News 2007

Last updated: April 21, 2008.

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December 2007

Mon, 10 Dec 2007: Gore appeals to top-two polluters: China the USA need to get together to tackle global warming, says Al Gore.

Mon, 10 Dec 2007: All UK homes could be wind powered: The British government is suggesting the possibility of building 7000 wind turbines around the country's windy coast.

Mon, 10 Dec 2007: Future cars will be green cars: Wired magazine looks under the bonnet at the latest greatest green-car technology.

Mon, 10 Dec 2007: Happy Christmas, Love from Amazon!: The Guardian's Jack Schofield marvels at the remarkable online present factory that is Amazon.com.

Sat, 8 Dec 2007: Mobiles could be music-industry salvation: With CD sales in decline and downloads increasing all the time, could mobile phones offer a way for the beleagured music business to fight back?

Sat, 8 Dec 2007: Amazing free science wallpaper and screensavers!: New Scientist magazine is offering great images from its calendar for free download.

Sat, 8 Dec 2007: IBM's optical technology could put supercomputer power on a chip: Photonics, the crossover between electronics and light, offers the prospect of amazing new computers.

November 2007

Fri, 30 Nov 2007: Czech jet runs on biodiesel: Your next foreign holiday could be in a jet plane powered by recycled cooking oil!

Fri, 30 Nov 2007: DaVinci's bike: Popular Science awards its "Best of 2007" to a bike with an infinite number of gears!

Thu, 15 Nov 2007: Smart phones top gift lists: Funky new phones are the seasonal hit this year. MSN reviews a few of the bestsellers.

Mon, 5 Nov 2007: iPhone under the microscope: There's a detailed review of the UK iPhone in today's Guardian.

Mon, 5 Nov 2007: World ready to make climate change sacrifices: A new poll shows four people out of five say they will support tough measures to tackle global warming, but will they really?

Mon, 5 Nov 2007: Robot car wins £2 million race prize: Stand aside Lewis Hamilton: a car with no driver has won a motoring race in California!

Mon, 5 Nov 2007: Google will turn mobile cellphones into computers: It's called convergence: the information-organizing and search giant is getting the world's phone makers together to deliver phones as powerful as computers.

Sat, 3 Nov 2007: Can computers run like wildlife?: Mathematicians have developed computer models predicting how wildfires will spread.

Fri, 2 Nov 2007: No life on Gliese 581c, but try next door: A recently discovered planet called Gliese 581c probably isn't habitable, but astronomers are hopeful they may have better luck "knocking" next door.

Fri, 2 Nov 2007: Robots could blast away cancer: Oncologists (cancer scientists) are investigating new technologies for fighting one of the world's most feared illnesses.

Fri, 2 Nov 2007: Eight year olds invent bullie proof underwear: You've heard of bulletproof glass, but what about bulletproof boxers? Two kids have invented boxers that can't be used to give you a "wedgie" in the playground.

Thu, 1 Nov 2007: Windup lights could brighten African skies: Freeplay, the company that pioneered windup radios for Africa, is now developing clockwork lights.

Wed, 31 Oct 2007: Halloween Hacks!: Popular Science puts a scientific spin on Halloween.

October 2007

Tue, 16 Oct 2007: Google marks clips to stop YouTube piracy: Google has announced a new watermarking technology both to defeat pirates and to help copyright owners profit from clips shown on YouTube.

Tue, 16 Oct 2007: Spammers get five years in the slammer: Two major spammers have been given five-year jail sentences under the US Can-Spam Act for sending pornograhic spam emails.

Tue, 16 Oct 2007: Ions blast spacercraft to the asteroid belt: A super new spacecraft propulsion system is proving itself somewhere deep in the solar system.

Mon, 15 Oct 2007: Microsoft wants to read your mind!: Developers at the Richmond giant have filed a patent on electronic mind reading.

Mon, 15 Oct 2007: GM plants could fight pollution?: Opponents of genetic modification consider it a form of pollution, but supporters say it could fight pollution too. This MSN article reveals how genetically modified grasses and trees could remove environmental toxins.

Mon, 15 Oct 2007: Scientists discover huge new dinosaur: A new creature that measured 32m (105ft) in length has been discovered in Argentina.

Mon, 15 Oct 2007: BBC content available for free at Wi-Fi hotspots: The BBC has signed a deal with The Cloud to make its digital content available for free.

Fri, 12 Oct 2007: Climate change fight wins the Nobel Prize: Former US Vice President Al Gore has shared the Nobel Peace Prize with climate change scientists for raising awareness of the threat to the planet.

Thu, 12 Oct 2007: Cooking or chemistry?: If you're a fan of Hester Blumenthal, you'll want to read this Popular Science review of all the latest scientific kitchen appliances.

Wed, 10 Oct 2007: Digital media players compared: BBC reviewers look at some of the latest mobile digital media players, including the Sony PSP and the latest iPod.

September 2007

Mon, 24 Sep 2007: Hackers can steal your fingerprints: A new blow for biometrics: a hacker can log into your supposedly secure laptop and steal the fingerprint you stored there.

Mon, 24 Sep 2007: Life on Mars... or just a burst pipe?: Space scientists are studying water trails near caves on Mars in hopes of finding some kind of life.

Mon, 24 Sep 2007: MySpace goes mobile: News Corporation, which owns MySpace, is going to launch a version for your (mobile) cellphone.

Mon, 24 Sep 2007: Developing country laptops soon available for the rest of us: A new plan will let you buy two OLPC laptops: one for yourself and one for a student in a developing country.

Mon, 24 Sep 2007: Nations agree to big new ozone chemical phase-out: Chemicals that deplete ozone are taking another heat in the latest international agreement.

Sun, 23 Sep 2007: Life after death in cyberspace: A new website called YouDeparted.com lets people give instructions for how their memories should live on.

Sat, 22 Sep 2007: Mathematicians probe ethnic conflict: According to a fascinating Science News article, math be used to understand why groups turn to violence, and the problem is simpler than you might think.

Fri, 21 Sep 2007: High-speed broadband probe urged: Consumers are demanding investigation of broadband firms who promise speeds far in excess of what most users can manage.

Thu, 20 Sep 2007: Bad air day can seriously damage your health: Air pollution can cause blood clots, heart attacks, and strokes, according to new research in Nature.

Wed, 19 Sep 2007: The science of video games: Popular Science looks at the tricky scientific problems video game designers have to tackle.

Sun, 2 Sep 2007: IBM researchers use atoms and molecules to store information: Nanotechnology chips are the next big thing say scientists at "Big Blue".

Sat, 1 Sep 2007: 25 years of computer viruses: MSNBC "celebrates" 25 years of those nasty nuisance programs.

August 2007

Fri, 31 Aug 2007: Time for flying cars: Are cars that can fly just about to arrive? The Guardian investigates.

Fri, 31 Aug 2007: Hollywood could clamp down on phone copy piracy: Do they never give up? This news item from Wired suggests the movie and music moguls could be about to ban cellphones in movie theatres to stop what they describe as "illegal copies".

Fri, 31 Aug 2007: If brains are moral, do we need God?: Helen Phillips asks if scientific evidence of "built-in morality" means the idea of God is redundant.

Fri, 31 Aug 2007: Climate change will bring fewer but stronger storms to US, says NASA: New NASA research is a mixture of good and bad for watchers of US weather.

Fri, 31 Aug 2007: Melting Arctic spawns new ice island: An new island of ice, twice the size of Manhattan, has formed in the Arctic, prompting renewed fears about the warming world.

Thu, 30 Aug 2007: New bionic arm good enough to play piano: Popular Science reviews the latest developments in prosthetic technlology.

Thu, 30 Aug 2007: Students use Facebook to force bank backdown: A campaign by online students is credited with forcing a climbdown by HSBC bank on overdraft charges.

Tue, 25 Aug 2007: How much kick in your soft drink?: Researchers have published caffeine league tables for all the popular soft drinks in Science News.

July 2007

Wed, 18 Jul 2007: Future of the Environment: There's a great series of articles about saving the environment with technology in this issue of Popular Science, including how to save glaciers with duct tape and stop the Arctic melting with huge insulating blankets!

Wed, 18 Jul 2007: FBI uses spyware for covert snooping: This article in Wired shows how the FBI can install spyware on someone's computer to monitor their activities.

Wed, 18 Jul 2007: Oxford University catches students out on Facebook: An end to student pranks? The august English university is watching you on Facebook.

Wed, 18 Jul 2007: Peruvians to ban GM potatoes: The area of the Andes where many natural varieties of potato were born is banning the human-engineered kind.

Tue, 17 Jul 2007: Humans walked to save energy: Why did humans stop scraping their knuckles on the ground and start walking on two legs? To save energy, apparently.

Tue, 17 Jul 2007: Bionic hand goes on sale: An amazing new bionic hand for disabled people, invented by a Scottish health worker, has gone on sale.

Tue, 17 Jul 2007: iPhone causes Wi-Fi chaos?: A US university has found that iPhones interfere with campus Wi-Fi networks.

Sat, 14 Jul 2007: Health dangers of nanotechnology: New Scientist has a lengthy article about the potential health risks of tiny materials. The summary is free, but you have to pay for the whole article.

Fri, 13 Jul 2007: 25 years of the virus: Scientific American is "celebrating" 25 years of the computer virus: it's here to stay, folks.

Thu, 12 Jul 2007: Anonymity doesn't make people rage online: Making people reveal their names doesn't stop online "flame" wars, according to this Guardian report.

June 2007

Wed, 27 Jun 2007: iPhone hopefuls stand in line: Apple's new iPhone has people waiting in some very long lines to be among the first to own one of the planet's coolest new gadgets.

Wed, 27 Jun 2007: Are video games addictive? Doctors say the jury is still out: The American Medical Association has called for more research into the potentially addictive effects of video games.

Wed, 27 Jun 2007: IBM to build new supercomputer: The next generation of IBM Blue Gene supercomputers will be three times more powerful than the world's current fastest machine.

Wed, 27 Jun 2007: Biosphere will not be demolished—yet: The Biosphere experimental park in Arizona will not be bulldozed for at least another three years.

Tue, 26 Jun 2007: Space diving!: You've heard of free fall, you've heard of re-entry. Could astronauts dive back to Earth from space?

Tue, 26 Jun 2007: What's with intimate emails?: The Guardian asks why people are over-friendly in emails.

Tue, 26 Jun 2007: How Google maps is changing the world: Wired magazine looks at how this handy online gadget is revolutionizing our perception of planet Earth.

Mon, 25 Jun 2007: Cash machines turn 40: ATM machines that automatically dispense money were invented back in June 1967.

Sat, 23 Jun 2007: What's it like inside a hurricane?: Science News Online reports on the scientists who fly airplanes inside storms!

Thu, 21 Jun 2007: Why drinking too much water can kill you: Scientific American looks at our hydration-obsessed culture.

Sun, 17 Jun 2007: Nanotubes could speed up chips: Nanotubes have been appearing everywhere. Now computer makers think they could be used to speed up computer chips too.

Sun, 17 Jun 2007: Son, We Flew To The Moon To Verify That It's Cheese: Steve Hendrix looks at how dads cope with not knowing the answers to their kids' science questions: they just make it up!

Fri, 15 Jun 2007: Internet ready to burst?: It's an old warning: people are using so much Internet bandwidth that the whole system could come crashing down.

Fri, 15 Jun 2007: Arctic plants may survive climate change: New research shows Arctic plants can migrate further than previously supposed, possibly allowing them to survive shifts in climate.

Fri, 15 Jun 2007: Car engines could be replaced by motors: In future, car engines could be replaced by compact electric motors built into the wheels. Wired looks at the latest designs.

Fri, 15 Jun 2007: Plants keep it in the family: Plants will cooperate with "siblings" from the same family, sharing soil and nutrients, but they'll fight with strangers for food and water.

Fri, 15 Jun 2007: Cattle penned by invisible fences: A radical new fence for cattle is completely invisible! It uses GPS satellite technology to keep cows where they should be.

Thu, 14 Jun 2007: MySpace adapts to the future: Is MySpace getting left behind by Facebook and other online sites? This interview with its cofounder suggests all is well at the world's biggest networking space.

Tue, 12 Jun 2007: Shift from PCs to set-top boxes?: A new UK government scheme aids to shift users to simpler computing devices that run applications over a network, potentially saving time and energy.

Mon, 11 Jun 2007: What are the worst jobs in science?: Popular Science looks at the 10 worst jobs in science, including "whale feces researcher"!

May 2007

Thu, 24 May 2007: Tracking dinosaurs from a distance: New technology lets dino-scientists track fossils remotely.

Thu, 24 May 2007: Oxidized water could be super-healing: A new form of highly purified water, developed in the United States, seems to kill viruses, bacteria and fungi.

Wed, 23 May 2007: Doctors make first 4D body image: The Sun Center of Excellence for Visual Genomics at the University of Calgary has demonstrated the first complete 4D computer model of the human body.

Wed, 23 May 2007: How To: Make an iPod Nano Case from a Bike Inner-tube: Don't waste money on an iPod case—make your own!

Tue, 22 May 2007: Flying in virtual formation: Flight simulators used to train one pilot at a time. Now, thanks to advanced networking technology, pilots can learn to fly in formation even when they are training thousands of miles apart.

Tue, 22 May 2007: Plusnet attacked by spammer-hackers: The ISP Plusnet has suffered a major attack on its email system.

Tue, 22 May 2007: How to recover a damaged hard-drive: BBC correspondent Darren Waters looks at the options for getting your data back.

Mon, 21 May 2007: The steam-powered petrol engine: A brilliant new gasoline-engine invention uses steam to get more miles to the gallon.

Mon, 21 May 2007: Climate change: trends are on the rise: Another damaging development on climate change, reported in Scientific American: we're making more carbon-dioxide pollution for the same energy we produce. In other words, every dollar of economic activity needs more carbon, which reverses a long-term trend.

Sat, 19 May 2007: Fruit flies aren't random!: You might think flies buzz around for no particular reason, but new research has found evidence that their behavior is anything but random.

Thu, 10 May 2007: Kids are comfortable online: According to this Guardian article while adults fret about the dangers of the Internet, new studies suggest children understand the risks and are keen to explore the potential of new technology.

Thu, 10 May 2007: Robots get sense of direction: Engineers are building robots that can find their way through unfamiliar territory just by guessing.

Wed, 9 May 2007: A quirky look at our quirky species: Richard Wiseman looks at quirky human psychology in this entertaining New Scientist article.

Wed, 9 May 2007: Scientists load all life onto electronic ark: A new website will contain details of all 1.8 million species of life on Earth.

Wed, 9 May 2007: Brightest ever supernova captured by telescope: NASA's Chandra x-ray telescope has photographed an explosion 100,000 million times brighter than the Sun.

Tue, 8 May 2007: Particle physics—and a tale of the unexpected: How do you find something when you don't know what you're looking for? Nature takes a look at the mysteries of particle physics.

Sat, 5 May 2007: Green fuels: beyond the hype: Popular Science reviews and compares the fuels of the future.

Sat, 5 May 2007: Doggie style: cool stuff for cool hounds: Wired magazine has a photo gallery of dog technology!

Sat, 5 May 2007: Language from gestures?: Did language evolve from hand signs? Science News investigates the latest research into ape and human communication.

Fri, 4 May 2007: Mathematicians design wormhole: Move aside Harry Potter, mathematicians have found how to turn space inside out.

April 2007

Fri, 27 Apr 2007: Hawking finds out new meaning of gravity: The world's leading expert on gravity Prof Stephen Hawking, has made a zero-gravity plane trip in the infamous "vomit comet".

Thu, 26 Apr 2007: Family gets wired: The BBC has kitted out a family with all the latest hi-tech gadgets and monitored how it got on.

Thu, 26 Apr 2007: Are robots heading in from space?: Why have no alien civilizations tried to contact us? New Scientist's space blog asks whether space-exploring robots be heading our way?

Thu, 26 Apr 2007: Red dwarf world is the new Earth: A little planet with Earth-like conditions has been discovered orbiting a red dwarf

Thu, 26 Apr 2007: Make your own spark machine: Popular Science shows you how to make a giant spark plug—but you'll need your own Wimshurst machine to do it

Thu, 26 Apr 2007: Let them eat bacteria: Superclean households are no way to keep people healthy, scientists are beginning to think.

Thu, 26 Apr 2007: Is Wi-Fi killing the world?: The Guardian explores continuing health fears about Wi-Fi hotspots and mobile p pones.

Wed, 25 Apr 2007: Swift wings offer new flight secrets: How do you make better airplane wings? By studying birds in a wind tunnel!

Wed, 25 Apr 2007: Straubel makes world's fastest electric car: Stanford engineer JB Straubel is trying to show cars can have performance—and save the planet.

Sat, 21 Apr 2007: Musicians listen to this: computers make perfect practice partners: Science News looks at how computerized instruments can help musicians practice in ensembles.

Thu, 19 Apr 2007: Make way for intelligent computer games: Alexander Gambotto-Burke looks toward artificially intelligent computer games.

Thu, 19 Apr 2007: Hackers cracked US government through email: How hackers quietly broke into the US State Department with the help of a rogue email.

Wed, 18 Apr 2007: Star Trek shield could block radiation: Space scientists are trying to develop a plasma-filled shield that could protect astronauts from radiation.

Wed, 18 Apr 2007: Best of Wikipedia CD now available: A new CD-ROM of the best Wikipedia articles has gone on sale.

Wed, 18 Apr 2007: Robot could mend broken heart: New Scientist reports on a modern version of the crawling leach.

Wed, 18 Apr 2007: Biofuels may not reduce pollution: The debate over "green" biofuels continues.

Tue, 17 Apr 2007: Who will be the next YouTube?: Web predictors are trying to spot the next big online success story.

Sat, 14 Apr 2007: What can we learn from spider webs?: Could the strong construction of spider webs inspire new materials?

Tue, 10 Apr 2007: The Inventables: Popular Science looks at a firm that specializes in finding inventive solutions to everyday problems.

Tue, 10 Apr 2007: Microscopes as art: Amazing images from the microscopic and nanoscopic worlds are as intriguing as abstract paintings, according to the annual Science as Art competition in San Francisco.

Thu, 5 Apr 2007: Thailand blocks YouTube for mocking monarch: Google has refused to remove an offensive clip of Thailand's king from YouTube; the country has blocked the video clip site in retaliation.

Thu, 5 Apr 2007: Is the Internet ever neutral?: The Guardian ponders whether "Net neutrality" is a goal worth fighting for or a worthy ideal that gets in the way.

Wed, 4 Apr 2007: Joan of Arc smells of mummy: Perfume experts have used scientific smell analysis to reveal that Joan of Arc's remains are actually a forgery made from the remains of an Egyptian mummy.

Wed, 4 Apr 2007: Google makes maps easier: Online Google maps or "mashups", which are complex and tricky to assemble, have become a whole lot easier to make with improved mapping tools from the company released today.

Tue, 3 Apr 2007: Apple is anything but green: The "cool" computer maker has come bottom in a Greenpeace survey of eco-friendly computers. Chinese maker Lenovo is top of the tree.

Tue, 3 Apr 2007: Can we restart the Sun?: A new sci-fi thriller film looks what happens when humans try to restart the dying sun with an atomic bomb.

Tue, 3 Apr 2007: Astronaut to run space marathon: Sunita Williams will be running 42 km (26 miles) on a treadmill inside the International Space Station on 16 April. A special harness will stop her floating into the air!

Tue, 3 Apr 2007: Major magnet failure at CERN atom smasher: A major problem has occurred in CERN's new Large Hadron Collider.

Sun, 1 Apr 2007: Computer chips could restore our failing memories: Popular Science repots on Ted Berger, a computer scientist trying to fuse man and machine.

March 2007

Sat, 31 Mar 2007: Recharge your mobile phone from a fizzy drink!: Scientists are trying to build a fuel cell battery powered by sugar.

Thu, 29 Mar 2007: High-school boy builds a nuclear plant at home!: Popular Science reports on the 15-year-old who built his own reactor for $3500.

Thu, 29 Mar 2007: Environmental threat posed by low-energy lamps: They're green and energy mean, but they also contain toxic mercury. Can we make low-energy bulbs more environmentally friendly?

Thu, 29 Mar 2007: TK Maxx loses over 45 million credit cards in computer theft: Hackers who broke into the discount retailer's computer have swiped millions of people's credit card details.

Thu, 29 Mar 2007: Russia and China head for Mars: BBC news reports on the latest in the new space race.

Thu, 29 Mar 2007: Music-making for the 21st-century: The Guardian reports on three rock stars who are pushing the boundaries of new music.

Thu, 29 Mar 2007: Librarians stay one step ahead of the Web: Far from being replaced by the Web, geeky librarians are stealing a march with new Web 2.0 technology.

Wed, 28 Mar 2007: Portugal opens the world's most powerful solar plant: Almost everything on Earth is powered by the Sun, but it makes sense to tap in direct.

Wed, 28 Mar 2007: Seals fall victim to melting Arctic ice: Global warming is reducing the ice floes where seals live, with devastating consequences.

Sat, 24 Mar 2007: How to build an invisibility cloak: Science News looks at the light-bending science behind Harry Potter.

Thu, 22 Mar 2007: Robots could sense emotions: An article in New Scientist looks forward to a future where robots can sense and respond to your mood.

Thu, 22 Mar 2007: Robots could sense emotions: An article in New Scientist looks forward to a future where robots can sense and respond to your mood.

Thu, 22 Mar 2007: Stunning new Sun pictures: Striking new x-ray images of the Sun are raising as many questions as they're answering, according to Nature.

Thu, 22 Mar 2007: Filesharing "crime" pays?: The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has launched a new website to persuade illegal filesharers to pay up.

Thu, 22 Mar 2007: Judge throws out Internet filtering law: A US judge has overturned a 1998 law requiring the installation of content-filtering software to protect children.

Thu, 22 Mar 2007: Built to avoid risk: Wired's Bruce Schneier considers the part evolution has played in helping humans to evaluate risk.

Wed, 21 Mar 2007: Wise advice for geeks: Popular Science looks at troubling issues for geeks, like how to hang your flat-screen TV without smashing it.

Wed, 21 Mar 2007: PayPal founder sends rocket into space: A privately funded rocket has travelled to an altitude of 320 km (200 miles).

Tue, 20 Mar 2007: Permafrost: the big thaw: Sid Perkins looks at what happens when the permafrost (permanently frozen polar soil) starts to thaw due to climate change.

Tue, 20 Mar 2007: Role-playing games becomes $1billion business: Playing online is now a lucrative business.

Tue, 20 Mar 2007: International Polar Year begins: Scientists are responding to climate pressures on the poles with a new period of intense study.

Sat, 17 Mar 2007: "Thinking clothes" move a step forward: The BBC's Mark Ward looks at fabrics that can gather information on the sports field or the battlefield.

Sat, 17 Mar 2007: Scientists urge climate caution: Some scientists are worried that exaggerated claims about climate change may confuse the public, according to the BBC's Pallab Ghosh.

Sat, 17 Mar 2007: Video games can improve your vision!: This rather surprising claim comes from new research from the University of Rochester.

Fri, 16 Mar 2007: Millions left behind by digital divide: Mobile phones, digital TV, and the Internet are carrying many people forward into the future—and leaving more behind in the past, according to Angela Balakrishnan in The Guardian.

Fri, 16 Mar 2007: Digital TV through the power socket?: The BBC's Mark Ward examines whether programme signals might be beamed into our homes with the electricity that powers the TV.

Thu, 15 Mar 2007: Strings and things: What's the latest on string theory and the secrets of the universe? New Scientist investigates.

Thu, 15 Mar 2007: Celebrate pi day!: Mathematicians celebrate pi—with a nice slice of pie!

Thu, 15 Mar 2007: $150,000 watch blown apart: Popular Science takes the lid off nine everyday inventions with great photos and animations.

Thu, 15 Mar 2007: Yahoo! betrayed my husband: Wired magazine brings us an article about the repressive Chinese government and its crackdown on cyber dissidents.

Wed, 14 Mar 2007: 17-year-old schoolgirl wins competition with home-made Raman spectroscope: Amazing achievements by tomorrow's scientists are celebrated in the Intel Science Talent Search.

Thu, 8 Mar 2007: Step into my 3D world: Sony is developing a 3D online virtual world for its new PlayStation 3 to rival realistic online "games" like Second Life.

Thu, 8 Mar 2007: Bush backs bioethanol: The Bush administration will give a boost to bioethanol as a "green" fuel this week, but doubts remain about is environmental credentials.

Thu, 8 Mar 2007: Small is beautiful: Popular Science magazine looks at some of the wonders of tiny technology.

Thu, 8 Mar 2007: Chips with everything—even cars: Last week's fuel scandal reminds us that car engines are now highly dependent on computer chips, according to The Guardian's Andrew Brown.

Thu, 8 Mar 2007: Are text messages safe?: Can thieves pluck text messages from the air? MSNBC's technology blog investigates.

Thu, 8 Mar 2007: Wikipedia rocked by fake academic scandal: A supposedly distinguished academic contributor to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia has been unmasked as a student.

Wed, 7 Mar 2007: Microsoft attacks Google Books: The folks in Redmond have claimed Google's controversial book-scanning project "systematically violates copyright".

Tue, 6 Mar 2007: Mining the ocean: Wired magazine looks at an Australian prospector who aims to get rich marrying submarine and oil-drilling technology to recover valuable minerals from the seabed.

Tue, 6 Mar 2007: Chinese starsailors head for Moon: A Chinese Moon probe is launching later this year and the Chinese expect to put people on the Moon within 15 years.

Mon, 5 Mar 2007: Whatever happened to hi-tech superconductors?: Jonathan Fildes reports for BBC News that progress on developing super materials has been slower than expected.

Thu, 1 Mar 2007: New search engine can even find molecules: New Scientist reports on a handy new gadget that lets scientists search for matching molecules.

Thu, 1 Mar 2007: World's thinnest material is just an atom thick!: Scientists have developed an unbelievably thin new material for making transistors.

Thu, 1 Mar 2007: Vista causes broadband lockouts: Microsoft's new operating system is causing trouble for some broadband users.

February 2007

Wed, 28 Feb 2007: NSPCC to protect kids in cyberspace: The leading British charity is looking to the Internet as a new way to protect vulnerable children.

Wed, 28 Feb 2007: Chinese man dies after Internet gaming marathon: An obese games player from China has collapsed and died after a non-stop Internet games playing session.

Wed, 28 Feb 2007: New underground particle lab gets ready for blast-off: A new lab at CERN in Switzerland has moved a step closer to operation.

Wed, 28 Feb 2007: New ocean explorer digs deep: A new robotic ocean vehicle will be proving oceans—in space!

Tue, 27 Feb 2007: Chinese make remote-controlled pigeons: Scientists at Shandong University have found a way of using electronics to control real, live pigeons.

Sat, 24 Feb 2007: Cunning art or load of old Pollocks?: Mathematics are using the science of fractals to probe if Jackson Pollock paintings are fakes.

Thu, 22 Feb 2007: Laser powerful enough for battle: Laser battles have moved a step forward with news that a news laser has set a new power record.

Thu, 22 Feb 2007: UK government "X-files" finally released: What did military science boffins make of X-ray sightings? Newly released British government files are examined by The Guardian.

Thu, 22 Feb 2007: Store your life online: Scientific American considers if we are moving toward a form of shared digital memory, with everything we have ever experienced available to share online.

Thu, 22 Feb 2007: Sleep puts the world in order: Sleeping is not just about refreshment, but about processing information gathered the day before, according to new research from Harvard Medical School.

Wed, 21 Feb 2007: New tablet PC makes hospital life easier: Forget the clipboard, your doctor may soon appear at your bedside armed with a tablet PC.

Wed, 21 Feb 2007: A third play games in South Korea: It could be the world capital of online gaming with over 17 million people regularly playing online.

Wed, 21 Feb 2007: Astronauts could escape by roller coaster: If trouble hits the launchpad, tomorrow's astronauts could get away on the world's scariest roller-coaster ride.

Tue, 20 Feb 2007: Robo sub dives into Antarctica: The new Isis ROV (remotely operated vehicle) is exploring the fascinating underwater world around the South Pole.

Sat, 17 Feb 2007: Why are math puzzles so successful?: Science News investigates the popularity (and complexity) of math puzzles like TipOver.

Thu, 15 Feb 2007: Father of quantum computing interviewed: Wired magazine interviews quantum computing pioneer David Deutsch.

Thu, 15 Feb 2007: Will videophones ever come of age?: The Guardian's veteran technology watcher, Jack Schofield, asks why videophones never seem to arrive.

Thu, 15 Feb 2007: Can animals predict earthquakes?: Matt Kaplan's article in New Scientist (which requires a paid subscription) explores whether animals are better at detecting earthquakes than we are.

Thu, 15 Feb 2007: Music bosses think copy protection harms sales: Two thirds of music executives think coopy protection mechanisms are reducing music sales.

Thu, 15 Feb 2007: Internet servers use more power than TVs: Forget the idea that the Internet is environmentally friendly. New US research suggests the servers that supply web pages are now using more electricity than the nation's TVs.

Thu, 15 Feb 2007: New IM technology protects Internet chatters from pervs: Wired magazine reports on the latest kid-friendly chat software.

Tue, 13 Feb 2007: What no boom? Supersonic planes go silent: Popular Science explores the latest "silent" supersonic planes.

Wed, 14 Feb 2007: MIT student designs batman climbing belt: An MIT student has designed a cunning, battery-powered climbing pack—just like batman's!

Tue, 13 Feb 2007: UK broadband switching set to become easier: New rules for telecoms companies will make it easier for customers to switch their broadband supplier.

Tue, 13 Feb 2007: CERN's new atom smasher may produce "black Saturns": We've all heard of black holes—but CERN's new particle accelerator could run rings around them to make "black Saturns"!

Tue, 13 Feb 2007: Quantum computer tackles sudoko: A new generation of computer technology has already cracked some of those infuriating maths puzzles.

Thu, 1 Feb 2007: Virgin birth aims at medical breakthrough: Virgin boss Richard Branson is launching a company so families can "bank" stem cells from their child's umbilical cord.

Thu, 1 Feb 2007: Web tagging takes off: Tagging web content with keywords has now become one of the fastest growing ways to find things on the Web.

Thu, 1 Feb 2007: Interview with Jimmy Wales: The Wikipedia founder and online knowledge champion is grilled in New Scientist.

Thu, 1 Feb 2007: eBay will stop selling game goods: Virtual goods traded in online games like Second Life will no longer be tradeable on the world's biggest auction site.

Thu, 1 Feb 2007: Reading on a screen is pleasurable at last: Are electronic books finally going to take off? The Guardian finds out.

Thu, 1 Feb 2007: Home builders for the Moon: MSNBC reviews NASA's plans for a new moonbase.

January 2007

Wed, 31 Jan 2007: Light makes molecular machines perform trick: Researcher David Leigh is making nanotechnology machines that can perform tricks with light.

Tue, 30 Jan 2007: Robot Subs in Space: Popular Science reports on inventor Bill Stone, who plans to take remote controlled subs deep into the Earth and to the Moon.

Mon, 29 Jan 2007: BSOD through the ages: Wired takes us on a photo tour of the infamous Windows Blue Screen of Death.

Sat, 27 Jan 2007: How dinosaurs beat the Wright brothers: According to Science News, the world's first biplane was actually.... a dinosaur.

Thu, 25 Jan 2007: Online face avatars bring new cyberspace worries: Facial recognition technology means it could be easier to find pictures of friends online. But Ronan Fitzgerald reports on worrying implications in The Guardian.

Thu, 25 Jan 2007: Criminals may overwhelm the Web: Criminals controlling millions of personal computers are threatening the internet's future, experts have warned.

Thu, 25 Jan 2007: MySpace "a danger to kids": New software to tackle online predators is not enough say law enforcement officials in Newsweek.

Thu, 25 Jan 2007: Celebrity chefs to design space food: Goodbye vacuum-packed Christmas lunches? Star chefs may soon be designing tomorrow's space food.

Thu, 25 Jan 2007: Future of science on the horizon: The UK public is being invited to have its say on the future of science and technology.

Thu, 25 Jan 2007: Strong support for renewable energy: A new report says half of the world's energy could be met by renewables and improved efficiency by 2050.

Wed, 24 Jan 2007: Street-fighting robot: apply here: A new competition to build an urban warfare robot was launched in Singapore this week.

Wed, 24 Jan 2007: The scariest ideas in science: From undead viruses to killer foxes, this article in Popular Science reviews some of science's current horror stories.

Tue, 23 Jan 2007: Hot rocks to power US future?: Geothermal energy could provide 10 percent of US supply by 2050.

Tue, 23 Jan 2007: What we don't know: Wired magazine looks at some of the big unanswered questions in science today, including why we sleep, why the poles reverse, and what the universe is made of.

Wed, 17 Jan 2007: Digital music sales double: Worldwide sales of digital music doubled in 2006 to $2 billion.

Wed, 17 Jan 2007: Hewlett-Packard uses nanotechnology to squeeze more onto chips: Ever smaller, cheaper, and faster chips are something we've grown used to over the last 40 years. HP thinks it can continue this trend, known as Moore's Law, using nanotechnology.

Wed, 17 Jan 2007: Britain destined for the moon?: New investments in science and technology could finally put Britains on the moon.

Wed, 17 Jan 2007: Why drug companies have no incentive to develop cancer drug: According to the New Scientist Short Sharp Science blog, a drug called DCA that might offer a cure for cancer is too old to be patented, so drug companies have no incentive to develop it commercially.

Wed, 17 Jan 2007: What did we have before zero?: What's the history of zero? How did we indicate nothing before "0" was invented? Robert Kaplan reveals all for Scientific American.

Tue, 16 Jan 2007: Single pixel camera takes on digital: A new style of digital camera promises to be more efficient than today's digital cameras, but is currently the size of a suitcase!

Tue, 16 Jan 2007: How Yahoo! blew it: Wired magazine looks at the mistakes Yahoo! made in its fight to beat Google.

Tue, 16 Jan 2007: Web TV moves closer: The day many people have forecast—when all TV comes via the Internet—has come closer with the announcement that Skype (maker of Internet phone software) is moving into television.

Sat, 13 Jan 2007: Digital fingerprints could be key to security: The unique patterns people follow when using their computers could be used to make computer systems more secure.

Fri, 12 Jan 2007: Law-enforcement in the 21st century: Popular Science looks at the latest gadgets for police officers with help from Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.

Thu, 11 Jan 2007: Probe studies 'extreme physics': A pioneering US space agency spacecraft is set to launch on a mission to explore the most energetic phenomena in the Universe.

Thu, 11 Jan 2007: Popular Science predicts the year ahead: What are the trends in science and technology bringing us this year? Popular Science magazine gazes into the crystal ball.

Thu, 11 Jan 2007: $100 laptop could sell to public: The backers of the One Laptop Per Child project (an affordable computer for developing countries) are looking at the possibility of selling the machine to the public.

Thu, 11 Jan 2007: Video games lead to jobs: According to Scientific American, a US professor is urging schools to use video games to prepare pupils for work.

Wed, 10 Jan 2007: EU plans 'industrial revolution': The European Commission has urged its members to sign up to an unprecedented common energy policy, unveiling a plan to diversify the bloc's energy sources.

Wed, 10 Jan 2007: Warmest year on record again: According to the Chicago Tribune, 2006 saw record temperatures again. Global warming is being blamed.

Wed, 10 Jan 2007: Oil slick drum: According to New Scienist, a Californian inventor has developed a drum with a grooved surface that rolls over the surface of an oil slick, picking up oil pollution.

Wed, 10 Jan 2007: Nuclear waste setback: A new glass-like material for storing nuclear waste is proving less capable of tackling the problem than expected.

Tue, 9 Jan 2007: $100 laptop could sell to public: Apple has confirmed its move into telecommunications, revealing a phone that combines MP3 music player, cellphone, and email/web browser.

Tue, 9 Jan 2007: Desktop fabricator may kick-start home revolution: New Scientist reports on a household gadget that can create rapid prototypes of 3D objects.