#The Conversation

AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton says AI is a new form of intelligence unlike our own. Have we been getting it wrong this whole time?

Dubbed the ‘godfather of AI’, Hinton’s early work helped pioneer many of the methods underlying the AI systems we see today.

Batteries won’t cut it – we need solar thermal technology to get us through the night

Australia’s transition to renewables is gathering speed, but there’s a looming problem with storage. We will need much more long-duration […]

Torrents of Antarctic meltwater are slowing the currents that drive our vital ocean ‘overturning’ – and threaten its collapse

Australian scientists are warning that the Southern Ocean’s deep “overturning” circulation is slowing and headed for collapse.

Climate change is fuelling the rise of superbugs. What can we do to save ourselves?

Climate change is accelerating the emergence and spread of these “superbugs”, which thrive in warm, wet conditions.

Climate change will clearly disrupt El Niño and La Niña this decade – 40 years earlier than we thought

The findings have big implications for how Australians prepare for extreme weather events.

740,000km of fishing line and 14 billion hooks: we reveal just how much fishing gear is lost at sea each year

Each year, enough fishing line to circle the Earth 18 times is lost at sea. This not only harms marine life, but also the livelihoods of fishers worldwide.

‘Sad and distressing’: massive numbers of bird deaths in Australian heatwaves reveal a profound loss is looming

This article contains images that some readers may find upsetting. Heatwaves linked to climate change have already led to mass […]

With better standards, we could make plastics endlessly useful – and slash waste. Here’s how

Product standards have real power. We could use them to reduce waste at every part of the plastic lifecycle.

Low iron is a health risk made worse by COVID. How to get more without reaching for supplements

Getting enough iron is tricky – even if we eat enough, we might not absorb enough. But diversifying the menu and looking for fortified foods can help.

A new Australian supercomputer has already delivered a stunning supernova remnant pic

Radio telescopes produce enormous amounts of data, and we need immense computing power to produce even a single image like this one.

Troubling new research shows warm waters rushing towards the world’s biggest ice sheet in Antarctica

The findings underscore the urgency of limiting global warming to below 1.5℃, to avert the most catastrophic climate harms.

‘Like ocean rips’: CSIRO report identifies 7 ‘global megatrends’ shaping the 21st century

Climate adaptation, digital transformation and geopolitical shifts are among the ‘megatrends’ Australia must navigate to thrive in the coming decades.