Sitting on a bench at the University of Maryland is the first-ever desktop model of the Big Bang. Don’t worry, the 20-micrometer wide device simulates how light behaved and time flowed at the universe’s spark, not the explosion itself. It could someday help explain why time marches in only one direction.

An elderly Georgian woman who allegedly shut off internet services in her country and neighbouring Armenia while scavenging for copper cable is facing charges that could lead to three years in prison. In an interview the woman tearfully insisted she was innocent and said she had never heard of the web.

Apple has ordered a gargantuan 12 petabytes of storage from Isilon – the recent EMC acquisition – to support its iTunes video service, according to report citing an "inside source". According to to StorageNewsletter.com, Apple is "probably" the largest of Isilon's 1,500 customers as of the end of December. That may be an understatement.

Fanzine Apple Insider appears to be having a little difficulty when it comes to the fact that Apple is slowly losing the mobile operating system wars to Android. Faced with web analytics statistics that say that Android is kicking the Apple OS's bottom, Apple Insider elected to say the complete opposite to keep the reality distortion field going.

With NHS reforms it will soon be only the rich and brave that are prepared to enter a spit-and-sawdust English hospital. But it is comforting to hear that for those who do manage to drag themselves to the local quack the chances of leaving alive are set to increase - with IBM researchers announcing a step towards eradicating one of what the tabloids will tell you is the main danger of a visit to the hospital, the MRSA bug.

The evil geniuses at MIT have come up with a weapon which could put the fear of Jeff into any would-be terrorist or insurgent. Already the Taliban quake in their sandals whenever they hear a drone overhead, but if they are killed by any missile from it at least they will feel they died with some honour. Now MIT is going to make sure that anyone attacked by a drone will look and feel stupid before they go.

A gene is linked to drinking booze – or "consuming alcohol" as the boffins have it. Imperial claimed that discovering a common genetic variation linked to how much you booze could help us all to understand why people drink at all.

Having had a disappointing February which saw the iPhone slip 4 places all the way down to 7th, Apple's dominant device has clawed its way back up to a respectable 3rd place behind the HTC Desire in first and its spinoff the HTC Desire HD retaining second.

The latest statistics suggests that MySpace is on its way out, as one of the longest serving social networks on the web. comScore figures show that MySpace losts 10 million users last month. As the cornerstone to the younger days of the Generation Y, the site is facing dark days after it had lost nearly 50 million users from over the course of last year.

A best-selling author has turned down a $500,000 contract because he thinks he can make more money flogging the book online himself. In a blogpost here, thriller writer Barry Eisler, who has been a NY Times Best Selling author, said the decision came down to money.