Babbage

APPLE defends itself against accusations of immoral tax practices, joining several other international brands already under fire

A CYBER-SPYING  network has re-emerged in India. But who are they taking their orders from?

AFTER nearly two decades, the new DSM has arrived. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is a 947-page guide to ailments of the mind. Published on May 22nd by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), it lists specific symptoms to be attributed to this disorder or that. The DSM is hugely influential. Its categories guide research and treatment for millions of patients in America and elsewhere. Crucially, it also propels the psychiatry industry—if a disorder is included in the DSM, insurers are more likely to pay for it.

Anything so important is ripe for controversy. This DSM, in particular, has inspired fits.

A GENTLE pat on the back and a short walk can put a crying baby to sleep. Four-legged newborns, too, calm down when their mothers hold them by the nape of their necks to carry them. Precisely why, though, has remained a mystery. Kumi Kuroda, of RIKEN Brain Science Institute, in Japan, and her colleagues decided to find out.

The researchers monitored the heart rates of twelve human infants aged between one to six months under three conditions: while they lay by themselves in a crib, immediately after they were picked by their mothers, and while they were carried around.

TAKE a vast windowless hall. Squeeze in hundreds of garish booths vying to produce the loudest and most obnoxious music possible. Then add thousands of busy people and bake at a high temperature for several days. Visiting a large conference or trade show can be an unpleasant experience, as Babbage can attest from many years of writing about technology. Precisely how unpleasant, though, no one has measured until now. At Google’s annual I/O conference for developers in San Francisco this week, scientists are finally trying to turn sharp elbows, raised voices and sweaty brows into cold, hard data.

D-WAVE'S controversial quantum computer is pitted against regular number-crunching machines in a series of tests

LARRY PAGE, Google’s co-founder and chief executive, had plenty to crow about at the firm’s annual developer meeting on May 15th. That day the firm’s share price soared past $900 for the first time and its market capitalisation topped $300 billion. At the event, Google also unveiled a number of new and revamped offerings, including a music-streaming service and plentiful tweaks to its popular online-mapping service. After the presentations were over, some attendees were already speculating that its shares would hit $1,000 before too long.

This time last year Apple’s fans were forecasting that its shares would blast through that target too.