This one is tough to explain, so I’ll try to keep it simple: a research team has manipulated light in such a way that, when passed through an optical fiber, the light wave/particle will actually travel backward from the far end of the fiber to meet itself. Of particular importance, I think, is the lead researcher’s conjecture that this discovery could lead to a refutation of Einstein’s theories about faster-than-light travel.

According to the boffins at NASA, the Sun’s ‘Great Conveyer Belt’ (a massive circulating current of plasma) is running slower than ever before, at least since records were kept. This means we’re in for a weak solar cycle around 2020, which translates into an increased dose of cosmic rays.

Sick to the back teeth of your fellow travellers on public transport watching your mobile content? Indulge your privacy with a set of mobile-display glasses. Their manufacturers claim wearing them will be like viewing a 32 inch TV at a distance of two meters; headphones will shut out the background noise. How will you know when it’s your stop, though?

An international team of nanoscience have been working hard at creating useful working nanomachinery. They are using a machine-molecule called rotoxane, and have discovered that it displays a reversible switching phenomena in response to certain chemical stimuli. The odd bit is that they’re not entirely sure why, as the molecule has nothing in it with which to switch.

WorldMapper does very wrong things to maps. Take a geographic map of the world, brightly color-coded by country, and warp it to deform countries based on a statistic (like miles of railway, or attended births, or population in 2300). Fascinating stuff to page through.