Beyond Infinity

Bigelow Aerospace could provide NASA with its B330 space habitat to use as the Lunar Gateway space station. If selected, it would form an integral part of the Artemis Program to land people on the Moon's south pole in 2024.

Production costs are falling dramatically and the day may come when a fast food burger is made by a machine, instead of a cow. There will also be massive environmental benefits of such ethical eating.

At long last, the world's search giant is taking steps to favour the originators of true journalism in its search result rankings over aggregators, plagiarists and retweeting parrots. This is a potential win for dedicated investigative reporters, smaller publishers and all those resisting the tide of fake news and misinformation poisoning real debate and open, constructive discussion.

Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation are mourning the failure of their Vikram lander and Pragyan rover which targeted the Moon's south pole and its large stores of water ice. Fortunately, the Chandrayaan 2 mother ship made it into lunar orbit, with a sophisticated suite of instruments including the highest resolution camera ever to scrutinise the surface.

Version 69.0 of the popular browser has enhanced tracking protection, which significantly improves users' privacy. It has ad blocking as its default, blocks autoplay and runs on all platforms, whether mobile or desktop.

Smart home devices like the Amazon Echo and Google Nest are super handy but do come with some security risks. There are now 50 million in use in America, with 21% of adults owning them and sales are booming. Representative Seth Moulton (D-MA) is calling for a new generation of digital privacy laws to protect people's private conversations at home from being recorded without permission.

We look at the effects of the accelerating trade war on consumer spending on everyday items in America, in particular on the pricing of Chinese-made devices from Apple. See for yourself just how comprehensive new tariffs are at ustr.gov

From The Vault: The Best Of Beyond Infinity. The first time one spacecraft orbited two separate objects in our solar system was NASA's pioneering DAWN mission to Vesta and Ceres. PLUS: Planet X - the hunt for the elusive 9th planet; and the JUNO spacecraft's hairy encounter with the gas giant Jupiter.

From The Vault: The Best Of Beyond Infinity. Honey and Bees. Cedar Anderson talks development of the Flowhive, his gadget which gives "honey on tap" and his wildly successful social media campaign that made it a worldwide hit. PLUS: Bee experts Simon Mulvany and Ben Moore on the challenges facing the honey bee industry in Europe, New Zealand and Australia, and the banning of neonicitinoids.

A recent Michigan State University study published in the Journal of Behavioural Addictions suggests that heavy social media users act in a way not dissimilar to cocaine or heroin addicts.

Newly developed at the Institute of Technology in Madras, iron-ion batteries are safe, clean and stable. They can't be recharged as many times as lithium-ion batteries, but for specific uses they offer advantages.

If it passes a final vote in the Senate, California's AB5 bill will force companies like Uber, Lyft, Instacart and Postmates to classify workers as employees, not independent contractors. This fundamental challenge to a beloved business model of Silicon Valley could seriously effect bottom line profitability.

Hollywood is embracing the latest VFX techniques to accurately depict what actors looked like when they were much younger. Ang Lee's 'Gemini Man' and Scorsese's 'The Irishman' showcase the incredible (and very expensive) tools filmmakers now have at their disposal.

US tech giants are cracking down on misuse of their platforms. Twitter recently closed 200,000 fake accounts from China and Google has taken action against government-backed hacking attempts, issuing an update titled "Maintaining the integrity of our platforms".

Billions of CCTV cameras now monitor cities across the world but don't necessarily result in big reductions in crime or improvements in public safety. What they do provide is a data bonanza for governments, anxious to keep ever closer tabs on 'their' people.

The whole country is revelling in the wonders of science and the achievements of Aussie scientists. From 10-18 August, there are over 1000 events for kids, uni students, citizen scientists and the general public. We discuss why National Science Week is important and offer a taste of what's happening.

The Republican Senator for Missouri says social media is "a parasite on productive investment, on meaningful relationships and a healthy society". His latest salvo against Facebook et al, the Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology Act, aims to curb social media addiction.

Artificial intelligence has been proven to fast track technical breakthroughs and human progress by sifting through millions of scientific papers, finding connections that humans may have missed. But the need for explainability is vital yet not always available from AI analysis.

The Feds are moving to clamp down on Google and Facebook - to protect citizens' privacy and online security; to more effectively tax tech giants; to even de-monopolise. BUT, just as we may not trust the commercial holders of big data, can we trust our government?

Researchers at the University of the Sunshine Coast find that bone spurs at the back of the neck could be caused by long-term smart phone use, especially among young people.