Internet responsible for 2 per cent of global energy usage

How much energy does the internet use?

The World at 7 Billion

This month, the 7 billionth person will be born on a planet already strapped for resources. To mark this extraordinary milestone, lets explore the most pressing population issues of the day, from the quest for sustainable energy sources to a look at what our biggest cities could look like in the decades to come.

How Economic Inequality Is (Literally) Making Us Sick

Imagine there was one changeable factor that affected virtually every measure of a country’s health— including life expectancy, crime rates, addiction, obesity, infant mortality, stroke, academic achievement, happiness and even overall prosperity. Indeed, this factor actually exists.

What Will It Take To Become The Internet’s Next Big Thing?

It will take some big and different thinking to change the Internet world again. Not everyone with an idea spins it into the 10 million user triumph that is Foursquare, the over-200 million that is Twitter and the staggering 800 million that use Facebook.

Comparing India and China

How the Asian superpowers compare on various measures of development.

Movies of the Mind: Using Brain Scans to See What Others Think

While it only works now with clips from actual movies, researchers have taken a major step in decoding what people see in their mind’s eye.

The Great Tech War Of 2012

Apple, Facebook, Google, and Amazon battle for the future of the innovation economy.

When will the 7 billionth human be born?

ON 31 October, a newborn baby somewhere in the world will become the 7 billionth member of the human race. Or so says the UN – alternatively, this date could be at least a year too early.

Study shows materialistic couples have more money and more problems.

New research confirms The Beatles’ lyrical hypothesis and finds that “the kind of thing that money just can’t buy” is a happy and stable marriage.

Why Software Is Eating The World

This week, Hewlett-Packard announced that it is exploring jettisoning its struggling PC business in favor of investing more heavily in software, where it sees better potential for growth. Meanwhile, Google plans to buy up the cellphone handset maker Motorola Mobility. Both moves surprised the tech world. But both moves are also in line with a trend I’ve observed, one that makes me optimistic about the future growth of the American and world economies, despite the recent turmoil in the stock market.

Richard Feynman on beauty and curiosity.

The quantum mechanics physicist Richard Feynman is talking about the beauty of science and of the natural world.

‘Quadruple rainbow’ caught on film for the first time

Scientists have captured the first image of a “quaternary” rainbow – the fourth rainbow caused by the bending of light through water in the air.

Studies of Universe’s Expansion Win Physics Nobel

Three astronomers won the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for discovering that the universe is apparently being blown apart by a mysterious force that cosmologists now call dark energy, a finding that has thrown the fate of the universe and indeed the nature of physics into doubt.

Twitter-Mining Captures Global Mood Patterns.

An analysis of mood patterns distilled from half a billion tweets has produced a civilization-scale picture of how moods rise and fall in tandem, over time and across the world.

Clouds: The Most Useful Metaphor of All Time?

In plays, poems, songs, and novels, clouds stand in for everything from bad philosophy to the many incarnations of a soul.

Iceland and Ireland Models Help to Guide Greece’s Path

Opinion has polarized on what the best path is for Greece to take as it struggles out of its debt burden. European politicians are pressing for the country to follow Ireland’s example of austerity and debt repayment. But Keynesian economists, led by Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, argue that austerity merely paves the way to semi-permanent depression.