Online multiplayer computer games are a great target for scaremongers, just as any fairly new cultural activity embraced by a young generation has always been. A new study reveals that, far from encouraging withdrawl from social life, virtual environments may actually promote ‘social bridging’ and the adoption of new wider worldviews. The researchers also theorise that the lack of ‘hangouts’ in meatspace, thanks to a climate of paranoia over everything from terrorism to paedophilia, may actually be one of the main forces driving the youth into the metaverse. This would certainly explain the social networking phenomenon – the world is their shopping mall.

There may still be no consensus on what makes a planet a planet, but at least there is agreement on when a star is a star, as opposed to being a ‘failed star’ or ‘brown dwarf’. This boundary occurs at around 80 times the mass of Jupiter, beneath which there is insufficient gravity to start off the fusion reactions that make stars what they are, and Hubble images of some of the dimmest stars in an ancient star cluster seem to bear out this long held theory.

Another project aimed at enabling the blind or sight-disabled to live a more independent life has been debuted – it is based on a GPS-enabled computer backpack that detects the wearer’s location and orientation, and plays auditory cues through headphones to indicate which direction the user should be moving to reach their destination. There are a fair few details to thrash out before it’s truly useful or practical – detailed GPS maps of cityscapes being one of them. Furthermore, it will only be of use to people who still have hearing, and it might be cheaper, more empowering and less tech-dependent to teach them to echolocate instead.

Genetic scientists have identified one of the most rapidly-evolving chunks of DNA in the human genome, and they believe that it may be the piece of code that influences our ability to perform complex thoughts. The gene expresses only in the cortical region of the brain, and does so during a critical period of embryonic development. Its exact function is as yet unknown, but when you’re trying to uncover a secret it always helps to know whereabouts you should be looking.

A new solar cycle, predicted to be a hectic and tempestuos one, may have begun at the end of last month. NASA solar physicists spotted a ‘backwards’ sunspot (one whose magnetic poles are opposite to the usual orientation) on July 31st, and have tentatively suggested it could be the herald of the next eleven year solar cycle. Of course its orientation, combined with its unusual latitude, could be a random fluke. But ‘cycle 24’ is on its way, sooner or later – it may be that it has just decided to cohabit with 23 for a few years.