Technology
Europe’s tallest structure to be cut down to size
A planned reduction of a Lincolnshire TV mast has prompted protests
It is more than 1,000ft high, but so unobtrusive that most people in the UK never even realised it existed, let alone that it held a European record. Now, Belmont Transmitting Station, one mile west of the quiet village of Donington on Bain, is about to divest itself of the only thing that made it notable. Keep reading this article »
Fantastic voyage: new-generation imaging heralds revolution in medical treatment
From a cluster of Chiltern villages, GE Healthcare is leading the way in detecting and treating diseases
For the lucky, a check-up at the GP consists of nothing more sophisticated than a blood-pressure cuff, an icy stethoscope and a jar to pee in. For those with bigger problems, it can involve medicine’s heavy artillery, from bedside ultra-sound devices to giant metal doughnuts that generate magnetic fields several times stronger than the Earth’s. Keep reading this article »
Aegate steals a march in war against counterfeit drugs
Aegate, the drug authentication business, will move into Ireland in January, strengthening its position ahead of expected EU legislation to fight the growing threat of counterfeit drugs. Keep reading this article »
The beating heart of the hi-tech world in hospitals
The computerisation of the NHS is not on its sickbed – it’s alive and kicking, explains the boss of GE Healthcare
Nigel Mason is apologetic when he arrives at GE’s British head office in Berkeley Square, central London. This isn’t his building, explains the boss of GE Healthcare UK as we wait for security to sign him in. Once his visitor’s badge has been clipped to his jacket, we’re ushered into G4, an ultra-modern but poky little room. By then, though, he’s done saying sorry. And by the time we get to the subject of the much-criticised NHS computerisation project, he’s bridling a bit at the very suggestion that he should be on the defensive.
“I’m proud of our role,” he insists. “It’s a positive story.” Keep reading this article »
Goggles return as TV and film go 3-D
A whole range of new films are being made as the new wave of 3D cinema allows such realism to be created on much lower budgets than in the past
Once 3D entertainment meant fumbling aroundwith a pair of multi-coloured spectacles that made you dizzy, before settling down in the cinema to watch a plotless film that involved a giant plastic shark coming out of the screen to get you.
But not even desperate 1980s cinematic experiences such as Jaws 3-D were enough to kill off our desire to feel part of the action. Now, after almost two decades on the audio-visual scrapheap, 3D is mounting a comeback… straight into your living room. Keep reading this article »
Now that’s reality TV: Samsung takes us into the next dimension
The Korean giant is going back to the future to create 3D vision that will propel golf balls from your screen
‘Fore!” When Tiger Woods smashes the ball straight for their heads, most people flinch – some duck – until the point-of-view pulls back to show trees hurtling past along the fairway. The simulacrum of the world’s greatest golfer is a bit dodgy, but the ball he has just smacked at your head is convincing. And it will be sailing out of a screen in a living room near you by this summer. After a century and a half of intermittent research, three-dimensional television is so close, you may feel you can reach out and touch it. Keep reading this article »
