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.
Vlogger Maddie Moate shares her struggle with Perioral Dermatitis
This morning, tech presenter and vlogger Maddie Moate posted a video that’s a bit different than her usual smiley fare. Starting with clips of an attempt to film on location which saw her burst into tears, it then cuts to her at home. There, make-up free, she explains that the bumpy rash around her mouth…
Uber pledges to hire a million women drivers by 2020
Uber has promised to employ a million women drivers around the world by 2020. It’s part of a new collaboration with the United Nations aimed at improving gender equality… and making Uber look good. It’s not clear how many women drivers the ride-sharing app has around the world at present, or how many cities it’ll…
Now researchers have made music for cats
Researchers have been looking into whether cats like music and it turns out they do – as long as it’s written specially for them. Psychology professor Charles Snowdon from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his colleague Megan Savage wanted to see if they could create music that cats would enjoy. Playing music for animals has…
Beijing commuters can now borrow free ebooks
Commuting can be a real snooze, especially when you’ve finished the book you’re reading and no one’s bringing their A-game on Instagram. But Chinese officials have found a great way to counteract the boredom (and bring a new meaning to the phrase ‘mobile library’) with their innovative idea to offer free ebooks for people travelling…
Finally! We’ll get all the info on the Apple Watch this afternoon
Apple’s finally going to show off the Apple Watch at its Spring Forward event this afternoon. Obviously we got an initial look when it was announced last September, and have learned quite a bit about what it can do. We know it has fitness tracking functionality, lets you take phone calls if you have your…
Hackers tried to bring down feminist site Femsplain on International Women’s Day, only made it more famous
Misogynist hackers tried to bring down feminist website Femsplain yesterday, in ‘honour’ of International Women’s Day. The site, which was launched in October 2014 by Amber Gordon as a personal project, has grown into an international site focused on sharing a diverse range of feminist experiences. It’s doubling its readership every month and has even…
Gwyneth Paltrow wants to hand Goop down to her children
Most people who have children want to leave them a legacy, whether it’s their most treasured jewellery, enough money to buy their own home, or just a quiet sense of inner confidence. Gwyneth Paltrow is no different, except what she wants to leave her children… is Goop. As Vanity Fair spotted, she did an interview…
Smartphones are making us stupid, study says
Remember at school, when teachers would say that we’d need to be able to do mental arithmetic and think for ourselves when we got older? They clearly didn’t anticipate smartphones. Now we have a calculator and encyclopaedia in our bag/pocket at all times, and a tablet or laptop for when it’s charging. But it turns…
Twitter and texts could help you stop smoking, study says
Chatting about their efforts to kick the habit can help people stop smoking, reports Psych Central. Researchers from Stanford University and the University of California, Irvine studied whether Twitter could help people to kick the habit, and found that it could. Even better, they didn’t even need to be communicating with a real person to…
MPs want Mumsnet users to be spies; they react hilariously
A new report from the Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee released today concluded that MI5, MI6 and GCHQ aren't very diverse, with only 37% of the workforce and 19% of senior staff being women. To solve this problem, it suggested that our nation's spy agencies consider recruiting from new sources, including popular parenting forum (and…
