Most Curious Stories from Times Online

Pick a number - but not just any number

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:56:22 GMT

When people discover that I’m a mathematician, they often ask me whether I know any clever way to win the lottery. After all, the lottery is all about numbers and isn’t that what a mathematician does — study numbers? They’re always a bit disappointed to discover that unfortunately I can’t produce a magic formula that will tell them next week’s winning numbers. If I could, I assure you I wouldn’t be writing for Eureka; I’d be relaxing on some tropical island. But that’s not to say that mathematics is entirely useless when it comes to playing such games as the lottery.

Trust me, I'm a robotic surgeon

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:46:31 GMT

As an engineer working in British Leyland car plants in the 1970s, John Gurney learnt much about the intricate relationship between man and machine. His unit in Hertfordshire — which had created Malcolm Campbell’s speed-record-breaking Bluebird vehicle decades earlier — specialised in suspension, brake and steering gear components, combining precision manufacturing and “big grinding machines that went like billy-o”. As a process planner, Gurney was responsible for calculating speeds and flows: he made sure the right levers were pumping at the right times.

Bill Bryson's Notes from a Large Hadron Collider

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:45:59 GMT

In the event that it fell to you to identify the most exciting place on the planet, the likelihood is small, I imagine, that you would pack a bag and travel at once to Switzerland. Still less, I dare say, would you turn your back on Geneva and head out past its western suburbs and into the pleasant but uneventful countryside beyond. There, in a broad valley shared with France, stands a collection of buildings that look like the leftovers from a 1960s Festival of Bad Design.

The Eureka Quiz (No.1)

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:38:02 GMT

Look out for the next issue of Eureka free with The Times on December 3rd.

X-ray machine voted most important invention in Science Museum poll

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:01:32 GMT

Russell Reynolds had only one wish when in 1896 at the age of 15 he learnt of the discovery of X-rays: to possess his own X-ray machine.

Great white sharks lurk close to the shore in northern California

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

Surfers in northern California were donning their wetsuits a little more gingerly yesterday after a study of the Pacific’s great white sharks showed just how close to the shore the fearsome predators are lurking.

Critics doubt French wine-makers’ boasts of a vintage year

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

It is the harvest of the century in Bordeaux, with exceptional weather conditions producing grapes so fine that dogs are turning vegetarian to eat them.

Amateurs indulge in the love that dares to carry out science experiments

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

The development of one of the first X-ray machines by John and Russell Reynolds is just one in a series of remarkable contributions by amateurs in the history of science.

One in five mammals threatened with extinction

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:20:09 GMT

A fifth of the world’s known mammals, a third of amphibians and reptiles and more than two thirds of plants are threatened with extinction, according to the latest “Red List” of endangered species.

How the Moon’s rays shed light on the dark side of the rainbow

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:01:46 GMT

This unusual sight in the night sky is a moonlit rainbow. Chris Walker, a photographer who captured the image in Richmond, North Yorkshire, said: “As moonlight is many thousands of times fainter than sunshine, the bow is many times fainter and seen only when the Moon is near full. The eye finds it difficult to discern colours with night vision, but despite that I could see the red at the top of the bow.”

£90m acquisition takes Ambassador Theatre Group to the next stage

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

Seventeen years ago a pair of theatre obsessives went into business together to build a theatre in Woking.

Boris Johnson rides to woman’s rescue

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, has chased off a group of girls attacking a woman, shouting at them that they were “oiks”.

The world’s canniest investor spends $34bn on a train set$

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

Warren Buffett, the world’s most successful investor and its second-richest man, is revered for his commonsense approach to investing. He is also known for making big, bold moves.

Staffordshire hoard farmer visits his treasure in the British Museum

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

The farmer who owns the field where the Staffordshire hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold was discovered arrived at the British Museum yesterday in a state of mild distress.

Rent clothes to cut carbon emissions, says green watchdog

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

Large wardrobes of seldom-used clothes are no longer environmentally acceptable and people should instead rent outfits and accessories, according to the Government’s waste watchdog.

The Top 25 Moustaches In Pop

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:12:34 GMT

If you were to ask the average man (or woman) in the street about moustaches they would probably suggest that they had gone out of style during the youth-obsessed Fifties. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the style-conscious world of popular music. But there is a small elite of performers who, despite the vicissitudes of fashion and the difficulty of maintaining good grooming on tour, have rocked the manly moustache.

Reports urges health certificates for puppies after Crufts scandal

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

Puppies should be sold with a full family medical history to alert new owners to the risk of genetic disorders, an inquiry will recommend today.

Spanish company plans hotel in space but cost will be astronomical

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

Most people’s idea of a weekend getaway might be a break in the Cotswolds, Devon or perhaps Provence. A select group of well-heeled adventurers, however, may soon be able to aim higher: three nights in a hotel in space.

How did the Oxford Street shopper cross the road? By the quickest route possible

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

It is one of the busiest street crossings in the world, but a small slice of anarchy was let loose on Oxford Circus yesterday.

Framed Madonna and Child for sale — on 39p Christmas stamp

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

The Pre-Raphaelite influence on stained-glass windows in churches is to be celebrated on this year’s Christmas stamps. Madonna and Child, taken from a window by Henry Holiday in the Church of Ormesby St Michael, Great Yarmouth, is on the 1st-class stamp. The 2nd-class stamp, Angel, is taken from a window designed by William Morris in the Church of St James at Staveley, Kendal.

Half of secondary school girls considering cosmetic surgery, Guides study finds

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

Almost half of all secondary school girls say they would undergo laser treatment, liposuction or some form of plastic surgery to change the way they look, according to a new study of social attitudes.

Kilimanjaro's snows melt away in dramatic evidence of climate change

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

The snows of Mount Kilimanjaro will be gone within two decades, according to scientists who say that the rapid melting of its glacier cap over the past century provides dramatic physical evidence of global climate change.

Exploration of Casablanca Seamount finds underwater volcano teeming with life

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

Suspended in the blackness of the deep, teeth glinting in floodlights, the robotic jaws descended towards their target. Watching from the control room more than half a mile above, on board RRS Discovery, technicians were expecting their new robot to explore nothing more than a sediment-covered hill. Instead, the live video feed revealed the jagged peaks of a recently erupted volcano, adorned with a quivering, silver forest of eel-like fish.

Tower's old guard accused of bullying woman Beefeater

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hostility? Not as far as she knew, not at the beginning. When the first woman Beefeater was appointed at the Tower of London two years ago, breaking a tradition of male guards that stretched back more than 500 years, she was at pains to point out that she had received only the warmest of welcomes. “The guys have been absolutely fantastic,” Moira Cameron said.

Girly men of Japan just want to have fun

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:01:21 GMT

At the age of 18, Mitsuhiro Matsushita already has a good idea of his ideal future. After he graduates from university a few years of work will be followed by marriage to an industrious wage earner. When children arrive it will be Mitsuhiro who stays at home looking after them, baking cakes and biscuits and living the traditional life of the Japanese housewife.