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.
Light up: why bright workplaces make people happier
The more natural light office employees are exposed to, the better they sleep, the more active they are, and the happier they feel, according to a new study from Northwestern University and the University of Illinois. Researchers spoke to 49 office workers, 22 of whom worked in rooms with windows. They also monitored how much…
No one knows how we should be brushing our teeth
You know how to brush your teeth, don’t you? Squeeze toothpaste onto the brush, stick it in your mouth, and then… Well, then it turns out nobody’s exactly sure what to do for the best, so I guess maybe wing it? Yep, all these years of human development, and no one has the definitive answer…
Could being happy make people nicer to the environment?
It makes sense that if people are happier, they’re more likely to be kind to other people, but feeling good could well make us nicer to the environment, too. That’s according to psychologist Miriam Tatzel from Empire State College, who gave a presentation on the links between mental wellbeing, consumerism and environmentalism at the American…
This amazing new 3D sketching system could revolutionise design
Today, at the SIGGRAPH 2014 conference in Vancouver, researchers from the University of Montreal will unveil a new sketching system that blows previous innovations in 3D design out of the water. It’s called Hyve-3D, which is short for Hybrid Virtual Environment 3D, and it allows designers to easily create a 3D simulation of any object,…
Scientists can manipulate bacteria to kill cervical cancer
Researchers have manipulated the body’s natural defences in order to nip cervical cancer in the bud. Scientists from Duke University in the US were able to destroy genes which trigger the spread of the disease. Because it's caused by a virus, human papillomavirus (HPV), which also causes half of all head and neck cancers, the…
Tiny magnets could power future computers
When it comes to innovation, we're often told to think big, but the future of computer design could be really, really, small. Just a few atoms across, in fact. Conventionally, microchips consist of transistors, which are made of silicon, and powered by running current through wires, which means they use up a lot of energy.…
IBM’s TrueNorth chip wants to replicate our brains
Computers can’t replace our brains quite yet, but they are now starting to replicate them. IBM has made a computer chip called TrueNorth that manages to fit a million neurons, 256 million synapses and 4096 parallel cores into an area the size of a postage stamp. It’s capable of 46 billion synaptic operations per second,…
Tortoises can use touchscreens, too
Not only can monkeys and elephants take selfies, but tortoises can use touchscreens – which officially makes the animal kingdom more tech-savvy than many of my relatives. Researchers from the University of Lincoln ran an experiment with red-footed tortoises to find out how their brains organise and retain information. They placed a tablet on the…
Your snacks could be spying on you
Not to worry you, but it may never be possible to have a private conversation again. Turns out, anyone with a mobile phone camera and a crisp packet or a glass of water (or pretty much anything else) could potentially work out what you’re saying – even through glass. As Mashable reports, a research team…
Wasp venom could treat breast cancer
Most of us spend summer trying to avoid wasps, but a group of Spanish scientists has been studying them instead. And they've found that as well as being annoyingly buzzy and prone to stinging people, they could actually help to treat cancer. Researchers from the Institute for Biomedical Research in Barcelona have come up with…
