Category: Technology

The sight of a swarm of wasps, or even just a single wasp, strikes fear into many people’s hearts. Most wasp species aren’t dangerous to humans (unless you’re allergic), but their stings are painful. Some wasp species can wreak havoc in other ways, though. Take the family Vespidae, which includes more than 5,000 species. Of […]

Scientists have long believed that, generally speaking, the bigger an animal is, the bigger its brain. But our recent study challenges the nature of that linear view and reveals new insights about how brain size and body size have evolved together. There is astounding diversity in the shape, size and internal structure of the brain […]

The world as we know it increasingly relies on digital connectivity that, for the most part, works quietly and invisibly in the background. So how did a single software update bring down half the internet? The global IT outage on 19 July serves as a stark reminder of our vulnerability to technological failures. Triggered by […]

Imagine you’re 90 years old, a grandmother of three and your husband is also elderly and ailing. You need help with almost everything, getting out of a chair, going to the bathroom, getting dressed, eating and remembering your medications. Despite advances in life expectancy, ageing has not been kind, and you feel like a burden […]

The UK’s new Labour government has pledged to build 1.5 million homes during its first term in office. To achieve this, it promises planning reform and the reintroduction of local housing targets. Yet little attention has been given to the role of new technologies. Drones have the potential to transform the construction industry in the […]

Since mindfulness it’s something you can practice at home for free, it often sounds like the perfect tonic for stress and mental health issues. Mindfulness is a type of Buddhist-based meditation in which you focus on being aware of what you’re sensing, thinking and feeling in the present moment. The first recorded evidence for this, […]

Professional golfers make playing look so effortless, it’s hard to imagine what’s going on inside their minds. But modern neuroscience allows us to do exactly that. My team’s new study shows how different parts of an expert golfer’s brains are activated when they putt their ball into the hole. Putting is a crucial part of […]

A major IT outage has hit businesses across the world, grounding planes as well as affecting banks and the healthcare sector. George Kurtz, CEO of IT security firm Crowdstrike, said it had traced the issue to a “defect found in a single content update” for the security software it provides for the Microsoft Windows operating […]

Tens of thousands of years ago, during a period of Egyptian history known as the Old Kingdom (around 2649–2130 BC), it was rare for people to be able to read and write. From an estimated population of between 1 million and 1.5 million, only about 1% were literate and able to write in hieroglyphics. Their […]