All Science & technology

Surveillance technology

• Beating cheating
  

  Computer analysis of test-takers' answers to standarised tests is revealing cheats (9)

• • • A quick way to find incidents recorded by security cameras (Feb 2011)
    • (16)
  • • Concerns about smart systems are justified and must be dealt with (Nov 2010)
    • (8)
  • • Security experts reckon the latest technology can detect hostile intentions before something bad happens (Oct 2008)
    • (37)

Healthy living

• 
  Mind and body

  The reason loneliness could be bad for your health (13)

• • • Chastity before marriage may have its uses after all (Jan 2010)
    • (35)
  • • Can a film of a smoker trigger the act? (Jan 2010)
    • (26)
  • • Topic page: Health and fitness

The Deep Carbon Observatory

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  Going underground

  A project to reveal more about all the carbon on Earth (5)

• • • Forests are not the only habitat whose conservation matters to the climate (Dec 2010)
    • (2)
  • • A group of oceanic micro-organisms just might prove a surprising ally in the fight against climate change (Sep 2010)
    • (33)
  • • Topic page: Climatology

Collective behaviour

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  Follow my leader

  A group’s “intelligence” depends in part on its members’ ignorance (26)

• • • Humans' herd instinct kicks in only when enough of the herd follows a trend (Oct 2010)
    • Babbage
    • (21)
  • • Mimicking the behaviour of ants, bees and birds started as a poor man’s version of artificial intelligence. It may, though, be the key to the real thing (Aug 2010)
    • (23)
  • • Topic page: Mathematics

History of science

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  Alchemists, ancient and modern

  The twisted history of alchemy and what it can teach modern scientists (25)

• • • How the world went from four elements to 118
    • (5)
  • • The biological, cultural and economic forces behind human progress (May 2010)
    • (23)
  • • Topic page: History of science

Aerodynamics

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  Rig on a roll

  Using a supercomputer to improve the airflow around big trucks and save fuel (20)

• • • Fancy aerodynamics explain why some snakes are good gliders (Dec 2010)
    • (3)
  • • There are aerodynamic tricks to be learnt from flying fish (Sep 2010)
    • (8)
  • • Flapping flags may shed light on how birds flock (Nov 2008)
    • (9)

Artificial intelligence

• 
  The Difference Engine: The answering machine

  Game over for humans as a computer trounces two former champions? - Babbage (40)

• • • Chaos fills battlefields and disaster zones. Artificial intelligence may be better than the natural sort at coping with it (Nov 2010)
    • (34)
  • • Robots' poor eyesight is improving, in part by aping natural vision (Oct 2010)
    • (14)
  • • Topic page: Artificial intelligence

Pollution and global warming

• 
  Climate change in black and white

  When air pollution hurts people’s health and heats up the climate it makes sense to do something about it. But what about pollution that cools the planet? (43)

• • • Leader: Paying attention to alternative ways of cooling the planet is a good idea; ignoring carbon emissions isn’t
    • (35)
  • • The true effect of windblown material is only now coming to be appreciated (Jan 2011)
    • (28)
  • • Topic page: Climate change

Climate change on stage

• 
  The drama of climate change

  Climate science is a tricky subject for the stage, as two new plays in London make plain - More Intelligent Life

• • • Finally, a good play about climate change
    • More Intelligent Life
  • • Topic page: Climate change

• Also on this channel

• Palaeontology

  Splay-footed, not flat-footed

  A new fossil shows that evolution does not always mean change (13)

• Medical technology

  A not-so-hard graft

  Transplantable blood vessels can now be grown as desired (4)

• Purification by pain

  The masochism tango

  Religion got it right: pain seems to assuage guilt (23)

• Road safety

  The Difference Engine: Safety first

  For the time being, the recession has made the roads much safer (18)