Author: Diane Shipley
Staff Writer Diane is especially interested in high-tech medical advances, weird and interesting uses of science, new gadgets, and the intersection of tech and lifestyle. When not working, she reads the internet, listens to podcasts, watches American TV, and thinks about leaving the house.
Could breaking the law be genetic?
A new study from the University of Montreal looked at different factors that are associated with anti-social behaviour to try to determine what causes it. The researchers studied 1337 Swedish high school students aged 17-18, all of whom anonymously answered a series of questionnaires – about everything from their family background to criminal activity to…
Energy-efficient housing increases the risk of asthma
Things that are good for the environment often turn out to be good for our health as well, but that’s not always the case. In fact, a new study’s found that when it comes to energy-efficient housing, people are actually more at risk of developing asthma. A research team from the University of Exeter Medical…
Will Facebook finally let us ‘dislike’ things?
In a live Facebook Q&A yesterday, founder Mark Zuckerberg admitted that the company is looking into the idea of letting us dislike stuff – or at least have more of a range of human emotions. According to The Next Web, a ‘dislike’ button is still off the table, because Facebook’s not about negativity. (Just manipulating…
iPads can make penguins procreate (probably)
It’s been a big year for penguins. Not only have they embraced their robot brethren and starred in the best John Lewis Christmas ad of all time, like orangutans before them, they’ve now started using iPads – with unexpected side effects. As Fast Company reports, little magellanic penguins at the Aquarium of the Pacific in…
New drugs provide hope for incurable skin cancer
A new type of medication could provide hope for otherwise incurable skin cancers. It’s the result of a breakthrough study from The Institute of Cancer Research in London and the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, which was funded by the Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK, and is now published in the journal Cancer Cell.…
Bright idea: IBM India’s making light from old laptops
Re-using batteries from old laptops could provide a source of light for millions of people in the developing world. Or that’s what IBM Research India is hoping, anyway. According to Treehugger, their new project aims to provide power to the 400 million people in India living without mains electricity – or some of them, at…
The BBC’s bringing JK Rowling’s The Cuckoo’s Calling to our screens
The Cuckoo’s Calling is coming to a small screen near you. Once mooted as a possible Hollywood blockbuster, the detective novel JK Rowling published under the pseudonym ‘Robert Galbraith’ is now being adapted by the BBC. Rowling won’t be writing it, but she'll apparently have a lot of input. Last year the literary world was…
Computers write better patient reports than doctors, study shows
Who needs doctors?! Well, OK, all of us, probably. But according to a new study, we’re better off with a computer, at least when it comes to admin. Researchers from Cedars-Sinai hospital found that software was better at collecting symptom information and producing detailed reports on patients than doctors were. The study’s authors, who published…
Your friends could predict how long you’ll live
New research suggests that not only is there a link between your personality and how long you’ll live, but that your friends’ opinions can predict your longevity. As Psych Central reports, Psychological Scientist Joshua Jackson (not that one) and his colleagues from Washington University in St. Louis looked at info from research that started in…
15 of the best Christmas gifts for grandparents
OK, stop. Cross off Old Spice, bath salts, and socks (novelty or not) from your shopping list. However much your grandparents tell you that just seeing your smiling face at Christmas is present enough, we all know they deserve better than a hasty purchase from the 'on offer' shelf at your local chemist. But bridging…
