The downing of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 has led to many questions being asked about the propriety of planes flying over eastern Ukraine. Many have pointed out that other airlines had prohibited their…
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Normally, when a crashed aircraft’s black box is recovered, it can reveal exactly what happened to cause the disaster but in the case of MH17, the political instability between Ukraine and Russia could…
Manuel Noriega, the former dictator of Panama, is mounting a legal challenge against the publishers of computer game Call of Duty: Black Ops II because he was depicted in its narrative and thus played…
The danger of reporting findings before peer review is that scientists often can’t talk about the details of their research, which can lead to hype or fear in the media. A recent example of this is a controversial…
Ovarian cancer is the fifth highest killer in women when it comes to cancer, according to statistics from the American Cancer Society, with about 14,000 deaths in the United States alone this year. The…
As society becomes more and more dependent on machines to make important decisions, the use of technology for lie detection is becoming increasingly popular. But as much as we would like to rely on technology…
On July 15, with the support of all three main parties, the UK parliament passed the data retention and investigatory powers (DRIP) bill. According to home secretary Theresa May, the bill was designed…
Adults and youngsters are willing to queue overnight to get their hands on the latest product release from Apple and children appear to be drawn to iPads because of the immediate feedback they get when…
Insulin is a hormone that helps control glucose (blood sugar) levels in the blood, which tend to increase after meals. People suffering from type-2 diabetes are resistant to the glucose-lowering effects…
Over the next five years, the UK government will spend £270m on supporting research in “quantum technology”. When budget announcements were made in 2013, provisions for offshore wind and shale gas extraction…
While those within the Westminster bubble obsess about the gender, age and Eurosceptic balance of David Cameron’s re-shuffled cabinet, a serious change to UK surveillance law is being rushed through parliament…
In the comic series Watchmen, physicist Jon Osterman is blown apart in a science experiment gone awry. But his “consciousness” is able to pull his body back together atom by atom, becoming the radiating…
When the Tour de France comes to town, it’s a chance to get your gladrags on. This year’s Grand Depart in Yorkshire saw Leeds decked out with yellow flowers, bikes placed in coffee bar windows, statues…
A plant called “the scourge of the South” has a new strike against it. Recent research shows that the impact of the invasive species in question, kudzu, is more troublesome than had been previously thought…
The Post Office has announced plans to launch a mobile phone service later this year. It’s a tough market to break into, however, with big supermarket chains already offering similar services. For most…
The May 2014 ruling by the European Court of Justice, dubbed the right to be forgotten, is seen as a precedent for all internet searches in all European Union member states. But the issues this ruling…
The current debate over the right to be forgotten, spurred by a European Union ruling that allows people to stop certain web pages from appearing in search results, is proof – if further proof was required…
If you’re selling an old Android smartphone on an online auction site you could be giving away rather more than you intend to, according to a recent investigation by anti-malware company Avast. Going through…
The announcement that Google is to set up a European version of its venture capital operation is welcome news. Google Ventures’ new US$100m fund for fledgling European tech firms represents a new source…
Three decades since the onset of the infection in a global population, HIV care and treatment is looking very different. Given the difficulties involved, it is remarkable that having developed good treatments…
Trains that use magnets to levitate above the tracks might sound like something from Back to the Future, but the concept of magnetic levitation has been around for many years. Maglev trains, which use…
In June, the popular press went wild. A planet had been discovered that was so much like Earth it was heralded as our best bet for supporting life. Positioned 16 light years away, Gliese (or GJ) 832c was…
I find international travel tedious. While the destination is always exciting, the journey is simply a chore to be endured. Watching a movie on your laptop or browsing the internet on your phone can make…
In January, Haruko Obokata and colleagues published two papers in the journal Nature suggesting that a simple acid bath can convert differentiated cells back to a stem-cell-like state. This finding, if…
There used to be a time when the launch of a Galaxy handset, a Macbook, or a fancy game console could set investor hearts on fire and firms on a path to untold riches. These days, new devices no longer…