Humour is as ancient as human life itself, but the joys of laughter never grow old and amusement experts believe we’re on the cusp of a COVID-19 comedy revolution

Donations of spit from about 1500 people are helping scientists understand how the billions of microbes in our mouths work to keep us healthy and what you can do to keep them healthy too

Beloved Australian children’s author Andrew Daddo says storytelling platform Littlescribe invites kids to imagine breaking all the rules

A team of climbers is on its way to summit Mount Everest this week to measure whether it has grown as Earth’s tectonic plates move and try to end international disagreement on the subject

Imagine the fun you’d have living in this cool house. Pool parties with friends are just the start. How about your own indoor skate bowl?

While the world has been in lockdown, zoos around the country have been welcoming a wave of cute, cuddly and not so cuddly babies. Check them out.

A three-minute song written by artificial intelligence that turned koala grunts, kookaburra laughs and Tassie devil barks into a kind of instrument has won an international music competition

When Mark Knight tuned in to watch Treasurer Josh Frydenberg talk about the economy in federal parliament, he saw him coughing uncontrollably. What was the cause?

British Museum guards have reported spooky goings-on including ghostly footsteps, strange lights and mysterious crying among the exhibits, like a real-life version of Night at the Museum

In a big win in the battle to save this species from extinction, scientists have observed koalas drinking in the wild for the first time, watching them lick rain running down tree trunks

Scientists have found human bones and a tooth up to 46,000 years old that rewrite the history of early humans’ arrival in Europe and time spent living alongside Neanderthals

Fast, ferocious Spinosaurus is the first aquatic dinosaur known to science. Experts believe it could topple T-rex to take the title as the most famous and exciting meat-eating dinosaur

An Australian-made radio telescope is preparing to look back 13 billion years in time to the Big Bang and discover the secrets of our universe. It will be the closest thing we have to a time machine

The skeleton of a backward-toothed mammal nicknamed “crazy beast” that existed alongside dinosaurs 66 million years ago has been unveiled by Australian palaeontologists

Wednesday, April 29, 2020 marks the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s arrival at Botany Bay. We explore why Cook came to Australia and why some celebrate and some lament this day

New scientific research has shown the number of insects living on land has fallen dramatically in the past 30 years, putting the world’s ecosystems — and human lives — at risk

Aussies could soon be self-testing for COVID-19 with the help of a fleet of drones. A Melbourne-based drone company is already using tiny aircraft in Africa to deliver and return test kits

In his weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight explores the collapse of Virgin Airlines in Australia and how the company could make a buck selling its second-hand planes

By comparing brains of humans and apes, scientists have discovered the origins of human language could be 25 million years old — 20 million years older than previously thought

Scientists warn that a volcanic area of Iceland is becoming active, with more than 8000 earthquakes recorded since January 21 and 10cm of land uplift as magma pushes up from below

It is 50 years since the near-disastrous Apollo 13 mission and though younger generations may think of it as a failure, its astronauts and others regard it as NASA’s finest achievement

Researchers off WA have filmed a long, glowing, stringlike, predatory underwater creature made up of millions of interconnected clones, the largest of its type ever discovered

The sounds of Australia’s Murray River will soon be heard in song after scientists and audio specialists captured its sights and sounds in a project aimed at improving the waterway’s health

Australian and international scientists have unearthed a two-million-year old skull bone — the oldest known fossil of the earliest human species named Homo erectus

Amazing video captured by a marine biologist after 17 years of waiting shows breeding grey seals clapping at each other underwater to warn off competitors and attract mates

On April 1, 1748, a Spanish engineer rediscovered Pompeii, changing the way we thought about historical artefacts and beginning the longest archaeological dig in the world

Parachutists have set a world record for crossing the equator 12 times in a single jump, which got us wondering what the equator is, where it is and why do they launch space rockets there?

The future of Australia’s critically endangered Bellinger River snapping turtle is a little more secure after 35 baby turtles hatched at Taronga Zoo

A slippery predator that lurked in lagoons 380 millions years ago had fins with finger bones that could teach us about the origins of the human hand

Archaeologists are uncovering a mysterious collection of mammoth bones arranged by our ancient Palaeolithic ancestors 20,000 years ago during the last Ice Age

For the first time in history, Australians are being told not to travel overseas and indoor gatherings of more than 100 people are banned in an effort to keep people safe from COVID-19

A woman who received two hands from a male donor has found her new hands have transformed to be slimmer and like her own skin tone, in an incredible development that has pleased doctors

The Australian Antarctic Division’s famous bright orange research ship Aurora Australis departed for Macquarie Island this week on one last voyage before its retirement

As WHO officially declares the global coronavirus crisis a pandemic, PM Scott Morrison announces a $2.4 billion package for Australia’s health system to help it respond to the crisis

AFL legend Tom Harley grew up hearing bits of the story of his grandfather’s WWII escape. Now, for the first time, he’s learning the full details of an extraordinary adventure that is barely known

Space agency NASA has asked billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX to help explore a nearby asteroid called 16 Psyche that contains enough gold to make everyone on Earth a billionaire

Tasmania is considering culling kookaburras in the wild after populations of the iconic national bird have spread and are threatening the future of other native species

Literacy experts want to end the myth that informal language used by young people in conversation is just poor formal language. It is, in fact, a modern form of conversation that has evolved for decades

Our summers are now twice as long as our winters as climate change has increased temperatures since the middle of last century, according to a new study of Australian weather data

A new type of ancient marsupial lion has been discovered in Queensland after palaeontologists discovered its teeth were like nothing ever seen before

Australians may not be able to drink fresh orange juice in as little as five years if major retailers don’t pay growers more to make up for drought and rising water costs

A hidden chamber near the tomb of Egypt’s King Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings may contain the long-lost remains Queen Nefertiti

Astronomers have discovered a planet where temperatures frequently hit 1000C, that has an 18-hour year and that will likely soon be destroyed when it spirals into its star or tidal forces tear it apart

Up to four tourists could launch into a super-high space orbit in an autonomous SpaceX capsule by the end of next year, with ticket prices expected to be in the millions of dollars

Archaeologists believe they have found the long lost tomb of Romulus, who legend says was raised with his twin brother by a wolf before founding the ancient city of Rome

The Holden car brand, an important part of Australia’s history for more than 160 years, will cease to exist in 2021. The move by US company General Motors has angered PM Scott Morrison and shocked motoring fans

Doctors have kept a heart beating for 24 hours in a jar with the new life-changing ULiSSES device, bringing hope to thousands of patients needing the lifesaving treatment

In his weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight considers if vandalising vandalism is a new art form after a gang of youths spray-painted street art in Melbourne’s famous Hosier Lane

A fungus that can wipe out banana crops has been found on a farm in far north Queensland in a region that produces 90 per cent of Australia’s bananas

Look away if you hate spiders, because this story is about a huge funnel-web called Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He’s so big he can produce enough venom to save many human lives

Water experts are preparing to keep Australia’s drinking water clean after bushfires, including installing huge fabric curtains across Sydney’s main dam

Platypus populations are on the brink of extinction from drought, land clearing and the way we manage our waterways, according to new research on this unique Australian icon

The head of the Royal Australian Mint has signalled the eventual end of the 5c and 10c coins. We look at the value of cash and when it could be the right time to let these coins go

Researchers have created super-fast bionic jellyfish to help explore the world’s oceans and monitor conditions such as temperature, salt levels, acidity and oxygen levels

The World Health Organisation now officially has a name for the coronavirus that has infected more than 40,000 people around the world 

Scientists have released the first photographs of the Sun from the new solar telescope in Hawaii, showing churning plasma that looks like a sea of gold nuggets, each as big as France

Kids and parents planning back-to-school lunches are warned to avoid unhealthy salty treats that contain almost the entire day’s salt allowance recommended for a child

This year’s bushfires prompted a bigger spike in Australian Google search queries than any other news event this decade, with floods and Cyclone Yasi also making the top-topics list

A robotic aerator to save river fish, a voice app to help people living with dementia and a photo-recognition app that sorts rubbish have been named Australia’s top student inventions

New Zealand’s White Island volcano has erupted suddenly forcing the dramatic rescue of tourists who were exploring the crater floor when it began to rumble

Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch’s puppeteer — the “most unknown famous person” – has died after 50 years creating joy on Sesame Street

NASA’s Parker spacecraft has reported back that the Sun is sending out sudden, violent bursts of solar wind so powerful that the magnetic field flips itself in the opposite direction

In a world first, Australian scientists are zapping balls of brain cells they are growing in a laboratory to make them come to life in a real-life, good-news version of Frankenstein

An adventurer from Queensland has become the first Australian to reach Antarctica’s Pole of Inaccessibility, just one leg of an epic journey to help men and women experiencing breast cancer

Sugary and fatty foods have the power to change how your brain works and stop you knowing when you’re full, but scientists believe you can retrain your brain to beat junk food addiction

In a world-first, Australian doctors have operated on a 3D-printed brain to rehearse for a real brain operation. Up next, 40 brain surgeons operating on 3D printed brains all at once

NASA doctors have made the surprising discovery that astronauts’ blood sometimes flows in reverse, with major implications for space tourism and trips to Mars

World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee has released the first-ever global internet rule book designed to protect people’s rights and help everyone make the internet a better place

Hi-tech glasses designed to scan crowds of people and spot missing children “within seconds” come with the promise that the technology won’t invade anyone’s privacy

The last remaining survivor of the famous 1937 Hindenburg airship disaster has died, aged 90. We look back at the invention of Zeppelins and the era of luxury international airship travel

Lifesaving blood transfusions helped Joel Mason survive a shark attack. Now he’s telling his story to help us all understand how donating blood saves lives

UNESCO World Heritage Site Venice is in a state of emergency after “apocalyptic” floods swept through the historic Italian city, with the mayor blaming climate change

As several states prepare for increasing fire danger in coming days, we look at the incredible efforts of firefighters on the ground day and night 

Australian scientists have identified a star spat out and flung into infinity by our galaxy’s supermassive black hole. The star is travelling at six million kmh, 10 times the speed of most stars

One hundreds years ago, two Adelaide brothers made history with their world-first flight from England to Australia in a cloth-covered, open cockpit, two-engine biplane

The bones of an ape-like species that walked on two legs and lived 12 million years ago have been discovered in Germany and experts think it could be the ‘missing link’ between apes and humans

In what’s believed to be a world-first deal, Australia’s two national soccer teams will be paid equally and all income from both teams will be split 50/50

Google is trying to get everyone to agree on its plans to redevelop a neglected piece of land to build a hi-tech city complete with heated footpaths and self-driving shuttles

A fortune teller said this man’s extra toes were a gift from heaven, but after a lifetime of coping with this rare condition called polydactyly, he has had them surgically removed

NASA gets into the Halloween spirit by releasing a spooky image of the Sun looking like a jack-o’-lantern PLUS Check out the kooky canines and creepy cats

An Australian company is preparing to send a swarm of footy-shaped, mini-submarines into the world’s oceans, lakes and waterways to create an underwater version of Google Street View

Parks Australia plans to start dismantling the world famous Uluru climb two days after it closes on October 26, despite pressure to reconsider the climbing ban

In our weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight explains his moving cartoon about the cruel abuse of ex-racehorses and why it’s a topic he feels deeply saddened by

One man’s big plan to help Australia’s homeless people have a good night’s sleep is a step closer to becoming a reality after a trial turned an empty carpark into pop-up accommodation

It’s a lot of work to ready a horse for Australia’s richest race, The Everest. We explore the special bond between two-time winner Redzel and his strapper ahead of his attempt to win again

Australian farmers are growing millions of natural, no-waste alternatives to plastic drinking straws every year, yet few people know about this centuries-old invention

The Nobel Prize in economics has been awarded to three people working on solving child poverty. One of the winners is the youngest ever and only the second woman ever

Graffiti scrawled by Australian soldiers on underground cave walls in France more than 100 years ago has been preserved as a time capsule of life in the First World War

Miners have unearthed an ultra-rare diamond with a second diamond loose inside it, believed to be the first example of such a diamond ever found

In our weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight looks at the Extinction Rebellion protests in Australia and around the world and wonders what the dinosaurs would have thought

A man paralysed from the shoulders down has walked using a four-limb robotic exoskeleton controlled by signals sent from sensors implanted in his brain

Even families in states without daylight savings need to adopt “playlight savings” to make the most of summer’s longer days and improve their health by being outside

During an official state visit with US President Donald Trump, PM Scott Morrison has revealed our new national space agency will help NASA in its mission to land on the moon and Mars

Scientists have reconstructed the skull of a prehistoric, extinct cousin of humans from a tiny finger bone, so we can see, for the first time, what the Denisovan people looked like

Several NSW towns will run out of drinking water within weeks without rain. In the longer term, Australia needs to build more dams to supply our growing population

It’s 100 years this week since returned World War I soldiers starting chipping away at the cliffs with picks and shovels to create Australia’s incredible Great Ocean Road

A 12-year-old Australian boy has become the youngest person to speak at the United Nations, demanding Australia stop putting children as young as 10 in jail