"Astronomer Royal Warns Elon Musk's Mars Colony Plan is a 'Dangerous Illusion'"

The Astronomer Royal, Prof Lord Martin Rees, has criticized Elon Musk's plan to establish a colony on Mars, calling it a "dangerous illusion" and stating that solving climate change on Earth should take precedence over seeking refuge on another planet. He believes that space exploration should be left to private pioneers and not be a goal for national governments. Additionally, he expressed concerns about the potential dangers of gain-of-function research in labs and called for better regulation and surveillance of such experiments.