Science & technology

The cosmic corkscrew

According to the text books, space looks the same in every direction. Einstein said so. But it appears that the text books (and Einstein) may be wrong

Intelligent roads

Highway to heaven?

Dambuilders and dambusters

Should dams be built? Forging a consensus will be tricky

Flat-screen displays

When size matters

The whore of Babylon and the horseman of plague

Recent experience with Iraq suggests that preventing the proliferation of biological weapons will be difficult but not impossible

Rocket science

Abandon spaceship

How (and why) to find a needle in a haystack

The proper functioning of organisms depends on a complex game of hide-and-seek conducted inside the cell. Biologists are now beginning to draw on information theory to develop a better understanding of the rules of this game