MYSTERY OF THE DEEP
An undersea array of hydrophones set up by the US Navy is picking up strange unidentified sounds. Could huge sea monsters be the source, some wonder?
ANTI-SMOKING VACCINE
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Trials of vaccines that stop nicotine reaching the brain are under way. If they work, libertarians fear there will be pressure to give them to all children.
INSTANT WEIGHT GAIN
You really do weigh more if you put your scales on a carpet, because it prevents the base of most scales bending. Digital scales are less prone to errors.
HITTING THE SPOT
The G spot is real. Enzymes found in the erectile tissue of penises are also abundant in most women in the area of the G spot, Italian researchers found.
BOOM TURNS TO BUST
The UN has lowered its estimates for population growth. Instead of growing to 10 billion by 2150, the world鈥檚 population may crash to 5 billion, as women have fewer children.
WEATHER MACHINE
You鈥檝e heard of the butterfly effect. But why leave it to butterflies? Simulations suggest that by making small changes at the right place and time, we could exploit chaos and control the weather.
THE MATRIX IS REAL
We really could be living in a computer simulation, some philosophers concluded. But don鈥檛 tell anyone. If those running it know we know, they might pull the plug.
PRIME MOVERS
Indian computer scientists discovered a simple solution to the centuries-old problem of telling if a number is prime. The surprise finding left mathematicians wondering what else they are missing.
GREAT GRANDADDY?
A 7-million-year-old skull found in Chad might be our earliest known ancestor 鈥� or perhaps just a distant cousin.