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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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NASA wants to put a lander on Europa’s surface to look for life

The search for life on Europa is inching closer to reality. NASA has released a report outlining an initial set of objectives for a proposed mission to the surface of Jupiter’s icy moon.

The primary objective of this mission, the report says, is to search directly for evidence of life. Europa has been a prime target in the search for extraterrestrial life since the mid-1990s when the Galileo orbiter indicated that a huge saltwater ocean may exist beneath its icy crust.

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El Niño has an uncle that could send global warming into overdrive

You've probably heard about El Niño, the climate system that brings dry and often hotter weather to Australia over summer.

You might also know that climate change is likely to intensify drought conditions, which is one of the reasons climate scientists keep talking about the desperate need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the damaging consequences if we don't.

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'Superflares' Likely Made Proxima b Uninhabitable Long Ago

The nearby alien planet Proxima b is not a great candidate to host life as we know it, a new study suggests.

Immensely powerful flares from Proxima b's parent star likely stripped some of life's key building blocks from the Earth-size alien world's atmosphere long ago, according to the study, which investigated the life-hosting potential of planets circling the small, dim stars known as red dwarfs.

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TIL of a monk who had taken an old book written by Archimedes, erased the contents, and wrote over it with prayers. Scientists have determined that that monk erased a previously unknown book by Archimedes, that laid out the foundations of Calculus thousands of years before Newton and Leibniz.

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SpaceX is about to send a lethal superbug into orbit

SpaceX is preparing to launch a lethal, antibiotic-resistant superbug into orbit on February 14, to live its days in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station (ISS).

The idea is not to weaponise space with MRSA - a bacterium that kills more Americans every year than HIV/AIDS, Parkinson's disease, emphysema, and homicide combined - but to send its mutation rates into hyperdrive, allowing scientists to see the pathogen's next moves well before they appear on Earth.

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Scientists Just Found One of the Most Promising Malaria Vaccine Targets to Date

In spite of a decade of intense research, we still don't have a commercially available vaccine for malaria.

While a candidate vaccine is being piloted next year, scientists have found a potentially more promising target in the bridge malaria makes with our red blood cells, which could lead to a more effective, cheaply made vaccine.

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Physicists Calculate Long-Lost Signals Emitted Fractions of a Second After the Big Bang

For the first time, theoretical physicists have calculated the precise frequency of specific gravitational wave signals that would have emerged fractions of a second after the Big Bang.

Just like we had to figure out the frequency of the Higgs boson before scientists could detect it, this means scientists can now start to track down the signals of long-lost cosmological phenomena called 'oscillons', allowing us to peer back further into the Universe than ever before.

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Emergency Evacuations Underway Amid Fears of "Immediate Failure" at America's Tallest Dam

Emergency evacuations are currently underway in Oroville, California, as locals fear that a gaping hole in the severely eroded auxiliary spillway of America's tallest dam could give way at any moment.

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