‘Write in such a way that you can be readily understood’ In 1962, a team of structural engineers faced a serious problem at the newly built international terminal of an American airport. The signs guiding passengers to baggage claim, exits, and customs were filled with complicated official language. Tourists got lost, children became separated from…

‘An army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep’ In May 1940, the British Expeditionary Force was trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk, facing destruction from the advancing German army. By every visible measure of military equipment, battlefield position, and numbers, the Allied forces were…

Artistic rendering of Penrose super-radiance: electromagnetic waves with selected rotation patterns are amplified as they interact with a system that appears to rotate at superluminal speeds. (Credit: Dalila Pasotti and Hadiseh Nasari) Physicists have successfully recreated some of the extreme physics of black holes inside a laboratory by building a stationary device that can copy…

Dubai’s Emir is so wealthy that he bought a 63,000-acre estate in the pristine Scottish Highlands, yet has visited only five times in twenty years The billionaire ruler of Dubai has expanded his huge 63,000-acre estate in the Scottish Highlands to include ten luxury properties, a hunting lodge and three helipads. However, he has visited…