Ion drive space engine used on aircraft for first time

Nov 26, 2018 16:58 pm UTC| Insights & Views Science

Imagine an aircraft engine that has no moving parts, produces no harmful exhaust and makes no noise. Thats what researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US have created by adapting a technology...

It looks like an anchovy fillet but this ancient creature helps us understand how DNA works

Nov 26, 2018 16:58 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Today a large international consortium of researchers published a complex but important study looking at how DNA works in animals. The research focused on a marine organism, a creature called amphioxus (also known as the...

With China-US tensions on the rise, does Australia need a new defence strategy?

Nov 26, 2018 16:58 pm UTC| Insights & Views

There is no evidence that China has ever contemplated using its nuclear weapons to coerce another state. Instead, China has maintained a no first use policy on nuclear weapons. Surprising as it may sound to many, China...

It's hard to think about, but frail older women in nursing homes get sexually abused too

Nov 26, 2018 16:58 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health Law

We dont often think of older women being victims of sexual assault, but such assaults occur in many settings and circumstances, including in nursing homes. Our research, published this week in the journal Legal Medicine,...

Why Australian retailers should respect the past and rename their 'Black Friday' sales

Nov 26, 2018 16:57 pm UTC| Insights & Views Business

Australians familiar with Black Friday sales might associate them with images of Americans clambering over each other to battle for iPhones and TVs. Yet this term - used here by companies such as Amazon, Kogan, Bonds, and...

City water restrictions hurt our most vulnerable – especially women

Nov 26, 2018 16:57 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life

When we think of the difficulties that women have accessing water, we tend to think of women and girls in developing nations struggling to carry water across large distances. We do not usually think of a woman in...

A decade after the invention of the smartphone, we're about to find out how we use our time

Nov 26, 2018 16:56 pm UTC| Insights & Views Technology

Much has changed since 2006 about the way we use our time. Back then we didnt have iPhones, iPads, Tinder, Snapchat, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, or machines that could play us streamed music, check our heart rates...