Big Ideas
Reshaping what's possible
Prize-winning AuREUS material turns food waste into renewable energy
Carvey Ehren Maigue has won the James Dyson Sustainability Award 2020 for developing AuREUS, a crop-based material turning UV into energy.
Rosetta comet probe completes "ingredients for life" bingo card
Scientists have discovered the final chemical building block of life on a comet, furthering the idea that our life all came from space.
DeepMind AI claims massive breakthrough in protein folding
New advances in AI are smashing the competition and determining the structure of proteins which has huge implications for scientific research.
Tasmania boldly claims state is 100% powered by renewable energy
Tasmania's recent wind farm projects tips it over into generating enough renewable energy to power the state.
AI bias isn't going away anytime soon
Another day, another example of artificial intelligence judging people unfairly based on their appearance.
'Study' reveals Mario Kart, FIFA and Dark Souls are the most stressful games
Which games will get your heart racing most? And which spike it hard? These games lead the stress surge charts with others close behind.
Platypus cooler than ever as we discover they're also biofluorescent
Not only are they a bunch of weird little rat-ducks who lay eggs with a dash of venom, now they can glow too.
The Dish gets official Wiradjuri name
The Parkes radio telescope, along with two other CSIRO space instruments, have been given Wiradjuri names to better connect them to country.
First Nations languages available to all through the online 50 Words Project
Begin learning your nearest First Nations language thanks to the online-based 50 Words Project, which went live in time for NAIDOC week.
Australia implements postal X-ray to sniff out seeds no one ordered
Mysterious seeds are showing up in Australian mailboxes as part of a "brushing scam", so X-rays are being tested to sniff them out.
Victoria set to build the new biggest battery in the Southern Hemisphere
Victoria blasts past South Australia with the Victorian Big Battery, projected to reduce energy prices while also reducing blackouts.
Researchers have a plan to give the GPT-3 AI some "common sense"
Scientists are giving the best language AI the power of vision, allowing it to become even more indistinguishable from human speech.
I may not meet my own expectations, but I’ll always have Mario
Why is nostalgia so damn helpful in times of distress like in 2020? Psychology, as usual, has the answers you seek.
FRB signal discovered from rare star in Milky Way: is it dropping sick beats?
The first Fast Radio Burst has been detected within our galaxy, giving scientists the a new answer to what can cause these mysterious signals.
Vindolanda: a dead obsession
It's time to get your would-be child detective on the case. There's a historical mystery to solve and it starts with human bones!
Pokemon GO officially good for your brain – but is it still true in 2020?
Research shows how good Pokemon GO can be for mood and memory, but have pandemic lockdowns – and recent game changes – hurt the experience?
Facebook helps boost NYU research project monitoring its ads – by suing it
Facebook goes after an NYU research plugin designed to give greater transparency to political adverts.
NASA confirms the Moon has more water than than we thought
From supporting human habitation to being converted into rocket fuel, here's why that Moon water is such an exciting discovery.
Australian-made hydrogen energy storage tech ready to launch
A UNSW research sping-off is ready to sell you hydrogen-based battery with larger and longer lasting energy storage than ever before.
Potato-powered DOOM, anyone?
How many spuds does it take to power a game of DOOM? One YouTuber decided to go to extreme lengths to find out.
