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.

A Queensland University study finds that limiting time on Facebook lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol, as Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg gets a grilling from Congress. Regulation of the social behemoth seems far more likely now, as millions around the world are notified they're data was misused.

Our weekly news round-up: Boost for space tourists as Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity soars in flawless test flight; Flesh-eating super bug outbreak reaches epidemic levels on coasts south of Melbourne; Red Bull plans to send rovers to Apollo 17 landing site in 2019 media extravaganza; NASA's TESS exoplanet hunter ready for launch; SpaceX's huge internet-from-space satellite constellation approved by FCC; Big revamp for Gmail; Tesla's solar roof in use in California; NBN rolls out fibre-to-the-curb, for the lucky few.

The view from space shows our planet's nights are getting much brighter, thanks to economic development and the increasing use of LED lighting. But there are adverse effects for plant and animal life, not to mention city dwellers looking to marvel at the firmament above.

Dr. Ian Storey, lecturer in information systems at RMIT, discusses the vast potential for good and ill offered by quantum computing. QC can help molecular modelling, industrial processes and AI, but might in the long run threaten encryption, on which secure ecommerce depends.

Our weekly news round-up: How to cheaply upgrade iPhone storage; Chinese space station crashes back to Earth; Musk April Fool's tweet backfires; Russian hacker of Linkedin, DropBox and Formspring finally extradited to US to face the music; Google Lunar X Prize competition to rove on the moon expires with no result.