"Ding! Time to throw your drawers in the dryer."  That’s the message University of Iowa students can now receive by e-mail. Thanks to software installed along with new high-efficiency washers last fall, the school’s dormitory residents can receive e-mail alerts when their laundry cycles have finished.

Female migrant workers in the southern city of Shenzhen are increasingly choosing to hit the schoolbooks to improve their life prospects.

Anyone caught smoking in a French school, hospital, metro station, office or sports hall on Thursday was liable for the first time to a stiff fine as the first stage of a two-step measure to ban smoking in all public places went into effect.

Nobody like an encounter with the police. But chances are you have friends who have the uncanny ability to weasel out of any speeding ticket. So what’s their secret?

Chris Anderson:  One of the problems with having coined a phrase that has become something of a cliche is that it invites criticism and backlash. There have been dozens of articles or blog posts that questions some part of the thesis or the data that underlies it.

The story of February goes back to the year 740 BC. Legend tells of Romulus, the first king of Rome, who like any good king had to provide for all the things that a city needed. He had to designate money — he used salt and some natural silver and copper — and he had […]

Health officials have alerted doctors to risks associated with the popular insomnia pill Stilnox after reports of drugged people eating uncontrollably while asleep.

According to a semi-annual survey conducted by the China Internet Network Information Center, as of the end of 2006 the number of Internet users in China was estimated to be 137 million, a 10.5% penetration rate.

Nearly one in three Britons hits the bottle to deal with stress, it has been claimed. A study by The Samaritans says 32% of those asked admitted to drinking to cope with pressures in their lives - compared to just 23% in 2003.