Time is running out for buyers in England and Northern Ireland to complete their purchases before the stamp duty holiday ends on 31 March 2021. Any deals concluded after that deadline will be subject to the lower threshold for Stamp Duty Land Tax; at present, buyers only pay SDLT on properties worth £500,000 or more, but at the end of March, the tax will apply to residential properties worth £125,000 or more.

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We've all heard of people who talk to their plants because they believe it will help them to grow, but now - thanks to a group of scientists in the USA - the plants may be able to talk back.

Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created a system that uses spinach plants to detect explosive materials such as landmines. When these nanotechnology-enhanced plants notice a specific compound in the groundwater, the carbon nanotubes in the spinach leaves transmit a signal that is picked up by an infrared camera, which in turn sends an email alert to the scientists.

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