Ransomware: the four checks before a company pays
The National Cyber Security Centre says the choice to pay is the victim's. Payment buys no certainty, as attackers can still sell the data.
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Researchers say QWERTY came from telegraphy, not jams
The usual story says QWERTY stopped typebars jamming. A 2011 Kyoto University paper traces the layout to the needs of telegraph operators.
The Princess of Wales completes the Three Peaks, a royal first
Catherine, Princess of Wales, is the first royal to finish the UK's Three Peaks Challenge. She raised money for the Royal Marsden, which treated her.
Your taste in music may owe something to Pavlov's dogs
Ivan Pavlov's drooling dogs showed that one event can come to signal another. The same learning shapes human fears, likes and loyalties.
Patent trolls make money by threatening suits, not products
A patent troll buys patents it never uses, then threatens costly lawsuits until targets pay. IP Nav says its fees topped $700m.
A World Cup red card brings a one-game ban with no appeal
A red card sends a player off and brings an automatic one-game ban. At the 2026 World Cup that ban could not be appealed, only made longer.
Instagram's Restrict cuts someone off without telling them
On Instagram, Restrict hides a person's comments from others and moves their messages to requests. They stop seeing when you are online and are never told.
Your IP address gives away your provider, not your street
An IP address identifies your device to every site you visit, and reveals your provider and a rough location, never an exact one.
A dead whale feeds the seafloor for a century
Sharks, hagfish and bone-eating worms work through a sunken whale for 30 years or more. A stranded one can explode before anyone moves it.
Cables, rug edges and corners: why a robot vacuum gets stuck
Robot vacuums tend to stall on the same few things: loose cables, raised rug edges, thick carpet and dirty sensors. Better navigation helps, but only so far.
A grandmaster's chess memory relies on patterns, not pieces
Grandmasters recall real chess positions at a glance because they store patterns, not pieces. Scramble the board and the advantage all but vanishes.
Cold feet on ice: why a duck lets its toes chill
A duck's feet run close to the temperature of the ice. Blood vessels in its legs swap heat, so the body stays warm and the feet never freeze solid.
Great Britain and Ireland win Walker Cup in record comeback
Great Britain and Ireland lost the Sunday foursomes 4-0 at Lahinch, then beat the USA 13½-12½ to win their first Walker Cup since 2015.
UK has 47 working F-35B jets, and the next order is stalled
DE&S accepted the UK's 48th and last first-batch F-35B in March, but the next order waits on a delayed Defence Investment Plan.
Zach Cregger's horror Weapons opened well ahead of forecasts
Zach Cregger sold the horror script for Weapons in an afternoon. The film then opened more than $10 million ahead of expectations.
The first US commercial deep-sea mining permit is under review
NOAA is weighing a bid from The Metals Company USA to mine seabed nodules beyond US waters. No company has ever held such a US recovery permit.
Russell Howard launches a charity in his son Felix's name
Russell Howard and his wife, NHS doctor Cerys Morgan, set up the Felix Foundation for bereaved families. A comedy gala at the O2 on 8 February launches it.
UK hiring confidence is at its lowest outside the pandemic
A CIPD survey of more than 2,000 employers finds one in six expect AI to shrink their workforce next year, against 6% who expect it to grow.
Eye twitches: the usual causes, and when to see a doctor
Most eyelid twitches are harmless muscle spasms linked to short sleep, caffeine, and stress, say the Cleveland Clinic and the National Eye Institute.
Will AI replace lawyers? Trainees are the first to feel it
A Harvard Law School centre reports AI cutting junior legal roles, yet the US Bureau of Labor Statistics still forecasts 4% growth in lawyer jobs.
A film tax credit can decide where a film is shot
A film tax credit refunds a slice of what a production spends, often about 20%. That refund can decide where a film is made, and places without one lose out.
Canada's and Britain's new wealth funds run on debt, not surplus
The Canada Strong Fund and Britain's National Wealth Fund run on borrowed money, where Norway's runs on oil. Critics call Canada's a costly bet.
Encryption hides what you say, not who you said it to
End-to-end encryption stops a provider reading your words, but it still knows who messaged whom, when, and how the chat moved.
Dollar reserve status is worth the US an estimated $18 trillion
A National Bureau of Economic Research paper says losing reserve status would cut the dollar's value 8.8% and lift US real interest rates 0.9 points.