When a stone is identified as a borderline case between two grades, the system uses an optimisation technique, called a genetic algorithm, to explore the different ways in which the stone could be cut to maximise its value.

ECONOMIST: MONITOR

The Jubilee Line's planners failed to foresee the problems caused by the introduction of a novel tunnelling technique and a high-tech signalling system.

ECONOMIST: Are British builders uniquely awful?

Studies have shown that a technique called liquid cytology is a better system than the current one, and also facilitates the use of HPV tests where appropriate.

BBC: Cervical cancer misunderstood

By employing a specialized lens-free technique, the researchers have created a system that is able to cope with the flood of radiation from an environment filled with flames as well as smoke.

ENGADGET: Infrared holography lets rescuers see people through walls, fire, walls of fire (video)

The camp's re-engineering awards went to a group that developed a technique to alter the ID numbers on Global System for Mobile Communications cell phones and to another team that found a way to defeat a biometric fingerprint scanning system.

CNN: Reporter's notebook: Hackers on holiday

"The described technique cannot engage or control the aircraft's autopilot system using the (Flight Management System) or prevent a pilot from overriding the autopilot, " the FAA said.

CNN: Hacker says phone app could hijack plane

But modern acupuncturists say the technique's effectiveness can be explained by an understanding of the central nervous system.

BBC: dentist

The most common threat was a technique known as spear-phishing, which can corrupt a company's computer system by uploading malicious attachments and gaining access to sensitive information.

CNN: Homeland Security cites sharp rise in cyber attacks

"It allows us to keep the system intact but lets us see within it, " said Stanford neuroscientist Karl Deisseroth, who pioneered the technique.

WSJ: Brain Science: Mysterious Neural Circuitry Becomes Viewable