In the last 10 years, cryptography researchers have demonstrated that even the most secure-seeming computer is shockingly vulnerable to attack. The time it takes a computer to store data in memory, fluctuations in its power consumption and even the noises it emits can betray information to a savvy assailant. Attacks that use such indirect sources […] … learn more→

Garage sales have long been a fixture of Australian suburban culture, with people selling their unwanted things in their yard or garage, usually at token or negotiable prices. In the past, sales were usually advertised locally, with signs placed on street poles or in the local paper. They were generally isolated affairs, dispersed throughout the […] … learn more→

For many of us, swearing is part of our everyday existence. The ability to let off your dissatisfaction at another person or inanimate object in a linguistically flamboyant fashion is one of the smaller pleasures in life. Yet little is understood about the factors that influence an individual\’s inclination to swear. However, the opening up […] … learn more→

MIT’s venerable Beer Game, a table contest, sheds light on the mysteries of manufacturing and the difficulties of running a business. … learn more→

Concerned about the negative consequences of appearing to be too outspoken, powerful women talk less than others in their organizations, while powerful men talk more, according to research by Victoria Brescoll, assistant professor of organizational behavior at the Yale School of Management. Brescoll studied the amount of time men and women in powerful roles talk. […] … learn more→

I am a Warcraft widow, an affectionate term given to those who have “lost” a partner to World of Warcraft (WoW) as a result of excessive game-playing. I have first-hand experience of the way games such as WoW can be so engaging that entertainment becomes a way of life. Which leads me to the question: […] … learn more→

As mentioned already on this site and others, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of famed British mathematician Alan Turing. The outline of his remarkable life and sad ending has by now become fairly well known. Turing laid numerous foundation stones of modern computing, ranging from the deepest mathematical nature of computing […] … learn more→

OxSciBlog: What makes Ganymede so interesting? Leigh Fletcher: When people think of moons in our solar system, they often imagine them as being inferior to the main planets, and somehow less interesting. The moons of Jupiter show how wrong that misguided assumption can be – the four largest Jovian moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto) […] … learn more→

As a good follow-up to last month\’s column on marketing green products to nongreen audience, let\’s take things a notch higher. As you read this, I\’m off to Houston, Texas, USA, to give a speech at a green buildings conference called \”Making Green Sexy.\” The interesting thing about that idea is that \”sexy\” is in […] … learn more→

For students in New York and Boston, who have a range of options beyond their neighborhood school, choosing a high school used to be a maddeningly complicated guessing game. In Boston, for instance, many students would list their three top school choices — but were not guaranteed acceptance at any of them. That made school […] … learn more→