Beyond Infinity

Josiah Zayner live streamed injecting himself with gene editing compound CRISR at a biotech conference. He sells DIY CRISPR and other biohacking paraphernalia on his website The Odin. Now he's being investigated by Consumer Affairs in California for practicing medicine without a license.

We chat with physicist Dr.Tony Heyes about new Hubble Space Telescope data which seem to suggest that dark energy is somehow involved in speeding up and slowing down the expansion of the universe.

In 1869, Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev formulated his periodic table which revolutionised how we see the world by ordering elements according to their atomic weight. Retired scientist Dr. Tony Heyes offers his thoughts on this vital scientific landmark.

Two developers offered a warning to others at this year's Game Developers Conference: making a buck out of gaming apps shouldn't just be a race to the bottom (even though they made money with minimal effort).

The US government wants to send people back to the Moon by 2024 and Jeff Bezos welcomes the plan. His rocket company Blue Origin could help with the task and has a big lunar lander called Blue Moon under development.

US Senator Josh Hawley wants to ban the sale of loot boxes in games targeted at children under the age of 18. He considers addictive games to be manipulative and exploitative, "siphoning kids attention from the real world".

In the future, AI may decide if you are really you at passport control. AI, facial recognition, iris and fingerprint scans and other biometric data will be used to streamline immigration processing. At least until the system crashes or is hacked.

If you were after a log of a phone with ultra long battery life, Energizer's 18,000 mAh battery-with-a-phone-in-it isn't made for you, after failing miserably with its Indiegogo crowd funding attempt.

Search engine DuckDuckGo proposes a new law which would compel big internet companies like Google and Facebook to honour your browser preferences with regard to tracking. If you select "do not track", then this will actually happen, rather than being ignored.

Three containers of sealed moon rocks will soon be opened 50 years after they were collected by Apollo astronauts. Scientists are hoping that modern lab analysis will yield new information about the early history of the Earth-Moon system.

After a 2 year international investigation, the dark net's biggest drug marketplace has been closed. The sophisticated operation was being run out of New Jersey by three men. When their property was raided, police made the largest pill seizure in New Jersey history.

Prolific Chinese Android App developer DO Global has been banned from the Google Play store after being caught out committing ad fraud and violating other Google policies. This is a serious embarrassment for Google, which has suffered reputational damage to the core of its advertising-based business model.

China and others are rapidly expanding their presence in Antarctica - not just for scientific purposes. There are now 80 international bases with several new ones under construction. Will the 1959 Antarctic Treaty continue to restrict activity in the world's last pristine wilderness? And is Australia's 42% sovereign claim to the continent at risk?

The ride-sharing juggernaut has revised down the value it proposes for its initial public offering by about 30%, to between US$80.5 to US$91.5 billion. This follows sharp falls in recently listed rival Lyft since its IPO. There are concerns over intensifying competition, high operating costs and the fact that since launching services in July 2010, Uber is yet to make a profit.

Israeli scientists have succeeded in printing a mini heart the size of a cherry tomato, complete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers. Engineered with bio-ink made from the tissue of patients.

Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests that botox and cosmetic surgery can prevent facial expression mimicry between people and even prevent emotions and empathetic thoughts. The loss of minute facial movements could result in disconnection from your feelings and those of others.

Age-verification for online pornography will come into force on 15 July 2019 in the UK. It's an effort to protect minors from stumbling across explicit material and is a worthy goal, but there are questions about privacy, data security and whether it's technically viable.

A Russian start up has grand plans to place artificial constellations of cubesats in orbit to promote Pepsi's Adrenaline Rush energy drink. The coordinated swarm would light up as a giant billboard visible from Earth. Aiming to launch in 2021, $20,000 could buy 8 hours of night sky advertising.

In a PR disaster reminiscent of the Galaxy Note 7 snafu, the South Korean tech behemoth has indefinitely postponed the public release of its latest bendable smart phone-come-tablet after reviewers around the world reported breakages and basic quality issues with the very expensive gadget.

Is blockchain, the technology that underpins Bitcoin and other crypto currrencies, just a passing fad or can it have long-term benefits for Australian industry and employment? A comprehensive report has just been released by the Australian Computer Society called 'Blockchain 2030: A Look At The Future Of Blockchain In Australia' which strives to shed light on this question. One thing is certain though - billions of dollars of investment is now being made by those who believe in a blockchain blockbuster future.