2844 people were surveyed after giving up Facebook for a month. Many reported increased personal happiness, less extreme political views and more time spent disconnected from the internet. A large number reportedly stayed off social media after the survey was over.

The Swiss Blue Brain Project aims to create biologically detailed digital reconstructions and simulations of rat, and ultimately human brains. Aided by super computers, the project provides a radically new approach to understanding the multilevel structure and function of the brain.

Efforts intensify to revive the Opportunity rover, silent on Mars since June 2018; the InSight lander deploys instruments to study the Martian interior at Elysium Planitia and New Horizons completes its successful flyby of Ultima Thule, the most distant object ever visited.

Are elections downunder vulnerable to manipulation like the 2016 US election? Are the 9 million Instagram users sitting ducks for an all-out meme assault?

Malicious software can cause enormous physical damage to older, insecure infrastructure. It can even black out the internet for entire countries.

A new study using data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter suggests the rate of cratering on the moon has almost tripled in the last 300 million years. Is the Earth now more vulnerable to asteroid strike?

China is building enormous towers in an effort to scrub dangerous pollution from its air. But critics point out that the benefits only seem to be noticed in a small local area close to the towers and that they are fuelled by coal-fired power plants.

China is fast catching up to the US in developing military applications for quantum technology and is now ahead in registering patents in quantum communications and cryptography.

Gates has joined the voices of concerned scientists around the world in issuing his deep reservations, pointing to the potential problem of class disparity between those who can afford enhanced genes and those who can't.

An interactive dark fantasy show on Netflix allows viewers to make their own decisions about how the narrative will unfold. The concept has huge potential, as we move towards a more interactive TV experience at home.