Chinese web giant Tencent set up its dedicated Olympic Team more than three years ago and has been preparing for the London Olympics ever since, hoping to grab a big chunk of the cake.
Category: Future
Internet access has been slowly but steadily spreading across Turkey, but for economic and even cultural reasons, there are still wide swaths of the population cut off from the digital revolution.
Surgeons in Italy are testing new techniques to improve general anesthesia-free brain surgery. Patients are “trained” ahead of time and, during the operation itself, made to answer quiz questions.
A strictly Muslim-focused social network called Salamworld is set to launch this summer, during Ramadan. The Turkish-based company is thinking big: 50 million users in three years, all interacting in a worldwide – and sex free – “umma.”
Ahu Aysel, owner of a hotel chain and ex-wife of the owner of Istanbul’s most popular soccer team, has paid big bucks for the chance at becoming the first Turkish citizen to go into space. She must be chosen in a lottery to board a commercial fli
Thanks to their thick walls, Zurich’s historic buildings are in some cases more energy efficient than their more modern counterparts. That’s certainly the case if you compare them to 1960s-era constructions like the building that houses
Ever wonder why rogue nations don’t have nuclear capabilities yet? Because building atomic weapons has remained an enormously complicated and expensive process. A new laser-based enrichment technique could change all that.
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Russia’s Asteroid Problem
Russia has good reason to be concerned about asteroids. The country had two near misses in the 20th century century alone. Efforts to better prepare the nation for such an event, however, are unlikely to be effective unless Russia first builds better tele
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology has just opened a new research center in Singapore dedicated to the study the world’s biggest cities in order to better prepare for the urban explosion that is expected to take place by 2030.
To save time, money and staff, many German health facilities treat dementia patients with powerful drugs that serve no other purpose but to keep them quiet. By some estimates, the practice affects some 240,000 people in Germany.
Long considered “lonely hunters,” at least one species of sharks, the blacktip reef shark, is inclined to mingle across a variety of social ties and relationships. Researchers were able to apply new insights from studies of the way Faceb
Professor Giulio Fanti has spent much of his life in search of a scientific explanation for the Shroud of Turin, the linen cloth that purports to bear the image of the crucified Jesus of Nazareth. He has now arrived at his best conclusion, which may requi
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And If The Internet Went Black?
Hacker network Anonymous has vowed to take down the world wide web on March 31 to protest a U.S. anti-piracy bill. Though chances are low they could pull it off, it’s worth considering how far-reaching the effect an Internet blackout would be. It
At the University Hospital in Liège, Belgium, a group of scientists is making great progress in determining the true conscious state of supposed comatose patients. It gives new hopes to loved ones, though won’t make decisions about life support a
Essay: Roxxxy is always hot and bothered – and she can even be programmed to talk about sports. Our writer was pleasantly surprised to find a male version too, Rocky, who comes with blue eyes. Snuggle up, strip down, log on… the age of sex robots is upo
The divide between “digital natives” and “digital immigrants” is vast, and a new study of Internet use in the land of Gutenberg finds that twice the number previously believed barely go online at all.
Alarmed by reports of fraud during last year’s parliamentary elections, a group of computer-savvy Russians prepared for the upcoming presidential election by creating a virtual monitoring site. The platform has already caught the attention of Mikhail Prok
Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) was only recently legalized in Germany. The first German child to have been screened was born on Jan. 27 in Lübeck. Her parents and doctors explain why – and how – they reached their decision.
A growing number of mental health professionals are employing the Buddhist concept of “mindfulness” to treat depression. Patients are encouraged to sit up straight and focus their attention on their bodies, thoughts and feelings.
Until now, good marksmanship had everything to do with the person firing the gun. That could soon change. Researchers in New Mexico have developed a computerized super bullet that can guide itself to the target.
The possibility is still a ways off, but scientists down here on Earth are already trying to figure out how to grow plants up there – in space. Future missions to Mars or the Moon would benefit greatly, they say, from a bit of healthy roughage.
These two Internet giants share similar goals and scale, but different approaches that largely reflect the differences between how the Internet functions in the West and in China. Still, both have much to learn from the other.
In the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally, actor Billy Crystal asserted that men and women can never be friends – because “the sex part always gets in the way.” That may be true for humans, but it’s not the case for one of our closest relatives, the Central A
The European Commission will unveil an arsenal of legislative measures aimed at harmonizing the E.U. countries’ various approaches to digital privacy protection. Among the new laws is a “right to forget” clause, guaranteeing people an “out” from services
After years of living large, German hacker turned celebrity Kim Schmitz is suddenly in serious trouble. At the behest of U.S. authorities, the Megaupload’s founder was nabbed last week in New Zealand. Die Welt charts the unusual career of a “dotc
An upcoming documentary lays out an intriguing new twist in the historical saga of the Cold War space race: Yugoslavia had secretly made major advances in space travel technology. Did Yugoslav leader Tito make a pact with President Kennedy that would chan
A London-based project dubbed OPEC (Orange Peel Exploitation Company) aims to make biofuel from the waste from the more than 10 million tons of oranges that Brazil squeezes into juice each year. It is the latest of many research projects aiming cut CO2 em
By all accounts, Carina Lämmle is the youngest college lecturer in Germany. She also happens to teach a discipline so advanced, few have ever heard of it, and most can barely pronounce it. Still, she may study something else when it’s time to ret
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Do Old Dads Make For Unhealthy Kids?
As more older men become fathers, researchers are focusing on potential health effects of their children. Initial studies show a link between older fathers and children with various genetic defects. But some caution that more research is needed before dra
Since its invention, photography has helped researchers understand clouds. Now, Switzerland’s Fotomuseum Winterthur explores the link between the science and symphony of clouds.
The human brain is an incredible machine, but it may have reached the limit of its abilities. Evolution could cause our brains to grow a bit more, though bigger may not necessarily be better.
A laboratory in Rennes is developing ‘bio-batteries,’ fuel cells that use bacteria rather than expensive metals to generate electricity.
The fight against addiction may have a powerful new weapon. Rehab will rid your body of addictive substances and teach you how to live without drugs, but temptation remains. What if you could forget ever having taken cocaine?
SchülerVZ, a youth portal, has introduced a new app for young school children to rate their peers. While the company says it’s safe and fun, some experts and parents say it encourages the worst kind of child social pressures that can have lasting conseque
We already knew that stress, alcohol, coffee and mental disorders could affect the quality and duration of our sleep. Research now suggests that genes play a role as well. European scientists recently isolated a gene that may affect a person’s ni
Analysis: A very public U.S. air pollution monitor has become central in the debate over Beijing’s air quality. But China is so far from facing its environmental crisis that it doesn’t even use the latest standard means for measuring smo
The Italian Jewish author and scientist lived through the worst that mankind has wrought. Now his name lives on beyond his work, and beyond the earth, in a 17-km-wide celestial body — discovered in 1989 — that has now officially been named planet Primol
A growing body of data shows just how important oral hygiene is – not just healthy teeth, but also to avoid life-threatening medical events like heart attacks and strokes. Brushing is a must. But people should also have their teeth cleaned professionally,
British researchers used in utero video imaging to conclude that babies develop the basic muscle mechanisms for smiling well before they’re even born. This would offer evidence that laughter and smiles are inherent to humans, not necessarily only
The Russian Space Agency’s most recent “sputnik” is looking grim. The unmanned spacecraft was supposed to reach Phobos, one of Mars’ moons. Though the probe’s signal was picked up Wednesday after vanishing for two weeks