By 2100 there could be 4.9bn dead users on Facebook. So who controls our digital legacy after we have gone? As Black Mirror returns, we delve into the issue. Andrew Scott Q&A: ‘I never get angrier than with passwords or apps’ Amelia Tait …
Observer editorial. This absurd ruling restricts highly targeted plant breeding but allows random changes caused by carcinogenic chemicals. The techniques used to modify this rice in Norfolk in the last century have been overtaken by new methods that do not involve introducing …
By David Szondy – The Colossus Mark II was the second of 10 Colossus computers. (Credit: The National Museum of Computing). The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, UK is marking the 75th anniversary of the Colossus Mark II computer …
By Mike Hanlon – This 1937 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring Berlinetta owned by David and Ginny Sydorick won the Coppa d’Oro Villa d’Este (awarded to the “Best of Show” voted by public referendum) and the Trofeo BMW Group awarded to the “Best of Show” by …
By Loz Blain – Alaka’i Technologies’ Skai prototype is already in the process of FAA certification. (Credit: Alakai). A new electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) air taxi company came out of stealth mode, using a hydrogen fuel cell powertrain that neatly sidesteps the …
By James Holloway – Svalbard reindeer are well-adapted to extremely cold conditions. Photographic evidence of reindeer eating seaweed is only the beginning. (Credit: Brage B. Hansen/NTNU). In the face of climate change, reindeer are resorting to eating kelp seaweed, according to …
“The combination of caffeine with other ingredients needs further exploration.” By Emma Betuel – Unless you’re a teen in England, energy drinks are easy to buy. But researchers are only starting to understand how all the caffeine, sugar, and other ingredients affect your …
“This is a global issue now. By Emma Betuel – Early last month, a trial showed that ultra-processed foods (think frozen dinners and shelf-stable pastries) have a significant effect on appetite. Right on the heels of that study comes another big hit to …
By Michael Irving – Fashionable fungi: A colored image shows the particles of gold collected by the fungus species fusarium oxsporium. (Credit: CSIRO). Shiny, pretty and useful in electronics, gold has been prized by humans for millennia, but we’re not the only ones …
By Michael Irving – An illustration of a collision between two huge celestial bodies, similar to that now theorized to have given the Moon its asymmetrical face. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech). While we can only see one “face” on the Moon from our vantage point …
