News Category Archive

Tesco launches supermarket sat nav

9 Replies Christopher Roberts

Ever got lost in a supermarket? If so Tesco have now come to the rescue!

If you can’t seem to find those baked beans, you could soon be able to use a sat nav to help! Yes it’s the same sort of technology that you have in your car but it comes in the form of a smartphone.

Currently Tesco are trialing a new app for Google Android powered smartphones which allows you to enter your shopping list and then the phone will give you directions to the isle and shelf that you can find your items in. Pretty impressive huh?

Tesco LogoThe idea is that it saves you time, meaning you can be in and out much faster. This could make supermarkets less crowded in the future, which could mean less space is needed for people and more for food and other goods.

One of the key ways in which supermarkets like Tesco and Asda make their money however is when people spot products on the way to finding their next item. Often ‘special offer’ products will be placed in areas of the shop that you are bound to walk past and notice.

This behavior from the supermarkets has left some critics believing that supermarkets may program the device to take the ‘scenic route’ in order to get you to buy more, rather than get out quicker.

If you live in Essex, Tesco’s Extra stores in the area are currently trialing the system, so be sure to check it out and leave us a comment 🙂


Because the application is still under development, you have to apply to a testing group to be able to try out the new technology. Soon however, if the service proves successful, Tesco hope to role it out in all of its stores and on multiple platforms – Blackberry and iPhone being the next most obvious systems.

What do you think, could this really improve your shopping experience, or is the way forward online shopping anyway?

The existence of dark energy is confirmed

14 Replies Christopher Roberts

The universe is too light. What?! Well, scientists have worked out how much the universe should weigh and how much substance it should contain, given the weight of matter, the size (height, length and breadth) of the universe and the time of it’s existence.

But, there is a problem. It is too light, and doesn’t have nearly enough substance. It is thought that ordinary matter such as stars, planets and gases only make up around 4% of the total weight of the universe. So where is the rest of it coming from?


That’s what scientists very recently think they have discovered. For a long time now there have been theories about so called ‘dark matter’ and ‘dark energy’ making up the difference, but until now, no actual proof.

However, the results from a major astronomical survey, which used the latest in hi-tech scientific technology and research methods to observe over 200,000 galaxies, appear to have confirmed the existence of dark energy.

The existence of dark energy appears to explain why the universe is expanding at an increasing rate. From what I understand, this is because the energy to some extent almost defies gravity, so if you were to throw a tennis ball, instead of eventually slowing down to a stop, dark energy would continue to increase the speed of the ball.

Scientists now believe that normal matter makes up around 4% of the universes weight, dark matter makes up around 22% and dark energy makes up the other 74%.

The matter that makes up the universe

A pie chart showing the percentages of the substances that make up the universe

We now have some proof of the existence of dark matter and dark energy, however there is still a very long way to go yet, before we discover the true secrets of our universe…

That is if we ever do!

Bye bye Ming Ming

7 Replies Christopher Roberts

Ever heard of Ming Ming. Chances are you have. Ming Ming was the worlds oldest Panda, and I am sorry to say was.

Aged 34, the Chinese panda Ming Ming died around a week ago. At the time, she was being held in the Xiangjiang Wild Animal World – in Guangdong Province China.

A giant panda eating some bamboo

An endangered giant panda eating bamboo

In the wild, a giant panda like Ming Ming would usually survive for up to 30 years in captivity, or about 15-20 years in the wild, due to the more strenuous lifestyle. Ming Ming was the oldest panda in the world at 36, so we are at a great loss to see here go.

It is thought that Ming Ming died of old age. Her organs were deteriorating, and last week this lead to kidney failure for the poor bear.


Ming Ming had a very busy life, she travelled many places including Ireland, the United Kingdom and China. What a panda!

Pandas are an endangered species, with only around 1,800 thought to still be alive in the entire world.

The world has truly lost something special in the death of Ming Ming 🙁

RIP Ming Ming