Science Technology Health

The Thinking Ape: The Enigma of Human Consciousness - a discussion with Nobel laureate psychologist Daniel Kahneman, philosopher David Chalmers, expert in primate cognition Laurie Santos, and physician-scientist Nicholas Schiff - 75 min

David Deutsch

David Deutsch - how to think about the future - 60 min

David Deutsch '05: Spaceship Earth - knowledge of the universe is power - solving problems is better than avoiding them; e.g. as in global warming - 20 min

Lee Smolin on String Theory - Lee Smolin - famous physicist - unhappy with string theory - 20 min

Smolin, Lawson & Hacker:- Is Maths Real? - discussion 35 min

Lifelong Flu Vaccine A vaccine that could end the need for annual winter flu injections by offering lifelong protection against all strains of the virus has been developed by scientists.

Has Global Warming Stopped? The Mail on Sunday can reveal that a leading member of Prof Muller’s team has accused him of trying to mislead the public by hiding the fact that BEST’s research shows global warming has stopped.

Alcohol Causes Cancer Drinking alcohol can increase your risk of cancer because ethanol is itself a carcinogen on certain parts of the body, scientists have found.

Is Laser Fusion The Future? Last week, a single shot of NIF's laser released, for a tiny fraction of a second, more power than was being consumed in the entire world.

Roaming Planets Planets can be ejected when a star dies during a supernova and be left to roam the galaxy, according to a new study.

Browser And IQ? A study has found that those with Internet Explorer 6 installed on their computer typically have an IQ barely higher than 80 - which by some rankings makes them almost retarded.

NASA Scientist Accused The NASA scientist who once claimed the Bush administration tried to "silence" his global warming claims is now accused of receiving more than $1.2 million from the very environmental organizations whose agenda he advocated.

Scientists Might Soon Be Reading Your Mind Scientists have discovered a way to watch words form in the human brain in a breakthrough that could one day allow those with severe disabilities to 'speak'.

During his study, Leuthardt also found that the brain generates a signal when people just think about the sounds ...

Jack The Ripper Sources To Remain Secret The Met Police is fighting a legal battle to keep files detailing the investigation into the notorious Jack the Ripper case secret - to maintain confidentiality for Victorian 'supergrasses'.

Self-Healing Plastic Scientists have created a ‘self-healing’ plastic coating that smoothes away marks and blemishes within seconds. What is more, it doesn’t seem to matter how many times an area is damaged – it can be tricked into repairing itself time and time again.

Ageing Memory Experiments show that the memory lapses that come with age are not simply due to brain slowing down.

Growing New Hearts Scientists are growing human hearts in laboratories, offering hope for millions of cardiac patients.

Nuclear Power – Some Perspective In a nutshell, Oehmen argues that a) there is nothing remotely worrying about Japan’s alleged nuclear crisis: James Delingpole

Premature Ejaculation Treatment A new 20-minute treatment that involves heating up nerves in the pelvis could treat premature ejaculation.

breast

Breast Milk Good For IQ Just four weeks on their mothers’ milk can have a 'significant' effect on their development in primary and secondary school. Research shows that children who have been breastfed do better at reading, writing and maths at the ages of five, seven, 11 and 14.

Bacteria From Outer Space? A Nasa scientist believes he has discovered an alien life form which may explain how life on earth started and has called on any scientist worldwide to try and prove him wrong.

New Prostate Cancer Test Heralded as the first 'reliable' test for the disease, it could be used to screen all older men.

Freeman Dyson (Great Physicist) Disputes Global Warming "The media generally exaggerate the degree of consensus and also exaggerate the importance of the questions."

What Are You? The course of true love is a complex combination of personality, circumstance, upbringing and timing, but an eminent U.S. anthropologist claims to have uncovered a key secret to why some relationships work and others prove to be a little more tricky.

50 Billion Planets In Our Galaxy Scientists have estimated the first cosmic census of planets in our galaxy and the numbers are astronomical - at least 50 billion planets in the Milky Way.

Beware Of Pepsi And Coca-Cola An ingredient used in Coca-Cola and Pepsi is a cancer risk and should be banned, an influential lobby group has claimed.

Why The BBC Keeps Pumping Out Global Warming Propaganda Striking parallels between the BBC’s coverage of the global warming debate and the activities of its pension fund can be revealed today.

bee

All About Bees Just four years. That’s how long Albert Einstein reportedly said the human race would last in a world without bees. For the master of relativity, the equation was relatively simple: no more bees = no more people. Valentine Warner

Fruit & Veg Are Useless The vitamins and minerals in animal foods (meat, fish, eggs and dairy products) beat those in fruit and vegetables hands down. There is far more vitamin A in liver than in an apple, for instance.

cigarette

Spain: The Smoking War On one side are the government and health establishment, who on 2 January introduced one of the strictest smoking bans in Europe ... On the other side are furious bar owners. Josie Appleton

Population Time Bomb? The doom-sayers are becoming more fashionable just as experts are coming to the view it has all been one giant false alarm. Dominic Lawson

Dr Crippen Was Innocent Modern CSI methods have been used to prove Dr Hawley Crippen – who gained a reputation as one of the most notorious murderers in British history - did not kill his wife.

Moon Has Liquid Core Signals from seismic sensors left on the lunar surface by Apollo astronauts in 1971 have revealed that the Moon has a liquid core similar to Earth's.

Controlling The Weather Fifty rainstorms were created last year in the state's eastern Al Ain region using technology designed to control the weather.

New Type Of Ancient Human Found A previously unknown kind of human—the Denisovans—likely roamed Asia for thousands of years, probably interbreeding occasionally with humans.

Chimp Boys And Girls Differ Although both male and female chimpanzees play with sticks, girl chimps treat sticks like dolls.

Dutch Intend To Stop Tourists Buying Cannabis The Dutch government has signaled its intention to ban foreigners from buying cannabis altogether.

gun

Huge Gun A supergun that can destroy a target 100 miles away was officially branded the most powerful in the world after tests at a U.S. Navy firing range.

Why Ban E-Cigarettes? For the past six years, a merry band of ‘vapers’ has been gradually growing, coalescing and spreading the word about their nicotine product of choice: the e-cigarette. Christopher Snowdon

Men's Digit Ratios Evidence is growing that this ‘digit ratio’, especially when applied to the right hand, is a fundamental indicator of sexuality, aggression and diseases suffered by men.

stars

Three Septillion Stars In Our Universe And 40,000 worlds in our own galaxy are hospitable enough to be home to creatures at least as intelligent as ourselves.

Alcohol, Obesity And Cancer Eating fresh fruit and vegetables will not protect you from cancer as they have little effect compared with alcohol and obesity, a study finds.

Should Aspirin Be Added To The Water Supply? This was the vision which sprang to mind last week when academics advised that the benefits of taking a small daily dose of aspirin far outweigh any side-effects for most healthy people aged 45 and over.

mouse

Ageing Reversed In Mice? Within just two months of being given a drug that switches on a key enzyme, the creatures had grown so many new cells that they had almost completely rejuvenated.

Coffee And Sugar Energise Your Brain Scientists at the University of Barcelona in Spain found taking caffeine and sugar at the same time boosted the brain’s performance more than taking them on their own.

Protein-Rich Diet Best For Weight Loss Dieters should also combine that with eating lots of wholegrain cereals and fresh fruit and vegetables.

Long Live The Web The Web is critical not merely to the digital revolution but to our continued prosperity—and even our liberty. Like democracy itself, it needs defending Tim Berners-Lee - 12 min

New Heart Heart Disease Pill A heart disease pill costing just £2 a day could save tens of thousands of lives a year, scientists claim.

weight lifting

Bigger Muscles From Stem Cells Researchers have discovered that transplanting specially treated repair stem cells into damaged muscle makes them twice as big and strong – and also stops them from ageing.

Grow Your Own Blood Patients could be treated with blood made from their own skin after a startling breakthough by scientists.

man at mirror

We Should Learn From Facebook This week the European Parliament will debate the issue of network neutrality against a background of telecoms companies pressing for increased 'management' of services on the internet. Lawrence Lessig

Right To Be Forgotten The European Commission has proposed a legal "right to be forgotten" allowing internet users to ensure that shameful pictures or other embarrassing online content is deleted from Facebook or other social networking websites.

The Mean Gene Scientists have pinpointed a stretch of DNA that makes people stingy with their cash.

Drugs Modelling The modelling showed that as well as being the most harmful drug overall, alcohol is almost three times as harmful as cocaine or tobacco.

monitors

Setting Up More Monitors On Your PC Having two or three displays side-by-side doesn't just look cool, it can actually boost your productivity. Wired

brain

Best Books About The Brain Five of the best books about neuroscience, psychiatry and the brain, including Daniel Dennett, Oliver Sacks and Dan Gardner, as selected by Tom Chivers.

Long Sightedness Laser Treatment While existing laser surgery tackles short-sightedness, the new technique combats presbyopia, or the long-sightedness that develops with age.

Chocolate Reduces Blood Pressure For those suffering from high blood pressure the effect of chocolate was so dramatic it could reduce their chances of having a heart attack or stroke by 20 per cent over five years.

New Male Contraceptive Pill Not only is it long lasting but it also has other pluses. There are no side effects.

Is Cycling Healthy? Cycling to work may seem the healthy option, but a study has shown that people riding in cities inhale tens of millions of toxic nanoparticles with every breath, at least five times more than drivers or pedestrians.

Curvaceousness Like Drugs Or Alcohol Watching a curvaceous woman can feel like a reward in the brain of men, much as drinking alcohol or taking drugs might, research now reveals.

Green Means Mean Canadian psychologists Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo Zhong, argue that people who wear what they call the "halo of green consumerism" are less likely to be kind to others, and more likely to cheat and steal. "Virtuous acts can license subsequent asocial and unethical behaviours," they write.

The Naked Scientists Some excellent science podcasts.

The Naked Scientists are a media-savvy group of physicians and researchers from Cambridge University who use radio, live lectures, and the Internet to strip science down to its bare essentials, and promote it to the general public. Their award winning BBC weekly radio programme, The Naked Scientists, reaches a potential audience of 6 million listeners across the east of England, and also has an international following on the web.

umami

Umami: The Fifth Taste It is the secret to making anything taste fantastic, so much so it is known as the 'fifth taste'.

Flat Batteries British scientists say they have created a plastic that can store and release electricity, revolutionising the way we use phones, drive cars - and even wear clothes.

Censoring The Internet South Australia has become one of the few states in the world to censor the internet.

Harnessing Energy From The Sun Engineers plan to put satellites into orbit around the planet that can gather energy from the sun, concentrate it into powerful laser beams and transmit the energy back to the Earth where it can be used to generate electricity.

Eat Fish Or Die Young Fish oils may hold the key to longer and healthier life, claim researchers.

Y Chromosome Drives Evolution Research has indicated that, far from stagnating, the male chromosome is a hotspot of evolution that is changing more quickly than any other part of humanity’s genetic code.

cigarette

Kicking The Habit I've recently discovered a nifty device called the electronic cigarette. I've been smoking for decades and am now tobacco free after only one month of using it.

The Mysterious 4,000 Scientists Politicians the world over claim that 4,000 scientists believe in global warming. Depends on who’s counting. Lawrence Solomon

Perfect Gravy A teaspoon of dark soy sauce should be added to the more common ingredients of meat juices, flour, iodised salt, pepper and vegetable water.

Will You Be Immortal? "Within 25 years we will be able to do an Olympic sprint for 15 minutes without taking a breath, or go scuba-diving for four hours without oxygen."

Cure For Colour Blindness Possible Scientists have cured colour blindness in monkeys in a world first that offers hope for millions.

sleeping Lazy People Live Longer People who get up early and busy themselves all day long are heading for an early grave..

Rodent Eating Plant Discovered A giant carnivorous plant that can swallow rodents whole has been discovered by a team of scientists in The Philippines.

Positive Thinking - Good Or Bad? The power of positive thinking is one of the most pervasive myths of our time. It creates totally unrealistic expectations and fosters a culture of entitlement - as if all you need to do to achieve something is to want it.

Baldness Calculator A pioneering new computer program that predicts if and when men will go bald is being offered to British men..

Chocolate Boosts Mental Abilities Mental arithmetic became easier after volunteers had been given large amounts of compounds found in chocolate, called flavanols, in a hot cocoa drink.

Half Glass Of Wine Increases Cancer Risk The equivalent of half a standard 175ml of ordinary strength wine per day increases the risk of colon cancer by nine per cent and the risk of mouth or throat cancer by 168 per cent.

Super Light Bulbs Cambridge University researchers have developed cheap, light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs that produce brilliant light but use very little electricity. They will cost £2 and last up to 60 years.

Marijuana Could Help With Memory Loss Marijuana could help reduce memory loss in old age.

Coincidence And Probability - How strange coincidences are not so strange when you look at probabilities. YouTube video - 9 min

Astonishing Couch Potato Pill A pill that makes the body fit without the need for exercise has been hailed by scientists following astonishing test results.

boomerang

Do Boomerangs Work In Outer Space? An astronaut has added to the font of human knowledge.

watering plants

Pottering Around Is Good Enough! Simply pottering around the house could help keep you fit.

Sunlight Reduces Lung Cancer Risk A study has found that, after smoking, restricted access to ultraviolet light from the sun is one of the most important causes of the disease.

Avoid Paracetamol Combined With Coffee Consumers have been warned that drinking coffee while taking paracetamol could increase their risk of liver damage.

The Wonders Of Aspirin A regular dose of aspirin could keep cancer at bay and boosts survival rates for those who contract the disease, new research has revealed.Spicy Foods Beneficial Scientists have discovered the key to the ability of spicy foods to kill cancer cells.

Milk Blocks Tea Benefits Adding milk to a cup of tea can destroy its ability to protect against heart disease.

Aspirin Good For Prostate Aspirin and other similar painkillers may halve the risk of developing an enlarged prostate.

Do Not Make Your Bed Failing to make your bed in the morning may actually help keep you healthy, scientists believe.

The Moon Illusion Why does the moon look so big now?

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