The breakdown of an initial ceasefire between Israeli forces and Hamas last weekend played out to a familiar soundtrack: the wail of air-raid sirens and the menacing hiss of incoming rocket fire, followed…
By Nicolas Suzor, Queensland University of Technology and Eleanor Angel, Queensland University of Technology
The latest case of a popular YouTube blogger being sued for using music by other artists in her videos without permission raises the question of who really benefits from the re-use of music. In a claim…
AUSTRALIA 2025: How will science address the challenges of the future? In collaboration with Australia’s chief scientist Ian Chubb, we asked how each science discipline will contribute to Australia now…
Twitter is the latest tech company to reveal figures showing women are still underrepresented in the information and communication technology (ICT) workforce. Men make up 70% of the overall staff and women…
Just how much information we give away about ourselves as we browse the web has been raised again by a tracking device used in thousands of websites. Researchers at Belgium’s University of Leuven have…
Over the last few years we’ve been studying the orbits of dwarf galaxies and we expecting to find them buzzing at random around large galaxies. But looking out into the universe, we see some dwarfs undertaking…
As the Tour de France approaches its final days, teams will be looking to place their top riders in the best possible position for the all-important individual time trial in the penultimate stage, where…
The first of the bodies from Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 have arrived in the Netherlands ready for forensic investigation into the remains of the 298 passengers and crew. Identifying the victims is…
Australia has had an active civil space program since 1947 but has much to learn if it is to capture a bigger share of growing billion dollar global space industry. The potential size and scope of the…
The topic of releasing genetically modified (GM) products into food and the environment is highly polarised. But are we making any progress with it? The debate is now so vicious and impatient that to have…
Google has announced a surprising end to its controversial “Real Name” policy with a contrite post on Google+, telling users that there are “no more restrictions” on the names people can use. This is a…
Taxpayers want to know that their money is well spent on research. Yet funding agencies persist in trying to explain research results in terms of papers and publications rather than in terms of people…
Australia allocates around A$9 billion a year of taxpayers’ money for research, but how do we know if that money is being spent wisely? With the Australian Government threatening to reduce the amount of…
Returning the 298 victims from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 to their families with dignity and respect is a major priority for each nation involved. Disaster victim identification (DVI) is a difficult…
Google’s new Project Zero team adds some welcome muscle in the fight against cybercrime and could also lead to better privacy for all, making it harder for intelligence agencies to spy. The team will be…
What is it that makes rockstars so attractive to the opposite sex? Turns out Charles Darwin had it pegged hundreds of years ago – and it has a lot to do with peacocks. In The Descent of Man, and Selection…
The investigation into what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 and the location of the black box recorder comes down to a series of complex treaties and international law. Calls are being made by…
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine yesterday, carrying 283 passengers and 15 crew members from the Netherlands to Malaysia. Here’s the confirmed information we have so far. Ukrainian…
By Peter Langridge, Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics
AUSTRALIA 2025: How will science address the challenges of the future? In collaboration with Australia’s chief scientist Ian Chubb, we’re asking how each science discipline will contribute to Australia…
What is it that makes rockstars so attractive to the opposite sex? Turns out Charles Darwin had it pegged hundreds of years ago – and it has a lot to do with peacocks. In The Descent of Man, and Selection…
Who’s looking at who when drones take to the sky?
Who’s looking at who when drones take to the sky?
Flickr/fisl quinze
The increasing use of drone aircraft in Australia may finally lead to a long overdue change in privacy laws to protect against the use of remote eyes and ears in invasive technologies. The call for tougher…
How do you know the people billed as science experts that you see, hear and read about in the media are really all that credible? Or have they been included just to create a perception of balance in the…
Hi Mum … or should I say … impostor?
Hi Mum … or should I say … impostor?
Aaron Tait/Flickr
In the film Invasion of the Body Snatchers aliens invade earth by replicating individuals. While the idea that we could be duped by shape-shifting aliens is a great idea for a film, the story echoes a…
Domesticated mammals, including dogs, share a number of characteristic features.
Domesticated mammals, including dogs, share a number of characteristic features.
Klearchos Kapoutsis/Flickr
By Don Newgreen, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and Jeffrey Craig, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
Take a look at several domesticated mammal species and you might spot a number of similarities between them, including those cute floppy ears. The famous naturalist and evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin…
Like Icarus, passengers on aircraft during solar flares can cop the effects of flying close to the sun.
Like Icarus, passengers on aircraft during solar flares can cop the effects of flying close to the sun.
HK.Colin/Flickr
Space weather impacts many modern-day technologies. But one of the most concerning – and least reported – space weather effects is the increased radiation exposure to passengers on commercial long-distance…
Patent trolls … halt!
Patent trolls … halt!
Rafael Peñaloza
Google, Canon and other information technology corporations last week announced they’re banding together in an attempt to fix an allegedly broken patent system and squash the wave of patent trolls and…
A child in Senegal waiting to be tested for sickle cell anaemia - in parts of Africa up to 40% of the population can carry the sickle cell gene.
A child in Senegal waiting to be tested for sickle cell anaemia - in parts of Africa up to 40% of the population can carry the sickle cell gene.
EPA/Pierre Holtz
Genetic mutations that affect our blood cells' haemoglobin are the most common of all mutations. It has been estimated that around 5% of the world’s population carry a defective globin gene. Haemoglobin…
Does the brain function like electronic circuits?
Does the brain function like electronic circuits?
Flickr/Ars Electronica
Electronic engineers are emerging as important contributors to understanding of the workings of the human brain. There is a rapidly growing intersection between electronic engineering and neuroscience…
Prime Minister Tony Abbot in the pilot seat of an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Prime Minister Tony Abbot in the pilot seat of an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Prime Minister Tony Abbott sat in the pilot seat of a F-35 Joint Strike Fighter at the time he announced his government will buy an additional 58 planes at a cost of at least A$12.4 billion. But imagine…
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