MSNBC: Technology & Science

Britain's intelligence agency GCHQ has launched a code-cracking competition to recruit new spies, the BBC reported on Thursday .

By talking with survivors of the devastating tsunami that hit Japan earlier this year, scientists may now have a better idea as to how to help prevent fatalities from such events in the future.

Certain wasps have a remarkable ability to recognize the faces of other wasps. And much like humans, these stinging insects are more attuned to those faces than they are to any other shape, including the caterpillars they eat, a new study has found.

Images from Princeton's 2011 Art of Science exhibition focus on scientific subjects ranging from nanodevices to black-hole dynamics.

Apple's Siri refuses to help its users find abortion clinics and tends to ignore folks with foreign accents. Sure, there could be an innocent explanation for those things — such as a series of glitches — but Stephen Colbert has an alternate theory.

From soaps made in the shape of video game controllers to a miniature arcade cabinet for your iPad, here's a look at some fun, funky and even downright goofy gift ideas for the gamer geek in your life.

New maps of gamma-ray light streaming in from the sky reveal some surprising sources of this highest-energy form of light, including objects that were never detected before.

Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: The sight of a New Zealand giant weta chomping down on a carrot is sure to give you the creeps, no matter how the insect actually measures up.

Three of the nation's four largest wireless carriers say they use Carrier IQ's controversial key-logging software, say they do not use it to monitor subscribers' activities. The program is an analytical tool, strictly to "improve wireless network and service performance," not to track users' personal data, said AT&T.

The oldest extinct species of tiger known yet has been discovered in China, scientists say.

Decades after NASA's Voyager spacecraft began hurtling toward interstellar space, the twin probes are still shedding light on the universe, now by offering an unprecedented view of our own galaxy.

All NASA spacecraft sent to other planets must undergo meticulous procedures to make sure they don't carry biological contamination from Earth to their destinations.

Astronomers have found an alien planet not much bigger than Earth, but so blisteringly hot that life has no shot of gaining a foothold there.

A total lunar eclipse, a close encounter between Mercury and the moon, and a planetary tour de force are just some of the amazing sights skywatchers can see this month. Here are the most exciting skywatching targets for December 2011:

Astronomers seeking to observe a star just before it explodes have come tantalizingly close to achieving their goal, a new study reports.

NASA's better days can appear long past to the public. The U.S. space agency that once landed a man on the moon now wrestles with questions of existential crisis after retiring its space shuttle fleet this year. But it may still have enough leftover mojo to boldly set new goals to go where no man has gone before — if it can shake off its instinct to always look for guidance from the president and Congress.

Police cars of the very near future will be scary smart. Equipped with eight cameras, voice commands, incredibly intelligent software and LTE radios, perps won't get away with anything.

Future of Tech: Beer snobs wishing to know the provenance of their favorite European pilsners and lagers are in luck: Scientists have developed a new chemical test that can tell you where the brew originated.

Here's what's worth considering today: "StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty" for $30, discounted Samsung gear, free apps and more.

If you asked Apple's Siri to help you find an abortion center or related information recently, you'd know that the virtual assistant feature built into the iPhone 4S isn't very helpful in that regard. But why? Is it promoting a pro-life agenda? Or is there a far more innocent explanation?

A Facebook status update could be up to 420 characters long in March 2009, 500 characters in July 2011, and 5,000 characters in September 2011. But now? Now you can post status updates that are over 60,000 characters long.

Facebook's fresh FTC settlement — and a spin-mea culpa from CEO Mark Zuckerberg — doesn't fix the fact everything about the social network is designed to make you overshare.

Apple's iPhone edged past major news events, celebrities and pop stars as the top searched term on the Web in 2011, according to Yahoo.

Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: In his new book, "The Infinity Puzzle," physicist Frank Close reviews decades' worth of brain-teasing theories and looks ahead to puzzles yet to be solved.

The next time you feel guilty about wasting half an hour on watching a sitcom, consider this: 62 percent of Americans spend more than three hours glued to their television sets each day.

Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: Russian and American researchers have reached a pact for naming the super-heavy elements 114 and 116. Say hello to flerovium and livermorium.

The ad agency for a condom maker thought it would be a swell idea to scare men out of causing unwanted pregnancies by — seriously — sending Facebook friend requests to them from their future offspring.

Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: This year's Space Advent Calendar kicks off with a picture of the moon hanging above Earth like a Christmas tree ornament.

The world's first quad-core tablet has more than meets the eye. In-Game's Todd Kenreck reports. (In-Game)