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.

The Cocoon security system can protect your home with just one device

Cocoon is a new smart home security system that uses one device (around the size of a tennis ball) to protect your whole house. (What did we tell you? Smart.) It only launched a week ago and has already hit its Indiegogo fundraising goal of $100,000 (around £62,000). It works using patented SUBSOUND™ technology to…

Researchers have created ‘ghosts’ in a lab

They probably should have revealed this in time for Halloween, but Swiss scientists have found a way to create the experience of feeling a ghost-like presence. Researchers from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne asked study participants to perform a series of movements with their hands, while a robot was behind them, copying what they did…

Scientists confirm that women can smell better than men

Don’t worry ladies: we might not be getting paid at the same level as men, but there is one thing we can feel smug about. Scientists have just confirmed that we can smell better than the opposite sex. For years, women have been outperforming men on odour-perception tests but scientists weren’t sure why that was.…

Love makes us mean, say researchers

Researchers from University at Buffalo in New York State say that being in love (or loving someone in general, or even just having a vague connection to them) can make us mean. But not to the person we care about: to everyone else. We’re far less likely to be compassionate and empathetic in a situation…

A new system learns your smartphone habits to thwart thieves

Scottish computer scientists have developed a new system that stops your phone from working if someone else steals it and tries to take it over. (So BACK OFF, thieves.) As New Scientist reports, it was invented by a team from Glasgow Caledonian University, and works using software that tracks your smartphone habits, including which cell…

New portable incubator Mom wins James Dyson award

An inventor from Loughborough has just scooped the international James Dyson Award for his portable incubator design, winning £30,000. Called Mom (because saying ‘I’m just going to pop this baby in Mom’ apparently doesn’t sound creepy to everyone), his prototype has a modular design so it can be easily transported and put together at its…

Scientists’ fake robot chick fools real emperor penguins

Scientists in Antarctica are trying to study Emperor penguins to better understand their behaviour and monitor their health, but whenever they try to get close, the animals panic and scatter. So a team of international scientists and creative types worked to turn a remote-controlled rover into a penguin chick that would be lifelike enough for…

Shakespeare’s Globe launches new VOD service, Globe Player

Picture the scene: -But soft! What light through yonder breaks? -Oh yeah, that’s my laptop – I’ve been binge-watching the Bard all night. An unlikely scenario? Not if the brains behind Shakespeare’s Globe theatre have anything to do with it. They’ve just launched a dedicated video-on-demand platform, the first theatre in the world to do…