He added that the company was able to spot the botnet thanks to a very specific behaviour of the infected computers.

BBC: Luminous keyboard

They told Home Office Minister Jeremy Browne they were "very concerned" at the proposed replacement of Dog Control Orders, with less specific anti-social behaviour measures.

BBC: A muzzled and leashed pitbull terrier

Crooks have developed a new Mac OS X-specific Trojan that mimics the behaviour of a legitimate software installer.

FORBES: Yes, There Really Is Malware For Apple's Mac OS

Work by other researchers, however, has suggested such supplements do improve the performance and behaviour of school-age children with specific diagnoses such as dyslexia, attention-deficit disorder and developmental co-ordination disorder.

ECONOMIST: Eat your way to a better brain

For any behaviour to be defined as addictive, there have to be specific consequences such as it becoming the most important activity in the person's life or being the way they improve their mood.

BBC: Why anything can be addictive

This has mirrored progress in fields as diverse as speech recognition and credit-card fraud detection, where modern techniques combined with a continuing explosion in computer power have made possible behaviour that seems very like human intelligence, albeit limited to a specific domain.

ECONOMIST: Stop the war