ScienceAlert - Latest

Meet the new mailboxes - Australian Skynet delivery drones

Bec Crew — Sat, 22 Nov 2014 00:02:29 -0600

Australian engineers have built some super-slick delivery drones that drop your packages into a purpose-built, automatically locking net - away from children and pets.

Imagination and reality flow in opposite directions in your brain

Fiona MacDonald — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 06:46:23 -0600

Scientists have finally found the neurological difference between fantasy and reality - it turns out that information flows through our brains in opposite directions when we’re imagining something compared to really doing it.

Listen to the satisfying crunch Philae made when it touched down on a comet

Fiona MacDonald — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 06:22:07 -0600

Among the data sent back to Earth by everyone's favourite lander was a recording of humanity's first landing on a comet.

Astronomers believe they’ve detected the first black hole to have been kicked out of its galaxy

Fiona MacDonald — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 03:56:49 -0600

Scientists have observed a strange object about 90 million light-years away, and believe it could be the first black hole we’ve ever seen that's been kicked out of its home galaxy.

Here's everything that kills us in one morbid chart

Bec Crew — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 03:29:44 -0600

Researchers have reviewed all the causes of death recorded in the US in 1900 and 2010 to find out just how much society has changed over the past century. The results are fascinating.

This is the first look at what happens to uranium fuel during a nuclear meltdown

Fiona MacDonald — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 03:15:58 -0600

Scientists have managed to observe uranium fuel becoming molten for the first time, in an experiment that will help them improve nuclear power plant safety.

WATCH: Just how small is an atom?

Bec Crew — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 02:23:11 -0600

How big would an atom have to be for you to see the nucleus in the centre? FOOTBALL-STADIUM SIZED. And wait till you find out just how dense it is... Watch this video by chemistry teacher Jonathan Bergmann to have your mind well and truly blown.

WATCH: Do Beards Make Men Sexier?

Bec Crew — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 00:24:38 -0600

The science is in - studies have shown that there's a clear link between facial hair and sexual attractiveness. Find out why in the latest episode of RiAus's A Week in Science.

WATCH: This band-aid gel instantly stops bleeding

Bec Crew — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 23:40:40 -0600

Meet the band-aid of the future - VetiGel is a plant-based adhesive that stops bleeding in 20 seconds flat.

This new folding electric bike can fit in your backpack

Bec Crew — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 23:21:33 -0600

Ever wanted a bike that you can fold up and put in your backpack? If this lightweight electric folding bike can keep some cars off the road, we’re all for it.

This new plastic breaks down in just 3 hours

Fiona MacDonald — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 06:44:09 -0600

Researchers have used fructose to create a new type of plastic that breaks down completely after just three hours of UV light exposure. It can then be fully recycled.

The Large Hadron Collider has observed two brand new particles

Fiona MacDonald — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 06:22:15 -0600

Two never-before-seen “heavy-weight” baryon particles have been detected by the world’s favourite particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider. The discovery could help scientists understand more about the interactions of elementary particles.

New Alzheimer’s test detects disease 10 years before diagnosis

Bec Crew — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 06:01:10 -0600

A new blood test for Alzheimer’s can detect the onset of the disease up to 10 years before symptoms start to appear, and claims to have a rate of 100 percent accuracy.

QUIZ: Which famous brain is your mind most similar to?

ScienceAlert Staff — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 05:42:14 -0600

Procrastinating from work? Why not map your neurological activity and find out which parts of your brain have the most control over your behaviour in an online quiz that uses real science.

WATCH: Gecko-inspired Spiderman sticky pads are here

Bec Crew — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 03:56:27 -0600

Ever dreamed of scaling the side of a building like a full-blown secret agent, using nothing but a pair of sticky pads? This new technology could be your answer.

New study reveals what checking your phone is doing to your neck

Bec Crew — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 02:17:24 -0600

New research suggests that looking down to check your phone is putting 27-kg of force on your neck. That’s like one giant anteater, or four full-sized bowling balls worth of strain on your neck, and you're doing it several times a day.

WATCH: The Sixth Extinction - this time, we're the asteroid

Bec Crew — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 23:33:38 -0600

A whopping 98 percent of the species that have ever lived on Earth are now extinct, thanks to five mass extinction events that occurred hundreds of millions of years ago. We’re now in the middle of a sixth mass extinction, and this time, says Joe Hanson in the latest episode of It’s Okay To Be Smart, we’re the asteroid.

New brain exercises teach people to see letters as colours

Bec Crew — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 05:13:19 -0600

Scientists have taught people to experience synaesthesia, a neurological phenomenon that causes the senses to be ‘mixed’. After participating in a nine-week brain-training course, volunteers were able to see letters and numbers as colours as they went about their daily lives.

Philae found organic molecules in its 60 hours on a comet

Fiona MacDonald — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 04:00:53 -0600

In the short window of time the European Space Agency comet lander had on comet 67P/C-G, it managed to detect organic molecules. Scientists are now trying to identify whether they are the kinds of molecule that could have brought life to Earth.

Neuroscientists 'rediscover' entire brain region linked to reading

Bec Crew — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 03:57:28 -0600

Neuroscientists have ‘rediscovered’ a large part of the brain that disappeared from the scientific literature during the early 1900s. Now that it's been properly analysed, it's thought to be involved in crucial mental processes such as reading and recognising faces.