Author: Diane Shipley
Staff Writer Diane is especially interested in high-tech medical advances, weird and interesting uses of science, new gadgets, and the intersection of tech and lifestyle. When not working, she reads the internet, listens to podcasts, watches American TV, and thinks about leaving the house.
Colouring books are now hugely popular with adults
Colouring books have exploded in popularity recently – but among adults, not children. They’re now selling in the hundreds of thousands, and parents are telling kids to keep their hands off. According to The Telegraph, Waterstones reported a 300% rise in colouring book sales and indie bookseller Foyles has devoted extra floor space to them…
Doctors should use Twitter to understand their patients, study says
Twitter could help doctors relate to their patients better, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of British Columbia spent six months keeping track of tweets about stem cell research, especially as it relates to spinal cord injury and Parkinson's disease. They were surprised to find that, for most people, the use of…
7 books for book lovers for Valentine’s Day #LoveWeek
If you love someone who loves books, first of all, you’re making excellent choices. Second of all, the ideal way to show them how much they mean to you is to buy them a(nother) book. And not just any book. Here, we’ve selected seven of our favourite books about books for the ultimate book lover’s…
Five great reasons to change the way you date #LoveWeek
If you're looking for love, but it keeps evading you, you might be doing it wrong. That's not me telling you that: it's science. A host of studies have shown that the typical ways we try to date and mate don't always have the results we want. That's probably because our expectations about everything from…
Flirting styles vary hugely, study shows #LoveWeek
Someone might be flirting with you RIGHT NOW without you even realising. We’ve all heard that nonverbal communication is one way to tell if someone’s attracted to you. But we’re usually informed that everyone expresses this attraction in the same way: leaning forward, touching your arm, mirroring your actions… You know, the classics. But a…
After Tinder: Seven dating apps to keep your love alive #LoveWeek
You might've found the love of your life thanks to Tinder or Happn or OK Cupid, but that doesn't mean you don't need to use dating apps again. Now instead of using them to look for someone new, you can use them to keep your relationship fresh, track how happy he or she is making…
10 scientifically proven steps to make someone fall in love with you (probably) #LoveWeek
All right, so the title might be a bit of an exaggeration: you can't force someone else to fall in love with you (outside of a Stockholm Syndrome-type deal, which we do NOT endorse). But you can optimise your actions and appearance to make you more appealing to potential partners, putting you on the fast-track…
Researchers found the key to a successful online dating profile
Researchers have found the key to creating a successful online dating profile. And if you feel like you haven’t got much to boast about, you’re in luck. It turns out humility is more attractive than impressive life experiences or advanced qualifications. Professors from the University of Iowa’s Department of Communication Studies created eight fake profiles…
Scientists are teaching computers to understand photos
A picture might be worth a thousand words, but your computer’s not likely to pick up on any of them. That looks likely to change in future though, thanks to computer scientists at the University of Rochester. Professor Jiebo Luo and his colleagues wanted to try teaching computers to recognise the emotional information that photos…
Chimps can be bilingual, too (who knew?)
We already knew that chimps can learn to use tools by copying each other. Now, for the first time, researchers have discovered that chimps have the ability to learn a new (chimp) language. Katie Slocombe and her colleagues at the University of York studied chimps that had been relocated from the Netherlands to Edinburgh zoo.…
