Remember your HRT HORMONE replacement therapy may help keep ageing women's memory in tip-top condition. Elizabeth Hampson at the University of Western Ontario tested the memories of 96 postmenopausal women. Those taking oestrogen performed significantly better on verbal and spatial tasks. Such tasks use what is called "working memory", which demands simultaneous processing and storage of information (Hormones … 51¶¯Âþ
Play time LET'S begin with something gentle, and not too challenging. If you're tiring of holiday turkey leftovers, however, then Sheep (Empire Interactive, £29.99 on the PC and Sony PlayStation) is likely to make you sick of lamb as well. It takes its cue from entertaining yet frustrating puzzlers such as Lemmings. So the premise is very … Opinion
Life Bodies of evidence JENNIFER SYNSTELIEN emerges from the tool shed wearing a knee-length plastic apron, surgical face mask and thick latex gloves. Unfazed by the smell of death wafting through the warm autumn air, she kneels next to a decomposing corpse. Her practised hands wave at hovering flies as she opens the chest cavity and pokes around for … Features
Patently alien In The Secret of Life, Paul McAuley pulls off that rare balancing act of exploring big concepts while telling an absorbing and entertaining story. It's 2026, and the Chinese have found microbial life on Mars. Now biotech companies are scrambling for the gene patents. Microbiologist Mariella Anders travels to the Martian polar cap and through … Books & Arts
Feedback WE PROMISED we wouldn't do it again. No more product warnings for Feedback, oh no. But this is, after all, the season for broken resolutions (applies only in cultures where it is customary to make resolutions on 1 January). READER Arthur Robinson is partly to blame, for his flattery about how much he "has enjoyed … Regulars