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Gulf Stream 'is not slowing down'

The Gulf Stream does not appear to be slowing down, say US scientists who have used satellites to monitor tell-tale changes in the height of the sea. Confirming work by other scientists using different methodologies, they found dramatic short-term variability but no longer-term trend.

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Boat made of plastic bottles sets sail across Pacific

A boat made of 12,000 plastic bottles has set sail on a voyage from San Francisco to Sydney to spread awareness about pollution in the world's oceans.Environmentalist and banking heir David De Rothschild and a crew set out on the appropriately named Plastiki catamaran.

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'Hobbit' island's deeper history

Long before a 'hobbit' species of human lived on Indonesia's Flores island, other human-like creatures colonised the area. That much was clear. The group says the finds bring a new dimension to our understanding of the history of Flores.

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Team's quantum object is biggest by factor of billions

Researchers have created a "quantum state" in the largest object yet. Such states, in which an object is effectively in two places at once, have until now only been accomplished with single particles, atoms and molecules.

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Brain scans 'can distinguish memories', say scientists

Scientists say they have been able to tell which past event a person is recalling using a brain scan. The University College London researchers showed people film clips and were able to predict which ones they were subsequently thinking about.

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Revel in the wonder of the Solar System

There are maps you can buy which show how light pollution blocks out the night skies. Look at the map for the UK, and English star-gazers have it the worst.

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Probe may have found cosmic dust

Scientists may have identified the first specks of interstellar dust in material collected by the US space agency's Stardust spacecraft. The Nasa spacecraft was primarily sent to catch dust streaming from Comet Wild 2 and return it to Earth for analysis.

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How to save the Earth via the World Wide Web

There are not many websites which literally give you the chance to protect the world. Yet, if you are keen on spending a few moments of your day defending the Earth from an imminent solar attack, the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London would like to hear from you.

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WDYS?

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Wheatfield with Crows

Wheatfield with Crows is a July 1890 painting by Vincent van Gogh. It has been cited by several critics as one of his greatest works.[1][2] It is commonly stated that this was van Gogh's final painting.

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List of epidemics

This is a list of the largest known epidemics and pandemics caused by an infectious disease. Widespread non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer are not included.

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Study hints at dark matter action

Researchers in the US say they have detected two signals which could possibly indicate the presence of particles of dark matter. But the study in Science journal reports the statistical likelihood of a detection of dark matter as 23%.

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Quantum trick for pressure-sensitive mobile devices

Hand-held devices could soon have pressure-sensitive touch-screens and keys, thanks to a UK firm's material that exploits a quantum physics trick. The technology allows, for example, scrolling down a long list or webpage faster as more pressure is applied.

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Green Zone (film)

Green Zone is a 2010 action thriller film[2] directed by Paul Greengrass. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Brian Helgeland, based on a 2006 non-fiction book Imperial Life in the Emerald City by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran.

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Website encourages crowds to keep an Eye on Earth

Green EU citizens are being encouraged to contribute their own environmental observations to a website. The Eye on Earth platform is a joint venture between the European Environment Agency (EEA) and Microsoft.

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How to be a Retronaut

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Tensile vs. Shear Strength

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Gorillas 'ape humans' over games

Gorillas play competitive games just like humans, according to scientists at the University of St Andrews. The gorillas at San Francisco Zoo were observed over a period of five years playing with a variety of equipment.

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'Medical myths' exposed as untrue

Some claim drinking eight glasses of water a day leads to good health, while reading in dim light damages eyesight. Others believe we only use 10% of our brains or that shaving legs causes hair to grow back thicker.

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Ghana text hoax predicting earthquake prompts panic

False rumours of an impending earthquake caused fear and panic in Ghana overnight, prompting many people to sleep outside. The rumour began on Sunday night with a text message quoting US space agency Nasa and the BBC as saying that "cosmic rays" were to hit the Earth.

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Imaginary time

Imaginary time is a mathematical representation of time which appears in some approaches to special relativity and quantum mechanics. It finds uses in connecting quantum mechanics with statistical mechanics and in certain cosmological theories.

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Spanish MP's photo used for Osama Bin Laden poster

A Spanish politician has said he was shocked to find out the FBI had used his photo for a digitally-altered image showing how Osama Bin Laden might look.Gaspar Llamazares said he would no longer feel safe travelling to the US after his hair and parts of his face appeared on a most-wanted poster.

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Amnesty says Czech schools still fail Roma Gypsies

Czech schools are still riddled with "systematic discrimination" that ensures Roma children get an inferior education, Amnesty International says. The human rights group has called on the Czech Republic to end what it calls racial segregation in schools.

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Egypt tombs suggest free men built pyramids, not slaves

Tombs discovered near Egypt's great pyramids reinforce the theory they were built by free workers rather than slaves. The location of the tombs, where workers who built the pyramids of Khufu (Cheops) and Khafre (Chephren) are buried, suggests they were not slaves.

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Is Osama Bin Laden dead or alive?

Osama Bin Laden died eight years ago during the battle for Tora Bora in Afghanistan, either from a US bomb or from a serious kidney disease. Or so the conspiracy theory goes.

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