This could be the first observational evidence that our early Universe was once a hologram

For decades, scientists have been toying with the idea that our Universe is - or once was - a giant hologram, where the laws of physics require just two dimensions, but everything appears three-dimensional to us.

As you can imagine, it's not an easy hypothesis to prove, but physicists say they now have observational evidence from the early Universe that fits just as neatly into the so-called hologram principle as it does with the standard Big Bang model.

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An unexplained 'void' appears to be pushing the Milky Way through the Universe at 2 million km/h

You can’t feel it, but our planet is orbiting the Sun at speeds of roughly 100,000 km/h (62,000 mph), and something is making our Milky Way galaxy move through the Universe at more than 2 million km/h (1.2 million mph). That’s 630 km per second, and now scientists might have finally figured out why.

In front of us, there's a dense supercluster of galaxies some 650 million light-years away called the Shapley Concentration, and it's pulling us towards it. Behind us, scientists have found evidence of a previously unknown region of space that's almost entirely devoid of galaxies, and it's pushing us away with incredible force.

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AI just won a poker tournament against professional players

An AI just claimed another gaming victory over humans by winning a 20-day poker tournament. The AI, called Libratus, took on four of the world’s best Heads-Up No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em poker players at a Pennsylvania casino. After 120,000 hands, Libratus won with a lead of over $1.7 million in chips.

“I’m feeling great,” says Tuomas Sandholm, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University who was part of the team that created the AI. “This is a David versus Goliath story, and Libratus was able to throw a pebble.”

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Long-lost continent found submerged deep under Indian Ocean

An ancient continent that was once sandwiched between India and Madagascar now lies scattered on the bottom of the Indian Ocean.

The first clues to the continent’s existence came when some parts of the Indian Ocean were found to have stronger gravitational fields than others, indicating thicker crusts. One theory was that chunks of land had sunk and become attached to the ocean crust below.

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Could Wormholes Really Work? Probably Not

Ah, wormholes. The intergalactic shortcut. A tunnel through space-time that allows intrepid travelers to hop from star system to star system without ever coming close to the speed of light.

Wormholes are a workhorse of sci-fi interstellar civilizations in books and on the screen because they solve the annoying problem of "Well, if we stuck to known physics, 99.99999 percent of the story would be as fascinating as watching people sleep."

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Use stars’ own light to park tiny spacecraft at an exoplanet

It’s all very well dreaming up technologies that will let us travel quickly to other star systems, but how do we apply the brakes on arrival?

Rene Heller of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research and independent space researcher Michael Hippke now have an answer: we can slow down a solar sail-powered craft using the stars themselves.

The nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, is over four light years away. Chemical propulsion technologies are too heavy to be practical – they would take 100,000 years to get there.

However, lasers fired from Earth can accelerate ultra-light solar sails made from graphene to around 20 per cent of the speed of light within a few minutes. That means an interstellar probe could reach the Alpha Centauri system – including the Earth-mass planet orbiting its companion star, Proxima Centauri – just 20 years after launch.

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We need to talk about school start times

Delaying school start times could help teenagers sleep better giving them a better chance for success. Researchers have found that students from schools that started earlier slept less, were less likely to meet the national sleep recommendations for their age were more often tired in the morning.

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This new mind-reading technology lets locked-in patients communicate

The technology to control a computer using only your thoughts has existed for decades. Yet we’ve made limited progress in using it for its original purpose: helping people with severe disabilities to communicate. Until now, that is.

A new study has shown that an alternative brain-computer interface technology can help people with 'locked-in syndrome' speak to the outside world. It has even allowed sufferers to report that they are happy, despite the condition.

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Scientists have a plan to replace fossil fuels with nuclear fusion by 2030

Nuclear fusion is premised on building technology that would replicate the reaction that naturally powers our Sun - two light atoms, in this case, hydrogen, are fused together under extreme temperatures to produce another element, helium.

The process would release vast amounts of clean energy drawn from an almost limitless fuel source, with nearly zero carbon emissions.

However, it has yet to be done on a scale that would make it usable. Canadian scientists are hoping to change that, announcing plans to harness and develop nuclear fusion technology so they can deliver a working nuclear fusion plant prototype by 2030.

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A quantum phase transition has been observed for the first time

For the first time, physicists have experimentally observed a first-order phase transition occur in a quantum system - verifying years of theoretical predictions.

Phase transitions are something that we see on a daily basis, when our ice melts into water, or steam evaporates from a boiling kettle. While these transitions are easy for us to observe, phase transitions also happen on the very tiny, quantum scale, where they play an important role in physics. But, up until now, no one had ever witnessed one experimentally.

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Experts have come up with 23 guidelines to avoid an AI apocalypse

It's the stuff of many a sci-fi book or movie - could robots one day become smart enough to overthrow us? Well, a group of the world's most eminent artificial intelligence experts have worked together to try and make sure that doesn't happen.

They've put together a set of 23 principles to guide future research into AI, which have since been endorsed by hundreds more professionals, including Stephen Hawking and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

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Radiation levels in the Fukushima reactor are soaring unexpectedly

The radiation levels inside Japan's damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor No. 2 have soared in recent weeks, reaching a maximum of 530 sieverts per hour, a number experts have called "unimaginable".

Radiation is now by far the highest it has been since the reactor was struck by a tsunami in March 2011 - and scientists are struggling to explain what's going on.

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Astronomers spot a strange, supersonic space cloud screeching through our galaxy

While focussing on the remains of an exploded star roughly 10,000 light-years away, a team of Japanese astronomers have stumbled across a mysterious cloud of molecules tearing through the Milky Way. So quickly, in fact, they’ve nick-named it the unknown phenomenon the 'Bullet'.

The cause of this cloud’s ridiculous speed isn’t clear, but so far all signs suggest it's been sent hurtling through space thanks to a rogue black hole.

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Scientists have found a crazy new way to print on paper using light

A new method for printing on paper using light promises to be much cheaper, and easier on the environment than the traditional ink-based printing we're used to.

Scientists have developed a special nanoparticle coating that's easy to apply to normal paper and changes colour when ultraviolet (UV) light shines on it. The colour change can be reversed when the coating is heated to 120 degrees Celsius (248 degrees Fahrenheit), and allows for up to 80 rewrites.

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Newly discovered 'radiation clouds' could pose extra risks to frequent flyers

Researchers have found evidence of mysterious 'radiation clouds' in Earth's stratosphere, which could expose passengers and crew on commercial flights to significantly higher levels of radiation than we realised.

For years now, researchers have known that increased exposure to cosmic rays at high altitudes is an unfortunate side effect of airflight, but the discovery of localised radiation clouds means travellers could be receiving twice as much radiation – or more – when passing through these isolated pockets of air.

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Dragonfly wings can rip apart bacteria without antibiotics

Special bacteria-killing surfaces constitute a highly active area of research and development. Strategies to construct them vary widely.

One group of researchers has infused a slippery surface with molecules that disrupt bacterial communication. Others have shown that silver nanoparticle coatings can destroy bacteria. Yet another group used black silicon to create a surface that resembled a tiny 'bed of nails' (nanopillars), which physically rip bacteria apart.

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NASA suggests nothing could survive on our nearest Earth-like planet

NASA has come up with a new model for figuring out whether a distant planet could be considered habitable. And when we apply it to the recently discovered rocky world orbiting our nearest stellar neighbour, Proxima Centauri b, we might have to rule it out as a suitable home for alien life.

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