Beyond Infinity

New measurement methods show that pieces of plastic smaller than 5 mm in diameter are scarily common. Microplastics are entering all parts of the marine ecosystem. If we eat any kind of fish, we are likely ingesting toxic microscopic plastic. Things must change.

Library Genesis and Sci-Huh have evolved into very popular and massive repositories of pirated scientific papers. Now there are moves to formalise and protect the "pirate bays" of science.

Metallosphaera sedula is a single-celled organism and hails from some of the earliest life forms on Earth. Now scientists think this metal-eating extremophile could help extract minerals from space rock or even find signs of life on Mars.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk successfully fended off a monster US$190 million defamation lawsuit brought by UK cave diver Vernon Unsworth. In a far-reaching decision, an LA court found that tweets are merely casual conversation and opinions, and should not be taken too seriously.

After serving a lengthy jail term, a German criminal wants Der Spiegel Online to remove his name from archived references on its website.

When you buy a smart phone in China, your face will be imaged and the biometric data kept by the government.

'AC 75' hydro foiling monohulls, capable of sailing at over 50 knots from wind power alone, will compete for the Auld Mug in Auckland. But there are concerns over crew safety, susceptibility to capsize and how they'll handle before getting up on to their foils.

Though Google search, thanks to its sheer size, offers the best search available on the Net, users must accept that it will store their IP addresses and user information. They must also accept tracking, tailored ads and suggestions to use Google products like Maps and YouTube. For most purposes, Duck Duck Go provides an acceptable search alternative, albeit without the tracking.

After concluding a national drone noise review, the Australian Federal Government has come under fire from Google-linked Wing, a delivery drone operator. The Feds want to hand responsibility for drone noise to the states, which may result in an uncertain and inconsistent regulatory environment.

Doctors at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have used emergency preservation and resuscitation (EPR) to place critically ill patients in suspended animation. EPR involves lowering body temperature to 10-15C, by replacing all the body's blood with ice cold saline, for up to 2 hours, thereby buying time for life-saving surgery.

A new music streaming service from TikTok's parent company Bytedance could challenge Spotify's market dominance. It aims to capitalise on the massive and growing popularity of TikTok to encourage sharing and virality among music lovers, with emphasis on video and interactivity.

Australian billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest are lead investors in a project to build an enormous solar power plant near Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, plus a 4,500 km long interconnector to supply clean energy to SE Asia.

In an important opinion on privacy at borders, US District Court Judge Denise Casper ruled that device searches without probable cause are in violation of the 4th Amendment. She held that people have significant privacy interests in their digital data and that device searches require reasonable suspicion from border officials.

The Air Force has completed an upgrade to its Strategic Automated Command and Control System whereby its 1960s era 8-inch floppy disk system was replaced with a solid state digital storage solution. Yet America's ICBMs may wind up being less secure from hackers.

A new report from Australia's peak science and technology agency says artificial intelligence will be vital to the future of healthcare, natural resource management and the built environment. Data61's roadmap says more jobs will be created than lost, with digital technologies potentially worth AUD$315 billion to the local economy by 2030. By the same year, AI could be worth AUD$22.17 trillion to the global economy.

The River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve in South Australia is a massive 3000 square kilometres in area and, with some of the darkest skies on the planet, is a star-gazers paradise. Only the 15th location to receive such status, viewers can feast their eyes on the centre of our Milky Way galaxy, which cannot be seen from the Northern Hemisphere.

The Eye in the Sky program, a drone surveillance system developed in India and the UK, uses artificial intelligence to provide early warning of violent actions in large crowds. But there are concerns about privacy and abuse of the technology.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority will block illegal offshore gambling websites. It's part of an effort to counter the growing problem of unscrupulous and unlicensed operators which don't pay up if you win, charge hidden fees and are involved with credit card fraud.

Concerned about adverse social effects, the government is introducing strict limits on the amount of time (and money) spent gaming by young people. But just how will it know the age of an online gamer?

If you lose 1 kg of body weight, where does it go? Physicist Dr Tony Heyes explains why the amount you eat is far more important to your weight than what you eat. With thanks to Ruben Meerman and Radio National's 'Ockham's Razor'.