Internet phenomena. Memes. Grist for the e-mail forwarding mill. Whatever you call them, Web fads are entertaining, unintended consequences of life on the World Wide Web. Once the masses could put anything online easily, they turned up weird fetishes, hilarious parody, jaw-dropping narcissism, and moments of brilliance.

Utility operator CenterPoint Energy Inc. and IBM will team up to test new technologies for delivering high-speed Internet access over electrical powerlines, the companies said Monday.

It looks like Daylight Saving Time is about to be extended, and that has child safety and fire prevention advocates riled.

Help may finally be at hand for sufferers of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) thanks to a group of British researchers who have found abnormalities in the white blood cells of the afflicted.

Scientists are questioning the safety of a Star Wars-style riot control ray gun due to be deployed in Iraq next year.

Scientists seeking a simple solution to the tricky task of separating single cells from a herd of others have found a way of making light of the problem.

The modern world exists because of science, so Fred Kavli hopes his funding of astrophysics, brain research and nanoscience will pave the way to the future.

Extreme close-up images of human bone have revealed its secrets to staying strong, researchers report. A better understanding of the material’s properties could lead to improved therapies for bone fractures, or help avoid them altogether.

Pop quiz: Which schools produced the most degrees in computer science in 2001? MIT? Carnegie Mellon? Georgia Tech?

You buy a DVD, and then loan it to your neighbor. You shoot a video of your new baby and make copies to send to everyone in the family. Your college professor shows a short clip of a classic film in class. You’re on vacation so you record three weeks of “Desperate Housewives.” These [...]

The sky is blue — physicists tell us — because blue light in the sun’s rays bends more than red light. But this extra bending, or scattering, applies just as much to violet light, so it is reasonable to ask why the sky isn’t purple.

“Armageddon” director Michael Bay likes big bangs, fast chases and fancy gadgets but his latest movie “The Island” takes a new turn, addressing the pressing political issue of cloning and the ethics of science.

Physicists are hunting for an elusive particle that would reveal the presence of a new kind of field that permeates all of reality. Finding that Higgs field will give us a more complete understanding about how the universe works

The British Antarctic Survey has announced the result of its competition to design a new research base on the frozen continent. The winning proposal offers researchers the opportunity to live in elevated modules perched on skis.

For 26 years, strange conversations have been taking place in a basement lab at Princeton University.

Thomas Frey: What name springs to mind when you say the phrase “famous female inventor?” If you’re having a tough time answering this, you are not alone.
I became interested in this topic when I ran across a very curious statistic. In 1980 only 1.7% of all the patent filings were filed by [...]

Are you still wondering what this podcasting thing is all about? Podcasting is essentially radio on your own terms – what you want, when you want it. Forget traditional programming schedules and listen to the ideas, music, and funny thinking of a new generation of audio personalities – on the MP3 player of your [...]

THE newspaper of the future has been revealed by a team of Paisley scientists who have developed a new iPod-style computer for reading.

Chinese elephants are evolving into an increasingly tuskless breed because poaching is changing the gene pool, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Birds have learned to imitate the ring tones of the omnipresent mobile phones, say German ornithologists.

While anecdotal evidence suggests that men are more likely to monopolize the remote, a new study suggests that women are in the driver’s seat when it comes to using a digital video recorder.

Farmers, businesses and state officials are investing millions of dollars in ethanol and biofuel plants as renewable energy sources, but a new study says the alternative fuels burn more energy than they produce.

Google rainmakers and venture capitalists John Doerr and Ram Shriram are pinning their hopes–and millions–on yet another Stanford University spin-off with a nonsensical name.

Around 1,500 volunteers stripped naked and walked the streets of Newcastle and Gateshead in the name of art. Complete photo gallery,

A wealthy lawyer says he must be the ugliest man in the world after having 5,000 marriage proposals turned down.