Nanotechnology has held a special place in the hearts of science fiction writers for decades. Indeed, NASA’s nanotubes team at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston foresees the stuff playing a critical role in nearly every aspect of a ship — from speeding electronics to delivering drugs inside astronauts. But some of the first applications of the new technology of synthesising carbon nanotubes may be as prosaic as building stronger and lighter wall panels for manned spacecraft and casings for automated probes
A Melbourne company is behind a breakthrough that could help solve the world-wide ecological problem of disposable plastic food wrappings. The new technology could earn Australia hundreds of millions of dollars
Australian Renewable Energy Corp Ltd shares plunged to a three-year share price low last week as investors showed their willingness to punish green energy stocks that fail to live up to expectations
Innovative precision lenses, designed and built in Australia for focusing beams of high-energy ions, form the core of a new breed of high-energy ion beam microscope recently commissioned in Melbourne
A man with a partial spinal-cord injury gained impressive walking ability with treadmill training plus an implanted device that stimulates his spinal cord, suggesting the combined therapy might help such patients, researchers report
It may seem like science fiction, but scientists say they have developed a technology that enables a monkey to move a cursor on a computer screen simply by thinking about it
If a collision with an asteroid is going to finish us off, it will have to be a lot larger than anyone thought, according to a controversial new study of the impact that wiped out the dinosaurs
A rat boutique where researchers can browse for rare breeds and special genetically engineered rodents has opened for scientific shopping
A team of Egyptologists from Sydney’s Macquarie University is the toast of the archaeological world after making significant new finds in an ancient burial ground on the outskirts of Cairo. The Australian team, led by Dr Christiana Kohler, has uncovered more than 20 tombs from Egypt’s archaic period, the First Dynasty
California’s attorney general sued Squaw Valley USA on Thursday, demanding that the popular ski resort comply with environmental laws aimed at protecting the Sierra Nevada ecosystem
Maybe you think NASA should send a probe to Pluto. Or perhaps you think the space agency should invest more in asteroid research to save our planet. Whatever your pet space project, you’ve got until the end of the month to speak your mind
In the 1960s, social psychologist Stanley Milgram claimed that anyone on the planet could be linked to anyone else by a chain of only six other people — the famous six degrees of separation. Now, Columbia University is recruiting thousands of volunteers to test that theory
Once every 100 minutes, a bargain-basement satellite built from off-the-shelf parts loops around the earth, sending and receiving digital messages over antennae made from a metal tape measure. After four months in space, the US Naval Academy’s bird is proving surprisingly resilient
A group of scientists and major technology corporations have jumped on the SETI band wagon and asked people around the world on Tuesday to use their personal computers to help develop a treatment for anthrax
A wood-fired power station is being planned for Sydney’s west, triggering concerns about emissions from the burning of treated timbers
Nexia Biotechnologies, a Canadian company, has successfully mimicked nature and produced spider silk, a coveted substance five times stronger — weight for weight — than steel
The world is full of experts on serial murder. Just walk the true-crime aisle of your local book store. But don’t believe everything you read, and know that most of the common wisdom about serial murder is probably wrong
They eat hydrogen, breathe carbon dioxide, and belch methane. And they form the root of an ecosystem unlike any previously known on Earth. Meet the methanogen, a tiny organism living in complete darkness 200 metres underneath the surface of Idaho
As one of the building blocks of the human genome, DNA has become an important agent in medicine and forensic crime fighting. Now DNA may be used to tag merchandise with codes that counterfeiters cannot crack. A trace of synthetic human DNA embedded with a hidden code and then applied to a designer dress, a CD or a DVD, or mixed into brand-name perfume, for example, could be used to authenticate a product — and enable someone with the key to the code to detect counterfeits
Ireland last week approved a €640 million plan to build the world’s largest offshore wind farm, capable of generating 520 megawatts of electricity
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