Drones at Sea
Unmanned vehicles are in something of a renaissance. UAVs have been patrolling the skies of militarily sensitive regions for more than a decade, and regulatory frameworks – to say nothing
Category: Scitech
Science writing wasn’t really an early focus in my career for two reasons. First, it’s a small, specialised field and I frankly didn’t have the experience or knowledge. Second, I’d considered myself a computer, phone and application guy since first becoming a freelance writer.
I reviewed the latest mobiles and software. I was fully acquainted with the whole Mac versus PC thing at its height. I gave ratings out of five, knew all the products RRPs and my system was littered with product shots from PR agencies working for the IBMs, Lenovos and Samsungs of the world.
Today my interest is where tech fits into our lives. Sometimes it’s AI agents that appear all but human, sometimes it’s an emerging field like the new Internet of Things paradigm of short lived, disposable sensors.
But my knowledge of science evolved and grew and I’ve been thrilled to join the ranks I’d always admired and envied and write about scientific topics from the whimsical, like when Skylab returned to Earth in remote Western Australia, to the socially urgent, like the way the human brain reacts to sexual assault.
Samsara eating plastic
A pioneering group of Canberra chemical engineers is putting a hefty round of funding into the recycling science of tomorrow, and it might spell the end of one of our
Metal, Concrete, and Wood Are the Next Frontiers in 3D-Printing Materials
Although the field of 3D printing has a lot of complexities, the theory behind the technology is elegantly simple. Instead of removing material from something larger to shape it—a method
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A Brief History of the Ludicrous (And Misguided) Plots to Blow Up the Moon
One zany professor, and even the U.S. military, once proposed plans for how—and why—we should blow up the moon. Sci-fi is full of stories of wars or alien invasions destroying
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How Urban Sustainability Will Improve Cities, Economies, and the World
Urban sustainability can mean a lot of different things. Simply put, a sustainable urban area is one that aims to improve the social, economic, and environmental conditions of a city
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A New Spin on Gears
Did people who drove the first cars look back at the horse-drawn carriage and wonder why something as obvious as a self-propelled vehicle took so long to invent? Some advances
Virtual travel from your desktop
You’ve landed back home after visiting your offshore oil rig when you realise you need to set up a meeting with that drilling rig assessor. Her email address is written
Welcome to the Industrial Internet of Things
The Internet has finally come into its own in the Cloud age. It was never going to be just about web pages on screens; it was meant to form the
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How 3D Printing in Construction Will (Eventually) Transform the Built World
The 2016 construction of Dubai’s Office of the Future signaled that 3D printing in construction was ready for its close-up. The 2,691-square-foot building uses energy-efficient HVAC systems, responsive LED lighting,
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The History of Industrial Robots, From Single Taskmaster to Self-Teacher
By innovating with next-gen technology, companies are also developing new ways to work that cut costs and boost sustainability. The 15th and 16th centuries aren’t commonly known for robotics, but
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