Space 'Scolding' software to speed planet hunt SCOLDING software could speed the hunt for Earth-like planets by punishing robotic telescopes that don't perform as well as promised. Last week, astronomers reported spotting the first multiplanet system orbiting another star, thanks to a network of robotic telescopes dotted around the world (see "One-hit-wonder planet-spotting technique adds a new feather to its cap") . … News
Comment: Why peer review thwarts innovation ONCE upon a time, economists thought economic growth came from the holy trinity of capital, resources and labour. Then in the 1950s, the American economist Robert Solow proved that this accounted for only around 10 per cent. The remaining 90 per cent he put down to "technical change" – technological progress and growth in knowledge. … Opinion
Life The decline, fall and return of the red wolf Pilgrims from England landed on the coast of present-day Massachusetts in 1620 to carve a settlement from a vast and forbidding wilderness. Living cheek by jowl with North America's wolves, settlers quickly came to fear and loathe these formidable predators, which competed for deer and preyed on livestock. Spurred on by tales of werewolves terrorising … Features
Life Review: Babies by Design EVERY year children die by the millions from preventable diseases like pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, HIV and malnutrition. Poverty and the lack of clean water, hygiene and prenatal care all contribute to the toll of premature death. In the face of this holocaust, why would Ronald M. Green , a professor of ethics at Dartmouth College … Books & Arts
Feedback Heavy breather THE website ElectronicHealing.co.uk sells a bemusing range of devices you may or may not need, including one concerned with that ever-popular elixir: oxygen. Our old friend the Obox Personal Oxygen Generator, as we noted in March 2006, provides "up to 150 per cent of the body's normal oxygen requirement" . Sadly, it now … Regulars