Wilson da Silva

Our energy system is woefully antiquated and based on a preposterously rickety 19th century concept. But a revolution in finally under way. Wilson da Silva reports.IT WAS THE YEAR the Soviet Union collapsed, Osama bin Laden founded al-Qaeda,…

Silicon may hold the key to quantum computing, as Wilson da Silva discovers.ANDREA MORELLO is not what you expect when you think of quantum computing. Tall, lizard-thin and sporting a luxuriant ponytail and greying goat-patch beneath his lower lip,…

The secret of 42-year-old Tanya Monro’s meteoric rise is a high octane mix of intellectual fire with what she calls a “massively practical streak”. By Wilson da SilvaBACH OR BOHR? Schubert or Schrödinger? For a 10-year-old, this was a tough choice.…

WILSON da SILVA speaks to the winner of the Kavli Prize for Astrophysics – a man who once had trouble holding down a job.ALAN GUTH STILL FINDS IT amazing that he can understand anything about the first moments of the Big Bang. But he shouldn’t –…

A new breed of automatons – friendly, engaging and even soft to touch – will soon be among us. And they are moving into the real world at remarkable speed, as Wilson da Silva discovers.THERE IS SOMETHING unnerving about Geminoid F. She looks like a…

Australia's Chief Scientist is fighting the good fight, spearheading the effort to have science taken seriously in policy circles. But with budget cuts and an antagonism to climate science in Canberra, Wilson da Silva wonders if he is tilting at…

For more than a century, the Nobel Prizes have represented the zenith of scientific achievement. But are they an accurate reflection of science as it is done today? Wilson da Silva finds that the winds of change are blowing in Stockholm. By Wilson…

Here’s what I think is going to happen over the next 50 years.By Wilson da SilvaANY DAY NOW, I will become a father. And like any new parent, and many people who are already parents, I find myself thinking more acutely about the future. Mostly, it’s…

Medical researchers overwhelmed by the profusion of diagnostic and scientific data may find that artificial intelligence and personalised medicine are a match made in heaven.By Wilson da SilvaDO YOU REMEMBER IBM’s Watson? It’s the computer cluster…

Hurricane Sandy did more than cripple New York and kill hundreds – it brought climate change out of the political closet, where some had thought it safely hidden away.By Wilson da Silva YOU’VE PROBABLY HEARD the ‘boiling frog’ anecdote, based on…

 When science meets parliament, you’d expect clashes in areas where political stances and rational evidence don’t intersect. But it’s a meeting of the minds that both sides enjoy – and they have one very important thing in common.By Wilson da…

Simply presenting people with evidence does not alter beliefs, especially those that are deeply held. But that doesn’t mean you have to tolerate quackery.By Wilson da SilvaFACTS DON’T WIN. Ideas are more powerful than facts, especially ideas that…

Are we approaching a tipping point in world history, when the power and pre-eminence of the West, which began with the Age of Enlightenment in the 1600s, is finally slipping away? Many experts think so.By Wilson da Silva AT THE UNIVERSITIES…

Can we really shift the world completely away from fossil fuels in the next 20 years? A brave band of scientists, engineers and young people believe so. Wilson da Silva watched them develop this bold new blueprint for the future of energy. THE…

A solar superflare may come any day, bringing our modern, hyper-wired world to a standstill. We could easily take precautions to avoid this – so why aren’t we?By Wilson da SilvaIT’S NOW CLEAR that the solar storm of 1859 was the most powerful in…

Australia has unparalleled opportunity to leapfrog the painful boom-bust cycles by investing in our intellectual capital to ensure prosperity. But will we?By Wilson da Silva GOLD RUSHES can make a city: the feverish migration of fortune seekers…

There’s so much we can achieve, if we just put our minds to it.By Wilson da SilvaWHAT DO YOU ask a man who walked on the Moon 42 years ago, and has never been able to live it down? All because he happened to be the first human being to set foot on…

Science is not a belief system we can opt in and out of depending on our ideological or political points of view.By Wilson da SilvaGREENPEACE WAS ONCE a friend of science, helping bring attention to important environmental research. These days, it’s…

From the lowlands of Cape Canaveral in Florida, Wilson da Silva watches the final flight of a space legend. IF HUMANITY HAS a beachhead to the stars, this is it: Cape Canaveral. This sandy promontory, jutting out into the Atlantic from a barrier…

Governments have tried to deal with climate change and failed. The world has tried diplomacy, but this too has been found wanting. So why not try science?By Wilson da Silva AS I WRITE this, I am preparing to leave for Canada where I will tackle…