Latest In Technology
Evolution
It’s official: we’re evolving into stupid
EVOLUTION is continuing to shape our future, research from Iceland has found. But not in the way we want. We’re losing our ability to learn.
What the hell does ‘OK’ stand for?
WE SAY it countless times a day, but have you ever stopped to wonder what “OK” stands for? The word has a bizarre history.
These words will soon be extinct
FORTNIGHT, fiance and twice are just some of the words we use now that are rapidly falling out of favour and could soon end up on a diction death row.
‘Power to change everything’
THEY could reverse cancer, eliminate obesity and alter genes forever. What you need to know about the group changing “everything”.
Life, but not as we know it ...
RESEARCHERS have successfully “bred” a bacteria that bonds with silicon, demonstrating alien life could be very weird indeed.
The storm that could end it all
SCIENTISTS have warned that “hypercanes” may have wiped out the dinosaurs amid fears that humans could be next.
First ever dinosaur brain found
AUSTRALIAN and British scientists have identified an unassuming brown pebble as the first example of a fossilised dinosaur brain. It’s similar to a bird’s — and a crocodile’s.
Planet of the apes — has it begun?
RESEARCHERS have for the first time observed a group of capuchin monkeys sharpening stones. Watch out.
DNA unearths mystery of new ‘human’
DNA from indigenous Australians has revealed evidence of ancient interbreeding with an unknown branch of humanity their ancestors encountered 72,000 years ago.
Aussie researchers find oldest fossil
AUSTRALIAN scientists say life on Earth is even older than we thought: They’ve just found fossils dating back a staggering 3.7 billion years.
Three-million-year-old mystery solved
THERE is a new theory as to how the most famous human ancestor met her demise, and it has implications for our understanding of evolution.
Now China says humans evolved there
THE idea that humans first emerged out of Africa may have to be revisited: Chinese researchers say new fossil finds suggest we may have evolved in Asia.
Mystery over first Australians solved
NEW DNA research has refuted 15-year-old evidence that claimed Australia’s Mungo Man came from a lineage other than Aboriginal.
You’re probably a computer simulation
ELON Musk says it’s almost a certainty that we’re all living in a computer simulation, but that happens to be a very good thing.
Bigfoot might have been real
WE’VE all scoffed at those who believe in Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster and the Yeti. But they may have the last laugh.
Space dust rewrites Earth history
ANALYSIS of ancient flecks of space dust found in the Pilbara has revealed that the Earth had something 2.7 billion years ago.
Apparently, we killed the Hobbits
SCIENTISTS have made stark new discoveries into the ancient Hobbits, and they suspect we played a role in their demise.
Indonesian ‘hobbit’ mystery deepens
A RACE of humanoids dubbed “hobbits” was thought to be the last of our ancestors to die out a mere 12,000 years ago. But a new look at their bones shows they may be much older.
Exploring dinosaur ‘ground zero’
IT’S the single most dramatic event in history: When an asteroid slammed into Mexico 66 million years ago, triggering a mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs. Now scientists want to find it.
Want a pet Chickenosaurus?
SCIENTISTS have manipulated chicken embryos in the latest effort to turn the bird into a small version of its dinosaur ancestors.
She was 16, pregnant — and a T-Rex
AFTER 68 million years, it’s something of a challenge to even guess the sex of a dinosaur. But, in the case of one T-Rex recently found, we know she was feeling somewhat clucky.
Hand of God claim sparks uproar
A STUDY claiming the human hand was “designed by the Creator” has sent shockwaves through the world’s science communities. But was it lost in translation?
Drop bears: Fleshing out the truth
AUSTRALIA’s mythical ‘drop bear’ is looking a whole lot more real: A remarkable find in WA reveals thylacoleo - the marsupial lion - could indeed climb, and raised its young in caves.
What to blame interbreeding for
IF YOU’RE a smoker or deal with depression, you might be able to blame thousands of years of human species interbreeding.
$1.3 billion plan to save humankind
BILLIONAIRE Elon Musk has joined forces with other high-profile executives to formulate a plan to save the world from a potentially evil force.
’A new dawn for dinosaur research’
SCIENCE has just taken a giant stride towards Jurassic Park - recovering intact blood vessels from among the fossilised remains of an 80 million-year-old dinosaur.
On the job with the real-life ghostbusters
SHE hunts ghosts for a living and claims to have recorded paranormal activity. Peta Banks reveals Australia’s most terrifying hauntings.
Humans ‘a danger to themselves’
WITH the Earth moving dangerously fast towards its sixth mass extinction, scientists have revealed why we’re facing a potentially apocalyptic scenario.
Ancient teeth rewriting human history
HUMAN teeth discovered in China suggest our species left Africa up to 70,000 years earlier than thought and were scared away from Europe by Neanderthals.
The creepy critters that roamed with dinosaurs
IT’S older than the dinosaur and just as creepy as the rats of today — except this prehistoric critter had enormous strength where you wouldn’t expect.
Meet tomorrow’s humans
Not only have humans continued to evolve over the past 50,000 years, but according to new research, we may have been evolving more quickly than at any time in our history. So what will tomorrow’s humans look like?
New human species found in cave
BONES of 15 bodies from a previously unknown human species have been discovered in a deep cave in South Africa, in an extraordinary discovery.
This is what really wiped out life on Earth
EARTH’S first mass extinction did not unfold in the way you think. Scientists believe they’ve busted a popular myth about the event’s cause.
‘Lightning Claw’ roars out of the past
MEET ‘Lightning Claw’, a freshly discovered killer direct from Australia’s Cretaceous. It’s also the biggest predatory dinosaur yet found here — a 7m long, razor-toed raptor.
Is this cave painting a pterodactyl?
A SNOUT. A wing. True believers say this is evidence of humans living with dinosaurs. Skeptics say they’re seeing things. So what does this mysterious cave painting actually show?
Catageddon: This was no hissy fit
IN the eternal war between dogs and cats, guess which came within a whisker of total victory ... almost driving the other to extinction.
Rosetta’s comet ride nears payday
A COMET streaking through space with a robot lab riding piggyback will skirt the sun in the quest to unravel the origins of life on earth.
Snake-stampede? Yes, they had legs
A FOUR-LEGGED snake? A new fossil uncovered in Brazil suggests the ancient reptile wasn’t always on its belly.
Why the mammoths were toast
WOOLLY mammoths were in big trouble before humans arrived: Research shows rapid warming - in the space of just decades - was responsible for dramatic die-offs.
Australian link to ancient Amazon
DID an ancient tribe of Australian Aborigines colonise the Amazon? Unexpected new DNA results may have uncovered a long-forgotten wave of migration some 15,000 years ago.
Scientific breakthrough in ’mind-melding’
IT MIGHT seem like a far-fetched concept, but scientists have made an incredible breakthrough in brain-networking by linking minds together.
Unexpected diet that conquered Europe
FORGET the paleo diet. Research suggests fast food may be the foundation stone of modern civilisation — at least when it comes to rabbits and milk.
‘Hellboy’ dinosaur unleashed in Canada
A NEW species of horned dinosaur nicknamed Hellboy, after the comic book character, has been unveiled 10 years after it was discovered.
Shark tale turned on its head
PRIMITIVE throwbacks to before the dinosaurs? It seems sharks have been defamed. A fossil discovery in Western Australia reveals the predator to be much more evolved than we think.
‘Lucy’ may not be our mum after all
A NEW species of ancient human has been unearthed, scientists report, suggesting our family tree is more complicated than was thought.
Silicon Valley’s gross secret to success
IF YOU’VE ever wondered how all those geniuses come up with their crazy ideas and make billions of dollars, the truth is so unpalatable you’ll never do it yourself.
Adam, Eve and their pet T.Rex?
INFAMOUS Aussie creationist preacher Ken Ham claims he is ready to prove dinosaurs roamed with Adam and Eve — and scientists aren’t happy.
Science explains why men exist
SOME women would prefer a world where men don’t exist. No hogging the remote. No beard clippings in the sink. Sadly, researchers say it wouldn’t work.
Scientists bring T-Rex back to life
THE T-Rex is one of the world’s most feared predators. This hasn’t stopped a team of scientists from bringing it back to life.
Chickens reveal the beast within
THERE’S dinosaur lurking inside your average chicken. And it has just been re-awoken by a group of scientists in the United States.
The real threats to our existence
IT’S the most important question facing humankind, but this guy says we’ve spent more time studying dung beetles than trying to answer it.
Walk from London to Sydney
THE Earth is set for a drastic change that will give our descendants the ability to walk from Sydney to London.
Stephen Hawking gives hope to 1D fans
IN a different universe Zayn is still in One Direction, humans may not survive another 1000 years on Earth, and there is no God, according to Stephen Hawking.
Could Earth cope with 1000-year-old humans?
A BIOLOGICAL revolution enabling humans to experience everlasting youthfulness has been predicted for the near future. Is the Earth ready for it?
Oldest human bones unearthed
ITALIAN scientists who first found the intact bones 20 years ago have finally unearthed one of the oldest-ever Neanderthal skeletons.
Will the Brontosaurus be resurrected?
A CENTURY ago, the world was told the Brontosaurus never really existed, but the legend persisted anyway. New evidence suggests we were right to believe.
This is what we wore 130,000 years ago
RESEARCHERS have uncovered the world’s oldest bling, upsetting the notion our ancestors were likely brutes. Were our forefathers fashion forward?
When humans changed the world forever
THERE is a point in time, two actually, when humans officially took over the world and changed it forever.
Where to survive a zombie apocalypse
EVERYONE has their own theory about surviving a zombie apocalypse, but researches have used science to predict the best location to survive.
Fossil find is ‘oldest known human’
A PIECE of jawbone with teeth uncovered in Ethiopia is the oldest known trace of our most ancient human ancestors — from a whopping 2.8 million years ago.
How to behave when you ride a lift
PROPER lift etiquette is tricky business, so we have called in an expert to clear things up. Find out the dos and don’ts of riding in an elevator.
Hawking foresees humanity’s fate
HE is living proof that anything in life is possible. But is famed physicist and futurist Stephen Hawking losing hope in humanity?
‘Why the paleo diet is all wrong’
A LEADING anthropologist has slammed the paleo diet, claiming that cavemen would gladly have eaten foods the diet bans.
There’s hope for average men everywhere
IF YOU are waiting for your perfect match before starting a family ... stop now. Research has found settling for Mr Okay is a better strategy than waiting for Mr Right.
Scared of needles? Science has a solution
THIS make you queasy? A new painless patch could replace the feared needle and deliver medical technology a literal shot in the arm.