Top technology companies have revealed their ideas for our homes of the future — and they include smart robotic balls as playmates, machinery arms as chefs and robots to serve coffee

Wild animals including jaguars, goats and boars have started exploring quiet city streets across the world as humans stay inside during the coronavirus lockdown

JK Rowling and Harry Potter are casting a spell to banish coronavirus boredom for children around the world after launching a free website for fans of the boy wizard

They’re the hit spiders of the internet, with their fancy colouring and cool courtship dancing. And now there are seven new peacock spider species to get to know

In his weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight explains why it’s impossible to laugh off the foolish behaviour of beachgoers who break social distancing rules

Visit the Great Wall of China, see the Mona Lisa or watch zoo animals without leaving home. Here are 10 top virtual experiences plus one very special out-of-this-world tour

Disney is giving fans take a sneak peek behind its famous walls and letting children discover how rollercoasters and rides are made and how its special “lands” are created

A small team of wildlife carers in Queensland is spending the COVID-19 disruption playing and swimming with tigers to keep the animals happy and prevent them from becoming lonely

Watch out … today is April Fools’ Day and it’s the day for playing pranks on unsuspecting people. We look at why we celebrate on April 1 and some of today's best jokes

Sunday update: Prime Minister Scott Morrison has limited outside gatherings to just two people and  encouraged the elderly to not leave home  as the nation continues to try and slow the spread of the coronavirus

Scientists have unearthed the fossils of a fearsome feathered dinosaur with sharp claws and a telltale scar. It lived 67 million years ago and proves dinosaurs continued to evolve until their end

Best-selling children’s author and illustrator Matt Stanton has declared the first day of every working week Monster Monday. Here he explains why drawing monsters is a cure for boredom

Australian children are joining a global bear hunt inspired by the popular storybook, making walks around the neighbourhood lots of fun during the COVID-19 disruption

In his weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight explains why he drew the Prime Minister and two state leaders as musicians playing to a different beat on schools closures

Three-and-a-half-month-old twin polar bear cubs have made their public debut at a zoo in the Netherlands, but without the public because of coronavirus restrictions

NASA engineers are confident they’ve fixed the Mars InSight lander by telling it to hit itself with its shovel after its 38cm digging mole became stuck in the soil on the Martian surface

Using World Health Organisation information, we answer important questions about COVID-19, such as: "What is a virus?"  and "Why are there new rules for everyday life?"

Australian scientists are cooking up astronaut food to send to space for a year before testing how tasty it is using an electronic nose and tongue in preparation for Moon and Mars missions

PM Scott Morrison has urged Australians to take social distancing seriously as he announced tough restrictions on how we live and closed non-essential businesses to slow the spread of coronavirus

The careful scanning of a 3.6 million year old skull belonging to a fossil named ‘Little Foot’ has proven that early humans had small brains, swung between trees like monkeys and ate vegan diets

NASA has challenged the public to design a better robot to dig on the Moon. The space agency has been working on a model but believes it can be improved and wants bright citizens to help them

A proposal to replace cancelled Anzac Day services with a massive nationwide “light salute” from the safety of Australians’ driveways is attracting huge support

Scientists studying plastic Lego blocks lost in a storm then washed up on the coast of southwest England find they could survive in the ocean for 1300 years

From Monday, Kids News will provide education tasks and fun activities for children in Prep to Year 9 who are home from school due to the coronavirus

In his weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight explains why he drew a cricketer protected by pads and a helmet heading off to buy toilet paper at the supermarket

Photos of a giraffe’s bottom, a monkey deep in thought, a hunting eagle and a kookaburra surveying burned forest have each taken out prizes in the Sony World Photography Awards 2020

AFL chief Gillon McLachlan has declared the footy season will kick off tomorrow night as NRL clubs also voted to play on during the coronavirus crisis

A fossilised mollusc alive alongside the last of the dinosaurs 70 million years ago has shown scientists that a day on Earth once lasted only 23-and-a-half hours

As people around the world work to slow the spread of the virus called COVID-19, everyone is telling us to wash our hands with soap. Kids News explains how soap works

Australian Childhood Foundation’s Dr Joe Tucci has a positive message for children about worry and bad news, and a reminder that there is still a lot of good news around if we look for it

Human holiday-makers love the beautiful seaside town of Port Macquarie but great white sharks refuse to stay there, though scientists know a record number swim right past

A one-eared puppy that looks like a unicorn is capturing hearts around the world. Rae lost one ear at birth but its how the other ear came to look like a unicorn horn that is truly miraculous

The world’s smallest dinosaur has been discovered embedded in amber. The 100 million-year-old bird, just 5cm long, had bulging lizard-like eyes and a beak packed with 100 sharp teeth

Archaeologists are digging up the site of former convict-period workshops at the Port Arthur Historic Site in Tasmania so we can better understand what everyday convict life was like

In his weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight explains why Prince Harry and Meghan’s decision to split ranks with the royal family has meant losing some luxuries in life

A female komodo dragon has produced three baby dragons without a male mate through a rare process called parthenogenesis

An endangered turtle has reached WA after a two-year, 37,000km swim, possibly the longest animal journey recorded by a satellite tag, which has scientists wondering if she was born here

The leaves on deciduous trees turn forests, parks and gardens a rainbow of yellows, oranges, reds and browns. Why do leaves change colour? And why do the trees let them fall?

Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney have dominated with the bat to power Australia to its fifth women’s Twenty20 World Cup title. The Aussies won by 85 runs against India at the MCG

An American daredevil has successfully walked a tightrope thousands of metres in the air above the crater of an active volcano

The factory that makes Violet Crumble is working 24 hours a day to keep up with incredible demand for the historic, purple-wrapped chocolate honeycomb bar

Scientists have been feeding waxworms polyethylene — one of the most common plastics used in shopping bags — and found that just 60 little caterpillars can eat more than 30 sqcm in a week

In his weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight explains how coronavirus fears across Australia have sparked panic buying and turned toilet paper into a rare gem

Five Australian photographers have blitzed the international Underwater Photographer of the Year competition with their incredible pictures of life under the sea

Australia’s new $100 note has been unveiled, featuring a little owl that makes it almost impossible to counterfeit. It’s the final denomination of the Next Generation Banknote Program

Scientists in Belgium are experimenting with larva fat to replace butter in waffles, cakes and cookies, saying using grease from insects is more sustainable than dairy produce

As a post office worker at Port Lockroy, one of the main tasks is cleaning up penguin poo, the toilet is a bucket with a lid and though you get one day off every 14, there’s nowhere to go

Australian scientists have helped US astronomers discover the biggest explosion ever seen in the universe — and it came from a supermassive black hole

At 130kg and 2m tall, Baron is a very big dog. But he’s also a very big softie, patiently helping kids learn to read and visiting elderly people in his therapy-dog job

There is a February 29 on this year’s calendar. We explain why and what it has to do with the Sun, the Earth and a calendar created way back in 1582

In his weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight looks at how waste management has become a major issue in Australia and why it’s soon to create peak-hour traffic on bin night

A large male and two smaller female baboons broke free from a truck at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, sparking a baboon hunt through the inner western suburbs

A 62-year-old man has set an astonishing Guinness World Record, planking for 8 hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds, suggesting that “Anybody can do what I do”

Australians are becoming world leaders at cooking and eating pancakes on Pancake Tuesday, a fun food day that has its origins as a religious festival

Scientists are studying an ultra-rare pink manta ray — maybe the only one in the world — that has been photographed during a dive on the Great Barrier Reef

In his weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight looks at the Fire Fight Australia concert which raised $9 million to help bushfire victims and he imagined two new faces in the crowd

Crocodile tears are real – though humans are the only animals that cry emotional tears – and babies don’t cry tears at all. Kids News explains tears and crying

For the first time in more than 400 years, all 12 precious gold and silver tapestries designed by Renaissance artist Raphael have been hung in the Sistine Chapel, making it complete at last

The Royal Australian Mint and International Cricket Council are releasing two million $2 coins into general circulation that feature a picture of a female cricketer on it for the first time

Google has added 1000 new images to Earth View – a collection of the most beautiful landscapes from Google Earth. And a farmer’s marriage proposal makes it onto Google Maps

Scientists believe a space rock shaped like a snowman that formed 4.6 billion years ago may have sparked life on Earth. It is the farthest, most primitive object we’ve ever explored in the solar system

Though the crowd cheered for a golden retriever, a fluffy, puffed-up poodle has been named top dog for 2020 at the world-famous Westminster Dog Show

A new and very scary species of dinosaur related to T-Rex and known as the Reaper of Death has been identified after pieces of its skull were rediscovered in a museum drawer

There are several stories about who Valentine was, but the most popular one is that he was a doctor and priest from Rome in the third century who lived and died in the pursuit of love

Young nippers have been hailed as heroes after spotting two tourists caught in a dangerous rip and immediately jumping into the ocean to save them

The temperature in northern Antarctica has hit 18.3C, thought to be a heat record on the continent best known for snow, ice and penguins

Risking injury and braving the cold, children as young as four race llamas across a high-altitude region of Ecuador each year to help save one of the most important wetlands on Earth

How can kids be safe and kind online? Treat others and look after yourself online just as you would in real life, says KidsHelpline counsellor Hannah