NSA snoops tech companies' fibre-optic networks
Even though they cooperate with the US spy agency on court-ordered surveillance, firms like Google and Yahoo are subject to additional surveillance they never agreed to
Waste away: Nuclear power's eternal problem
Bin in, sink it, bury it – we still don't know what to do with our radioactive waste. Is Finland offering an answer with the world's first deep repository?
The edge of reason: When logic fails us
There are inherent limits to logic that can't be resolved, and they bedevil our minds too, says Noson Yanofsky in The Outer Limits of Reason
Cuckoo bee feasts on the larvae of its cousins
With its huge eyes and cuddly exterior, this beast sure looks cute. But it is a cuckoo bee – an egg-munching, larva-killing parasite of the nests of other bees
An oil crash is on its way and we should be ready
The financial crisis was bad, but wait until you see what's coming down the pipe from the fossil fuel industry, warns social entrepreneur Jeremy Leggett
Can Nairobi be the next Silicon Valley?
The opening of IBM's first lab in Africa is a pivotal moment, says chief scientist Uyi Stewart – and researchers of the African diaspora should be part of it
Solving the eternal mystery that is time
How can modern theories of physics which say time does not flow be squared with our experience?
Should we give the green light to geoengineers?
There's no legal bar to field tests of technology that might cool the planet – perhaps that's for the best
Zoologger: Baby vampire aphids drink parents' blood
When their normal food supply runs low, the clonal offspring of pea aphids turn to an alternative source of nutrition: parents and other adults
Solar activity heads for lowest low in four centuries
The sun's activity is in free fall, says a leading space physicist, which may slow global warming due to climate change. But don't expect a little ice age
Toxic fog fills Nicaraguan streets to battle disease
The streets are choked by a fog of fumigating pesticide as Nicaragua tries to combat the mosquitoes that spread dengue
Little bugs on the prairie: the key to happy grassland
Farming has stripped the US prairies of their essential microbes. Identifying the lost bugs and putting them back could help restore the degraded land
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