Latest Stories
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Angelina reveals dramatic cancer dilemma
Film star Angelina Jolie opted for radical surgery to prevent breast cancer, which an inherited genetic defect makes more likely. Her frankness has been hailed by health campaigners.
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Minimum wage rate draws fire from teenagers
Young employees will receive a higher hourly minimum wage, ministers announced this month. But under-21s still get less than adult workers: exploitation or a fair reflection of experience?
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‘Mozart of chess’ to challenge for world title
At 22, Magnus Carlsen already has the highest rating in chess history. Now, after winning a tightly-contested tournament, he faces India’s Vishy Anand in the official world championship.
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Ten years dramatically change UK population
The 2011 Census, released this week, reveals the immigrant and mixed race population is up, Christianity down. Disastrous transformation or fascinating fresh chapter in UK history?
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Greatest female chess player takes on the men
As schools rush to reintroduce the brain-boosting game of chess to the classroom, the world’s top players gather in London to compete. But where are the women?
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Data wizards put pundits’ predictions to shame
Going against almost all political pundits, statistician Nate Silver has been branded a genius and a witch. But his secret is simple: mathematics.
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Norwegian family astounded by third lottery win
Every time Hege Oksnes has a child, someone in her family wins the lottery. The odds against this are daunting – are these million dollar babies? Or is there another explanation?
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Science awards for dead fish and ponytails
Every year, the scientific community comes together to celebrate its most bizarre and offbeat discoveries. The Ig Nobel Prizes are entertaining – but do they trivialise science?
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Maths genius claims prime number breakthrough
One of the great mathematical problems of modern times appears to have been solved – but the solution is so complicated that no one can be sure it really works. How excited should we be?
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Poor maths means shoppers pay more, study finds
Shoppers are making basic maths errors that are costing them money, researchers have found. Successful retailers are experts at exploiting our natural inability to think properly about price.
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Geeks celebrate 100th birthday of tragic genius
Tomorrow marks the 100th birthday of Alan Turing, a mathematical genius who cracked Nazi codes, pioneered modern computing, but was also a victim of appalling prejudice and injustice.
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Top US universities to teach one billion students
Students pay thousands each year to study at MIT and Harvard. Now, these elite colleges will open their courses to everyone, for free, over the web. Could this learning revolution change the...
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Wikipedia founder to open up UK government
Jimmy Wales, the man behind Wikipedia, has shown that a million amateur bright sparks can offer at least as much illumination as one lone expert. Now he aims to apply the same idea to politics.
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Leap year babies celebrate birthdays at last
Today is a ‘leap day’ – an extra day inserted into the calendar in an effort to keep the seasons from slipping out of sync. Even today, keeping dates in line with nature takes constant...
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Missing piece of science puzzle may have been found
The science world is buzzing with gossip. Researchers at CERN, it is whispered, have solved one of the great riddles of physics: has the mysterious Higgs boson come to light at last?