All Science & technology

Alternative medicine

• Think yourself better
  

  Alternative medical treatments rarely work. But the placebo effect they induce sometimes does (8)

• • • Leader: Virtually all alternative medicine is bunk, but the placebo effect is rather interesting
    • (12)
  • • Should doctors give patients placebos? (Oct 2008)
    • (15)
  • • Topic page: Alternative medicine

Electric vehicles

• 
  Horsepower v cash cows

  How to use an electric car to turn a profit (43)

• • • A rash of new electric sports cars shows how cheap manufacturing techniques will bring new competitors into carmaking
    • Babbage
    • (26)
  • • A powerful experimental battery that can be recharged completely in minutes (Mar 2011)
    • (43)
  • • Topic page: Electric vehicles

The science of teaching

• 
  An alternative vote

  Applying science to the teaching of science (39)

• • • Making something hard to read means it is more likely to be remembered (Oct 2010)
    • (10)
  • • It sounds like a cop-out, but the future of schooling may lie with video games (Sep 2009)
    • (21)
  • • Topic page: Teaching

Sense perception

• 
  Oh my ears and whiskers!

  Pinnipeds are able to distinguish an object’s shape by its wake (7)

• • • A new way to describe a fragrance (Dec 2010)
    • (5)
  • • Computer vision is improving, in part by aping the natural sort (Oct 2010)
    • (14)
  • • Body, mind and genes all play a role in influencing the perception of pain (Mar 2010)
    • (1)

Computer processors

• 
  The Difference Engine: Intel left outside

  Despite its clever processor chips, Intel has failed to crack the mobile market - Babbage (13)

• • • Flexible circuits that can bend and stretch with their surroundings (Mar 2011)
    • (2)
  • • The rise of programmable processors (Nov 2010)
    • (2)
  • • Topic page: Computer hardware

The fight against AIDS

• 
  At last, the good news

  Treating individuals infected with HIV stops them passing the virus on to others - Babbage (22)

• • • One of the world’s worst plagues is giving ground (Nov 2010)
    • (8)
  • • Technology will help to spot and stop epidemics before they go global (Nov 2010)
    • The World in 2011
  • • Topic page: HIV and AIDS

Twins and motherhood

• 
  Thrice blessed

  Mothers of twins do not just get twice the bundle of joy—they are also healthier than other mothers (10)

• • • Researchers now have an inkling of how identical twins come about (Jan 2011)
    • Babbage
    • (2)
  • • Studying twins to uncover the root of business acumen (Sep 2010)
    • (35)
  • • Topic page: Genetics

Malaria and climate change

• 
  Bite the birds

  Malaria among birds is becoming more prevalent (10)

• • • Development and public-health initiatives will matter much more to malaria than the climate will (May 2010)
    • (17)
  • • Topic page: Malaria

Cleaning up oil spills

• 
  A golden fleece?

  Wool may provide a novel way of dealing with oil at sea (15)

• • • The world's biggest accidental oil spills (Jul 2010)
    • (22)
  • • Technological lessons from the massive operation to stop the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (May 2010)
    • (129)
  • • Topic page: Oil spills

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