By Campbell Greaves For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 00:00 BST, 19 April 2024 | Updated: 06:30 BST, 19 April 2024

She recently slammed social media filters for preventing people from aging naturally. 

And Cate Blanchett showed off her natural beauty she attended the Louis Vuitton Women’s Voyager Pre-Fall 2024 Collection Show in Shanghai on Thursday.

The Australian actress glowed, wearing minimal makeup on her gorgeous visage. 

The two-time Academy Award winning actress, 54, turned heads in an edgy monochrome top and trouser ensemble.

The Blue Jasmine star completed the look with a stylish white coat along with a pair of platform black leather boots.

Cate Blanchett looked effortlessly chic as she attended the Louis Vuitton Women’s Voyager Pre-Fall 2024 Collection Show in Shanghai on Thursday

Cate was a special guest of the label after being named ambassador for Louis Vuitton in 2022.

Chloe Grace Moretz, Paul Bettany and Oscar winners Regina King and Jennifer Connelly were also in attendance at the event. 

Cate recently claimed apps like Instagram and their photo filters warp expectations of ageing and beauty.

The Australian two-time Academy Award winning actress turned heads in an a black top and trouser ensemble

She said she finds it ‘confronting’ that people now look too much like ‘Barbie dolls’, reported The Sunday Times in March.

‘Nobody’s getting older. They just look like Barbie dolls,’ she said, adding that she does not feel ‘regret or shame’ when seeing photos of her younger self.

‘It’s not the ageing I find confronting at all. Because that is like when you stumble across a photo of a holiday when you were 16 or one of my husband and me when we got married.’

The Blue Jasmine star completed the look with a stylish white coat along with a pair of platform black leather boots

She continued: ‘It doesn’t produce regret or shame. Rather, a recognition of the joy of the experience or a painful moment. I’m transported right back.’

The Thor star has always been candid about her approach to ageing, with the beauty telling Harper’s Bazaar in 2018 she was ‘not panicking’ about turning 50 at the time.

‘I think about it on an existential level, sure, but on a career level, I refuse,’ she told the publication.

Cate was named an ambassador for Louis Vuitton in 2022

‘It’s important to keep karate-chopping those doors down and creating new opportunities not just for yourself, but also for those who are coming up behind you.’

‘I’m not panicking on a work level. It’s more that there are so many lives I want to live,’ she added.

She told InStyle the year before that she would tell her younger self to ‘champion a different type of beauty’ rather than try to conform.

An ex-NASA physicist warns cheap satellite ‘megaconstellations’ like Elon Musk’s Starlink could disrupt Earth’s magnetosphere exposing all life to deadly cosmic rays.

Dr. Sierra Solter-Hunt’s new study draws on new estimates that Musk’s SpaceX is burning up over 2,755 lbs (1.3 tons) of wireless internet satellite debris into Earth’s atmosphere every hour — creating a metal layer of ‘conductive particulate’ in orbit.

‘I was very surprised,’ physicist Dr Solter-Hunt told DailyMail.com. ‘No one has given much research to the accumulation of metal dust from the space industry.’

There are 5,504 Starlink satellites now in orbit, as of the last estimate by astronomers this March, of which 5,442 are operational. But tens of thousands more are planned.

An ex-NASA physicist warns cheap satellite ‘megaconstellations’ like Elon Musk ‘s Starlink could disrupt Earth’s magnetosphere exposing all life to deadly cosmic rays

Her new study draws on estimates that Musk’s SpaceX is currently burning up over 2,755 lbs (1.3 tons) of internet satellite debris in Earth’s atmosphere every hour, creating a metal layer of ‘conductive particulate’ in orbit. There are now 5,504 Starlink satellites above Earth (pictured)

Particles from these satellites at the end of their lifecycle could ‘distort or trap the magnetic field’ that keeps Earth’s atmosphere from escaping, the physicist said, ‘with all of the highly-conductive metal trash that is all settling in one region.’

Although she notes it is an ‘extreme case,’ such a layer of charged metal dust could lead to ‘atmospheric stripping’ akin to the ancient fates of Mars and Mercury.

After working on NASA’s comet-catching Stardust spacecraft research team in 2012, Dr Solter-Hunt spent three years at the US Air Force Research Laboratory.

There she studied the electromagnetic behavior of plasma plumes in low-Earth orbit (LEO), the region of the upper-atmosphere where Starlink’s orbital network resides. She now consults on space weather’s impact on the aerospace industry. 

Seattle-based scientist Sierra Solter-Hunt (pictured) believes floating, metallic space junk will likely settle in the upper part of the ionosphere – some 50 to 400 miles above the Earth’s surface – weakening its magnetic field

‘We are at about 10,000 satellites [in orbit] right now, but in 10 to 15 years there are likely going to be 100,000,’ Dr. Solter-Hunt told DailyMail.com.

‘By the time we get to 100,000 I think it could be too late,’ she said, ‘in terms of this unplanned geoengineering experiment that is going to occur.’

The cause for her concern is that vast this fine-particle metal debris already vastly outweighs the weight of the magnetically charged particles that protect Earth from cosmic radiation. 

The heaviest known portion of Earth’s magnetosphere are the large loops of trapped particles called the Van Allen Belts — two donut-shaped regions of small particles energized by cosmic radiation from the sun. 

The belts loop from Earth’s magnetically charged North and South Poles. 

The weight of this vital region is impossibly small compared to the metal debris that could cut it off from Earth —  the Van Allen Belts only have a total mass of 0.0004 lbs (or about 0.00018 kilograms).

‘The masses of other parts of the magnetosphere (ring current, plasmasphere, etc.),’ as she notes in her new paper, posted to Cornell’s arXiv, ‘are not widely estimated but are less dense than the Van Allen Belts.’

This light weight and low mass of the magnetosphere, in other words, means that a high volume of heavy satellite debris could have a dramatic, unprecedented impact.

‘I think we need to stop using the ionosphere and atmosphere as a space industry trash bin immediately,’ she told DailyMail.com 

In recent years, both academic astronomers and SpaceX’s satellite company competitors to SpaceX have issued years of formal complaints to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over SpaceX’s Starlink ambitions.

Astronomers in particular worry the company’s space junk could permanently interfere with ground-based observatories, grinding the study of space to a halt. 

Dr. Solter-Hunt’s paper, currently in peer-review, follows years of formal complaints to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made by academic astronomers and SpaceX’s satellite rivals who have protested Starlink’s impact on the basic study of space

‘The addition of nearly 30,000 Starlink satellites will disrupt the entire field of astronomical research,’ as the FCC summarized academic researchers complaints in their November 29, 2022 ruling on SpaceX’s Gen2 satellite plans

‘The addition of nearly 30,000 Starlink satellites will disrupt the entire field of astronomical research,’ as the FCC summarized academic researchers complaints in their November 29, 2022 ruling on SpaceX’s Gen2 satellite plans.

Multiple scientists weighed in writing letters to the agency to voice their concerns, including Canadian astronomer and planetary science professor Dr. Samantha Lawler and Dr. Meredith Rawls, a researcher in the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.  

‘When I heard Dr. Lawler […] speak about how no one knew what could happen when satellite re-entries start to create debris regularly,’ Dr. Solter-Hunt told DailyMail.com, ‘I wanted to look into it further as a part of my PhD in plasma physics.’

However, some astrophysicists and planetary scientists have voiced skepticism over the new paper’s hypothetical worst case scenario. 

One critic of the paper, researcher Fionagh Thompson from Durham University in the UK, said that Dr. Solter-Hunt’s estimates for the number of future satellites ‘seems exaggerated,’ as companies’ ambitious launch plans tend to be overhyped. Above, SpaceX owner Elon Musk

From Durham University in the UK, researcher Fionagh Thompson told Live Science that Dr. Solter-Hunt’s estimates for the number of future satellites ‘seems exaggerated,’ as companies’ ambitious launch schedules tend to be overhyped.

The paper is an ‘interesting thought experiment,’ she noted, but added that ‘it shouldn’t be passed off as “this is what is going to happen,”‘ definitively.

One magnetosphere expert and planetary scientist at the University of Rochester in New York, Dr. John Tarduno, criticized specifically the new paper’s hypothesis that the density of metallic debris might get so thick that it cuts off Earth from its Van Allen Belts like a magnetic shield. 

‘Even at the densities [of spacecraft dust] discussed, a continuous conductive shell like a true magnetic shield is unlikely,’ Dr. Tarduno said.

Some of the study’s assumptions, he said, were likely ‘too simple and unlikely to be correct.’

But Dr. Solter-Hunt told DailyMail.com that none of her critics have been able to poke holes in her basic premise, even when she has personally requested deeper constructive criticism.

‘I’ve reached out to [some of] them for further elaboration on how I could improve the research and they simply didn’t know how I could improve my study on electrostatic signatures,’ she said. ‘Or they were unreachable.’ 

‘So I do not consider there to be any real scientific critics at this time,’ she concluded, ‘and the paper is in the peer-review process.’

Dr. Lawler, the astronomer at the University of Regina in Canada who inspired her investigations, called the new study ‘a really important first step’ that draw needed attention to the ‘terrifying’ quantity of spacecraft dust building up in Earth’s atmosphere.

‘The consequences [of this satellite pollution],’ Dr. Lawler said, ‘could also be on a totally different scale than we’re used to thinking about.’ 

DailyMail.com has reached out to SpaceX’s public relations team for comment, and will update this article if the company responds.

I have a shared ownership property with an estimated value of £250,000. I own a 40 per cent stake and pay rent on the rest. 

The mortgage on the share I own is £37,000 and costs me £235 per month. The rent I pay is £595. 

My mortgage deal ends in June. I have £100,000 in savings. Would it be wise to use some of that to pay off the mortgage, or should I use my savings to increase my stake in the property – known as staircasing – instead?

My lease on the property is now under 80 years. Extending this will cost around £8,000, plus other costs involved with staircasing.

Staircasing would lower the rent, but not by a huge amount as I can’t get to the full 100 per cent. I would also like to keep a decent amount of my savings free. S.R.

Mortgage help: Our weekly Navigate the Mortgage Maze column sees broker David Hollingworth answering your questions

SCROLL DOWN TO FIND OUT HOW TO ASK DAVID YOUR MORTGAGE QUESTION 

David Hollingworth replies: You are in the positive position of being able to consider various options as you approach the end of your current mortgage deal. 

As well as allowing buyers to purchase an initial share of the property, shared ownership enables the purchase of additional shares as their situation changes. 

Known as staircasing, this would allow you to potentially own the whole property in time.

It sounds like you may have already discussed this with the housing association which makes a lot of sense, helping you to get a better understanding of the options and the figures associated. 

Paying off the mortgage would cut your monthly costs and protect you from being hurt by higher interest rates. 

Those higher mortgage rates could certainly be a reason why you’re more focused on reducing the debt, rather than potentially borrowing more to push toward full ownership.

Whilst it’s relatively easy to understand the potential interest saving that will come from paying off the mortgage, it’s hard to directly compare that saving with the potential benefit if you elect to buy another share.

Comparing mortgage and rent costs is hard

Increasing your share of the ownership of the property will reduce the rental payment, so it will give you a reduction in your monthly costs. 

It sounds as though you may have been a little underwhelmed by how much an extra share could reduce the rental cost. 

However, that isn’t a like-for-like comparison with overpaying or redeeming the mortgage.

What we don’t know is how house prices may behave in future and therefore how that could add to or detract from the benefit of staircasing. 

> True Cost Mortgage Calculator: Check what a new fixed rate would cost 

Staircasing: As well as allowing buyers to purchase an initial share of the property, shared ownership enables additional shares to be purchased as your situation changes

If prices were to rise and you own a greater share, you will clearly benefit more from that increase in prices, compared to retaining the current minority share of the increase. 

Of course, there is no guarantee that prices will climb so there is still no right or wrong answer to this, but I would advise you to feed it into your thinking for the longer term, rather than only looking at the reduction in rent.

There will be costs to buying another share as well, so do factor those into your decision. 

Extending the lease is another cost that could be worth exploring further. As the lease runs down the cost will increase and the other knock on will be in the range of available mortgage lenders, which will have minimum expectation on lease remaining.

Emergency fund

You’re right to want to maintain a level of savings. This is important and will very much depend on your goals in the future. 

Having an emergency fund is crucial, so it would not be a good idea to put all your resources into the property and you should keep some cash savings in reserve. 

How much you retain will largely depend on your financial and lifestyle aims but it’s nice to have the choice.

Rather than think in terms of all or nothing you might like to consider a balanced approach, potentially buying a smaller additional share, enabling you to maintain some savings but retaining your mortgage for now. 

Shop around now for mortgage options to switch to at the end of the current deal. 

That will help you better understand how manageable it will be to maintain or even increase the mortgage, now or in the future, if you decide to buy outright.

> What next for mortgage rates and should you fix for two or five years? 

By Sean Poulter Consumer Affairs Editor

Published: 00:00 BST, 18 April 2024 | Updated: 01:00 BST, 18 April 2024

Families after a cheap summer getaway should head for the Costa Brava, Italy’s Amalfi Coast or lesser-known Greek islands.

The destinations have plenty of inexpensive room-only, self-catering and bed and breakfast deals, according to Which?.

The consumer experts assessed 4,500 holiday options in the first week of August in 70 European regions. And they found that picking the right destination can save hundreds of pounds.

Traditional low-cost destinations such as Bulgaria and Turkey were missing from the top ten cheapest spots for a package break. Instead the Greek island of Kalymnos took the crown for cheapest package destination, with a week’s stay typically costing £847 per person.

Getting there involves a flight to Kos followed by a 40-minute ferry trip, which is included in the price.

The Greek island of Kalymnos took the crown for cheapest package destination, with a week’s stay typically costing £847 per person

Which? said of Kalymnos: ‘The tiny island is Greece as you imagine it – boasting secluded coves, sapphire seas, rugged mountains, and charming towns.’

The capital Pothia is the most competitively priced resort on the island – with the cheapest package found costing £794 per person.

For those looking to relax on the sand, the island’s most popular beach resort, Massouri, costs an average of £856 for a week’s stay.

Behind Kalymnos are the Greek islands of Thassos, at £862 per person, and Lefkada, at £935 per person. 

Skopelos in Greece, which was made famous by the hit film Mamma Mia!, is also among the ten cheapest options.

Spain’s Costa Brava – the stretch of coast north of Barcelona famed for its sweeping golden beaches and stunning craggy cliff tops – placed fourth with an average of £952. 

Tenerife was crowned the cheapest destination for an all-inclusive holiday by Which? Travel 

Italy’s Amalfi Coast came sixth in the list of the ten cheapest package holiday destinations 

The Venetian Riviera – Lido di Jesolo – was the cheapest spot in Italy, at £965 per person, while the upmarket Amalfi coast was close behind on £977.

The rest of the top ten is made up of the Costa de Luz, Spain, Campania, Italy, and Malta.

A look at the cheapest locations for an all-inclusive break found Tenerife had the most competitive rates. The average was £1,097 per person for seven nights.

Other competitively priced options included Fuerteventura, the Costa Blanca, Spain, the Bourgas area of Bulgaria, and Dalaman, Turkey.

The editor of Which? Travel, Rory Boland, said: ‘Travelling in the summer holidays is notoriously expensive, and demand is again high this year – but our latest price analysis shows that by being flexible on your destination, you can potentially save hundreds of pounds.

‘Many of the locations we found aren’t those you’d necessarily assume would be the cheapest – but from tiny, traditional Greek islands to the glitzy Amalfi coast, there are bargains to be found this summer.’

A Dutch pensioner had the longest lasting Covid infection ever recorded – at 613 days.

Whereas most people can expect to shake off the virus in days or weeks, the 72-year-old had a weakened immune system and eventually died with his infection.

The virus mutated around 50 times and eventually spawned an ultra-mutated variant, according to scientists.

They warned such cases are perfect breeding grounds for deadly new strains of the disease to develop.

However, separate NHS data released today shows Covid cases in hospital are also rising, up more than a third in the last four weeks. There were 3,390 virus patients in hospital on December 17, up 38 per cent on the 2,452 logged on November 19. This is also an increase of 12 per cent in a week from the 3,024 logged on December 10

The patient was admitted to Amsterdam University Medical Centre in February 2022 with the omicron variant of Covid.

He had a history of blood cancer and had received treatment that depleted B-cells, including those that normally produce Covid directed antibodies.

Despite receiving several Covid vaccines, he had little antibody response when tested upon hospital admission and did not respond to antibody treatments.

But researchers found the virus developed a sotrovimab-resistance mutation as early as 21 days after receiving the antibody.

They also noted that anti-spike antibody development in the first month was minimal, indicating that the patient’s immune system was incapable of clearing the virus.

The prolonged infection led to the emergence of a novel, immune-evasive variant of the virus due to its extensive evolution within a host. He eventually died from a relapse of a condition in his blood.

Presenting their findings at ESCMID Global Congress in Barcelona next week, researchers said he had remained Covid positive, with high viral loads, for a total of 613 days.

The mutated variant was not transmitted to anyone else, they confirmed.

Dr Magda Vergouwe, from the Centre for Experimental and Molecular Medicine (CEMM) in Amsterdam, warned that the case underscored the importance of tracking the infections of the most vulnerable patients, whose bodies could be used as hosts to develop resistant mutations.

She said: ‘This case underscores the risk of persistent SARS-CoV-2 infections in immunocompromised individuals as unique SARS-CoV-2 viral variants may emerge due to extensive intra-host evolution.

‘We emphasise the importance of continuing genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 evolution in immunocompromised individuals with persistent infections given the potential public health threat of possibly introducing viral escape variants into the community.’

She acknowledged there had to be a balance between protecting the world from dangerous new variants and providing humane, supportive end-of-life care to severely ill patients.

Prior to this case, UK doctors believed they had documented the longest Covid infection on record who they treated for more than 16 months, or 505 days.

King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust doctors said detailed lab analysis of the unnamed patient revealed it was the same, persistent infection, rather than repeated bouts.

Dr Vergouwe added that though there’s an increased risk of the development of novel variants in immunocompromised patients, not every variant that develops will be of public concern.

The underlying mechanisms involved in the development of a variant of concern are much more complex, as they are also dependent on factors in the population surrounding the patient, including the prevalence of B- and T-cell related immunity.

She added: ‘The duration of SARS-CoV-2 infection in this described case is extreme, but prolonged infections in immunocompromised patients are much more common compared to the general community.

‘Further work by our team includes describing a cohort of prolonged infections in immunocompromised patients from our hospital with infection durations varying between one month and two years.

‘However, from the viewpoint of the general public, prolonged infections remain rare as the immunocompromised population is only a very small percentage of the total population.’

By Will Potter and Jake Fenner For Dailymail.Com

Published: 22:47 BST, 18 April 2024 | Updated: 01:29 BST, 19 April 2024

Former NFL All-Pro wide receiver and current internet provocateur Antonio Brown sparked backlash after sharing a slew of abusive tweets about Caitlin Clark. 

The WNBA top-pick quickly blocked Brown for his antics, with his tweet about how Clark ‘looks like she keep it hairy’ causing particular offense.  

But the receiver didn’t let up, also calling her his ‘Cracker of the Day’ and ‘Cousin It’ – a nod to an Addams Family character.

It’s far from the first time that Brown has been blocked for unpleasant remarks – with legendary quarterback Tom Brady and President Joe Biden restricting the ex-Pittsburgh Steeler from their timelines. 

Clark has grappled with several controversies since she rose to stardom during March Madness, including an awkward encounter with a reporter at her opening press conference just hours before Brown’s online onslaught. 

Caitlin Clark has blocked Antonio Brown after the former NFL star sent a slew of offensive jokes her way on social media 

Clark has had to deal with plenty of weird comments after this week’s WNBA Draft – including during her introductory press conference on Wednesday afternoon

Caitlin Clark looks like she keep it hairy.

— AB (@AB84) April 18, 2024

It came amid Clark’s media frenzy following her first overall draft pick by the Indiana Fever in the WNBA Draft on Monday night. 

During her opening press conference, Indy Star Sports reporter Gregg Doyel imitated the former Iowa star’s heart-hands gesture before saying: ‘Start doing it to me and we’ll get along just fine.’ 

Doyel apologized after the suggestive exchange, which sparked outrage online as Barstool Sports boss Dave Portnoy branded him a ‘sexist pervert.’ 

‘Today in my uniquely oafish way, while welcoming @CaitlinClark22 to Indy, I formed my hands into her signature [hand heart emoji,’ Doyel groveled to Twitter on Wednesday.

‘My comment afterward was clumsy and awkward. I sincerely apologize. Please know my heart (literally and figuratively) was well-intentioned. I will do better.’ 

Just hours after the exchange went viral, Brown decided to wade in with unsavory remarks about the WNBA rising star. 

Following his outrageous quip about Clark being ‘hairy’, he said her new Nike sponsorship deal could be followed by a ‘razor deal with ManScaped.’ 

‘She look like she bout to sign the Declaration of Independence,’ he said in another offensive tweet. 

Despite becoming embroiled in controversy since she became the new WNBA ‘it girl’, there’s been positives this week too – with Clark signing a massive deal with Nike

Brown has seen himself blocked by a number of high-profile celebrities since his career ended, as he often takes to Twitter to unleash unsavory jokes 

Despite becoming embroiled in controversy since she became the new WNBA ‘it girl’, Clark has also enjoyed several wins. 

Most notably, this includes the revelation that she’s set to sign an eight-figure deal with Nike that will land her a signature shoe. 

Brown couldn’t resist chiming in following the news of Clark’s Nike deal, as he shared a picture of a fuzzy Nike trainer captioned ‘Caitlin Clark’s Hair Force Ones.’  

Clark will be the third active WNBA player with their own signature shoe, joining Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty.

President Joe Biden even spoke highly of Clark, and added that the $76,535 salary she’ll earn in her first year in the league is an example of how ‘women are not paid their fair share.’