Brain device could spot when you daydream at work
And other stories from the stranger side of life
A brainwave device could give office workers a jolt if they daydream during working hours, reported The Times. The productivity software can spot from a wearer’s brainwaves if they are daydreaming and, through a haptic scarf, jolt them back to work. “If done well, neurotechnology has extraordinary promise,” said Nita Farahany, a technology ethicist, but “if done poorly, it could become the most oppressive technology we have ever introduced on a wide scale across society”.
Zookeepers solve pregnant gibbon mystery
Zookeepers in Japan believe they have solved the mystery of how a gibbon became pregnant despite living alone in her cage, said CNN. Momo, a 12-year-old white-handed gibbon, baffled everyone at the Kujukushima Zoo and Botanical Garden in Nagasaki last year when she gave birth despite having no male companionship. A DNA test showed the father to be Itō, a 34-year-old agile gibbon, who was in an adjacent enclosure and is thought to have impregnated her through a small hole in a steel plate between their enclosures.
Locals livid over pizza prominence
Residents in a Leicestershire town are up in arms as a ninth pizza takeaway opens in the area. The new arrival, Pizza GoGo, is within walking distance of a number of other fast food outlets providing pizza and locals in Coalville are fed up. “It’s ridiculous,” Ken Morgan, an engineer from Ravenstone, told Leicestershire Live, “you couldn’t force me to eat pizza even if you tried”. Lynne Tanner, 67, said: “It’s annoying because it’s all we seem to get here now.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
For more odd news stories, sign up to the weekly Tall Tales newsletter.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
-
Today's political cartoons - December 21, 2024
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - losing it, pedal to the metal, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Three fun, festive activities to make the magic happen this Christmas Day
Inspire your children to help set the table, stage a pantomime and write thank-you letters this Christmas!
By The Week Junior Published
-
The best books of 2024 to give this Christmas
The Week Recommends From Percival Everett to Rachel Clarke these are the critics' favourite books from 2024
By The Week UK Published
-
Why Assad fell so fast
The Explainer The newly liberated Syria is in an incredibly precarious position, but it's too soon to succumb to defeatist gloom
By The Week UK Published
-
Romania's election rerun
The Explainer Shock result of presidential election has been annulled following allegations of Russian interference
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Russia's shadow war in Europe
Talking Point Steering clear of open conflict, Moscow is slowly ratcheting up the pressure on Nato rivals to see what it can get away with.
By The Week UK Published
-
Cutting cables: the war being waged under the sea
In the Spotlight Two undersea cables were cut in the Baltic sea, sparking concern for the global network
By The Week UK Published
-
The nuclear threat: is Vladimir Putin bluffing?
Talking Point Kremlin's newest ballistic missile has some worried for Nato nations
By The Week UK Published
-
Russia vows retaliation for Ukrainian missile strikes
Speed Read Ukraine's forces have been using U.S.-supplied, long-range ATCMS missiles to hit Russia
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Has the Taliban banned women from speaking?
Today's Big Question 'Rambling' message about 'bizarre' restriction joins series of recent decrees that amount to silencing of Afghanistan's women
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Cuba's energy crisis
The Explainer Already beset by a host of issues, the island nation is struggling with nationwide blackouts
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published