ICOs have come under a great deal of scrutiny by the SEC. But they're not getting it all their own way. Image: Bitcoin Isle One for ICOs A federal court in California has turned down a request from the

A long-running court battle has come to an unexpected end—someone dialed the wrong number. In deep water A South African property group found itself in hot water when sales of properties in its prestige

A new study has found that distant Stone Age communities in South Africa were more connected than previously thought. How do we know this? Middle Stone Age tool from Blombos Cave The scatterlings of Africa

The Cradle of Humankind has yielded many human ancestor fossils, but they have been very difficult to date. Until now. Little Foot emerging from cave rock, Cradle of Humankind credit Rocking the Cradle

The definition of a kilogram has changed. It is no longer defined by a physical object. So how do you weigh a kilogram? The Planck constant In a piece posted yesterday, The Kilogram has Changed!, I wrote

The kilogram as we know it, has been around for more than 130 years. What's happened to it? The one true kilogram in the world A lump of metal One of the best scientific quotes ever, from Stephan Schlamminger,

Forty years ago, cult leader Jim Jones persuaded over 900 hundred people to commit suicide. What was the aftermath, and what was the legacy of the Jonestown Massacre? This is the final post in the series

Jim Jones had taken his people to the Promised Land: Jonestown in Guyana. Now, forty years after the Jonestown Massacre, we examine how the final horror unfolded. This is Part Four of a short series of

Jim Jones had built a huge cult following and become obsessed with his power. It is forty years since the Jonestown Massacre. What was Jonestown, and why did it exist? This is Part Three of a short series

In the 1960s and 70s, Jim Jones built up a huge cult following. Forty years ago the terrible Jonestown Massacre occurred. How did Jones manage to wield such power and control over his followers? This is

The infamous Jonestown Massacre happened forty years ago. Jonestown was named after Jim Jones, the leader of a religious cult. Who was Jim Jones and how did he start a cult? This is Part One of a short

On the 40th anniversary of the Jonestown Massacre, let's remind ourselves of what and how it happened, and the possibility of it happening again. This is an introduction to a short series on the Jonestown

Who was Willie McBride, the fallen soldier of World War One addressed in the song The Green Fields of France? The riddle of the gravestone In my previous post, The Humanity of the Trenches, about the tragedy

The First World War was a huge, sweeping affair leading to millions of deaths. But each of those deaths was of a real flesh-and-blood person. Scene from They Shall Not Grow Old Credit: BBC/Wingnut Films/IWM

There are millions of satellites in our Earth's orbit. Almost all of them are junk. How can this be cleaned up? And why? credit The junk cloud My post yesterday, CubeSats: Tiny Payloads, Huge Payoffs,

Satellites were once the domain of large government and corporate organisations. But thanks to CubeSats, the day is fast approaching when small hobby groups and even individuals could have their own

A new commercial space satellite launching company has just launched its first satellites. You might not guess from where... image source So who launches commercial rockets? If an idiot woke you up with

As leaders from around the world attended commemorative events on the centenary of the World War One armistice, one leader was conspicuously absent. Image Source The world commemorates This past weekend

By 1917, the horrors of trench warfare had been experienced by millions of young men who had lived and died there. But even with the all the killing, the First World War was no nearer resolution. More

By the end of 1915 all hopes of a quick path to peace had evaporated. Germany with much greater numbers on its side, thanks to its new alliance with the Ottoman Empire, could withstand a war of attrition.