time that rallying embraced hybrid technology, if nothing else to ensure that the WRC’s three manufacturers (Ford, Hyundai and Toyota) remain committed while giving others on the outside a reason to consider diving in. Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance, came over from the US to witness the Puma Rally1’s debut. “Knowing about the electrification we have coming on all of our road cars, with mild hybrids, plug-in hybrids and fully electric vehicles, we’ve wanted to compete somewhere with electrification,” he says. “Looking at the different [motorsport] series that exist with hybrid or fully electric [cars] and what are still to come, we were really happy with what the FIA and WRC put together as the new car for 2022. And as we’ve always partnered with M-Sport in the rally world, we wanted to continue that relationship, with an opportunity to do a new car with new rules.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58123371 The US says children born abroad using assisted reproductive technology can now qualify for citizenship, in a move seen as a win for same-sex couples. To be eligible before, babies born overseas needed to be genetically related to the American parent. The change follows lawsuits from couples whose children were born using surrogates and other methods. Experts estimate the new policy will affect hundreds of families living outside of the US. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policy, announced Thursday, means children of married couples where at least one parent is an American and one is related to the child, are eligible for citizenship and family benefits. The agency's director, Ur Jaddou, said this new interpretation of the law is meant to ensure "fair access and support for all families and their loved ones". There are likely hundreds of couples this decision will affect, though the exact figure is unclear, according to Aaron Morris, executive director of the LGBT advocacy group Immigration Equality. "In denying that their children were citizens, they were also disrespecting the marriage of the parents," Mr Morris adds. "It was like a double injury to all these families." James Derek Mize and Jonathan Gregg were one of those families. Their daughter, Simone, was born in the UK using a surrogate in 2018. While Mr Mize and Mr Gregg are both US citizens, Simone was denied citizenship because she was genetically related to only Mr Gregg - who the government ruled had not physically been in the US long enough to pass on citizenship. The US also did not recognise both fathers as Simone's parents. Mr Mize tells the BBC that the situation was "stressful and confusing". "There was really no end in sight," he says. "We didn't know if it was going to be a six-month situation, a year or three-year long situation, or a decade. We had no idea." Ultimately, a federal judge in Atlanta ruled that Simone was a citizen - but stopped short of striking down the government's policy. Mr Mize on Friday expressed a sense of relief. He expects that many couples who were reluctant to have a "stateless" child will be more open to assisted reproductive technology - like in-vitro fertilisation - while abroad. "It's not abstract. Real people are now able to move forward because of the policy change," he says. "We literally feel there are families being created now, that otherwise wouldn't have been, because of this." In May, a similar family policy reversal was announced by the US Department of State, which said the change considers the "realities of modern families" and advances in reproductive technologies since the regulations were enacted in 1952.

A four-and-a-half-star car for less than half price is the deal with this BMW M235i that we’ve alighted on. The 2015 coupé has done 52,000 miles, it has a full service history and it’s painted in must-have Estoril Blue. Annoyingly, the dealer levies a £250 admin fee. Not impressed: seems like a way of sneaking in a bit extra under the cover of a lower screen price. Still, back to the car. It has a turbocharged 3.0-litre straight six that produces 322bhp and 332lb ft of torque. It’s a smooth-revving motor and comes alive with a delicious howl at around 6000rpm. Mercifully, there’s very little turbo lag. Economy, even under hard driving, is around 30mpg. Our find has the six-speed manual gearbox, which can yield 0-62mph in 5.0sec. It’s much rarer than the otherwise excellent ZF eight-speed automatic, which shifts gears in a blink and which snips 0.2sec off the sprint time. That might be a dealbreaker for some, but the manual is the one to choose for its more authentic experience. In any case, it feels much quicker than the official figure suggests. A coupé it may be, but the M235i is practical. It’s a full four-seater with a massive boot that’s easily capable of swallowing a few suitcases. It’s not short of equipment, either. Sporty 18in alloy wheels, leather seats, dual-zone air conditioning, automatic headlights and a DAB radio are all standard. The only thing that you might miss is the limited-slip differential, which was an option on later models. Our reviewer reckoned the M235i has future classic stamped all over it. Seven years on, we won’t disagree. Especially not for £17,190. Volkswagen Scirocco 2.0 TSI GT, £10,200: It still looks so fresh that it’s hard to believe the Mk3 Scirocco is based on the Mk5 Golf. Still, its cabin and a drive around the block will confirm that it’s no spring chicken. That’s why we’ve been cautious and opted for a reasonably priced 60,000-miler.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-58110308 Australians living overseas could be "trapped" in Australia if they return, after the nation's government tightened its border rules without notice. Since March last year, the country has banned its citizens from leaving the country as part of its Covid strategy. That restriction has not previously applied to Australians who usually live in other countries. But they will now need to apply for an exemption for outbound travel - in line with rules for other Australians. Australia's tough border rules have been controversial. Critics say this change - in effect from 11 August - will further punish families and deter citizens from returning. The government said the measure aimed to reduce the risk of Covid cases entering the country, as it grapples with its worst outbreaks in a year. Australia already has a weekly limit on incoming travellers and bans foreigners from entry unless they have an exemption. Its policies are among the strictest globally. Last month, it halved the number of permitted arrivals due to Delta variant outbreaks. Many Australians have expressed outrage at the latest move, branded by some as barbaric. Alexandra Phelan, who lives in the US, tweeted she was "waking up to news that I'm effectively exiled from my country". While the closed-border policy has been mostly supported in Australia, many have also criticised its impact on citizens. The BBC has been told of cases in the past year where Australians have been unable to leave to care for sick or dying loved ones, or to retrieve their children from relatives. Legal experts have questioned whether Australia's rules breach constitutional rights by effectively preventing some citizens from being able to return. The government has said Australia will not re-open until at least 80% of its po[CENSORED]tion is vaccinated, likely to be sometime next year. The current total is 19%. More than half of Australia's 26 million people are currently in lockdown, due to Delta outbreaks in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Sydney - the worst-hit city - has recorded over 4,300 cases in its outbreak. On Friday, New South Wales state reported 291 new cases - its highest daily number in the pandemic so far.

https://www.economist.com/asia/2021/08/07/the-burmese-army-is-making-a-bad-pandemic-worse Than than soe has not had a day off since covid-19 began charging through Myanmar at the end of May. She runs a charity in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, which transports covid patients to hospitals and corpses to cemeteries. Her organisation collects as many as 60 bodies a day. “We are very tired but we keep going,” says Ms Than Than Soe. Two volunteers recently got infected and died Covid is ravaging Myanmar. Daily cases, taken as an average over seven days, have hovered around 5,000 since mid-July, but limited testing means that this is probably an underestimate (see chart). The share of tests that return positive results has exceeded 35% since mid-July, which suggests widespread, uncontrolled transmission. Only Iran and Mexico have higher positivity rates. Myanmar, which borders countries that are home to about a third of the world’s po[CENSORED]tion, risks becoming a “super-spreader state”, according to Tom Andrews, the un’ s expert on the country. Almost every South-East Asian country is experiencing its worst outbreak yet, and for many of the same reasons: low rates of testing and vaccination, weak or overwhelmed health-care systems and the presence of more transmissible variants such as Delta. But Myanmar offers the virus particularly hospitable conditions, thanks to the army. After a coup in February, testing, contact-tracing and treatment of covid ground to a halt. Public hospitals emptied of medical workers, thousands of whom joined protests against the coup. When a state bordering India reported an outbreak in June, the junta was too busy quelling resistance to do much about it. In any case, lockdowns are impossible to enforce when people believe their lives are in danger. Violence unleashed by the coup has spurred many Burmese to take flight. Some 230,000 people fled their homes between February and June, bringing the total number of displaced people in Myanmar to 680,000. The camps where some have found refuge often have limited health care. The jungles where others flee have none. But the struggle to find medical assistance has become a national problem, shared by refugees and city folk alike. Myanmar had few doctors to begin with. In 2018 there were just 0.7 for every 1,000 people—fewer even than in India, which had 0.9. Their number has been depleted by the junta. The regime has arrested top health officials, including the former head of the national vaccination programme. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of health workers have gone underground. The security services have attacked medical personnel and facilities, killing at least 18. Junta officials reportedly entrapped, and later arrested, three doctors by posing as covid patients seeking treatment. Many hospitals have closed their doors; the un believes that just 40% of health-care facilities are still functioning. Almost all those that are open are full, according to the Myanmar Red Cross Society. Many people who are ill are treating themselves at home. They are keeping doctors like Moe Oo (not his real name) busy. Through his telemedicine service, which he offers free of charge, he is teaching patients how to check their vital signs and oxygen levels, and inject antibiotics or insulin. Many find it tricky to perform such tasks, he says. But they are the lucky ones. Drugs and other medical supplies are in short supply. Shortages of oxygen have been exacerbated by a rule banning the sale of the life-saving gas to residents of Yangon unless they get permission from local officials appointed by the junta. Dr Moe Oo has watched, helpless, as four of his patients, gasping for air, have succumbed to the virus. Myanmar is counting around 360 deaths from covid each day. This is one of the world’s highest fatality rates, relative to po[CENSORED]tion. Yet it is probably an undercount, something which the junta has implicitly acknowledged: it is building ten crematoriums in Yangon, which will be capable of dispatching more than 3,000 bodies a day

922 922

Total

It’s fair to say that the BMW 1 Series isn’t the maverick it used to be. Gone is the rear-wheel-drive layout and the option of a rorty straight-six engine. Instead, this third-generation model, introduced in 2019, features more conventional front- and four-wheel-drive set-ups and offers three- and four-cylinder engines only. Nevertheless, there’s still a lot to like about this 1 Series, especially if you shop for a used one. There’s plenty of performance on offer, for starters, even in base 118i form: it has a 1.5-litre turbo triple petrol with 138bhp. Diesel cars begin with the 113bhp 116d and work through from there to the 2.0-litre 118d with 148bhp and the 187bhp 120d, which has four-wheel drive. In terms of fast 1 Series variants, there’s the 128ti, with a 261bhp 2.0-litre engine, and the M135i. The latter is the most powerful car in the current line-up. It has a 302bhp turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engine that sends its power to all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic gearbox. It’s quick, punchy and can do 0-62mph in only 4.8sec Fuel economy isn’t an issue in any 1 Series. The 116d gets an impressive official average of 61.4mpg, while the 118i can boast 47.1mpg. Even the M135i achieves a decent 35.3mpg. The trim levels are SE, Sport and M Sport. SE models have 16in alloys, LED headlights, climate control, front and rear parking sensors and an 8.8in infotainment screen. Sport brings bigger, 17in wheels and more supportive sports seats in the front, along with dual-zone climate control. M Sport gets you sharper exterior and interior styling touches, plus 18in alloys. M Sport Plus Pack models have upgraded 19in wheels, as well as adaptive suspension to stiffen or soften the ride accordingly. The 1 Series gives a strong initial impression of its sportiness on the road, with quick steering and little body lean in corners. Grip is good and, with the M Sport Plus Pack’s excellent brakes, it stops keenly.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-58078582 Research into people's experiences of so-called conversion therapy in the UK has been buried, campaigners say. A report - commissioned over two years ago - hit minsters' desks last December, the BBC has discovered, but has yet to appear. Boris Johnson has promised to ban what he called the "abhorrent" practice of conversion therapy. The government says the study will be published shortly when a consultation is launched. Conversion therapy is defined as an attempt to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity, according to a document signed by a number of health groups. The prime minister said in July 2020 he would put a stop to the practice. In the same interview, he said a study was examining "how prevalent" it was, adding: "We will then bring forward plans to ban it". What is conversion therapy and will it be banned? Groups criticise conversion therapy 'Groundhog Day' Act now on LGBT+ conversion therapy, ministers urged Research funded by the Government Equalities Office was commissioned when Theresa May was in Downing Street. It was led by Adam Jowett, of Coventry University's Psychological, Social and Behavioural Sciences department. In April 2019, the project called for people to share their first-hand experiences of conversion therapy, "whether it happened in a medical, commercial or faith-based context". But the findings have never been published despite a Freedom of Information request by the BBC showing that a final draft was received on 15 December 2020. Dr Jowett, who also chairs the British Psychological Society's sexualities section, called in May this year for a conversion therapy ban to be implemented "as soon as possible". Coventry University has been approached for comment. Matt Hyndman, co-founder of the Ban Conversion Therapy campaign group, said the report should have been published back in January. "It sounds like it's just been buried in a drawer somewhere and it's not that urgent." Campaigners have previously claimed the government has "dragged its feet" on the issue. Mr Hyndman said: "If they've commissioned a study which says conversion therapy is happening and it's quite severe and they've been delaying to ban it, it's not a good look." He added he didn't think more information was needed to move ahead with a ban. "We have so many stories of people and organisations that can attest to the harm it causes." It was confirmed in May's Queen's Speech that conversion therapy would be banned in England and Wales. But the government said a public consultation would take place first, in September, to ask how the legislation can best stop the practice while protecting the medical profession, defending freedom of speech and upholding religious freedom. A government spokesperson said: "Our approach is based on a range of evidence, which we will publish alongside the consultation, including the Coventry University report." Some groups had welcomed the consultation, including the Evangelical Alliance which represents 3,500 churches. Its UK director, Peter Lynas, said at the time that they wanted to avoid a situation where "a person can be accused of conversion therapy for praying with someone who freely chooses and asks for prayer". The Royal College of Psychiatrists has said it would be taking part to highlight why conversion therapy is "harmful" but also "to ensure clinicians can still help people fully explore their gender identity where appropriate." The UK government indicated that the consultation will be short, with legislation to follow "as soon as possible". The Scottish government says conversion therapy is an "abhorrent practice" and that it's waiting on details of the UK government's proposals. Northern Ireland's Department for Communities said that the "inhumane" practice should be ended and that the minister "wishes to explore all legislative options".