We want to believe

Driving some of humanities greatest achievements and worst atrocities, belief is a genuinely curious and perplexing phenomenon, showing many different faces to the world.

More food with fewer emissions

Agriculture generates about a quarter of the world’s total greenhouse emissions but new research shows it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, agriculture could become not carbon neutral, but carbon negative in a couple of decades.

Rethinking rice

Rice is a staple crop feeding much of the world’s population, but new cultivation methods which require less water, preserve the soil and reduce carbon emissions will be required in a hotter, drier world transformed by climate change.

Quacks, cures and curiousities

Throughout human history, various methods have been used to determine the health of an individual and cure them of ills, and even the invention of modern evidence based medicine hasn’t affected the popularity of some ‘alternative’ treatments.

Indigenous knowledge can combat fire

After a couple of damp summers, the forecast of a long, hot summer and a high risk of bushfires is increasing interest in indigenous methods to reduce the risk to people and communities.

Mind over matter

Research suggests our brain can control many facets of our daily physical lives in ways which were once thought impossible.

What do we mean by “conscious AI”?

The idea that artificial intelligence could become conscious is worrying a lot of people, as a conscious entity could develop will and goals of its own and even take control of human society. However, the growing debate on this issue depends on better understanding of the terms and concepts involved.

Computer dreaming

AI chatbots are wonders of modern computing engineering, but that doesn’t mean the results of a ‘prompt’ can be trusted.

Work, rest and play

We all offer differ aspects of ourselves to different social circumstances, both consciously and unconsciously, raising the question of who we really are at our core.

The positronic brain

Eighty years after American science fiction writer Isaac Asimov coined the term in his early ‘Robot’ stories, new advances in nanowires are bringing the concept of a self-organising artificial brain closer to reality.

Extraordinary enzymes

Enzymes are proteins which act as biological catalysts in the cells of living things and accelerate the chemical reactions required to sustain life. Discovered and defined in the 19th century, they are now being harnessed by 21st century scientists in a host of ways in industry and the environment.

On homophily

Homophily – the natural tendency of people to associate with others who are similar to themselves – is a powerful factor in the tendency of online networks to confirm rather than challenge the participants beliefs.