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Whether you're a DIY enthusiast or a professional, the best cordless drills will surely add convenience and efficiency to your projects. Here are the top options tested by our experts.

Doogee T30 Max: 30-second review

Out of the box, the Doogee T30 Max is instantly impressive, with one of the most stylish, minimalistic looks for a tablet of this size. It's really slim and light but feels robust and premium with a stylish black titanium alloy finish that looks superb. The build quality is far greater than the price would suggest.

Like so many of the best business tablets we've reviewed, the system runs on Android 14, which enables the smooth operation of the entire Google Office suite. With the optional keyboard, this tablet can essentially function as a standard Chromebook. Using the pressure-sensitive stylus, the tablet is fast and responsive, and able to navigate between applications quickly. The split-screen function allows you to see two applications side-by-side, making multitasking easy. For instance, you can edit a video in CapCut while uploading it to social platforms simultaneously, streamlining the whole process.

Applications installed on the tablet are fast and responsive when used with the Google Docs suite. Using the stylus to copy and paste between apps quickly is smooth and without the jitter often seen in cheaper tablets. The internal storage is 512GB, which can quickly fill up if you're shooting videos and stills. However, alongside the network SIM slot, there's also a slot for a TF or microSD card up to 2TB, vastly expanding the internal storage options.

The ability to plug external storage devices through the USB Type-C port further boosts the storage potential. This is especially useful for transferring files to the tablet ready for editing. While editing video, you can start to feel the processing being pushed, but for the most part, it copes relatively well.

For entertainment media, such as playback and streaming video content, the Doogee T30 Max is able to process HD and 4K video content with ease. Even for most gaming, the tablet seems to be fine-tuned to cope with  3D Graphics and the demands of games such as Call of Duty and CarX Street. The only times you really start to see it struggle are with the slight responsiveness delay when using the stylus in applications such as SketchBook and when editing 4K video.

The Doogee T30 Max is one of the best tablets for anyone looking for a stylish, sleek, slim, and lightweight tablet. It's perfect for office tasks, playing back video on popular streaming services, editing video and images, and a little light gaming.

Doogee T30 Max: Price & availability

(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)

• How much does it cost? Starting from £289 / $349
• When is it out? Available now
• Where can you get it? You can get it directly from Doogee Website

The Doogee T30 Max is well-priced, making it a great option for anyone looking for a high-quality tablet without breaking the bank. As of now, the tablet is available for purchase directly from Doogee's official website by clicking here and other major online retailers such as Amazon. Pricing typically ranges from around £289 or $349.

• Value: 4 / 5

Doogee T30 Max: Specifications Doogee T30 Max: Design

(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)

The design of the Doogee T30 Max gives it an instantly premium look and feel with its full titanium alloy build. The body is extremely well-finished, featuring a 12.4-inch screen that takes up the vast majority of the front of the tablet. The small front camera is discreetly integrated into the top middle of the border rather than occupying screen space. The back of the tablet has a slightly matte leather-like finish, providing a good tactile feel and a firm grip. On the back, you'll also find the dual AI-enhanced cameras: a larger 50MP main camera and a 2MP macro camera, accompanied by a small light for portrait shots.

(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)

The top edge of the tablet houses the power button and volume controls, maintaining a minimalist look. The right side features the first two speaker areas at the top and bottom, with a USB Type-C connector in between for charging and connecting accessories. The base of the tablet includes connection points for the optional magnetic keyboard. On the left side, there are two more speaker slots, a SIM slot that holds up to two SIMs and a TF or microSD card, and a biometric fingerprint scanner for secure access.

Overall, the design of the Doogee T30 Max is sleek and minimalistic. The included case, while not the most premium, offers adequate protection for the tablet and doubles as a stand when needed.

• Design: 4 / 5

Doogee T30 Max: Features

The Doogee T30 Max impresses with its stylish looks and equally impressive range of features. The 12.4-inch 4K IPS screen is fully touch-sensitive with 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity when used with the active stylus. It also features a certified quad box speaker system with smart PA, providing decent sound quality for multimedia and gaming. Running on the Android 14 OS, it integrates seamlessly with a range of apps, making it ideal as a portable office solution. Internally, it comes with 512GB of storage, expandable to 2TB with a TF or microSD card.

Delving a little deeper into the features and the large 12.4-inch touchscreen dominates the front of the tablet, offering an ultra-clear 4K resolution display with 1.07 billion colours. The screen is bright at 600 nits maximum brightness and supports full P3 and HDR10 dynamic range. This makes it perfect for creative use, allowing for precise control with the active stylus, which promises to mimic traditional art tools for more natural drawing and writing experiences. However, we did find a certain amount of lag between drawing and displaying, which means we wouldn't recommend it for those looking for the best drawing tablet.

The slim, lightweight design makes it highly portable, weighing just 687g and measuring 285.1 x 185.4 x 7.9 mm. It comes in two colour options: graphite black and dark green, with a tactile leather back for a premium feel. Secure access to the table is quick with biometric fingerprint or face recognition.

One of the standout features is the integrated speakers, boasting a 6CC super large sound cavity for superior audio quality. The tablet supports Widevine L1, ensuring the highest quality streaming from providers like Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Amazon, and Disney+. The screen also has chip-level intelligent blue light protection, natural brightness adjustment, and manual colour and temperature adjustment.

Powering the tablet is the Helio G99 octa-core processor, combined with the Mali-G57 MC2 GPU, 8GB of internal RAM, and up to 20GB with extended RAM. The 10800mAh battery provides up to 710 hours of standby time, 5.5 hours of web surfing, 8 hours of video playback, and up to 46 hours of music playback. It supports fast charging, providing 2 hours of video playback with just a 15-minute charge.

For imaging, the tablet features an impressive 50MP rear camera with AI enhancements and a 2MP macro camera, perfect for close-up shots. The front 20MP camera is ideal for video conferencing, supported by a built-in mic. 

Accessories include a simple case, keyboard case, mouse, and an active pressure stylus. The tablet supports dual SIM cards and has band Wi-Fi, GPS, Galileo, Beidou, and AGPS for satellite navigation. The ability to add a TF or microSD card for storage expansion is another neat feature, making the Doogee T30 Max a highly versatile option.

(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)

• Features: 4 / 5

Doogee T30 Max: Performance

(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)

• High resolution screen
• Highly responsive touch screen

The initial setup is straightforward, utilising the usual Android process of signing into your Google account. Android 14 ensures a smooth and user-friendly experience as ever and connecting the device to a network is easy; connect through WiFi or just pop your device SIM card into the carrier, and it instantly connects to a 4G signal. A notable feature is the dual SIM support, allowing seamless switching between networks for consistent connectivity. During the test, both Vodafone and EE SIM cards provided strong signals and good internet speeds.

The tablet's build quality stands out, with a robust titanium alloy casing and a fingerprint-resistant touchscreen. Opening the tablet is fast with the biometric fingerprint scanner and face recognition working quickly when you need access and also providing that extra level of security.

The tablet comes with a range of pre-installed apps, but additional downloads like Google Docs are necessary for a full test. To assess performance comprehensively, we installed benchmarking software, Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, Sketchbook, and Call of Duty.

Starting with Google Docs, the applications run smoothly, and the touchscreen is intuitive to use. The on-screen keyboard is functional, but the handwriting keyboard activated by the stylus offers a more natural and efficient input method, especially across Google apps.

The USB Type-C port allows for easy expansion and connectivity. We tested several USB Type-C sticks, and they were accessed directly through the Google file manager, enabling quick transfer and use of images in Lightroom and other applications. 

The main option for expanding the internal storage is through adding a TF or microSD card up to 2TB, this is quick to do with the card simply sitting alongside the SIM cards in the carrier. This feature is ideal for managing large files, such as high-resolution images and videos.

All Google Docs applications performed flawlessly, with the split-screen feature enabling the use of two apps easily. This is particularly useful for research and document editing.

For image editing, Adobe Lightroom performed impressively, handling high-resolution images smoothly. The pressure-sensitive stylus provided precise control, making fine adjustments easy and intuitive. Sketchbook also worked well, despite a slight lag in brush actions, which for experienced users will be distracting, however, most occasional users shouldn't be too bothered.

Video editing in CapCut and GoPro Quik was decent enough with the tablet handling full HD footage smoothly, edits were generally quick with just a few pauses as the system caught up with the processing, and uploads back to the cloud were seamless.

For entertainment, the 4K screen resolution and quad speakers deliver excellent streaming quality. Gaming performance was also surprisingly good, with games like CarX Street and Call of Duty running smoothly, though the tablet did heat up slightly during extended play.

Overall, the Doogee T30 Max delivers solid performance across various tasks, including document management, image editing, video editing, and light gaming. Benchmarking results place it in the medium range of tablets, highlighting its excellent value considering the price.

(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)

• Performance: 3 / 5

Doogee T30 Max: Final verdict

The Doogee T30 Max is a competent large-screen tablet that should suite for all but that highest demand users. It's well-suited for office work, including editing documents and spreadsheets, browsing the internet, making video calls, and light multimedia editing. The tablet handles all Google apps smoothly and offers good speed and responsiveness. The dual SIM card feature is a great addition, allowing you to select two different network providers for constant connectivity. Storage expansion up to 2TB with a TF or microSD card or external storage via the USB Type-C port adds flexibility.

Performance-wise, the T30 Max handles applications like Lightroom and CapCut well, enabling quick image and video editing. However, it's important to note that this is a relatively affordable tablet, so it may not handle the latest high-resolution footage as efficiently as higher-end models. It's designed for editing mobile, action camera HD, and 4K footage. For entertainment, the Wi-Fi L1 support ensures high-quality streaming from major online services, and the CPU and GPU provide decent gaming potential.

While the T30 Max may not be the most powerful tablet on the market, it delivers impressive performance for its price. Coupled with the stylus, it offers intuitive workflows, making it effective for general use. Dedicated artists might find the slight lag of the stylus in applications like Sketchbook is a bit irritating, but for most it's fast enough to prove effective. Still, for general use and the ability to utilise the stylus, it remains a decent all-around tablet for both business and home use. Overall, the Doogee T30 Max offers good value for money, making it a worthwhile option for those seeking a versatile and affordable tablet.

Should you buy the Doogee T30 Max?

(Image credit: Alastair Jennings) Buy it if...

You want a versatile office companion

If you require a tablet for office tasks such as document editing, video calls, and internet browsing, the Doogee T30 Max is an excellent choice. Its seamless integration with Google apps ensures smooth productivity.

You enjoy multimedia on the go

The T30 Max is perfect for streaming high-quality video and light gaming. Its 4K display and quad speakers enhance the entertainment experience, making it a great option for multimedia enthusiasts.

Don't buy it if...

You need high-end gaming performance

If your primary need is for a device to handle high-end gaming or intensive graphic tasks, there may be better choices than the Doogee T30 Max. It's better suited for lighter gaming and standard multimedia tasks.

You're a professional artist

Dedicated artists might find the slight lag in stylus response for detailed sketching and drawing tasks limiting. For professional art creation, a more specialized, high-end tablet would be preferable.

For more durable devices, we reviewed the best rugged hard drives

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #195) - hint #1 - today's theme What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Elements of style

NYT Strands today (game #195) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• TALE
• STALE
• GLASS
• SEAS
• BEET
• SWEET

NYT Strands today (game #195) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• You complete me

NYT Strands today (game #195) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First: bottom, 3rd column

Last: top, 5th column

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #195) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #195, are…

• BELT
• HANDBAG
• SCARF
• JEWELRY
• WATCH
• GLASSES
• SPANGRAM: ACCESSORIZING

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Anyone who knows me will be aware that fashion is not my strong suit. I just do not care about it. So the concept of ACCESSORIZING is a little alien to me – I just wear jeans and a t-shirt, I don't need to add anything to that. Despite this inherent disadvantage, I managed to solve this Stands puzzle pretty easily – because it is indeed pretty easy.

I'm not sure that the theme clue, Elements of style, gave me much help, but finding BELT and HANDBAG by accident definitely did, and after that is was simply a question of wracking my brains for things that fashionable people might wear. After a bit more time than I probably should have needed, I got them all.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday 13 September, game #194)

• COWBOY
• SHERIFF
• DUEL
• BOUNTY
• HORSE
• SALOON
• OUTLAW
• SPANGRAM: WESTERNS

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #461) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• LION
• SWITCH
• RETRO
• BURGER
• VINTAGE
• SUB
• PROM
• SLIDER
• SUPER
• GRAPE
• BUTTON
• CALIFORNIA
• REGION
• KNOB
• PRO
• WINERY

NYT Connections today (game #461) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• Yellow: Read the label
• Green: Touch this
• Blue: They go before
• Purple: Blank [royal title]

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #461) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: WINE BOTTLE INFO
• GREEN: CONSOLE INPUTS
• BLUE: PREFIXES
• PURPLE: ___ KING

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #461) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #461, are…

• YELLOW: WINE BOTTLE INFO GRAPE, REGION, VINTAGE, WINERY
• GREEN: CONSOLE INPUTS BUTTON, KNOB, SLIDER, SWITCH
• BLUE: PREFIXES PRO, RETRO, SUB, SUPER
• PURPLE: ___ KING BURGER, CALIFORNIA, LION, PROM

• My rating: Easy
• My score: 2 mistakes

Today's Connections is another fairly simple one. For starters, it doesn't require too much specialist knowledge – BUTTON, KNOB, SLIDER and SWITCH, for instance, are just generally used words. And while the WINE BOTTLE INFO group might be easier for people who drink wine, none of the answers are remotely obscure.

The one I didn't technically solve was blue – which in hindsight was one of the easiest. That group was PREFIXES, with the answers being PRO, SUB, RETRO and SUPER – all of which really should have occurred to me. But instead I focused on the [blank] king group, having spotted BURGER, LION and PROM. Trouble was, I couldn't find the fourth one, guessing SUPER and PRO (randomly) before finally going for CALIFORNIA to complete the set. I don't know what a CALIFORNIA KING is, but I solved it in the end, so who cares…

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday, 13 September, game #460)

• YELLOW: VITALITY ENERGY, JUICE, LIFE, ZIP
• GREEN: PALINDROMES FEATURING “E” LEVEL, PEP, REFER, TENET
• BLUE: FEATURED IN “JACK AND THE BEANSTALK” BEANS, COW, GIANT, JACK
• PURPLE: CAR MODELS BEETLE, CIVIC, FOCUS, VOLT

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now nearly 1,000 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #964) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #964) - hint #2 - repeated letters Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 2.

Quordle today (game #964) - hint #3 - uncommon letters Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #964) - hint #4 - starting letters (1) Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #964) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• E

• G

• W

• C

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #964) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #964, are…

• ESSAY
• GENRE
• WIMPY
• CHUTE

You don't hear the word WIMPY often, do you? But here it is in today's Quordle, lurking within those squares and waiting to trip you up. In fact, all four of today's words are potentially difficult – there are repeated letters in ESSAY and GENRE, while CHUTE is another fairly uncommon word – but I wouldn't place it among the most difficult overall. There are none of those really obscure letters, for starters – you know the ones, X and Q and Z and J – and plenty of vowels scattered throughout. File this was under 'middling'.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Daily Sequence today (game #964) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #964, are…

• YIELD
• SLEPT
• BEECH
• PENNY

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #963, Friday 13 September: LEANT, ORGAN, FILLY, PLAIT
• Quordle #962, Thursday 12 September: ARBOR, STARK, LEAVE, GOOFY
• Quordle #961, Wednesday 11 September: ROUGH, CACTI, SAVOY, ODDER
• Quordle #960, Tuesday 10 September: PLUMB, SEIZE, EARLY, ASSET
• Quordle #959, Monday 9 September: CHIRP, BEADY, THETA, MINUS
• Quordle #958, Sunday 8 September: TEASE, AGATE, PRIDE, PLATE
• Quordle #957, Saturday 7 September: LASSO, TILDE, BUNCH, PRONG
• Quordle #956, Friday 6 September: FARCE, WOOLY, LOCAL, NIGHT
• Quordle #955, Thursday 5 September: SNIDE, EGRET, AMONG, SHINY
• Quordle #954, Wednesday 4 September: POINT, WITTY, GAFFE, ABUSE
• Quordle #953, Tuesday 3 September: ATOLL, ANGER, OCEAN, SWEEP
• Quordle #952, Monday 2 September: HABIT, LODGE, PLAIN, DRIFT
• Quordle #951, Sunday 1 September: RABBI, CRAWL, GUPPY, BRAND
• Quordle #950, Saturday 31 August: AWOKE, TIBIA, ITCHY, SNACK
• Quordle #949, Friday 30 August: ARISE, OLDER, ISSUE, ERUPT
• Quordle #948, Thursday 29 August: DECAY, DRUID, AVOID, KNEED
• Quordle #947, Wednesday 28 August: VIOLA, GONER, CAVIL, SHARE
• Quordle #946, Tuesday 27 August: ABYSS, DAILY, AGONY, MUSKY
• Quordle #945, Monday 26 August: NEVER, CHUNK, AUNTY, CROUP
• Quordle #944, Sunday 25 August: APTLY, LEVER, STORK, WIDOW

This time next year, if everything stays on schedule, NASA will send its first crewed mission to the moon, since the end of the Apollo program. Artemis II will be the first flight around the moon in more than 50 years.

Its goal will be to test out the Orion capsule and all the other equipment, so that by 2026, Artemis III can put astronauts back ON the moon.

The Artemis program is aimed to kickstart a new, more enduring era of space travel that leads to Mars.It's also intentionally more representative than Apollo was. The Artemis program will eventually put the first woman on the moon, as well as the first person of color.

It's all as historic and high stakes as it gets, and also pretty daunting.

NPR's Scott Detrow goes behind the scenes at the Johnson Space Center in Houston to see how the team is preparing.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

(Image credit: NASA)

A military court in the DRC sentenced US citizens and dozens of others for their role in a failed coup attempt in May.

(Image credit: Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)

Urban legends and outlandish stories often send people to Snopes in search of a reality check. Now, the fact-checking site has an AI tool called FactBot to help you win a bet about Bigfoot or confirm a story about your favorite celebrity. Aimed at addressing misinformation, FactBot uses Snopes' archive and generative AI to answer questions without having to comb through articles using more traditional search methods. 

When you ask a question, FactBot goes through Snopes' collection of information and writes a conversational answer. Snopes built Factbot using Anthropic's Sonnet 3.5 AI model released earlier this year, working with California Polytechnic's Digital Transformation Hub (DxHub) as well as Amazon Web Services (AWS). 

Of course, AI models are famous for occasionally offering nonsensical or outright wrong answers they hallucinate. Snopes, being keen to keep up its (sometimes contested) reputation as a reliable source of facts, had to address that issue. By keeping to Snopes' databases for its responses, Factbot avoids hallucinations or obsolete answers. All of the answers include links to the articles used to compose them. And if there's not enough information to answer the question, FactBot just tells you that it doesn't have enough information to respond.

(Image credit: Snopes) Factbot Fun

The website sees FactBot as a way of speeding up fact-checking not just for its audience but internally. The AI chatbot has been incorporated into Snopes' newsroom to help spot trending topics based on what people are asking. That way, they can pursue popular topics that Factbot may not be able to answer yet. 

"Monitoring internet and social media trends will continue, but the chatbot represents an improvement to Snopes' current contact flow," Snopes CEO Chris Richmond explained. "Instead of only monitoring those sources and an inbox of emails from users with story ideas, links, and questions, staff will also hear back from the chatbot on what the most frequent topics of conversation are, offering a new story-idea pipeline."

Snopes isn't unique in seeing AI chatbots as a tool for answering questions about facts. The Washington Post created Climate Answers to do something similar, relying on its climate journalism to answer questions directly on the topic. These are only the early examples and almost certainly won't be the last. As AI technology continues to develop, tools like FactBot are likely to play an increasingly important role in trying to make the internet a reliable source of information, or at least in attempting to tamp down on the endless flood of misinformation, pranks, and outright lies.

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These Advent calendars are filled with everything from tea and chocolate to Legos and much more.

The scale of the geological event is like something from prehistoric times, with a tsunami 200 meters--656 feet--in height. But it happened last year. Researchers warn that similar events may reoccur.

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Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams revealed what life has been like aboard the International Space Station after problems arose with their Starliner spacecraft, which returned home empty last week.

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McLaren and Lego have a long history of partnerships, with the unlikely duo teaming up on a number of highly complicated kits, including 1:8 scale versions of the Senna GTR and MCL36 F1 race car.

But now, the relationship has been taken to the next level, with a 1:1 Lego replica of the famous P1 arriving on the scene that uses a staggering 342,817 Lego Technic pieces (yes, someone actually counted), as well as a combination of Technic batteries and a small EV battery to power it.

Far from simply being an amazing model for crowds to gawp at, both McLaren and Lego’s engineers set about creating eight motor packs, each consisting of 96 Lego Power function motors, which means the car features a total of 768 Lego motors that allow it to hit up to 40mph.

That’s not bad, especially given the fact that the entire thing weighs 1,220Kg, which is only around 200kg lighter than the actual McLaren P1 – complete with big, fat twin-turbocharged V8 and hybrid system installed.

Clearly faced with a lot of boring rainy days, it took the 23 specialists from both Lego and McLaren 8,344 hours of development and construction to complete. Although it doesn’t say how many cups of tea and chocolate biscuits they got through.

To prove that the 1:1 replica actually works, the team stuck McLaren Formula 1 Team driver Lando Norris in the hot seat and asked him to put in a hot lap of Silverstone’s famous race circuit (above), where the car completed all 3.66 miles without falling apart.

Brick by boring brick

(Image credit: McLaren/Lego)

As publicity stunts go, this is one of the most intricate we’ve ever seen. Despite featuring the wheels, steering wheel and the steel chassis of the original, the rest of the build is fashioned from Technic elements, including 11 that were moulded specifically for this model.

Granted, it is designed to help shift more Lego Technic McLaren P1 1:8 scale model sets ($449.99 / £389.99 / €449.99 / AU$699.99, if you're interested) before Christmas, but it’s also testament to how seriously these Technic guys take their models.

Even tackling the 1:8 McLaren P1 kit is an undertaking in itself, as it consists of 3,893 pieces that create a seven-speed gearbox, a V8 piston engine and working suspension, among others.

There’s no word on whether Lego is going to release the instruction manual for the 1:1 scale model, which is a shame, as it feels like the cheapest way to own a P1.

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The woman who believes she inspired a stalker in the hit TV show Baby Reindeer sued Netflix over the summer. The case is still pending.

(Image credit: Ed Miller)