A scientific ghost town in New Mexico's oil and gas country will hum with the latest next-generation technology – but no people.

A team of geeks has devoted 5,000 man hours over six months to building a van-sized contraption designed to do nothing more complicated than pop a single balloon. Because, well, why not?

Damon Albarn takes his latest opera, Dr Dee, to London's Covent Garden in June. Yet before the work about the mysterious Elizabethan alchemist and scholar opens at the Coliseum, the Blur frontman takes a short detour to Wiltshire with a band that includes Guinean musician Madou Diabaté.

A 164ft (50m) long space rock with the destructive power of an H-bomb will narrowly miss the Earth next year, scientists predict.

Exasperated with a primary process as protracted as it has been vicious, Republican Party grandees are looking to see if Mitt Romney can at last regain an aura of inevitability in tomorrow's "Super Tuesday" contests across 10 states.

In case of power failure: deploy the man-eating matron and a tipper-load of bricks

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You couldn't fault him for a lack of ambition. But for a telecommunications minister, India's Kapil Sibal appears to be lacking in an understanding of telecommunications.

An energy firm has apologised and reimbursed nearly £200,000 to tens of thousands of customers after identifying a fault with its automated telephone meter reading system.

Speech recognition specialist Eckoh has landed a two-year contract with a major client, believed to be the Royal Mail.

"Hello. I wonder whether you could explain something on my bill..."