Scientists probe whether humans killed off the 'hobbit' people 50,000 years ago

The extinct human species dubbed the "Hobbits" vanished from its home on the Indonesian island of Flores far earlier than previously thought, according to scientists who suspect our species may have had a hand in the demise of these diminutive people.

Mapping the DNA inheritance from Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestors

Bridie Smith   Indigenous Australians may have a dash more Denisovan than Neanderthal in their DNA, with genetic traces of the mysterious population of hominids popping up in surprisingly high doses, according to fresh research.

Science

Scientists find evidence for ocean beneath Pluto's surface

Peter Spinks   Alien weirdos might swim in a sea of water and ammonia beneath the icy surface of dwarf planet Pluto, some scientists believe.

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Irradiated food labelling reviewed

Stephen Jeffery   Food Standards Australia New Zealand has asked the public whether mandatory labelling of foods treated with ionising radiation is still needed.

Sam's programming skills put to the test

Stephen Jeffery   A Telopea Park School year 10 student could represent Australia at an international programming competition in Russia later this year.

Computers

Aussie breakthrough brings quantum computing closer

Hannah Francis   Griffith University researchers have discovered a way to make quantum logic gates bigger, bringing down the cost and complexity of a quantum computing circuit.

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Science

Scientists create simplest ever microbe that could hold clues to life

Rachel Feltman   Four bottles of chemicals and just 473 genes have rounded out a 20-year goal for these biologists.

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Feeling a wee bit angry? Brain parasite could have made you a cat's paw

Liam Mannix   Explosive temper? Prone to risk-taking? It might not be your fault. Your mind could be being controlled by a single-celled organism that can rewire our behaviour to its own advantage.

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Science

Self-cleaning clothes a step closer after nanomaterial breakthrough

Peter Spinks   Scientists are working on nano-enhanced textiles that spontaneously clean themselves when exposed to sunlight - or even a humble light bulb.

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HDTV, OLED, UHD, HDR, WTF?

Peter Wells   This year has marked a turning point, with television manufacturers focused once more on picture quality, but is it time to upgrade your HD TV? First, we have to look at 2016's marketing buzzwords, and see which you care about.

Internet wired for cows mating, dogs misbehaving, hens laying

Andrew Masterson   Current mainstream coverage of the IoT tends to centre on its potential for fully automating houses and workplaces. Away from the limelight, however, there is much fevered work going on aimed at hooking up pets and farm stock.

Israeli cyber-soldiers turn to combat Quidditch

Gwen Ackerman and Jonathan Ferziger   The Israeli military's elite Cyber Command is fighting in a virtual battlefield modelled on the adventures of Harry Potter.

HP's new Elite more than scratches the Surface

Peter Wells   The HP Elite X2 has its sights firmly on the Surface Pro's crown, as the best two-in-one laptop-tablet hybrid on the market. This is HP's high-end device, to complement the consumer Spectre series. And it's good. Very good.

The relative benefits of isolation, cancellation and cabbage ears

Rod Easdown   Kef's M400 headphones are fine for home use but not so good when you are flying.

Mars, like politics, seems to be going round in circles

Perry Vlahos   I'm up late almost every night. But I want you to stay up a little later than normal too, and check something out. It's a mystery, the oldest scientific puzzle about the planet Mars. It goes back to the Egyptians and it wasn't solved until Copernicus in the 16th century.

A beginner's guide to buying a virtual reality headset

Hayley Tsukayama   By the end of this year, consumers will have plenty of choice when it comes to buying serious virtual reality headsets. Here is our handy guide to help early adopters decide where to spend their money.

Science

Melbourne's Botanic Gardens set for new climate-tolerant face in 2090

Peter Spinks   Plant scientists plan to adapt the botanical landscape to the harsh effects of global warming predicted for coming decades.

Richard III's grave like you've never seen it before

Marcus Strom   Find out what death was like for a king inside his 500-year-old forgotten grave.

NASA photos quiz: are you an Earthling or a spaceman

Marcus Strom   Take this quiz to see how well you know the Earth and our nearby Solar System. Are you staring at the skies or at your shoes?

Geoffrey Rush and Brian Schmidt capture the cosmos for planetarium

Andrew Stephens   Imagine this: all around you, for your entire life, there has been a mysterious force at work that you knew nothing about. That force constitutes most of what surrounds you, yet it is invisible, and pulls unseen strings to make your world the way it is.