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Future law: Can you be slandered by a robot?

In a world awash with robots, teleports and self-driving cars, you are going to need a good lawyer, warns Richard Fisher


Spotty record: Four centuries of sunspot pictures

Sunspot counts form our longest continuous data series, stretching back to the 17th century. See how the images have changed – and what we've learned


Japanese probe to sniff out why planets lose gases

Sprint-A will be the first satellite designed to study planets from Earth's orbit, figuring out the conditions that let a world hold on to its atmosphere


The foreign language copycat catcher

A system that detects when a piece of text has been plagiarised could stop would-be cheaters using Google Translate to get them out of a course work hole


Low-budget way to send your stuff into space

Who needs a rocket to send things to space when you can use a balloon? That's the idea of Chris Rose and Alex Baker, who have set up a firm to do just that


Why personalised medicine is bad for us all

Individualised therapies are cool and appealing, but we must not let them steamroller public health measures that benefit everybody


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