Australia banks on quantum leaps as Microsoft inks deal with uni
The possibilities of quantum computers are much-hyped but even the search for breakthroughs promises lucrative spin-offs.
Latest science news
US boy trips over million-year-old fossil in desert hike
Jude Sparks had discovered the fossilised skull of a stegomastodon, missing only a tusk.
The extraordinary science behind a discovery 65,000 years in the making
Indigenous Australians have lived here 18,000 years longer than previously proved.
If Aboriginal culture were 24 hours old, white people have been in Australia five minutes
Just how long ago is 65,000 years? Scroll down to go back in time
World-first outback discovery rewrites the history of Australia
Aboriginal people have lived in Australia for a minimum of 65,000 years - 18,000 years longer than had been proved previously.
GMO incidents across Australia revealed
Incidents include GM vaccines being tipped down the sink and seeds blowing off the back of a truck.
Jupiter's Great Red storm 'so powerful and so beautiful'
"The more we zoom into the Great Red Spot, the more turbulent it seems to be."
Could a zap to the head be dynamite for your brain power?
A $50 million project from the slightly shadowy research arm of the US Department of Defence could clip 30 per cent off the time it takes to learn a foreign language
Scientists encode a film in DNA
DNA will never become obsolete, and can store a "million million" times more data than a compact disc in the same space. Injected into the sequence of a living organism, the data could remain readible for millions of years as the organism reproduces. Now scientists have made an important step, storing a GIF in E. Coli and then recovering it.
China makes quantum leap by teleporting data into space
The breakthrough gives China a significant edge in developing unbreakable codes.
Drones present a threat to cities, expert warns Brisbane conference
Drones have been recognised as a very real threat to cities as the use of the technology by terrorist organisations increases.
Humans key to improving therapeutic robotics
Mechanical and robotic exoskeletons hold considerable promise, both as aids to the disabled and machines to increase the lifting power of worked in heavy industry, but so far the reality has lagged considerably behind the dream.
The tribe has spoken - why we sleep when we do
A healthy mixture of early birds, night owls and wakeful elderly people may have evolved as a clever way of protecting the community.
Spacecraft grazes Jupiter's clouds in brush with Great Red Spot
Juno is transmitting data and images of the colossal, crimson storm that has long fascinated observers on Earth.
Mars may not be a potato-growing utopia after all
New research suggests that survival of any life on Mars — much less potatoes and potato-growing humans — might be more difficult than we thought. I blame Matt Damon.
US vice president Mike Pence defies NASA's 'DO NOT TOUCH' sign
It was the sort of photo that screamed 'caption competition', and the internet was happy to oblige.
Byron Bay to get world's first solar-powered train
A coal baron is delivering the world's first solar train to Australia.
Common weed killer makes toad tadpoles 'beef up' their poison
A common weed killer is making toad tadpoles "beef up" their weaponry, a study has found.
We need to talk about sex, robot experts say
Artificial intelligence is making its way into the global sex market, bringing with it a revolution in robotic "sex tech".
500-year-old Aztec tower of skulls unearthed
A rack of human skulls that towered over one corner of an Aztec temple terrified the Spanish conquistadors.