Friday 26 February 2016  Jack Loughran, news reporter Apple v FBI may speed up government-proof safeguards The FBI’s recent efforts to convince Apple to produce software that can bypass iPhone security systems are a cynical attempt to use a tragic event as a means to bolster their surveillance powers. The San Bernardino shootings were widely covered in the national media and understandably provoked a lot of anger from the public. The FBI argues that gaining access to the smartphone of one of the shooters would help it to advance the investigation; Apple has declined due to its policy to never … Continue reading E&T news weekly #83 – we choose our favourite engineering and technology news stories from the week

Friday 19 February 2016  Katia Moskvitch, technology editor ASTRO-H satellite launched to study black holes Human engineering allows us to look ever deeper into space. Just days after the team running the Advanced LIGO experiment confirmed that they detected gravitational waves – the ripples in spacetime caused by the collision of two black holes – a new satellite was launched to study supermassive black holes and other objects that cannot be studied using light. ASTRO-H hitched a ride into orbit on an H-IIA rocket from the Tanegashima Space Centre based on a small island in the south of Japan. Built … Continue reading E&T news weekly #82 – we choose our favourite engineering and technology news stories from the week

Blast off into space with the new issue of E&T – now online! Holidays in space have long been a science fiction dream, but now that there are private companies vying to take bookings for the first trips it is no longer impossible. In this issue we take a look at some of the items on the ‘to do’ list for anyone preparing to holiday in space. Our technology editor, Katia Moskvitch, interviews a man who is ready and waiting with no less than three tickets – one for each space tourism company currently taking bookings. For space tourism to … Continue reading #Space is the place for the new issue of E&T magazine – reusable rockets, space tourism, asteroid mining – available online now

Friday 12 February 2016  Jade Fell, assistant features editor Ground-penetrating radar spies on wombat colonies This is the news that the University of Adelaide has begun researching the social lives of the southern hairy-nosed wombats using a ground-penetrating radar. Aside from the fact that this piece of news is excellently written by yours truly, I absolutely hate it. I really did not enjoy having to research and write the story, but we wanted to see how many of you would be lured into reading a story about something warm and fuzzy. Normally I’m all for the warm and fuzzy – … Continue reading E&T news weekly #81 – we choose our favourite engineering and technology news stories from the week

Friday 5 February 2016  Vitali Vitaliev, features editor EasyJet passengers to be served engine water from hydrogen planes Interesting news. And whereas I am all in favour of alternative energy sourcing, recycling and other things ‘green’, I feel somewhat wary of being offered drinking water which, in the words of easyJet’s head of engineering is “the only waste product from the system”, even if it is entirely clean (according to the same head of engineering). Call me over-fastidious, but I would be reluctant to consume anything labelled as ‘waste’, be it water, or food even – particularly so if the … Continue reading E&T news weekly #80 – we choose our favourite engineering and technology news stories from the week