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Innovation

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A worker at a blast furnace at the Salzgitter AG mill in Salzgitter in Germany where green steel processes are being explored.

The PM talked up green steel. But is it even a thing?

Green steel could boost Australia’s export earnings, reduce emissions and hedge against declining coal exports in a cleaner world economy. If a lot of things go right.

  • Nick O'Malley

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Dyson’s global head of formulations Justina Mejia-Montane.

The big leap: Why Dyson employees are encouraged to ‘have the wrong thinking’

The Brooklyn-born executive leading Dyson’s latest foray into beauty offers a glimpse into how the “Apple of home appliances” reckons it can thrive outside its natural habitat.

  • Jessica Yun
Did the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation really invent Wi-Fi?

Who really ‘invented Wi-Fi’, and the problem of Australian science innovation

The story of how CSIRO came to lay claim to inventing Wi-Fi deserves scrutiny as the Trump administration threatens to withdraw scientific funding.

  • Liam Mannix
The app distinguishes itself from other chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT by articulating its reasoning before delivering a response.

DeepSeek’s success shows America’s failure to thwart China’s AI ambitions

The US has steadily tightened restrictions on sales of advanced chips to China. The emergence of DeepSeek’s AI model shows that they haven’t bitten – yet.

  • Stephen Bartholomeusz
In Shigeru Ban’s bathroom, glass walls turn opaque when the door is locked.

‘The cleanest toilet in the world’: Why I joined a guided dunny tour

Tokyo’s public toilet project has spawned guided tours, Instagrammer invasions – and even a Wim Wenders film.

  • Barry Divola
PlasmaLeap: Lightning in a bottle using renewable electricity, air and water to make green ammonia

From bottled lightning to ‘hempcrete’: The Australian innovations that could save the world

From harnessing the power of lightning to make fertiliser to using yeast to produce forest-friendly palm oil, these start-ups are helping solve big environmental problems.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons
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Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic says the NRF corporation has requested a $300 million draw-down from the government.

Albanese’s $15b tech fund gets ready to write first cheques

Two years after it was first legislated to beef up Australia’s competitiveness in technology and manufacturing, the National Reconstruction Fund is about to make its first investments.

  • David Swan
GIF: e-waste facility in Villawood.

The secret facility extracting gold from electronic waste

Metallurgists are extracting gold, silver and copper as they hunt through your e-waste for precious metals.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Malahat SkyWalk, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. 
Malahat SkyWalk Photo credit Malahat SkyWalk-Hamish Hamilton.jpg

Traveller Awards: 10 of the greatest innovations in travel

From a cutting-edge airline cabin to a trailblazing way to experience the outback, these new experiences are the ones you’ll want.

  • Traveller team
The McDonald’s experiment using AI to take drive-thru orders has not been a complete success.

Ice-cream with tomato sauce? McDonald’s is ending its test run of AI drive-thrus

But the fast-food giant has suggested it isn’t ruling out other potential artificial intelligence plans down the road.

  • Wyatte Grantham-Philips

Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/technology/innovators