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Examines the danger involved in the Indycar races. Accidents at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year; How Formula One races differ from Indycar races; Cost of Indycars; The problem with crash testing at present; How the Indianapolis track has been overhauled to make it more safe.

Focuses on pen computers which are proving more successful than earlier devices at recognizing handwritten text. The size of a pen computer; How the computer recognizes letters; Type of writing most pen computers can cope with; Approaches to `train' computers to recognize the quirks of individual handwriting. INSET: Learning to decipher joined-up writing..

Features the testing of products by cosmetic companies as evidence for advertisement claims. Advertising Standards Authority's (ASA) code of conduct; Shiseido's skin analysis with microscope; Robots in L'Oreal's research laboratories; Feel-good factor; Difficulty in tests for friction; Source of friction in hair combing; Importance of customer relationship.

Examines the use of surveillance camera in law enforcement and crime prevention. Identification of people; Image enhancement; Admissability of images as evidence; Effectivity of the system.

JOURNEY TO LONDON'S HIDDEN DEPTHS Pete J. Atkinson left this God-forsaken hole on 19 January 1955, bound for Jamaica, Abandon Hope, all ye who enter here.' These words are written […]

SLICK FUTURE FOR THE OIL INDUSTRY The petrochemical and oil industry could be desribed as the modern equivalent of alchemy -- it turns a black, sticky substance into gold for […]

CHANNELS OF INFORMATION Thames Water's top five executives have a strategic IT tool on their desks. It took them minutes to learn, and provides them with all the up-to-date information […]

Take your talents to fresh fields -- in authorship and sales Even though jobs in information technology are generally interesting, challenging and varied, sometimes people decide they have had enough […]

TOWARDS THE REVOLUTION Four years ago the scientific world was buzzing with excitement over a new material. It could conduct electricity without any resistance at an unprecedentedly high temperature. This […]

It's well worth keeping the workforce happy Absenteeism costs UK companies 5bn pounds a year, equivalent to 3% of the GNP, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Sickness […]

Academic chip maker takes on the 3D world Jim Clark doesn't claim to be a born leader, but the founder and chairman of Silicon Graphics says. 'I became a natural […]

Be prepared for gaps in your management When senior managers leave or are promoted, the traditional way of replacing them has been to pencil in the names of promising candidates, […]

Why northern skills will solve the south's problems How can your company find the technological answer to bridge the north/south skills divide? And how can you, as an IT person […]

Craft man Dun roamin' A stall in a Cirencester craft market is perhaps an unlikely place to find the future boss of a large software company. But that's where 39-year-old […]

Discusses the use of computer networks by single people to meet other people. Love affairs through electronic mail; Risks from interactive games.

Reports on a three-dimensional survey of the Stonehenge monument in Salisbury Plain, England which was built in three principal stages between about 1800 BC and 1400 BC. English Heritage's survey of the electric resistivity of the earth around the site; Use of a computer to generate diagram of the stones' positions; Generation of the three-dimensional coordinates from photographs.

Features the winning entry to the June 1993 `Great Energy Predictor Shootout' competition devised by physicist David MacKay. Use of English clergyman Thomas Bayes's theorem on predicting the probability of linked events published in 1763; Artificial neural network; Minimization errors; Implications for future building designs.

Reports on the completion of the Global Positioning System (GPS). Launch of its 24th satellite; `Constellation' of 21 satellites and 3 spares circling the Earth; Cost; Ground mobile receivers; Differential GPS.

Discusses the use of surveillance systems in crime prevention. Video police; Public concern; Advantages; Disadvantages.

Discusses computer simulation of fires and how it is helping building designers and firefighters to learn more about saving lives. Combination of information about how the fire and smoke grow and move, behavioral models of people and body sizes and shapes; Modelling how people leave buildings; Calibration.

Describes what could be offered by telecomputers that would combine the best of television, communications, and computer technologies. How these technologies are being exploited now; Why there are no telecomputers on the market today; Three major changes needed before they do go on the market; Two experts that believe communications, computers, and entertainment are converging.

Investigates how computers are being used by craft workers to take away the drudgery, leaving them free to be more creative. Machines available; Why knitting is easier to computerize; Most popular type of program in handicrafts.

Discusses the use of computers as opponents in games such as chess and questions whether they could soon overtake human brain power in our traditional pursuits. Why computers cannot beat everyone; What it takes to make an unbeatable program; Background of computer chess; Go- and bridge-playing programs.

Focuses on the electronics technology that will be used at the Olympics in Barcelona to monitor performances, record achievements and communicate with the audience. Description of Slit-Video, the latest system developed by Seiko; The piezoelectric detectors made by Gill Instruments; Journalists and spectators will be able to use the Information and Communications System from 600 Xerox Information Points.

Looks at the problems that arise with the use of more and more computers in the workplace. Situations that could be life-threatening; How computers are bringing a change of culture; Problems with interdisciplinary work.

Features the films that participated in the 1991 Computer Animation Festival in London, England. 'Siamese Bins'; 'Wet Science'; 'Primordial Dance.'