By Hephzibah Anderson, The Observer By now, most casually informed shoppers know that cheap  fashion is something none of us can afford. We’re aware that the nimble needlework of children has been found in high street shops, that seas have died satisfy our cotton addiction and that sweatshops are far from being a thing of […]

The US online advertising market is poised for rapid growth this year, with spending expected to exceed $31 billion, according to a new forecast by eMarketer. The firm estimates online advertising spending in the US will grow 20.2% to $31.3 billion in 2011, up from $26 billion in 2010, when the market grew 14.9%. “The […]

By Tracy McVeigh, guardian.co.uk Global warming has long been blamed for the huge rise in the world’s jellyfish population. But new research suggests that they, in turn, may be worsening the problem by producing more carbon than the oceans can cope with. Research led by Rob Condon of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in […]

By Marian Wang and Sergio Hernandez in ProPublica   Before Sarah Palin became a political pundit, reality TV star and household name, she did a whole lot of things in Alaska that raised eyebrows once she became a vice presidential nominee. Reporters began exploring some of those things at the time and filing public records […]

By Sunshine Lichauco de Leon, guardian.co.uk A shark whose markings make it appear camouflaged for the desert and “laughing” cicadas are among 300 new species discovered by scientists in the Philippines. The six-week expedition of 35 US and Filipino experts led by California Academy of Sciences discovered 200 new marine invertebrates, 11 new fish, and […]

By Andy Soos, ENN The Sun unleashed an M-2 (medium-sized) solar flare, an S1-class (minor) radiation storm and a spectacular coronal mass ejection on Tuesday. The large cloud of particles mushroomed up and fell back down looking as if it covered an area of almost half the solar surface. A solar flare is a sudden […]

By Andy Soos, ENN The potential for mineral, oil and gas deposits in the Arctic Ocean is not clearly known, but that doesn’t stop the countries that border the area from fighting over it. Russia, Canada, Denmark, and Norway are heating up discussions as ice melting in northern areas reveals more and more, allowing readier […]

In the Central Lowlands of Scotland, the University of Dundee is to become the first university in the United Kingdom to provide degrees in comic studies. The university has said that courses for its comic studies subject within the English section will commence in September 2011.   The city of Dundee is known to be the headquarters for D. C. Thomson & Co., a publishing […]

By David A Gabel, ENN It started with a few deaths in Germany from what were thought to be Spanish cucumbers. Then more people in Germany and around the continent got infected. Trade tensions mounted and vegetable producers from various other countries became affected by the new outbreak. Now there have been cases reported in […]

By Gaia Vince, guardian.co.uk These are epoch-making times. Literally. There is now “compelling evidence”, according to an influential group of geologists, that humans have had such an impact on the planet that we are entering a new phase of geological time: the Anthropocene. Millions of years from now, they say, alien geologists would be able […]