Sci-Tech
Gadget: Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium Version 11.5
The last time I used voice recognition software it was a frustrating experience. Every five seconds I had to correct a word or manually edit another sentence. It was about as much fun as tickling a rattlesnake.
Game review: Max Payne
This grim and gritty noir sees Max Payne now working as private security for a rich family in Brazil. Burnt out, Max dulls the pain with pills.
‘Appiness’ test on your smartphone
SCOTTISH scientists have developed the first smartphone app which records how people’s perceptions of themselves vary from day to day.
3 commentsiRise Sir Jonathan, Apple’s design genius
Apple design genius Jonathan Ive has spoken of the “thrilling” moment when he was knighted by the Princess Royal at Buckingham Palace.
Facebook status - losing £15.4m a minute
JUST days after its public flotation, Facebook is being sued by shareholders over allegations that it and banks, including its lead underwriter Morgan Stanley, withheld key information.
7 commentsBackground: Cells form new stem of medical science
STEM cells are components with the potential to develop into many different types of cells in the body during early life and growth.
Annular eclipse: Skies light up in ring of fire over Asia and US Picture gallery
THE sun and moon aligned over the Earth in a rare astronomical event on Sunday - an annular eclipse that dimmed the skies over parts of Asia and North America, briefly turning the sun into a blazing ring of fire.
Visionary science harvests stem cells to cure blindness
SCOTLAND is at the forefront of a pioneering new stem-cell trial that could restore the sight of millions of people around the world.
Gadget review: Verbatim Executive Portable Hard Drive
Personal data storage is essential. These days technology affords us the luxury to be snap happy. We rattle off hundreds of pictures in a blink of an eye and can even shoot HD video with our smartphones, video being the most space-hungry medium and the most likely one to swallow up all that free space on your hard drive.
Toxic waste could help treat water
SCIENTISTS at a Scottish university are working to turn a toxic industrial waste product into a material that can be used to treat contaminated water, it was announced today.
1 commentGadget review: Ninja Master Prep Pro
Regular readers will know that I’ve experimented with a list of kitchen gadgets that eclipse Bruce Lee in the chopping stakes.
Geoff Mulgan: New generation of pioneers waiting to be switched on
YOU might have thought that learning about information technology in schools would be exciting and infinitely motivating. After all, teenagers find it hard to tear themselves away from games and social media. Left to their own devices, they have no difficulty creating new characters, stories and home movies.
Space technology goes underwater to find oil and gas fields
TECHNOLOGY developed to measure the force of gravity in outer space has been adapted so that it can be used to prolong the life of the North Sea oil and gas industries.
The explosive history of Canongate’s cannonball Picture gallery
IT HAS a strong claim as one of Edinburgh’s most intriguing buildings, with a chequered history as a merchant’s home, a slum, a church house and a brothel.
14 comments
Five useful apps for your cup final visit to Glasgow
We’ve put together a famous five of apps to make your Hampden cup final visit a thouroughly heart-warming experience.
Games firm breaks record with sales of 1.2 million
A TINY games firm based in an East Lothian village has smashed the Xbox sales record.
‘UK could blast recession with spaceport’
Britain should have its own spaceport where satellites and travellers could be blasted into orbit, say business leaders.
4 comments‘Gaydar’ works in the blink of an eye
Most people possess an automatic “gaydar” that assesses sexual orientation in less than a blink of an eye, research has shown.
2 comments
Everyday chemicals impacting on male fertility, research on sheep suggests
MALE fertility is being seriously damaged by exposure to everyday chemicals, according to research.
4 commentsBroadband providers urged to be more open with consumers on speeds
BROADBAND providers are being called upon to improve the information they give consumers about speeds during the sales process.
1 comment
Google walks away from pioneering website linking Scotland’s schools
FEARS have been raised over the future of a world-leading website used in Scotland’s schools after Google pulled out of the race to develop it.
Oldest cave paintings are revealed after 37,000 years in the dark
PAINTINGS thought to be the oldest in the world have been found in a cave in France.
Mobile phones allowed on Virgin flights
Passengers on Sir Richard Branson’s airline, Virgin Atlantic, will be able to make and receive phone calls while in the air, it has been announced.
Gadget review: i-temp Terrier Programmable Radiator Control
IF there’s one thing I hate wasting money on it’s heating. Pennies spill out of the radiators in my house like a Las Vegas slot machine, especially if my girlfriend’s in charge of the controls.
Secret of Antarctic’s lost ocean may hold key to peril of rising sea levels
A VAST area of the Antarctic ice sheet could be more unstable than previously thought, according to new research by the University of Edinburgh.
Sand dunes on Mars ‘moving’
SCIENTISTS observing sand dunes on Mars have discovered “very large” movements of sand, indicating that the dunes can be as active as those on Earth.
Alex Salmond launches smartphone app to celebrate Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
A FREE Queen of Scots smartphone app is to be launched by Alex Salmond’s Government to commemorate Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee, it has emerged.
5 commentsUK behind in science roles
AN Edinburgh academic has warned that the UK is 50 years behind America in opportunities for women in science.
Flatulent dinosaurs may have changed Earth’s climate
GIANT dinosaurs may have altered the Earth’s climate because of the amount of greenhouse gas they produced breaking wind, new research says.
2 commentsGamma ray find could aid security search teams
Scientists have shown that gamma rays can be bent like ordinary light, in an experiment that opens the door to far-reaching new fields of imaging research.
Interview: Rosemary Hannah, historian, on The Third Marquess of Bute
HE WAS a feminist, an anti-vivisectionist, an architectural conservationist, and an ardent champion of Scottish independence. Defying the conventions of his class and era, he was a demonstrative father and husband, a man free of pretension, allergic to sycophancy, but easily hurt
Gadget: NeuroSky MindWave + MyndPlay
IT was with some trepidation that I positioned the NeuroSky MindWave EEG headset on my forehead.
New slant on chicken-and-egg puzzle may hold key to pre-birth learning
CHICKEN embryos can be “woken up” in the egg long before hatching, by rousing them with the sound of clucking hens.
Pomegranate juice increases sex drive, study finds
POMEGRANATE juice increases sex drive, a Scottish study has found.
‘Bionic eye’ returns sight to two men after over 20 years of blindness Picture gallery
TWO blind men have regained partial sight for the first time in more than 20 years after becoming the first in Britain to be fitted with a “bionic eye”.
2 commentsBritons to probe ‘ice moon’
BRITISH scientists are to play a key role in an £812 million space mission to explore the icy moons of Jupiter.
Oldest human blood is found
Scientists examining the remains of “Otzi” – Italy’s prehistoric iceman who roamed the Alps some 5,300 years ago – have isolated what are believed to be the oldest traces of human blood ever found.
Scots witnesses in stellar whodunit
SCOTTISH astronomers have helped to gather the most direct evidence yet of a supermassive black hole shredding a star that wandered too close.
Watchdog steps up inquiry into Apple
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has widened its inquiry into Apple following new complaints about the capabilities of its latest iPad.
1 commentHumans ‘are still evolving’
Darwinian “survival of the fittest” laws continue to shape human evolution in the modern age, research has shown.
1 commentChinese to fund new Strathclyde laboratory for space station research
THE Chinese government is to fund a new laboratory at a Scottish university to develop space stations and spacecraft docking.
4 comments- Scottish independence: I don’t want ‘separatism’ says Sir Tom Farmer
- Craig Levein insists Scotland will recover from US thrashing
- Call for sleaze inquiry into peer’s expenses
- Man arrested after woman found dead in subway pool of blood
- USA 5 - 1 Scotland: US take a sledgehammer to Scotland’s credibility
- Scottish independence: I don’t want ‘separatism’ says Sir Tom Farmer
- Craig Levein insists Scotland will recover from US thrashing
- Scottish independence: Labour voters ‘will deliver independence’
- Rangers administration: End game nears for fallen icon
- Scotland’s weather: Scots enjoy record temperatures over weekend
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Weather for Edinburgh
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
