Desert's mystery: ancient 'Western' boat people

IN THE middle of a terrifying desert north of Tibet, Chinese archaeologists have excavated an extraordinary cemetery. Its inhabitants died almost 4000 years ago, yet their bodies have been preserved by the dry air.

Beware the evils of the inbox

Technology has shrunk the world but, according to one sceptic, the social and literary costs are high.

Gadgets

The iPhone 3GS must be about the sexiest gift you could find in a stocking. With that lovely touch-screen interface and enough smarts to make you forget to use it as a phone, Santa is going to have trouble letting go. Store your entire music collection, download whole films from iTunes to watch, capture and edit video, browse the web, find your way using GPS navigation .... And that's even before you start downloading those glorious time-wasting apps.

Supermarket ad trials: your shopping trolley knows what you want

ADS delivered to supermarket trolleys based on a shopper's in-store behaviour and purchasing history are set to go live within the next six months €“ a move that could quite literally take the thinking out of shopping.

It's a motorpsycho nightmare, but don't think twice, it's all right

THEY'RE selling postcards of the hanging . . .

One small step for man, a giant leap for lawyers

This week marks the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing. At 2.56am GMT on July 21, 1969, Neil Armstrong emerged from the Eagle and uttered those famous words. The world was transfixed by the television broadcasts of the increasingly confident steps of the Apollo 11 astronauts in the Sea of Tranquillity. This was the first of six manned missions that successfully landed on the moon and, in total, 12 people (all Americans) have so far had the privilege of leaving their footprints on the moon's surface.

Cosmic weather report: the sunspot drought is breaking

BAD weather is on the way and scientists are relieved. It is not the type that the weather bureau tips will bring more showers to Sydney today and tomorrow it is space weather, born beneath the sun's surface.

Column 8

We may be found guilty of abject stupidity here, but it would not be the first time. We too were perplexed by the suggestion of Kerry Thomas of Goulburn, following up on our recent item about GPS navigation systems: "I've also recently used a GPS and it made me wonder, how does the signal know which car to bounce back into, presumably after getting directions from the nearest satellite? Every second car seems to have one."

Us Army Changes Position On Gps

UNCLE Sam did us all a favour the other day ? he switched off his `selective availability'. Didn't even know he had it on, I hear you say. Those who rely on GPS navigation (global positioning satellite) will be aware of what selective availability is. For the past however-many years, GPS h