Jeff Bezos has been awarded the 2018 Axel Springer Award. At a ceremony in Berlin, he outlined how he can get through his US$130B fortune - by investing in his space company Blue Origin and helping humanity populate the solar system.

Our weekly news round-up: A large Harvard University survey shows how to increase life expectancy by a decade or more; MarCO cubesats piggy back to Mars; China has amazing drone swarms with military applications; Somnox: a smart cushion for insomniacs; A futuristic solar power generating highway in Jinan; Trackable suitcases banned from flights; Telegram instant messaging service outlawed in Russia and Iran; Facebook trials a 'dislike' button, while launching its own dating service.

The Australian Government pledges A$500 million to help save the Great Barrier Reef, but is it too little too late?

Spring already sprung? Nature's Notebook aims to garner information gathered by the American public to help understand changes in seasonal transitions.

Bill Gates and Google's Larry Page launch the "Universal Influenza Vaccine Development Grand Challenge" to fund novel concepts that reduce flu's global death toll and prepare us all for the next pandemic.

Our weekly news round-up: NASA's InSight lander will probe the Martian interior; Spacecraft AR app allows spacecraft to be visualised as never before; Space Net offers super hi res, multi-spectral imagery to developers and start-ups for free; Pigs brains kept alive after decapitation; Private owner of France.com has his site seized by French Government; Apple will pay US$21 billion in back taxes to Ireland; Drug testing tech at dance parties and festivals; Scam watch: fake utility bills.

A constellation of satellites operated by start-up EarthNow could one day deliver real-time video from space to businesses and governments. Uses include monitoring the health of the planet, better crop management, more accurate and timely weather prediction, preparing for natural disasters and keeping an eye on conflict zones.

An unregulated free-for-all sparks protests from the elderly, disabled and city halls. But for the gung ho start-ups behind the scooter plague, these are just the growing pains of urban transportation in transition.

Our weekly news round-up: TESS exoplanet hunter successfully launched toward unusual lunar resonant orbit; The many, varied (and slightly scary) ways Facebook gathers information about you; World heritage Henderson Island in the remote South Pacific has the planet's worst plastic pollution; Japanese researchers make an enzyme that breaks down PET plastic bottles; Woolly mammoths and many other large mammals declined with people's migration out of Africa; Gmail hacked by spam scam - users receive messages from themselves; Lyrids meteor shower worth a look; Digital medical consultations via Coviu, a cloud-based video platform; Extracting gold from SIM cards to reduce e-waste; Grasshopper - a free app to learn the basics of coding.

Will another attempt to unify Android users under a new messaging service fail because it doesn't use encryption?

1.5 billion Chinese ranked by a behaviour monitoring system. If you've been bad, stiff restrictions are imposed by the State, including limited internet access, travel bans and reduced job opportunities.