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.

A new motion controlled app could make it even easier to use our phones

A team of computer scientists from ETH Zurich has created a motion controlled app that finally makes it possible to operate a smartphone using gestures. (Just not the kind of gestures you might make when it's run out of charge for the third time today...) The controls include pointing, spreading the fingers, pinching, and everyone’s…

Could Dominic Wilcox’s ‘mini Cathedral’ be the driverless car of the future?

With a future full of driverless cars looking more like reality than science fiction (watch out for them over here next year), one artist was inspired to design a new concept in self-driving vehicles. And, naturally,  it's inspired by two classic British designs: the Mini, and Durham Cathedral. As The Guardian reports, Dominic Wilcox predicts…

Toshiba’s made a new robot that can use sign language

Toshiba has invented a robot that looks like a human and can communicate using simple gestures (like waving) and sign language. And the good news is, it’s not creepy in the slightest. Just kidding: it’s pretty creepy. The company says it’s designed to look like “a friendly young woman”, complete with a face that blinks…

New research shows multiple sclerosis might begin in the gut

Researchers have known for a long time that multiple sclerosis is an immune system disease, caused when the body attacks its own cells, stripping the nerves of a protective covering called myelin. Now, as Scientific American reports, new research suggests that this damage could begin in our guts. Which would make sense: 80% of our…

Mind-controlled prosthetic limbs are now a reality

Swedish scientists have fitted a man with a robotic artificial arm that’s connected to his brain as well as his body, providing the best functionality that’s ever been achieved with a prosthetic limb. The arm is directly attached to his bone via a titanium implant, while neuromuscular electrodes are connected to his nerves and muscles,…

Brits are increasingly watching TV and films online, says study

New research by the Internet Advertising Bureau shows how much time British people spend watching TV, films, and video clips online. As The Guardian reports, we each spend an average of five hours a week watching stuff on the internet, most of it on tablets and smartphones. And it's not all about YouTube goats: the…

Sharing an experience makes it more intense (or why to go to the dentist alone)

New research suggests that sharing an experience (whether good or bad) with someone else makes it more intense. And that’s true if you don’t know or even talk to the person you experience it with. Researchers from Yale University recruited 23 female students for an experiment where they paired them with a member of the…

A new cancer sensor was inspired by the mantis shrimp

Scientists have developed a new cancer-detecting camera inspired by the mantis shrimp, Smithsonian reports. The shrimp have compound eyes capable not only of seeing waves of light but of spotting differences in polarised light, which is light radiating in different directions. It’s easier to see cancer cells under polarised light because they reflect light differently…

Younger people like more ‘aggressive’ humour, study says

New research from the US suggests that there's a real generation gap when it comes to what makes us laugh. Assistant professor of psychology Jennifer Tehan Stanley from the University of Akron conducted the study, alongside Monika Lohani from Brandeis University and Derek M. Isaacowitz from Northeastern University. The team showed three groups of adults…