How to get right in the middle of the war in Syria — from thousands of miles...
Virtual reality was once the province of science fiction book and movies — think of the holodeck on "Star Trek." But virtual reality is becoming a practical, real-world technology, one that people are...
View ArticleThe North Koreans have been honing their hacking skills for years
So, Sony was hacked and the release of its movie The Interview was cancelled. The digital dust — or should I say bits — has settled. Now, what?"Respond," says President Obama.Late last week the White...
View ArticleAlan Turing may have cracked Nazi codes, but thousands of women helped
Breaking the code behind the Nazis' enigma machine was crucial to the Allies winning World War II.The new movie "The Imitation Game" tells the story of Alan Turing and the machine he developed to break...
View ArticleWhen the Internet goes down in North Korea, there aren't many to notice
If someone switched off North Korea's Internet Monday, they're not stepping forward to take credit. Two of the most likely suspects, Washington and Beijing, won't say they did it. But high-ranking...
View ArticlePlease don't leave a message after the beep
When’s the last time you listened to a voicemail message?Well if you work for Coca-Cola, you might never have to listen to a voicemail again. The soft drink giant announced it’s eliminating its...
View ArticleCuban entrepreneurs find ways to get information — with or without the Internet
Now that the US and Cuba are resuming diplomatic relations, there's hope that Cuba's Internet dirt road will finally become the information superhighway much of the rest of the world has access to.For...
View ArticleSurvivors will never forget the day the tsunami hit
A lot of people around the world today are looking at a video circulating on Facebook comprised of before and after shots from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Ten years ago, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake...
View ArticleHidden Christmas gifts from Congress to big corporations are an annual ritual
A rider attached by Arizona Senator John McCain to the latest Defense Authorization Bill ignores a Native American treaty and trades away 2,400 acres of sacred land to a copper mining company.There is...
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How to make sure those are American chestnuts roasting on your fire
If you’re roasting chestnuts on an open fire this holiday season, they’re probably not from an American chestnut tree, but rather a related European or Chinese species. The American chestnut, rather,...
View ArticleAn AirAsia jet carrying 162 people is still missing
Authorities in Indonesia are mounting a search for a commercial jetliner that went missing over the weekend — a grim reminder of the still-ongoing search for a Malaysian airliner that went missing...
View ArticleThe year of surveillance is finally over
2014 was the year we found out just how many ways we're all being spied on.Whether it was the NSA, your cell phone company or some place where you bought pants a few months ago, it seemed everyone was...
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Lemur poop might save Madagascar's forests — and economy
From the cackles of roosters on the edge of town, Kianjavato could be just about any village in the developing world. But cast your eyes into the trees here and it’s clear it could only be in one...
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If you want to honk in India, you may have to pay
The honking of car horns in India is everywhere. It’s enough to make anyone lose their mind — and make me wear earplugs whenever I step out of my house.In fact, I have a standard spiel when I get into...
View ArticleQuoting Spiderman didn't spare a Bitcoin evangelist from prison
With great power comes great responsibility. That's Spiderman's mantra, but the phrase was also used recently by Charlie Shrem to defend himself in court.Shrem was a high-profile promoter of the...
View ArticleChange in US-Cuba relations presents big risks — and rewards — for Cuba's...
President Barack Obama's decision to renew diplomatic relations with Cuba has sparked lots of speculation about how the island might look in five or 10 years. “Can you imagine spring break happening in...
View ArticleThere's a push in Sweden to deal with Internet trolls
Sweden has a high Internet penetration rate — almost 95 percent of people can access high-speed conections.It's not surprising, then, that a lot of Swedes spend large amounts of time on the Internet —...
View ArticleIn looking back at this year's environmental news there's a lot of doom and...
My bosses wanted me to review the top environmental stories of 2014 for The World. I decided to cheat a little bit to start by sneaking back into the very end of 2013.A research boat got stuck in the...
View ArticleThe marvelously stabilizing power of beer foam
A group of mechanical engineers walk into a bar. It sounds like the start of a bad joke, but it was actually the start of a cool scientific experiment.The engineers order a few beers and one of them...
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For these activists, oil and art just don't mix
On a recent cold night in Trafalgar Square, a group of 30 or so people rehearsed a new piece of musical theater in front of Britain’s National Gallery of Art. But if the venue was highbrow, the...
View ArticleTwo new studies suggest more melting is in store for the Greenland ice sheet
Two new studies, each looking at different measurements, have reached a similar conclusion: The impact of global warming on the Greenland ice sheet is being underestimated.Andrew Shepherd, the coauthor...
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