Category: Popular Culture

A gorilla that escaped from its enclosure at London Zoo drank five litres of undiluted blackcurrant squash before being returned to his den, a report has found. Kumbuka, a western lowland silverback, made an “opportunistic” exit through unlocked doors, London Zoo added. The zoo said the gorilla got into a secure keepers’ area on discovery […]

The race to be first in self-driving cars has shifted up a gear after Volvo and Uber announced they were joining forces to develop autonomous vehicles. The Swedish manufacturer and app-based ride-sharing company are together investing $300m in a project to develop “base vehicles” that will be built by Volvo and then purchased by Uber. Each company will then […]

Official Guidance Issued On Robot Ethics Isaac Asimov gave us the basic rules of good robot behaviour: don’t harm humans, obey orders and protect yourself. Now the British Standards Institute has issued a more official version aimed at helping designers create ethically sound robots. The document, BS8611 Robots and robotic devices, is written in the dry language of a […]

A string of aviation associations has called for all small drones in Europe to be registered. The ability to trace nuisance drones back to their owner or pilot would improve compliance with regulations, the groups said in a joint statement. Near-misses involving drones and aircraft are on the rise – 10 UK cases risked collision this […]

Would you put your phone in a cement mixer? British phone retailer Tuffphones has unveiled a new range of hard-wearing handsets aimed at construction workers and outdoors enthusiasts. It’s the latest addition to a range of extra-durable Android devices in the growing market for rugged phones. The BBC took them to a building site to […]

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few weeks, you’ll probably have heard of Pokémon Go – a global phenomenon that, for those of us who grew up swapping cards in the school playground, makes it feel like we’ve made a swift and unwelcome return to the 90s. With one small change: […]

Sports Direct Treats Workers “As Commodities Rather Than Human Beings” A report by the Business, Innovation and Skills committee has accused Sports Direct, one of Europe’s biggest retailers, of not treating its workers like humans, after an investigation revealed “extremely disturbing working practices” and serious health and safety breaches at the company’s Shirebrook Warehouse. MPs […]

Cheshire Construction Company guilty of Bricklayer’s Death A Cheshire construction company has been prosecuted following a fatal accident in 2011 at a site in Wimslow. Liverpool Crown Court heard that Edgemere Projects Ltd of Tarporley, Cheshire, was the main contractor at a construction site in Wilmslow when on 7 January 2011, Andrew Dytiche aged 23, […]

New Construction Guidance to Stop Workers Dying Each Week from Occupational Disease The construction industry has launched new guidance to encourage better management of occupational health risks. HSE is urging the industry to put an end to the hundreds of construction workers that die of occupational diseases every month. Inspectors issued more than 200 health […]