01Technology / Explainer
Three usual causes of a slow computer, and how to spot each
Microsoft blames low storage, startup apps and ageing hardware, and Apple adds short memory. These checks show which one is slowing yours.
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Irish immigrants swapped turnip lanterns for pumpkins in America
Irish immigrants carved turnips for Halloween. In America they found a bigger vegetable, and the old lantern lost out. Modern Farmer traces the switch.
The NHS says food poisoning usually clears within a week
Most UK food poisoning passes within a week, but the germ sets the clock. Here is what the NHS and Cleveland Clinic say to expect.
US lenders weigh a firm's credit, age and revenue
Before a US lender offers a business credit line, it reads credit reports, asks how long the firm has traded and tests revenue. Minimums vary widely.
Cas9 follows a guide RNA to one spot and cuts the DNA there
Bacteria evolved Cas9 to shred viral DNA. In 2012 Doudna and Charpentier swapped its RNA guide so it cuts any chosen gene.
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Victorian Britain reset the dinner table, course by course
Eliza Acton and Isabella Beeton wrote down how the Victorian middle class dined, while many of the poor had no oven. Three of their recipes, updated.
China's Gang of Four were called to a meeting and arrested
On 6 October 1976, a month after Mao died, Hua Guofeng had Jiang Qing and three allies seized one by one. Their fall ended China's Cultural Revolution.
California water budgets: a pinhole disc for the overspenders
In California's drought, the Las Virgenes Water District gave each home a water budget. Ignore five warnings and a pinhole disc cuts the supply to a trickle.
Britain's plot holders dug through two wars and a waiting list
Enclosure created the British allotment and the 1908 Act made councils provide it. In 2023, a count found 174,183 people waiting for a plot.
In Edinburgh's Blair Street Vaults, the dark is the attraction
Mercat Tours, which runs the Blair Street Vaults, says Edinburgh's gory past sells its ghost tours, and that underground the lack of light does the rest.