A couple of days ago, we speculated that Twitter might just be toying with us/playing a prank/having a momentary aberration in its decision to treat favourites like retweets for some users. But the company has now confirmed its new policy, which means we should all brace ourselves for the change. Their updated support page says…

It can freeze your face so no one knows if you’re happy, sad, or apocalyptic, treat migraines, and stop sweating. Now it seems that Botox could also be used to treat cancer. Not bad for something derived from one of the deadliest poisons on the planet. As the BBC reports, scientists from Columbia University Medical…

Sending a mild electrical pulse to the ear could improve heart health, according to researchers from the University of Leeds. They used a TENS machine – more commonly used for muscle pains or to help women in labour – to stimulate a small area at the front of the ear called the tragus. They say…

They've been keeping it as an exclusive for Android users for the last year, but today Google has finally released a version of its innovative app Photo Sphere for iOS. The free app allows you to take a 360-degree picture by pointing your camera in the direction of several blue dots that appear on screen.…

Hate parties? Feel socially anxious? Never know the best thing to say to other people and want to become a hermit after at least half the time you spend having to make polite conversation? Turns out you’re not antisocial, misanthropic, or weird. You just don’t have enough oxytocin. Scientists had been studying this hormone, which…

Motion sensing chips could soon be monitoring everything we do. (Well, everything we do with our clothes on, anyway.) A company called mCube has designed a new type of accelerometer that for the first time combines a motion detector with the chip’s circuitry. That makes it much more efficient and cheaper to produce than existing…

Police forces in England and Wales have investigated 828 police breaches of social media guidelines since February 2009. We’re used to criminals being stupid on social media, whether it’s sharing photos of stuff they’ve, er, dishonestly acquired, or logging onto Facebook using other people’s property. But we expect the police to be a little more…

Shooting beams of light into the brains of people who have had a stroke may help them recover, according to a new study. As the BBC reports, a team from Stanford University School of Medicine have trialled a technique called optometrics, which uses an optic fibre to transmit light to part of the brain. By…

Twitter is experimenting with a new feature that effectively turns favourites into retweets for some users. Whereas Facebook wanted to mess with our minds, it seems that Twitter just wants to mess with our feeds. But it’s hard to tell which might be the most irritating. Twitter’s long been a fan of experimentation and often…

Scientists have discovered that our gut microbes influence our moods and food choices, according to a new article in the journal BioEssays. Researchers from UC San Francisco, Arizona State University, and the University of New Mexico reviewed a range of recent studies and came to the conclusion that the bacteria living in our digestive tracts…