Beyond Infinity

Climate Change, Not Just A Rogue Asteroid, Killed The Dinosaurs

17 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Fossilised Antarctic seashells show the planet was unstable, warmed by intense volcanism, long before it was smashed by the notorious space rock impac...

World's Oceans Have A Million Times More Plastic Than We Thought

16 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

New measurement methods show that pieces of plastic smaller than 5 mm in diameter are scarily common. Microplastics are entering all parts of the mari...

Space Bugs That Eat Rock And Metal

11 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Metallosphaera sedula is a single-celled organism and hails from some of the earliest life forms on Earth. Now scientists think this metal-eating extr...

Preserving Pirated Scientific Papers

11 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Library Genesis and Sci-Huh have evolved into very popular and massive repositories of pirated scientific papers. Now there are moves to formalise and...

Much Freer Speech On Twitter

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Tesla CEO Elon Musk successfully fended off a monster US$190 million defamation lawsuit brought by UK cave diver Vernon Unsworth. In a far-reaching de...

Should A Double Murderer Be Forgotten?

09 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

After serving a lengthy jail term, a German criminal wants Der Spiegel Online to remove his name from archived references on its website.

China's All-Pervasive Facial Recognition

08 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When you buy a smart phone in China, your face will be imaged and the biometric data kept by the government.

Do We Really Have To Use Google Search?

05 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Though Google search, thanks to its sheer size, offers the best search available on the Net, users must accept that it will store their IP addresses a...

Radical 'Flying' Boats Competing For America's Cup In 2021

05 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

'AC 75' hydro foiling monohulls, capable of sailing at over 50 knots from wind power alone, will compete for the Auld Mug in Auckland. But there are c...

Noise Concerns Dampen Support For Delivery Drones

02 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

After concluding a national drone noise review, the Australian Federal Government has come under fire from Google-linked Wing, a delivery drone operat...

Is The Clock TikTok'ing For Spotify?

29 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A new music streaming service from TikTok's parent company Bytedance could challenge Spotify's market dominance. It aims to capitalise on the massive ...

Suspended Animation For The Critically Injured

29 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Doctors at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have used emergency preservation and resuscitation (EPR) to place critically ill patients in ...

Sun Cable To Deliver Outback Solar To Singapore

27 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Australian billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest are lead investors in a project to build an enormous solar power plant near Tennant Cre...

After 50 years, US Strategic Air Command Retires Its Floppy Disks

23 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Air Force has completed an upgrade to its Strategic Automated Command and Control System whereby its 1960s era 8-inch floppy disk system was repla...

Suspicionless Device Searches Ruled Illegal

23 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In an important opinion on privacy at borders, US District Court Judge Denise Casper ruled that device searches without probable cause are in violatio...

CSIRO's Data61 Identifies AI As Vital To Australian Prosperity

20 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A new report from Australia's peak science and technology agency says artificial intelligence will be vital to the future of healthcare, natural resou...

China Limits Time Young People Spend Gaming

15 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Concerned about adverse social effects, the government is introducing strict limits on the amount of time (and money) spent gaming by young people. Bu...

Australian Government Moves To Block Offshore Gambling Sites

15 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Australian Communications and Media Authority will block illegal offshore gambling websites. It's part of an effort to counter the growing problem...

AI Drones Monitoring Music Festivals

15 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Eye in the Sky program, a drone surveillance system developed in India and the UK, uses artificial intelligence to provide early warning of violen...

The World's Darkest Skies

15 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve in South Australia is a massive 3000 square kilometres in area and, with some of the darkest skies on ...

How To Really Lose Weight

11 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

If you lose 1 kg of body weight, where does it go? Physicist Dr Tony Heyes explains why the amount you eat is far more important to your weight than w...

Pixel 4 Reviewed (and found wanting)

09 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

John's comprehensive critique of the much-leaked new Pixel smart phone. It has an impressive camera, with great low-light capabilities, but disappoint...

Privacy Tested At Australian Borders

08 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

An Australian ex-pat was forced to reveal passwords and give Customs officials access to his digital devices on arrival at Adelaide airport. His phone...

Prepare To Start Paying For Gmail

04 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Launched in 2004, Google's web-based mail service has over a billion users. Many are getting closer to using up their free 15GB of storage, partly due...

Our Restless Earth (Part 2)

03 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Physicist Dr Tony Heyes tells how the Serbian polymath Milutin Milankovic, interned in Budapest during World War 1, studied long-term climate change o...

The Way You Move Makes You Unique

01 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A French-Australian study finds the way your muscle groups work together is unique. Like your iris, fingerprints and voice, your gait is an example of...

Our Restless Earth (Part 1)

31 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In this fascinating discussion, Physicist Dr Tony Heyes explains the background and importance of the 1960s scientific revolution which became known a...

From The Vault - Australian Efforts In Space; Breakthrough Star Shotshot; Exoplanet Weather

14 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

After much procrastination, there's a space agency Downunder. And an Aussie satellite was launched from the ISS to study Earth's thermosphere. PLUS, B...

From The Vault - Musk's Big Mars Plans, EM Propulsion & Effects Of Automation

14 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The SpaceX founder's plans for a regular shuttle service to the Red Planet; NASA's electromagnetic propulsion system confounds the experts. PLUS, resi...

Embracing Music Made By Artificial Intelligence

10 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We discuss whether algorithm-generated music is any good. Is it creative or a strange perversion of the senses? We don't know, but still manage friend...

From The Vault - The Trouble With Facebook

10 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A look back at various stories we've done on the Social Network: UK kids disenchanted; The Zuck faces Congress; Queensland Uni study finds limiting ti...

PayPal Withdraws From Libra Association

08 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In a blow to Facebook's nascent Libra crypto project, online payments giant PayPal has decided to "forgo further participation... and to focus on adva...

Another Interstellar Visitor

06 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The second known comet to travel through our solar system from interstellar space has been detected by amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov. Not much is...

Parking Lot Intel

04 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Hedge funds have for several years been using a trading strategy from outer space. Satellite speculators count cars, watch crops grow and follow oil i...

Coming To Grips With The Science Behind Buruli Ulcers

02 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Piers talks with leading experts on Buruli ulcers Professor Tim Stinear of the Doherty Institute and Professor Paul Johnson, Director of Research at A...

Ultra Hi-res Camera Can ID Every Face Among Thousands

02 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A new Chinese-made camera has 4 times the resolution of the human eye and can individually identify people in a crowd of tens of thousands. Its develo...

China's Social Credit System Extended To Businesses

27 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Fully operational in 2020, the comprehensive, AI-driven corporate ranking system will cover 33 million companies, both local and international. The EU...

International Cooperation And Competition In Outer Space

26 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Australia's prime minister signs deal to be part of America's ambitious plans for the Moon and Mars; hopes to grow local space industry. Meanwhile, Ru...

Reservations About The Revamped Galaxy Fold And Huawei's Mate 30 Pro

26 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

John describes changes to the relaunched Fold but still has doubts about Samsung's expensive tablet-in-a-phone. PLUS, the super high spec flagship pho...

How Safe And How Reliable Is The Cloud?

25 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

John explains how Google Drive can delete your data due to account inactivity, even if you're paying for the service. We look at the benefits and risk...

Inflatable Space Habs - Stronger, Safer, Faster, Lighter, Cheaper

20 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Bigelow Aerospace could provide NASA with its B330 space habitat to use as the Lunar Gateway space station. If selected, it would form an integral par...

VW Australia Agrees To Settle 'Dieselgate' Scandal

20 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

After a four year legal battle, the world's biggest selling car maker has agreed to pay Aussies caught up in its emissions scandal up to AUD127.1 mill...

Lab-grown Meat Coming Of Age

19 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Production costs are falling dramatically and the day may come when a fast food burger is made by a machine, instead of a cow. There will also be mass...

Google Moves To Elevate Original Reporting In Search Results

18 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

At long last, the world's search giant is taking steps to favour the originators of true journalism in its search result rankings over aggregators, pl...

It's Hard Enough To Land On The Moon, Let Alone Mars

15 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation are mourning the failure of their Vikram lander and Pragyan rover which targeted the Moon's south...

Firefox Comes Standard With Ad Blocking

14 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Version 69.0 of the popular browser has enhanced tracking protection, which significantly improves users' privacy. It has ad blocking as its default, ...

The Automatic Listening Exploitation Act

12 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Smart home devices like the Amazon Echo and Google Nest are super handy but do come with some security risks. There are now 50 million in use in Ameri...

Trade War Effects On Consumer Tech

10 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We look at the effects of the accelerating trade war on consumer spending on everyday items in America, in particular on the pricing of Chinese-made d...

From The Vault - Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres; Planet 9; Juno to Jupiter

08 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

From The Vault: The Best Of Beyond Infinity. The first time one spacecraft orbited two separate objects in our solar system was NASA's pioneering DAWN...

From The Vault - Cedar Anderson's Flowhive And The Challenges Facing Bees

07 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

From The Vault: The Best Of Beyond Infinity. Honey and Bees. Cedar Anderson talks development of the Flowhive, his gadget which gives "honey on tap" a...

Facebook Zealots Likened To Drug Addicts

06 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A recent Michigan State University study published in the Journal of Behavioural Addictions suggests that heavy social media users act in a way not di...

The Iron-ion Battery From India

05 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Newly developed at the Institute of Technology in Madras, iron-ion batteries are safe, clean and stable. They can't be recharged as many times as lith...

Disrupting The Disruptors - Big Changes To The Gig Economy

03 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

If it passes a final vote in the Senate, California's AB5 bill will force companies like Uber, Lyft, Instacart and Postmates to classify workers as em...

Weaponising Social Media

28 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

US tech giants are cracking down on misuse of their platforms. Twitter recently closed 200,000 fake accounts from China and Google has taken action ag...

Deep-faking The Silver Screen

28 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Hollywood is embracing the latest VFX techniques to accurately depict what actors looked like when they were much younger. Ang Lee's 'Gemini Man' and ...

Big Brother Likes To Watch

27 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Billions of CCTV cameras now monitor cities across the world but don't necessarily result in big reductions in crime or improvements in public safety....

Celebrating Science In Australia

13 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The whole country is revelling in the wonders of science and the achievements of Aussie scientists. From 10-18 August, there are over 1000 events for ...

Josh Hawley's War On Big Tech

09 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Republican Senator for Missouri says social media is "a parasite on productive investment, on meaningful relationships and a healthy society". His...

Australian Lawmakers Focus On US Tech Giants

01 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Feds are moving to clamp down on Google and Facebook - to protect citizens' privacy and online security; to more effectively tax tech giants; to e...

Accelerating Science With AI

01 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Artificial intelligence has been proven to fast track technical breakthroughs and human progress by sifting through millions of scientific papers, fin...

Phones Remoulding Our Skeletons

31 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Researchers at the University of the Sunshine Coast find that bone spurs at the back of the neck could be caused by long-term smart phone use, especia...

Do You Really Want To Know What You'll Look Like In 30 Years?

30 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Popular Russian-based FaceApp uses machine learning and facial recognition technology to show how you might look when you're older. But what else is b...

NASA's Drone Mission To Saturn's Moon Titan

24 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The US space agency will launch a nuclear-powered drone to the solar system's second largest moon to fly between multiple locations over hundreds of k...

NZ Government Embraces AI

17 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

New Zealand is one of the most ambitious and advanced users in the Western world of artificial intelligence to streamline government decision-making. ...

Orbiting Space Hotel

17 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

NASA wants to gradually commercialise the International Space Station and is offering 2 paying visitors up to 30 days each on board at US$35K a night....

Taking Aim At The Flesh-Eating Buruli Ulcer

16 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A dangerous and hard-to-treat ulcer is spreading among residents and visitors on the Mornington Peninsula. The Victorian Government and health authori...

How To Do More With Melbourne's Class A Sewage (Part 2)

10 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A staggering 350 million litres of recycled water is pumped from Gunnamatta beach, just south of Melbourne, into Bass Strait every day. The Hinterland...

How To Do More With Melbourne's Class A Sewage (Part 1)

10 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A staggering 350 million litres of recycled water is pumped into the ocean off Victoria's Mornington Peninsula every day. The Hinterland Environmental...

Why Sir Fred Hoyle Didn't Get A Nobel Prize (Part 2)

20 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Some say Sir Fred Hoyle, an English astronomer famed for his work on nucleosynthesis, the process by which elements are created within stars, was not ...

Why Sir Fred Hoyle Didn't Get A Nobel Prize (Part 1)

20 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Some say Sir Fred Hoyle, an English astronomer famed for his work on nucleosynthesis, the process by which elements are created within stars, was not ...

iPhone Security Called Into Question

20 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Companies claiming to be able to crack iPhone security measures for law enforcement are getting more commercial and now openly tout their services.

China's "Deadbeat" Map

19 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

An app-based 'deadbeat debtors' map can warn users if they're in close proximity of anyone on a government financial blacklist. It's another way press...

Antibiotics, Illicit Drugs And Effluent Polluting Our Waterways

19 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Whether it's antibiotics polluting the world's major rivers, illicit drugs - especially ice - showing up in sewerage processing facilities or excremen...

Exploring Ancient Archaeological Sites As Never Before

18 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Simon Young, founder and CEO of Lithodomos VR, updates us on his company's exciting expansion into museums around the world, where you can put on VR g...

Melbourne Is First International Uber Air Pilot City

13 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Uber names Melbourne, Australia as the first market for Uber Air outside the US, after Dallas and New York. Riders could get from the CBD to the airpo...

Deepfaking - Putting Words In Your Mouth

12 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

"Imagine this for a second....whoever controls the data controls the future" - thus didn't speak the Zuck... but it's hard to tell when his speech and...

Google Making Life Hard For Ad Blockers

07 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The tech giant is taking a stand to force Chrome browsers to view its ads. But will people just switch to the faster-loading Firefox, which allows ad ...

Big Improvements To Google Maps

07 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Big improvements are on the way for the popular navigation service, including the ability to quickly report car accidents and traffic hazards, speed c...

Taming Drug-Resistant Superbugs

05 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Looks like heart disease drug Ticagrelor could double as a new kind of antibiotic that's effective against drug-resistant bacteria.

On Stephen Hawking's Epitaph

05 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Physicist Dr Tony Heyes explains the equation inscribed on Stephen Hawking's grave in Westminster Abbey and how it refers to the temperature of a blac...

Hacking Attempt On Beyond Infinity

04 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

John explains what happened when thousands of attempts, possibly originating in the Russian Federation, were made to break into our program website be...

Will We Ever Get Back To The Moon?

30 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Mark Sirangelo, Special Assistant to the NASA Administrator, was hired to get America back to the Moon in 2024. He resigned just 6 weeks into the job,...

Sitting Duck - Ransomware Attack On City Of Baltimore

29 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

10,000 computers operated by City Hall continue to be locked up in a ransomware scandal that has exposed just how unprepared Baltimore is to cyber att...

BlockOne Promises A Secure Version Of The Internet

28 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Early investors in blockchain start-up Block.One stand to make 6,500% in 3 years care of a buyback. But some are hanging in there, believing "the succ...

A Clean And Green Alternative To Styrofoam

27 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Researchers at Washington State University have invented an environmentally-friendly foam made from nanocrystals of cellulose that is a better insulat...

Why Creative Cloud Users Could Get Sued

26 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Adobe has warned Creative Cloud users they're no longer licensed to use older versions of the popular software and could be sued if they do so.

How To Image A Black Hole

24 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Physicist Dr. Tony Heyes offers his thoughts on the now famous image obtained of the super massive black hole at the centre of neighbouring galaxy M87...

Bluetooth Security Flaws

22 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The wireless technology is incredibly useful and integrated into a host of devices, but the underlying specifications run to 3000 pages and are almost...

Biohacking Yourself

21 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Josiah Zayner live streamed injecting himself with gene editing compound CRISR at a biotech conference. He sells DIY CRISPR and other biohacking parap...

Periodic Table Turns 150

20 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In 1869, Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev formulated his periodic table which revolutionised how we see the world by ordering elements according to th...

Looks Like The Universe's Rate Of Expansion Is Variable

20 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We chat with physicist Dr.Tony Heyes about new Hubble Space Telescope data which seem to suggest that dark energy is somehow involved in speeding up a...

Developers Earning Passive Income From "The Worst Users"

19 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Two developers offered a warning to others at this year's Game Developers Conference: making a buck out of gaming apps shouldn't just be a race to the...

Cracking Down On Loot Boxes

15 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

US Senator Josh Hawley wants to ban the sale of loot boxes in games targeted at children under the age of 18. He considers addictive games to be manip...

Moon Shot 2.0

15 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The US government wants to send people back to the Moon by 2024 and Jeff Bezos welcomes the plan. His rocket company Blue Origin could help with the t...

Back To The Brick

09 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

If you were after a log of a phone with ultra long battery life, Energizer's 18,000 mAh battery-with-a-phone-in-it isn't made for you, after failing m...

Doing Away With Physical Passports

09 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In the future, AI may decide if you are really you at passport control. AI, facial recognition, iris and fingerprint scans and other biometric data wi...

The Do-Not-Track Act of 2019

08 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Search engine DuckDuckGo proposes a new law which would compel big internet companies like Google and Facebook to honour your browser preferences with...

Pristine Batch Of Lunar Surface Samples To Be Opened

07 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Three containers of sealed moon rocks will soon be opened 50 years after they were collected by Apollo astronauts. Scientists are hoping that modern l...

Dream Market Illicit Drug Site Closed

05 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

After a 2 year international investigation, the dark net's biggest drug marketplace has been closed. The sophisticated operation was being run out of ...

Google Crackdown On Ad Fraud

04 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Prolific Chinese Android App developer DO Global has been banned from the Google Play store after being caught out committing ad fraud and violating o...