Until recently, security was a backwater in the world of computing. Many people cite Albert Einstein’s aphorism “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” Only a handful, however, have had the [...]

In their quest for a cancer cure, researchers at the Duke Cancer Institute made a serendipitous discovery — a molecule necessary for cheaper and greener ways to produce nylon. The finding, described in the Sept. 23, [...]

To jump start things, in he stumped up $27m for nine prizes. IN THE late 1980s, while working on a PhD thesis in the fiendishly complicated maths of quantum chromodynamics, the theory of the strong [...]

Intense competition among scientists has led to abuses. Is there a better way? When Isaac Newton developed calculus and his theory of gravity, he reaped a reward far greater than stock options in a start-up [...]

It’s time for a new picture. Think “innovative startup” and the picture of an entrepreneur under 30 generally comes to mind — someone ready to feed new products to the coveted 18-to-34 demographic. Baby Boomers [...]

Governments pose the biggest threat to global innovation, a senior adviser to Hillary Clinton has warned. Speaking at LeWeb London, Alec Ross said the “hierarchy of control” is being taken from those in power and [...]

“Now that,” I said, “would be the real Arab Spring.” A FEW weeks ago, I was in Amman, Jordan, talking with educators, when I met a young American woman with the most remarkable job description. [...]

Open-source hackers are creating an entire ecosystem with Microsoft’s Kinect, ushering in a new era of gesture-controlled inventions.   Hackers have transformed the $150 Xbox add-on into a platform for everything from artificial vision aids [...]

Other science agencies should follow NIH policy, say campaigners   More than 17,000  23,000 people have signed an online petition urging US President Barack Obama to require all scientific journal articles resulting from US taxpayer-funded [...]

The most talented individuals must be given the trust and freedom to explore and question   Scientific breakthroughs arise when excellent researchers are given the freedom to explore beyond the bounds of formulaic R&D programmes. [...]

The technology has promising applications beyond memory storage   The first purely silicon oxide-based ‘Resistive RAM’ memory chip that can operate in ambient conditions – opening up the possibility of new super-fast memory – has [...]

Science in crisis   Scientists – and science generally – are in a moment of crisis on multiple fronts. The gap between science and society has grown to a chasm, with disastrous consequences for issue [...]