Action Packed: The best waterproof cameras
August 22, 2015
Today’s waterproof cameras offer much more than an underwater function. Many can tolerate cold environments, high humidity and the rough-and-tumble of extreme sports. These tougher, more durable devices are an ideal secondary camera to a smartphone camera. They provide similar features and image quality to good point-and-shoot cameras but [...]

21 holidays that will make you a better person
July 25, 2015
I first looked through a powerful optical telescope on a stargazers’ tour around Chile, at the country’s Mamalluca Observatory in the Elqui Valley. There was Saturn and its rings, and the magical swirls of the Orion Nebula, one of the Hubble telescope’s favourite subjects. At Alma, the world’s largest astronomical project, high in the Atacama Desert, I met [...]

Action Packed: The best GPS devices
April 11, 2015
Until about a decade ago, many of us went trekking with a map in a freezer bag and a compass on a string. Today we have replaced those with a handheld GPS (Global Positioning System) device. Using satellites, these mini-computers with an antenna can calculate your exact position on Earth, marked by a dot on a screen [...]

Infinity and beyond
February 13, 2015
Standing on the banks of the Maroni River, I look across the brown choppy waters from Suriname to French Guiana as ferrymen hustle for my business. It’s too far to make out St.-Laurent-du-Maroni in much detail, just a few mustard-colored buildings, a communication aerial and low-rise warehouses by a jetty. [...]

Wish upon a star
July 8, 2013
It is said that the Incas did not focus on the stars at night. Instead of pointing out twinkling celestial bodies and joining up the dots to make constellations, they found meaning in the dark patches of the night sky. For them, a pool of blackness immediately below the Southern Cross was the head of a snake [...]

Intelligent playgrounds
September 26, 2007
LONDON, England -- Pick me! Pick me! The weakest children may no longer be left out of playground games. New technology may help to put kids on a more level playing field, which may in turn motivate them to learn and encourage competitiveness. [...]

A giant leap : Robots or astronauts ?
September 3, 2007
LONDON, England -- Can everyone be an astronomer? It certainly seems that way, especially with some of the latest tools at our fingertips, like Google Sky, which allows Internet users to navigate through a digitized map of space. [...]

How now ? A virtual cow
August 9, 2007
LONDON, England -- Virtual reality (VR) is not just giving us fun and games. Its convincing interfaces are also transforming medicine by creating environments that simulate the real world. Advances in interactive computer technology have been generating breakthroughs for doctors and patients, and now, vets and animals, too. [...]

Fast forward : Broadband drama
July 25, 2007
LONDON, England -- The captains of the television industry may want to switch off their sets for a minute (actually, 37 seconds) to assess the potential of interactive Web drama. This week, a new series called "KateModern" launched on Bebo, the global social networking site with a pioneering, young audience. [...]

Window on the world
June 26, 2007
LONDON, England -- Don't bother to pack your bags. Skip the queues at the airport. Forget security and immigration checks. Even leave your passport behind. Sound like a perfect holiday? Just log on to a virtual vacation, whether it be lazing on a beach, a ski trip or climbing archaeological ruins. [...]

Identity in a virtual world
June 14, 2007
LONDON, England -- There's more to someone's identity than a social security number, passport photo and set of fingerprints but it's difficult to define exactly what else it is. Is it what the public sees or the inner self ? [...]

Genealogy Goes High Tech
November 3, 2003
Once genealogy was the pastime of the Burke's Peerage, blue-haired, blue-blood set. But now new advances in DNA technology are opening ancestral doors so both orphans and heirs to the throne can find where their families are from. [...]