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.
Science can predict which selfies we’ll like best
We’d always thought that, despite this photo app-heavy era, it’s possible to make real connections online that aren’t defined by how people look. Turns out, we’re idealistic fools and human beings are depressingly superficial. Psychologists from the University of York conducted a new study to find out whether they could predict how their subjects would…
New wearable diagnoses diabetes complications
Taiwanese scientists have invented a wearable that looks like Google Glass, but can diagnose a common and devastating side-effect of diabetes. Autonomic neuropathy is a type of nerve damage that can occur in either type 1 or type 2 diabetes, and which can affect some of the body’s most essential functions, including the digestive system,…
Does being supportive make you more attractive?
Repeat after me: ‘Oh no, that must have been awful for you.’ There. You just instantly became more attractive to men (hey, it’s cheaper than buying an LBD). Use that – or a similarly supportive phrase – on a first date or even in an initial tweet with a guy you’re really into, and you…
Cure for MS moves closer
We’re closer than ever to seeing a cure for MS,thanks to scientists from the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute. Using skin samples from people with the disease, they've grown new stem cells and for the first time successfully encouraged those cells to become oligodendrocytes. These are the cells that form myelin, a…
Avatars encourage us to spill our secrets, says study
Many of us only talk to our computers when we've got something negative to say, like when the internet goes down again and we unleash a few phrases that might not be strictly PG. But slap a vaguely human face on that sucker, and apparently we'll tell it anything it asks. A new U.S study has…
Is Amazon launching a credit card reader?
A tablet, a phone, a book subscription service? The last few years have proved that the answer to the question ‘Does Amazon want to make–‘ is almost always, ‘HELL, YES.’ So the headline of this post probably isn’t that much of a mystery. It looks like the company is indeed gearing up to sell a…
Even positive choices stress us out, scientists find
A win-win decision sounds like it can only lead to good things, right? It’s in the name. But scientists have discovered that having two great options really stresses us out. So if you’ve ever agonised between two similar pairs of shoes, two phones with practically the same specs, or even between chocolate-covered fudge and creme…
Possible brain cancer cure found by scientists
Metastatic brain cancer, caused when cancer from another site spreads to the brain, is one of the deadliest forms of the disease (even more so than when cancer starts in the brain). It affects between 10 and 30% of adult cancer patients, there are no treatment options, and it’s almost always fatal. But a new…
OmieBox wants to revolutionise packed lunches
If you’ve got children, nieces and nephews, or are fulfilling a lifelong dream to be a dinner lady, you’ll know that soggy sandwiches and a Penguin just don’t cut it for lunch anymore. Kids today are eating sushi and quinoa before they can even say ‘sushi’ or ‘it’s pronounced "keen-wah, actually"’ and most schools, nurseries…
Breast cancer zapped by fast new radiotherapy
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended that a revolutionary (and fast) breast cancer treatment should be offered on the NHS. Intra-operative radiation could eventually replace standard radiation treatment. As the name suggests, it takes place during surgery. After a tumour is removed, doctors use the intrabeam radiotherapy system to insert…
