Karan Balkar Correspondent (Technology) Who doesn’t love tweeting these days? From a student in a college campus, an employee in an organisation to even a cab driver, everyone is hooked onto Twitter sending messages to their followers or tweeting about what’s happening around. Imagine you are walking past a restaurant and suppose you get a tweet saying “Free burgers at Café Montago today. The store will be open from 11 am to 6 pm.” Most […]
David Snowdon, Correspondent (Science) The global supply of bananas is under attack. Recent reports have highlighted threats such as plagues of insects and the expansion of fungal pathogens, prompting concern over the future of the fruit. This week authorities in Costa Rica declared a ‘national emergency’ after the crop was completely decimated by two separate plagues of mealybugs and scale insects. The Central American country is one of the largest exporters of bananas, distributing […]
Miles McCormack, Editor (Technology) Facebook may be in trouble. Whilst social media engagement is only rising, Facebook itself is losing ground to independent, dedicated social media apps, such as Snapchat, WhatsApp, Twitter and LinkedIn. The problem here is that Facebook fulfils most of the functions in these dedicated apps, yet is still ceding ground and audience to them, but also perhaps the nature of ‘apps’ as we know them today. The argument, put forth […]
Amber Roguski Editor (Science) In the past decade, incidences of the mysterious ‘Nodding Syndrome’ have risen. A syndrome unique to South Sudan and Uganda, sufferers display a rare epileptic seizure with persistent head nodding. Thousands are known to be afflicted with the condition, but the root cause remains unclear, leaving huge gaps in knowledge about this disease and resulting in limited treatment possibilities. One of the most puzzling aspects of Nodding Syndrome is that it […]
Amber Roguski, Editor (Science) How many times have you decided to lose weight/ work harder/ save money/ become better than anyone one who has ever existed? And how many times have you been so excited about the prospect of a new, improved you that you’ve simply had to tell someone, because surely that way you will have to stick to your plan? More often than not we blurt out these plans, and more often […]
Bethan Young, Correspondant (Science) This week, Dallas Wiens, the first US patient to receive a full face transplant in 2011, spoke about his joy at its success. He suffered a loss of his facial features following an accident in 2008 where his head hit a high voltage wire. He lived for two years with only a two-inch slit for his mouth before the operation in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, which has now […]
Miles McCormack, Editor (Technology) Amazon’s plans to deliver lightweight parcels via a fleet airborne drones, an initiative that could eventually cover a little more than 85% of their deliveries, has put the increasingly ubiquitous flying robots back on the global agenda, for better or worse. Drones, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), can operate autonomously and can be programmed to perform simple tasks. The US military has famously increased their usage of remote […]
Miles McCormack, Editor (Tech) What to say about the Xbox One and Play Station 4 controllers this early in their lifespan? Well, the new controllers are excellent. The Kinect completely justifies its inclusion. Downloadable console games are not the future… yet. Both of them aren’t really built for rural Britain. The launch line-ups are better than expected and, crucially, both consoles are extremely promising. Too early to call? But these are only initial […]
Bethan Young, Correspondent (Science) SACRAMENTO — There is a private Google-backed company in the USA that allows members of the public to test themselves for various genetic ‘health risks’. They offer $99 saliva-collection kits, which are then sent back to the company for genetic testing. The company claims to test for inheritable disease, responsiveness to drug treatment and susceptibility to illnesses, such as breast cancer. The USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) however, has ordered […]
David Snowdon, Correspondent (Science) A study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology this week has discovered that women who take oral contraceptives face twice the risk of developing the eye condition glaucoma. Glaucoma occurs when the trabecular meshwork – the drainage tubes within the eye – become blocked, preventing the fluid of the aqueous humour from draining properly. This leads to a build-up of pressure in the eye, causing […]
