Science + Tech – Articles, Analysis, Comment – The Conversation

Does your employer have to tell if they’re spying on you through your work computer?

Jacqueline Meredith, Swinburne University of Technology and Peter Holland, Swinburne University of Technology

The electronic monitoring and surveillance of employees is on the rise as growing numbers of people switch to hybrid and at-home work.

There are 750 unidentified human remains in Australia. Could your DNA help solve one of these cold cases?

Jodie Ward, University of Technology Sydney and Dennis McNevin, University of Technology Sydney

DNA volunteered by citizens worldwide is helping to restore the identity of human remains found across Australia.

Climate change is disrupting ocean currents. We’re using satellites and ships to understand how

Shane Keating, UNSW Sydney and Moninya Roughan, UNSW Sydney

A sea voyage and a satellite mission will combine to produce a more detailed picture of the ocean’s currents than ever before.

Is there really a 1 in 6 chance of human extinction this century?

Steven Stern, Bond University

What are the odds of the end of humanity? There’s no real way to know.

Should you charge your phone overnight? Will ‘overcharging’ make it explode? Common battery myths debunked

Ritesh Chugh, CQUniversity Australia

Plus 8 tips for maximising your battery’s lifespan.

A general view of Wadi Gharandal riverine wetland, along the Jordan Rift Valley, showing palm trees concentrated at the centre of the wadi near the active spring. Mahmoud Abbas

New path for early human migrations through a once-lush Arabia contradicts a single ‘out of Africa’ origin

Michael Petraglia, Griffith University; Mahmoud Abbas, Shantou University, and Zhongping Lai, Shantou University

The findings reveal a close association between climatic conditions and early human migrations out of Africa.

Stone Age herders transported heavy rock tools to grind animal bones, plants and pigment

Maria Guagnin, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology; Giulio Lucarini, National Research Council (CNR), and Michael Petraglia, Griffith University

A close look at 7,000-year-old grinding stones left in ancient firepits shows wandering herders in northern Saudi Arabia carried heavy tools for working on bones, plants and rocks.

From glowing cats to wombats, fluorescent mammals are much more common than you’d think

Kenny Travouillon, Western Australian Museum; Christine Elizabeth Cooper, Curtin University; Jemmy Bouzin, Curtin University; Linette Umbrello, Queensland University of Technology, and Simon Lewis, Curtin University

After combing through museum collections, our team of researchers found a whopping 125 fluorescent mammal species – from polar bears and dolphins, to leopards, zebras and wombats.

Holes in baby dinosaur bones show how football-sized hatchlings grew to 3-tonne teens

Roger S. Seymour, University of Adelaide

Small holes in baby dinosaur bones add to the growing mass of evidence that the ancient creatures were warm-blooded and highly active.

What has the Nobel Prize in Physics ever done for me?

Karen Livesey, University of Newcastle

The science that wins the Nobel Prize in Physics each year can be hard to get your head around – but it often has real everyday implications.

Organisms without brains can learn, too – so what does it mean to be a thinking creature?

Thomas White, University of Sydney

Box jellyfish have no brains, yet were recently found to be able to learn from touch. Many brainless organisms are now forcing us to rethink what it means to learn.

Are NFTs really dead and buried? All signs point to ‘yes’

John Hawkins, University of Canberra

This is why no one is buying your cartoon ape.

A search for links between two of the universe’s most spectacular phenomena has come up empty – for now

Eric Howell, The University of Western Australia

Massive flashes of energy known as ‘fast radio bursts’ have puzzled astronomers for years – and a new search for links to gravitational waves has so far found no connection.

What causes lithium-ion battery fires? Why are they so intense? And how should they be fought? An expert explains

Muhammad Rizwan Azhar, Edith Cowan University

Lithium-ion battery fires are rare, but they can cause a lot of damage – and they’re challenging to put out.

Will AI kill our creativity? It could – if we don’t start to value and protect the traits that make us human

Cameron Shackell, Queensland University of Technology

AI could kill our creativity by making us think too alike. It also forces us to question what “creativity” is, and the different forms it can take.

Nobody knows how consciousness works – but top researchers are fighting over which theories are really science

Tim Bayne, Monash University

Big names in consciousness research have signed an open letter attacking ‘integrated information theory’ as pseudoscience, sparking uproar.

New study shows we can create value from food waste by turning it into a highly desirable material – nanocellulose

Alan Labas, Federation University Australia; Benjamin Matthew Long, Federation University Australia, and Dylan Liu, Federation University Australia

We can’t entirely eliminate food waste – but we can find cheap ways to turn it into something useful.

From stock markets to brain scans, new research harmonises hundreds of scientific methods to understand complex systems

Ben Fulcher, University of Sydney

There are hundreds of ways to analyse interactions in a complex system. A new study shows how they can all work together.

7 years, billions of kilometres, a handful of dust: NASA just brought back the largest-ever asteroid sample

Eleanor K. Sansom, Curtin University and Nick Timms, Curtin University

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has delivered pieces of asteroid Bennu, which scientists hope will offer a window into the early era of the Solar System billions of years ago.

A national digital ID scheme is being proposed. An expert weighs the pros and (many more) cons

Erica Mealy, University of the Sunshine Coast

The draft bill has a number of issues, ranging from an insecure mechanism that leaves people’s data vulnerable to attacks, to a lack of mandatory disclosure of data breaches.