Category: News

An international team of researchers has found evidence that the steam and heat from volcanoes and heated rocks allowed many species of plants and animals to survive past ice ages, helping scientists understand how species respond to climate change. The research could solve a long-running mystery about how some species survived and continued to evolve…

Well, it’s Sunday again. It’s our time to recapitulate all the scientific contributions, ideas, events and discoveries that have occurred in this week. To be honest, the job was quite challenging, since the science and technology market is highly competitive and unpredictable. Luckily, we made it. Now we would like to present you top stories…

“When the profit motive gets unmoored from the purpose motive, bad things happen.” The question of how to avoid meaningless labor and instead find fulfilling work brimming with a sense of purpose is an enduring but, for many, elusive cultural ideal. Daniel Pink tackles the conundrum in this wonderful animation by the RSA — who…

The reason that there is clearly more water on the Earth than on the other planets of the Solar System has not been clarified. There are few theories on how the world’s oceans were formed over the past 4.6 billion years. Some of the most likely contributory factors to the origin of the Earth’s oceans…

Oxford University professor Marianne Talbot has a number of excellent philosophy podcasts online, some of which we’ve previously featured on the site. Today, we bring you Talbot’s A Romp Through Ethics for Complete Beginners (Web – iTunesU – YouTube), which addresses one of philosophy’s central questions: what is the right way to conduct yourself in…

Everyone’s had one of those days when everything seems to go wrong. At this point, some of us resort to nature’s tried and true stress relief method – crying. But, why do we cry? Is there any scientific explanation to this phenomenon? Basically, there are some research explanations which we would like to present you…

Over the decades security experts all around the world have been debating what sort of protection is the most suitable for a PC. So, what do you think you should do to keep your computer cyber safe? Below are some key steps to protecting your computer from intrusion: Keep Your Firewall Turned On A firewall…

We came to the end of this week and it is our time to recount the most exciting and incredible stories from the world of science and technology. As usual, we had to make a hard decisions and after a careful consideration we decided to promote the news as follows: Can Facebook make you sad?…

What the ancient proto-chicken has to do with how wolves became dogs. Since the dawn of recorded history, philosophers have pondered which came first, the chicken or the egg, as a causality dilemma exploring grander existential inquiries into the origin of life and the universe. But, it turns out, science has an answer that bypasses…

Queensland’s researchers and scientists are encouraged to apply for fellowships to help them develop and establish their professional reputations through innovative, practical and applied research, working closely with business. The $3 million Accelerate Fellowships funding program was opened today by Queensland Chief Scientist Dr Geoff Garrett AO who said the program will support scientists to…

If you head over to the Huy Fong Foods web site, they’ll tell you that Sriracha, their ever-popular Thai condiment, is “made from sun ripen chilies which are ground into a smooth paste along with garlic and packaged in a convenient squeeze bottle.” It’s the chilies that make your mouth burn when you pour that…

Children who have at least one parent working in IT, business or engineering are the best performing students in Australia. An OECD report into the connection between student performance and their parents’ occupations has also found the kids of subsistence farmers, salespeople and machine operators are the lowest performing students in the nation’s schools. Not only…

A definitive report on observed changes in long term trends in Australia’s climate has been released today by CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology. Bureau Chief Executive Dr Rob Vertessy said temperatures across Australia were, on average, almost 1°C warmer than they were a century ago, with most of the warming having occurred since 1950.…

Computers and robots will become smarter and more adept than human beings in 15 years time. Computers develop an almost-organic intelligence gleaned from experience, and will be able to tell jokes and flirt with humans. How real is this? Well, it’s quite real. Internet search giant Google has spent billions buying up the world’s top…