Technology Spoonful of sugar makes biofuel greener TAKE a vat of vegetable oil and add a scorched sugar lump. It might not catch on as the latest cocktail, but the mixture could speed up the widespread production and use of biodiesel in vehicles. Converting vegetable oils to fuel requires a catalyst. Most existing catalysts are derived from petrochemicals, but using them defeats … News
Technology Hey governments, hands off the internet OVER the past four years, members of the United Nations have been debating the future of the greatest technical phenomenon of our age: the internet. These discussions, which culminate next week in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis, Tunisia, have ostensibly been about ensuring that poor countries benefit from information and … Opinion
Earth Histories: The day the gold rush stopped Although American environmentalism did not begin to flourish until the 1960s, the movement's roots date back to 1878 and a town meeting in Yuba City, California. Not that the assembled townsfolk saw themselves as doing anything so altruistic as protecting nature. Their concern was to save their land and livelihoods from torrents of mud unleashed … Features
Mind What's hot? Desktop psychophysics Not so long ago, setting up a psychophysics experiment could take months. You had to acquire this special hardware and that special software, then set the whole thing up in some special room. But with software like the Psychtoolbox, designed by neuroscientists and freely available on the web, anyone's PC can become a … Careers
Feedback Feedback competition: design a new body THE year is drawing to a close and, for those of us in the northern hemisphere, even the time for leaf peeping will soon be over – which means that the moment has arrived to announce the annual Feedback end-of-year competition. This year's theme revolves around current advances in … Regulars