Articles written by Rupert Taylor
Showing 1-100 of 305 Articles
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Tax and Welfare Cheats
The great American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes once said that "Taxes are the price we pay for civilization"; it seems not everybody agrees.
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Green Power from Oceans
As the world tries to find ways of reducing the carbon footprint of humanity, some experiments with ocean waves are showing promise.
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Explosion of Diabetes Cases Coming
Public health authorities are predicting a rapid increase in Type 2 diabetes; it will cause thousands of premature deaths and have an enormous economic impact.
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Flying Saucer Probe Closed
For 50 years the Ministry of Defence in the U.K. has looked into sightings of unidentified flying objects; but, the UFO unit has done its last research.
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Human Intervention Changes Evolution
Garden feeders attract birds for a free meal and in the process change the way they evolve.
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Russia Regaining its Political Strength
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 giant Russia was left as a rotting carcass; energy supplies have boosted its status.
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Failing the Climate Change Challenge
A government with its political base in oil-producing provinces is reluctant to get serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
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Challenges for Climate Change Meeting
An attempt to replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol is failing because of disagreement between developed and developing countries.
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Device Attacks Superbugs
Drug-resistant bacteria have plagued hospitals for years by sending patients into intensive care; now a solution may be at hand.
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A Collision of Galaxies
A vast cloud of gas, perhaps big enough to be a galaxy in its own right, is colliding with the outer edges of the Milky Way.
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Dirt is a Child's Friend
The ultra-hygienic lives that many people in North America strive for may not be doing their children any favours.
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More Evidence on Benefits of Vitamin D
The so-called "sunshine vitamin" gets a boost as a means of preventing heart attacks and strokes.
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Mexico's Drug Problem
According to the U.S. State Department's 2008 International Narcotics Control Report, about 90 per cent of the cocaine entering America travels through Mexico.
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Controversial Alcohol Study
Drinking a bottle of wine a day offers some protection from cardiovascular disease; of course, that level of consumption may destroy other organs.
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Rapid and Simple Diagnostic Tool
A patient in the throes of a heart attack can't wait long for medical attention; a new diagnostic tool will give doctors the chance to act more quickly.
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Tokyo has World's Best Restaurants
The Michelin Guide for 2010 has given 11 restaurants in Tokyo its coveted three-star rating, placing the Asian city ahead of Paris.
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Chemicals in Plastic Reduce Masculinity
Some chemicals, such as phthalates, have the ability to disrupt hormones; new research suggests they may also cause problems with brain development.
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Treatment for Teeth Grinding
Nocturnal grinding of teeth is a condition often associated with stress and is usually dealt with by mouth guards; a new therapy may be on the way.
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Containing Chinese Expansion
Throughout the Cold War the United States worked with its allies to contain the Soviet Union's expansion; it's much the same today with regard to China.
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U.S.-Chinese Relations
Despite the diplomatic comments about cooperation and mutual respect, there is a geopolitical contest going on between the United States and China.
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Tobacco Company Concealed Health Data
Researchers have uncovered documents that show Imperial Tobacco Canada knew about the negative health effects of smoking while denying there was any harm.
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Dementia Drugs Killing Elderly
Elderly patients are routinely given anti-psychotic drugs to control aggression; a British study says the practice is linked to 1,800 deaths a year.
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Chinese Cyberspace Sabotage
There's a war going on in cyberspace and the targets are some of the most carefully guarded secret information systems of governments.
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Litter on the Links Problem Grows
Concern is being expressed about the number of golf balls that are littering some surprising places and adding to background toxicity as they degrade.
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New Dinosaur Extinction Theories
The accepted theory is that collision with an asteroid caused the demise of the dinosaurs; this supposition is now being updated.
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Swine Flu Queue-jumping
As at-risk people must stand in line for limited supplies of swine flu vaccine some are able to buy their way to the front of the line.
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Why Iran Hates America
In 1953, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave the go-ahead to Operation Ajax; a covert plan to remove Iran's elected leader.
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Adulterer Stoned to Death
Conservative Muslims control parts of what used to be Somalia and deal with transgressions with what the rest of the world sees as excessive cruelty.
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Victorian Child Labour
In Victorian England many children as young as five began working in the most appalling conditions imaginable.
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Reform of the G8
Nations gather together to try to find collective solutions to problems that affect them all, but it's usually only the biggest countries that have any real impact.
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Why Development Aid Fails
Despite billions of dollars spent in the developing world to raise living standards poverty still refuses to loosen its grip.
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Measuring Quality of Life
Researchers are finding ways of assessing how well or poorly people live by looking beyond economic indicators.
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The Abiotic Theory of Petroleum Formation
Most scientists believe that oil comes from organic material that has been transformed by Nature over a very long period of time.
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Species Extinction Speeds up
The latest report from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature calls the current loss of biodiversity a crisis.
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Depression Linked to Processed Food
A diet rich in whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, and fish reduces the likelihood of the onset of depression in middle age.
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Aspirin-a-day Therapy Questioned
Many people take a low-dose aspirin on a daily basis as a measure to ward off heart attacks and strokes; doctors now say they should be careful with that.
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Meaning of Gross Domestic Product
Economists put great store in certain numbers and few are more highly regarded than the Gross Domestic Product; but this may be delivering a distorted picture.
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Intellectual Giant John Maynard Keynes
For three decades, the theories of John Maynard Keynes dominated how countries conducted their economic affairs.
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Eighteenth Century Directory of Prostitutes
Jack Harris was a rogue who gave his name to a scandalous bestseller publication in Georgian London.
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Curry Kills Cancer Cells
A curry a day keeps the doctor away? Not quite, but scientists have discovered that a chemical contained in the spice turmeric can kill of some cancer cells.
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Prostitution in Georgian England
London in the 18th century was a raucous place typified prostitution practiced openly with some ladies servicing their clients in public.
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Criminal Life of Jenny Diver
A woman with an exceptional skill for stealing from wealthy Londoners in the street finally came to a gruesome end.
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Loss of Polar Sea Ice Speeding up
The summer ice coverage in the Far North is declining and this will have serious consequences elsewhere on the planet.
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Decline of Arctic Sea Ice
The loss of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is accelerating with temperatures rising far faster in the region than anywhere else on Earth.
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Executions Described in Newgate Calendar
In the 18th and 19th centuries, children read the lurid tales of felons in the hope that the stories of their gruesome ends would act as an example.
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World Monopoly Champion from Norway
Now, here's an irony; a young man from one of the least red meat capitalist countries on the planet has won the World Monopoly Championships.
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Science of Eugenics Abused
The notion behind eugenics is that a species can be improved through selective breeding; it's done with horses and cattle, so why not humans?
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Notorious Mass Murderer Dies
Sixty years ago, a deeply disturbed man embarked on a carefully planned killing orgy in Camden, New Jersey; he just died of old age.
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Historical Justification for Racism
From the 16th century to the 20th century it was quite respectable to hold racist opinions that horrify all decent people today.
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The End of the World is Coming
It's still more than three years before the Mayan Long Calendar ends; an event some say will bring on the End Times for the world.
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New Planets Discovered
A highly sensitive instrument has detected a large number of so-called exoplanets beyond our solar system.
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The Propaganda of Lord Haw Haw
William Joyce was an Irish-American who became a fascist and went to Germany from where he broadcast to England on Hitler's behalf.
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Posthumous Prizes for Foolhardiness
Some people seem compelled to undertake terrifyingly inane exploits that lead to them paying the ultimate price.
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Global Military Spending
Governments everywhere are still raising the amount of money they dedicate to war machines while poverty increases.
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Execution by Shooting
Only a small number of countries use shooting as a way of carrying out capital punishment.
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Canada Handed Detainees to Torturers
Evidence emerges that, despite its denials, the Canadian government knew about the torture of battlefield detainees it transferred to Afghan security officials.
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Kudzu Reaches Canada
The "plant that ate the South" may actually turn out to be very useful in a number of ways.
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Rewriting the Bible
A project is underway among conservative creationists to remove what they believe to be liberal bias from Christianity's holy text.
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Swine Flu Blunders
There have been so many missteps, contradictions, and fumbles associated with swine flu that the public appears to no longer be paying attention.
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The Stella Awards
Every year, awards named after a woman who was scalded by McDonald's coffee, are handed out for what might appear to be frivolous lawsuits.
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The Lady Macbeth Effect
Researchers are finding evidence that people associate white with moral purity and black with its opposite.
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Celebrating Financial Failure
In a clever marketing move an investment company is awarding prizes to the three people who lost the most money in the Wall Street debacle.
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Annual Ig Nobel Awards
A ceremony is held at Harvard University to parody the prestigious Nobel Prizes to honour more dubious achievements than those recognized in Stockholm.
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New Clues to Stonehenge Mystery
The latest discovery in the vicinity of Stonehenge in England points to the original landmark being connected to funerals.
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The Sad Voyage of the St. Louis
As Adolf Hitler began his brutish campaign to slaughter all the Jews of Europe Canada's highest officials turned their backs on those trying to escape.
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Webmail Swindle Spreading
Internet con artists have devised a scheme that sends fake shopping recommendations to e-mail contact lists as well stealing security information.
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Afghanistan Election Fraud
For NATO and the UN trying to establish democracy and freedom in Afghanistan the presidential election has been hugely embarrassing.
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Britain's Most Prolific Hangman
For more than 20 years, Albert Pierrepoint was the U.K.'s Official Executioner carrying out the ultimate sentence passed by the courts.
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Canada Denied Entry to East Indians
The Komagata Maru arrived in Vancouver Harbour in May 1914; most of the 376 East Indian passengers were never allowed to leave the ship.
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Canada's Population Numbers
Canada is the world's second largest country by total area, after Russia, but is ranked 36th by total population and 227th by population density.
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Earth's Boundaries on Human Activity
A group of prominent scientists has released a study on the capacity of the planet's biosystems to support life.
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Homeless in Las Vegas
With more 14,000 people sleeping rough, Sin City contributes to making Nevada a state with a very high homelessness rate.
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Is Henry Kissinger a War Criminal?
American Attorney General Eric Holder is looking into torture allegations against Bush administration officials; an older case remains unanswered.
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Is Dick Cheney a War Criminal?
The Geneva Conventions expressly forbid the torturing of prisoners of war, so will U.S. officials be brought to account over the issue of waterboarding?
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Fossilized Human Ancestor Found
After 17 years of analysis scientists are beginning to find some surprises in the remains of a human-like creature found in Ethiopia.
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Honour Killings in Canada
Some customs of far away cultures are against the law, internationally as well as in Canada. Among them is the practice of "honour killing."
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Canadian Culture Under Attack
Most Canadians think their government should support cultural development, but Canada's Conservative government has a different view.
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Cato Street Conspiracy
The French Revolution of 1789-99 stirred the passions of English people hoping for a chance to wrest power from privileged elites.
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Lethal Injection Executions
The United States is the only country in the Western industrialized world to still use capital punishment.
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Gas Chamber Execution
Gassing condemned prisoners has gone out of style in favour of lethal injections; that's a good thing.
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Piltdown Man Archeological Hoax
In December 1912, the world was abuzz with the news that the missing link between apes and humans had been found.
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Execution by Hanging
Except for those subjected to it, execution by hanging has been among the world's most popular methods of ending the lives of criminals.
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Medical Isotope Shortage
Tens of thousands of cancer and heart patients worldwide are left without diagnosis or treatment by Canadian government decision.
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Swindles New and Old
Confidence tricks range from elaborate investment schemes to entrapping an unwitting target into a love tangle.
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Buried Treasure Found in England
The dream of every person with a metal detector is to find a stash of buried treasure; for Terry Herbert the dream has come true.
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Electric Chair Execution
The search for a humane way to kill convicted criminals leads to the invention of the electric chair.
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Classic Confidence Tricks
Long before people claiming to be African princes with vast inheritances of dubious provenance hit the Internet, some very clever con artists were at work.
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Smoking Ban Saves Lives
The sometimes fatal effect of second-hand smoke is reduced when smoking is banned in public places.
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Execution by Guillotine
Associated with the French Revolution, the guillotine was predated by earlier devices invented for the same grisly purpose.
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Unhealthy Men Lose a Decade of Life
A massive study of British men has revealed the increased levels of mortality among those who don't follow simple, healthy lifestyles.
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Nortel Broken Up
Once a world leader in telecommunications technology, a storied Canadian company is disappearing piece by piece into the hands of foreign companies.
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America's Angry Right
Extremist reactions to Barack Obama's presidency comes out of a long tradition of opposition to government and a fear of change.
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Bosses Spying on Workers
The business of employee monitoring is booming as more and more organizations are buying software and equipment to keep an eye on workers.
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Gaza Strip War Crimes
A United Nations fact-finding mission says both sides in the three-week conflict in Gaza likely committed war crimes and perhaps crimes against humanity.
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The Bombing of Dresden
Towards the end of World War II Dresden was all but destroyed when hundreds of Allied aircraft dropped bombs and incendiary devices on the city.
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Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved
A huge area of the Atlantic anchored by Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and Florida has acquired an undeserved reputation for strange events.
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Tower of London Escape
The famous tourist attraction has been used as a fortress, a royal palace, a mint, and as a prison from which very few have escaped.
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New Geneva Conventions Needed
Inter-state wars are rare, the war on terror is an entirely new conflict, and some battles are just struggles between criminal gangs. It's time to rewrite the rules.
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Expense Account Abuses
Stories of people abusing their expense account privileges are prompting managers to keep a closer eye on how senior staff is spending money.
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Doctors Want Alcohol Ad Ban
The British Medical Association says alcohol consumption has been rising rapidly and wants marketing drinking to be halted as a way of combatting the problem.
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