As an avid science-fiction reader during my childhood, one of the most outstanding extrapolations for future technology was that of the spac...

I was recently surprised to read that a New Zealand genomics scientist, Neil Gemmell of Otago University, is about to lead an international ...

It's often said that fact follows fiction but there are times when some such instances appear to be uncanny beyond belief.  One relative...

As fans of Star Wars might be aware, George Lucas is nothing if not visually astute. His thumbnail sketches for the X-wing, TIE fighter and...

With utmost apologies to Jane Austen fans, it is a truth universally acknowledged that most people misinterpret science as an ever-expanding...

2002 was a big year. According to some statistics, it was the year that digital storage capacity overtook analogue: books gave way to online...

As a young child I probably overdid it on books in the boy's own fantastic facts genre, reading with breathless wonder about giant - and...

Last weekend my car stopped working. If a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, then an hour of internet research is probably worse. Convin...

As previously discussed , Arthur C. Clarke's First Law is as follows: "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that somet...

A few evenings ago I saw the International Space Station. It was dusk, and walking home with the family we were looking at Jupiter when a mo...

I recently heard a joke along the lines of: "Question: What would a scientist from one hundred years ago find most disconcerting about ...

I recently saw a billboard for the Samsung Galaxy SIII advertising a competition to win a "trip to space", in the form of a suborb...