News
The device detecting the world’s deadliest creature
10+ hour, 15+ min ago (814+ words) July 19, 2026 — 1:50pm To some, it’s just annoying, but to others, it marks the chilling call of the world’s deadliest creature: the buzz of a mosquito. In an effort to slash the extraordinary death toll wreaked by the insects, a University of…...
‘Very special’: Meteorite that crashed into couple’s home gives up its secrets
11+ hour, 4+ min ago (1021+ words) At 11.17 am on July 16, 2024, an asteroid hurtled across the sky above New York City. Sightings of the fireball – and reports of the thunderclap-like sonic boom that trailed behind it – came in from as far away as Connecticut, Rhode Island and…...
Millions of solar panels go to landfill. Why aren’t they recycled?
19+ hour, 5+ min ago (721+ words) July 19, 2026 — 5:00am Plans to kick-start a solar panel recycling industry are in limbo, after a single complaint stalled the government’s $25 million pilot program to stop up to 4 million units being sent to landfill each year. The Albanese government announced the pilot…...
The expert’s hack on how to put a bull shark to sleep
19+ hour, 5+ min ago (483+ words) July 19, 2026 — 5:00am Despite their vicious nature, Taryn-Lee Perrior says bull sharks are pretty easy to manhandle. All you have to do is pop a bit of eel on the end of drum line, wait for the animal to tire out, drag…...
First we read DNA. Then we edited. Now we’re learning to write
1+ day, 19+ hour ago (841+ words) Dr Hugh Goold watches as Sogna Ocello cleaves open a wheel of firm goat’s cheese, wrapped in hay from the grassy slopes of northern Italy. Wielding a silver cheese plane, she spirits a cylindrical skein from its pale centre and…...
Massive wildfires rage across Canada
1+ day, 14+ hour ago (35+ words) SMH.com.au Massive wildfires are raging across Ontario and Manitoba, sending thick plumes of smoke south across the USA. Updated July 18, 2026 — 9:09am,first published 9:07am...
‘It’s a bit gamified, almost like Pokemon Go’: The tracking app preventing magpie attacks
1+ day, 17+ hour ago (455+ words) We’re approaching the danger point. As winter gives way to spring, every Australian starts looking up, warily cataloguing flashes of black and white among the branches of trees. To add ironic insult to gnarly injury, this happened at Victoria Park…...
Not a solo performance, but a symphony: What China’s leader thinks about AI
2+ day, 4+ hour ago (527+ words) July 17, 2026 — 7:30pm Beijing: Invoking comparisons to the invention of the steam engine, electricity and the internet, Xi Jinping has made clear he wants China to be at the forefront of the next humanity-altering age: the rise of artificial intelligence. In a…...
Are we supposed to be impressed by AI? It’s still so dumb
2+ day, 4+ hour ago (579+ words) July 17, 2026 — 7:23pm I love the stupidity of AI. How can something that is attracting trillions of dollars of investment, bleeding the world of water and electricity, and upending various economies be so dumb? Oh, I’m sure it can do some things....
US-China chip war: How the Trump administration’s crackdown on ASML technology is testing the Dutch alliance
3+ day, 4+ hour ago (933+ words) Has China got its hands on the world’s most important machine? SMH.com.au The Dutch punch above their weight in technology transfers that shaped the modern world. In the 17th century their financial and farming innovations spread to Britain, spurring…...