Here we go – another burst of reactionary technophobia masquerading as serious research into a correlation between video game violence and the real thing. I remain to be convinced that cause and effect are as clear cut as these studies claim them to be – and I’d be very interested to discover where the funding for this particular project came from.

On the surface of it, I rather like the idea of taking tablets that will help me get up feeling fresh when the alarm goes off in the morning. But knowing the little I know about the placebo effect, and how cynical a business the dietary supplements and ‘life enhancement products’ industry really is, I think I’ll let someone else road-test before I lay down money for them. [OhGizmo!]

If willingness to consider science fictional solutions is a mark of how seriously people are starting to take global warming, then I guess the idea of a cloud of two foot wide sunshades at the L1 Lagrange point means that some people are very serious indeed. I hope that idea doesn’t interfere with the flying windfarms in any way.

Research has revealed that MDMA, the club-drug which is best known as Ecstasy, may actually live up to another of its nicknames, ‘the love drug’. It turns out that E promotes the release of oxytocin, the hormone that helps emotional bonding between mothers and their babies. Rumours of research into whether or not new mothers suddenly start enjoying unlistenable music and wearing flourescent clothes during the post-natal period are completely unfounded.

A recent addition to the space tourism queue was one of the few living physicists to become a household name, and in a week and a half or so Stephen Hawking will be taking a ride on the notorious ‘Vomit Comet’ for a taste of low- and zero-gravity before the real thing. If the idea of a wheelchair-bound genius in orbit seems a little strange, though, why not compare it to the cognitive dissonance produced when someone lets you know that Congress has been discussing the Singularity. Interesting times.