BBC Focus Magazine

Time we defined "death" and "dead" better. There is no life after death yet we get many books and statements of people who have been "dead" and returned. It is certainly time to better define the death of a person.

http://earthsky.org/space/video-command ... -393620677

From my old stomping grounds at NUIM comes this news from their press office:

A new spin-out company from NUI Maynooth has demonstrated that it is possible to increase intelligence levels and has developed an online programme which can measurably increase intellectual ability.

The company, ‘Raise Your IQ’, has developed the ‘SMART’ (Strengthening Mental Abilities with Relational Training) programme which equips the user with the cognitive skills which lay the foundation for better intelligent reasoning ...

As you do :roll:

Image Credit: BBC News
All that's left.

Officials in Belize say a construction company has destroyed one of the country's largest Mayan pyramids.

Head of the Belizean Institute of Archaeology Jaime Awe said the Noh Mul temple was levelled by a road-building company seeking gravel for road filler.

The Mayan temple dates back to pre-Columbian times and is estimated to be ...

Sequences of images have been compiled from the various Landsat missions to create small but dramatic movies of human wrought change upon the surface of the planet. It's intriguing to watch the spread of urban sprawl in Dubai or Las Vegas and somewhat disturbing to watch equally dramatic glacial retreats and deforestation.

More to be found in a video report here and an in-depth article with associated imagery sequences for your perusal at Time Magazine. ...

Image Credit: Reuters

Scientists are calling on world leaders to take action on climate change after carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere broke through a symbolic threshold.

Daily CO2 readings at a US government agency lab on Hawaii have topped 400 parts per million for the first time.

Sir Brian Hoskins, the head of climate change at the UK-based Royal Society, said the figure should "jolt governments into action".

China and the US have ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22491025

I am a huge Star Wars fan as I'm sure some of you are. However, this new addition of 3 films to be set after the Return of the Jedi leaves me perturbed.

Are we going to be subjected to Hans Solo and Princess Lea discussing their exploits over liver and onions at the retirement home? How on earth are they going to make a further 3 films ...

This week's guide to science on the telly and radio…


Sun 12 May

The Fantastic Mr Feynman
BBC Two, 9.30-10.30pm

Twenty-five years after his death, this fascinating documentary tells the story of one of the most charismatic and inspirational scientists of the 20th century. It’s a tale that takes in atomic bombs, the Challenger Shuttle disaster, and a Nobel Prize.


Tues 14 May

The Life Scientific
BBC Radio 4, 9.00-9.30am

Jim Al-Khalili returns with his ...

One Small Step

Documentary series offering audiences a unique chance to glimpse an astronaut's view of spaceflight. The story of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's trip to the moon. (R)

It's one of science fiction's greatest unfulfilled promises, right up there with teleportation and time travel.
And, no, Terrafugia hasn't built us a Tardis or promised to beam us up. But they say they're closer than ever to giving us a flying car.
This week, the Woburn, Massachussetts-based aerospace company announced it has begun feasibility studies on a car capable of vertical takeoffs and landings. The TF-X would be a four-seat, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, ...