A scientist, sickened by repeatedly getting turned down when seeking a date online, roped in a colleague and carried out extensive research through scientific literature so as to develop a set of foolproof methods for finding love on the internet. He now has a girlfriend, with whom he spent last week in Rome. The boffin in …

FeatureThere's no need to be home alone this Christmas. In part one we looked at the male perspective and in this second and final part, Lucy Orr reveals all about the online dating game. I’m a serial monogamist and part time cougar but it wasn’t until a rather unhappy breakup in 2009 that I even had the slightest inkling that online …

A study that asked 19,000 couples how they met and how long satisfied they are with married life has found that those whose first encounters take place online have stronger relationships. Marital satisfaction and break-ups differ across on-line and off-line meeting venues (PDF) , appearing this week in the Proceedings of the …

FeatureAnother year, another Valentine's Day – that annual event when restaurant, retail, and romance businesses try to make every uncoupled person feel wretched about themselves, and put otherwise successful relationships under enormous pressure to make February 14 a "special" day. As such, a lot of people will be looking for new …

A female employee of Australian internet service provider Internode has used the February 29th loophole that says women can propose to men to pop the question – inside Team Fortress 2 (TF2). Internode tells that employee Taryn Hicks dropped a line to Valve co-founder Gabe Newell to ask about a virtual ring that would be sold …

The London Fire Brigade have taken it upon themselves to warn the romantically inclined that a Valentine's date could end with death in a burning hell blaze. Those who expect Valentine's Day to end with liquor, chocolates and a fumble between the sheets could instead find themselves fighting for their lives in a room filled …

An international team of top boffins has quite literally left no stone unturned in its efforts to answer a highly unusual question: Just what did the love songs of the Jurassic era really sound like? This is actually the mating music of a "primitive bush cricket", whose modern descendants are also known as katydids, which …

A team of robot reseachers have developed a prototype of internet-based remote kissing devices that – for reasons unexplained – comes in two versions, one a cartoonish bunny, the other a cow. The bunny, well, The Reg can accept, seeing as how a juvenile oryctolagus cuniculus domesticus might be some folks' idea of kissable …

Scientists have discovered that certain species of Japanese snail can not only survive being eaten and then excreted by birds, they actually benefit from the process in many cases by finding themselves deposited in new uncropped habitats. The revelations were uncovered by scientifically feeding Japanese white-eye or mejiro …

The case of ex-spacewoman and US Navy captain Lisa Nowak grinds on. It was reported this week that her lawyers have asked that charges against her be dismissed, on the grounds that she may not in fact have done a good job of pepper-spraying a romantic adversary for the affections of a space shuttle pilot. Here on the Reg astro …

Statements made to police by former astronaut Lisa Nowak, accused of plotting to kidnap and mishandle a rival for the affections of a space shuttle pilot, have been thrown out of court by appeal judges. However various items found in her possession and in her car - including used nappies allegedly worn by Nowak, a hunting knife …

The legal team of Lisa Nowak, the one-time NASA spacewoman accused of planning to abduct and mishandle a rival for the affections of a space shuttle pilot, appeared again in court yesterday. Prosecutors were appealing against an earlier decision to throw out most of the evidence in the case. Florida cops originally braceleted …

Researchers from Ohio and Kentucky looking into sex education in schools have discovered that "teacher-student relationships are key" to making sure that kids achieve a healthy sex life. Eric Anderman, educational-psych prof at Ohio State, and colleagues including Pamela Cupp of Kentucky carried out the research on some 700 …

Fans of artistic crimes against humanity foisted on an unsuspecting world by companies who really believe that setting their mission statements to music will result in something other than incredulous laughter will certainly enjoy this product pitch from lab tech supplier Eppendorf International: A still from Eppendorf's …