Op-Ed: The United States has little reason to celebrate the end of its 30-year-old space shuttle program, according to France’s Le Monde. The 1970s-era space ships accomplished little and cost far too much – both in terms of dollars and human lives.
Category: Future
Scientists working for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are researching the many different ways human waste can be put to good use — such as powering electrical current with human excrement, or purifying urine into drinking water.
Like hundreds of others in Germany, and a few cases popping up elsewhere, one 29-year-old is lucky to be alive, but otherwise facing major health problems.
An NGO in Geneva, Swizerland is working on a drug to treat to African trypanosomiasis, better known as “sleeping sickness.” If approved, the medication would be available in pill form. Sleeping sickness patients must currently received painful injections.
A “crazy” pan-African plan is looking to fight desertification in the Sahara with a giant green belt. The ambitious initiative calls for planting millions of trees – from Senegal all the way to Djibouti.
Airbus engineers are coming up with startling new ideas for how planes could look – and operate – 40 years from now. By 2050, commercial aircraft may have transparent cabins, fly in formations and shuttle some 9 billion passengers.
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Is There An Infidelity Gene?
Researchers have shown that the tendency to cheat on a mate is hereditary among a bird species, and probe what role genetics play in human cheating as well?
Attacked by dogs, victims of drought, devastated by a disease that is sexually transmitted in humans, Australia’s iconic koala bears are struggling to survive. But government authorities still have not granted the species official “endangered” status.
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The Night They Served E. Coli For Dinner
In May, 17 people were infected with E. Coli while dining at the Kartoffelkeller restaurant in the the German city of Lübeck. Fresh salad is no longer served there, as owners and diners try to stay calm – and maintain their appetites.
French authorities recently launched a campaign aimed not at the causes of cancer, but at one of its more debilitating effects: the social stigma that still persists.
Scientists are looking at nature’s myriad molecules — studying substances like tree bark and fungi — in hopes of coming up with cures for cancer and other maladies.
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The Island Of Happy Bees
On the Canadian island of Newfoundland, bees don’t get sick or sting. Researchers want to spread this buzzing paradise, and get some organic honey in the process.
Swiss scientists searching for the “altruism gene” use robots to show why creatures, human and otherwise, sacrifice themselves for the sake of others.
Much cheaper than Apple’s iPad, the Archos tablet is looking east for mass markets. But must rely on a new influx of investment capital.
French umbrella manufacturer Veritable Cherbourg has unveiled a range of defense umbrellas straight out of a James Bond movie. President Nicolas Sarkozy’s security detail has already put in an order for these high-tech gizmos.
From the Internet’s real-time encyclopedia of information to GPS navigators, new technology makes our brains work slower. But scientists show how we can kick our minds back into action.
French neuroscientists are probing the workings of the human brain through the way the world’s top athletes perform under pressure.
Germany is a world leader when it comes to green energy. But while its windmills and solar panels may be cleaning up the atmosphere, they’re also sullying the landscape.
As the hunt continues for data from a 2009 Air France plane crash in the Atlantic, a new French device could make such lengthy searches a thing of the past.
The different ways the West and Asia look at robots is defining their shape — and uses.
France, which gets the vast majority of its electricity from nuclear power, is looking hard at safety at its 59 plants after the disaster at the Fukushima reactors in Japan. At the EDF energy giant, this world leader in atomic energy tries to show it is a
French authorities try to step up their campaign against alcohol. The result may create more confusion than concern.
As the price of oil soars, U.S. energy companies are keen to prospect the little-known shale oil deposits beneath the Paris Basin, a 170,000-square-kilometer area surrounding the French capital.
Researchers have found that chimpanzees use laughter to bond just like we do, vocalizing in ways that are uncannily human. But do they really get the joke?
From brakes to wings to undercarriages, the race is on to electrify planes – to make them lighter and more environmentally friendly. Boeing 787 (flickr) Even if electric motors won’t be taking over jet engines anytime soon, recent technological innovations could have huge ramifications for the entire aeronautical industry. And the recent bid by French […]
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Skype’s CEO Lays Groundwork For IPO
Set to go public later this year, the upstart Internet calling service is expanding its services and multiplying partnerships across platforms. (adria.richards) By Nicolas Rauline Gone are the days when Skype was just a feisty start-up, out to steal calling minutes from phone operators. The cheap and even free call specialist now represents 20% of […]
Some one billion frogs are gobbled up each year. Around since the dinosaurs, some frog species are nearing extinction, warns a leading German biologist. (Tom Harding) Anita Pöhlig, BRAUNSCHWEIG – The diversity of frog species is rich and vast. Some weigh six pounds, others are smaller than a thumbnail, there are frogs of an inconspicuous […]
France has joined the hunt for the perfect formula for using editorial content to draw readers to commercial brand websites. Royal Monceau hotel produces a website that reports on cultural happenings around Paris PARIS – Net-a-porter.com paved the way early on in France when it began sprinkling the advice of stylists on its e-commerce fashion […]
The French-based mega technology project shows some small signs of progress, but critics say its top-heavy, public structure stands in the way of any real innovation PARIS – What exactly is Quaero searching for? It’s a 200-million-euro question, in light of the huge investment in this research program, which was selected by the Agency for […]
Advances in neuro-psychology help decipher the secrets of consumer decisions. (Elsie) How do our subconscious minds react to advertising? What are the different consumer types? Researchers around the world are searching for the latest secrets of our purchase decisions, and a growing number of companies are putting their findings into practice. In Germany, the Hamburg […]
Padma is Europe’s only pharmaceutical company producing Tibetan medicines, working to adapt Eastern cures to strict Western regulations. Tibetan monks at Wutun monastery (Tom Thai) Michael von Ledebur WETZIKON – Allspice, columbine herb, gypsum, marigold petals, cardamom, sandalwood, Icelandic moss: the list is long of ingredients in Padma 28. The compound, which is the Swiss […]
Three rivals in France’s telecommunications market, Orange, SFR and Bouygues, join forces to form ‘Buyster,” an e-payment system that aims to compete with US giants Paypal, Google and Apple. Solveig Godeluck PARIS – It’s no longer an entente, but a sacred union. Rival French telecommunication operators Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom have agreed to work […]
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The Davos Contradiction
World leaders can agree on the same ambitious goals for encouraging a more global economy, but not the means for arriving there Russian President Medvedev DAVOS – There is true consensus at Davos: it can no longer be business as usual. Heads of state, corporate leaders and intellectuals gathered here share the belief that we […]
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Diamonds Are A Geek’s Best Friend
Italian researchers use diamonds to build uber computer of the future (Roger Barker) TURIN – The most powerful computer ever built by man is already in the works. Its secret? Diamonds. This is not science fiction, but an experiment currently underway in Italy, which will produce the first quantum computers. Researcher Paolo Olivero, who is […]
France looks for new approaches – and a new look — to its antiquated places of saving and loaning PARIS – Credit Agricole, a major French bank, opened the Alpha branch this week in Paris, a place where the bank’s clients get to try out their new services and technological innovations billed as “the agency […]
Scientists aim to create bacteria “mini factories,” using microorganisms to produce new materials for industrial use bacteria When engineers detect new biological design principles, they usually try to translate them into new technologies – and ultimately novel applications. But this unfolding of innovation doesn’t only happen on a large scale: micro and nano-structured biomaterials are […]
After booming 2010 Internet shopping results, the French hypermarché chain tries to reinvent the superstore PARIS – There isn’t always a link between cause and effect, but there sure are signs of it in 2010 shopping sales. On the one hand, the largest superstores, magnets of mass consumerism since the 1970s, have lost ground. By […]
After several dogs die at her English estate, Queen Elizabeth orders probe the queen loves her corgis LONDON – Perhaps it’s some sort of poison, or a mystery fungus. Whatever the cause, the canine-loving Queen Elizabeth II must also be fearing for the lives of her own beloved corgis after the unexplained death of several […]
Indom, leader of domain names in France, is bought by its British counterpart in the latest ceding of French control online One French web success sold abroad flickr Nicolas Rauline PARIS – The list grows longer. After a Japanese purchase of France’s e-commerce site PriceMinister and Axel Springer’s takeover bid for Paris-based real estate portal […]
A new study rejects the hypothesis of suicide, concluding that Callas’ vocal decline and 1977 death were caused by a degenerative disease. Maria Callas, Henry Koerner, Oil on canvas, 1956 (via Flickr) BOLOGNA – To this day, the causes of both the vocal decline and eventual death of legendary soprano Maria Callas have remained a […]