Bird Flu
Zuckerberg patents aim to simplify Facebook messages
Patents are technology's first draft - and they don't stop coming even when Facebook's initial public offering is hogging the headlines
Categories: Bird Flu
Lots of nail biting on the eve of a historic launch
The SpaceX Dragon capsule is prepared for a mission to the International Space Station, and officials are managing expectations
Categories: Bird Flu
Today on New Scientist: 18 May 2012
All today's stories on newscientist.com, including: GPS loss kicked off fatal drone crash and monitoring tides could predict major quakes
Categories: Bird Flu
International Space Station enters 2001's star gate
An orbiting astronaut has used an amateur astronomer's trick to create an image worthy of the trippier sequences of 2001: A space odyssey
Categories: Bird Flu
RNA breakthrough transforms idea of gene control
Never-before-seen changes to the genetic code give new insight into how the environment can affect our genes
Categories: Bird Flu
Why the dino-dolphins got the bends
Ichthyosaurs, the dolphins of the dinosaur era, got decompression sickness, but only from the Jurassic period onwards – what happened?
Categories: Bird Flu
When you eat beats what you eat in staying healthy
Mice that ate all their meals during an 8-hour window were healthier than mice that snacked throughout the day, even when they ate more fat
Categories: Bird Flu
Number of asteroids that pose risk to Earth is doubled
The asteroid-tracking NEOWISE mission reveals that twice as many asteroids as previously thought are on low-inclination orbits that could hit our planet
Categories: Bird Flu
Clothbot climbs the wrinkles in your clothes
A small robot capable of climbing clothes could be a pet or even a moving phone – if that's what you really want
Categories: Bird Flu
Friday Illusion: Running man moves in two directions
Watch a running man swap directions in a new illusion presented at the Best Illusions of the Year Contest
Categories: Bird Flu
GPS loss kicked off fatal drone crash
A fatal drone crash in South Korea followed a loss of GPS signal – which may have been due to jamming efforts by North Korea
Categories: Bird Flu
Feedback: Bag that has no size
Dimensionless luggage, Apple encounters a chronosynclastic infundibulum, Dr Charlotte's almost magic wand therapy, and more (full text available to subscribers)
Categories: Bird Flu
Monitoring tides could predict major quakes
As stresses build up in the Earth's crust, tidal forces can trigger minor earthquakes – a sign of big quakes to come
Categories: Bird Flu
Power switch: A nuclear future without uranium
This week's book review round-up features a defence of thorium and an exploration of how we use technology for good or evil
Categories: Bird Flu
Online friendships light up shadow social networks
The structure of an online social network can be used to deduce connections between people who don't use the service
Categories: Bird Flu
Buried microbes exist at limit between life and death
Sediment 30 metres below the Pacific seafloor is so nutrient-poor that microbes barely fuel their cellular functions – yet they may be thousands of years old
Categories: Bird Flu
Plutonium signature captured after 50 years of trying
The complex properties of radioactive plutonium-239 made its structure hard to analyse – until now. The result may improve methods for storing nuclear waste
Categories: Bird Flu
New armoured lizard is first to get scanner ID check
A CT scan supported genetic data and other measurements to show that this armoured lizard is a previously unidentified species
Categories: Bird Flu
Virtual reality provides relief from soldiers' trauma
Soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder show improvements in their symptoms through virtual simulations of combat
Categories: Bird Flu
