Wilson da Silva

Australia’s mining expertise is at the forefront of a new era of space exploration that’s looking to the Moon and beyond. By Wilson da Silva SOPHIA CASANOVA HAS long been fascinated by the night sky, spending lazy summers in suburban Sydney during…

The rapid response to COVID-19 by the Australia’s university science sector helped avert an early disaster. By Wilson da Silva “WE HAVE something that turned out to be my worst nightmare,” Dr Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease…

The more diverse the microbe community in the soils around us, and the more you are exposed to it, the healthier you become. By Wilson da Silva EVEN ON A BLUSTERY winter’s afternoon, Mount Lofty flaunts its splendour as a bushland oasis, one of the…

By Wilson da Silva THERE’S A WAR on in cyberspace. Every day, hundreds of attacks are mounted against computers and networks across Australia, with hackers searching for vulnerabilities, trying to access restricted systems, steal data or corrupt…

By Wilson da SilvaEVEN WARFARE is going quantum: around the country, researchers have started plying the subatomic realm for a range of possible defence applications that might well help Australia capture, or at least maintain, regional superiority…

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,…

In the space race of the 21st century, Australia is betting it all on a key group of researchers and their elegant designs for a silicon quantum computer.By Wilson da SilvaANDREA MORELLO is not what you expect when you think of quantum computing.…

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…

What exactly is life? How did it arise, and what are the limits to its tolerance? Looking beyond our world has helped us find some answers.By Wilson da SilvaWHAT IS LIFE? We all think we know the answer. Living things do stuff: they breathe, take in…

Going into space is one of the best things we can do to save our world, and ourselves, argues Wilson da Silva.I LOVE OUR PLANET. I love its trees, its mountains, its oceans, its big beautiful skies and its extraordinary diversity of life. What we…

Understanding all of the functions of the human brain, even consciousness, may one day be within our grasp — but that won’t diminish our humanity.By Wilson da SilvaMOST OF US THINK we know who we are, and a lot of people we deal with in our lives…

By Wilson da SilvaIT’S IN OUR NATURE to be optimistic. Every day, we make decisions that show our underlying optimism: we have children, buy houses, make new friends, and look forward to better days.It may be how we got ourselves from the plains of…

By Wilson da SilvaHOW MANY SCIENTISTS can be called a superstar, or even a celebrity? Not that many. We wildly laud and respect our sportsmen and women, the brave veterans of past conflicts and even political leaders – well, the latter have more…

By Wilson da SilvaBODIES FLOATING along flooded streets, cities abandoned, overwhelmed police leaving their posts and committing suicide. It’s a nightmare scenario none of us expect to see in real life; and yet one that played across our television…

By Wilson da SilvaSIXTY-FIVE MILLION years ago, in one catastrophic flash, the Earth changed forever. Without warning, a mountain-sized rock from space crashed through the atmosphere like a giant flaming fireball. When it struck the ground, the…

AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW MAGAZINE The differing experiences of two recently honoured Nobel laureates show that the prizes, far from rising above the political fray, have now become a part of it. By Wilson da Silva THIS IS A TALE of two Australian…

By WILSON da SILVACELLPHONES ringing in cafes. Faxes whirring in the home. Catalogues cramming the letterbox. Voicemail beeping in the office. Parcels landing on the desk. e-mail pouring into PCs. Radios blaring in the background.Answering machines…

The United States is at war. So is Australia. But no declaration has been made. Wilson da Silva discovers we are engaged in the infowar.THE United States and Australia are under attack. According to a report presented to the US Congress last month,…

Ten years ago, PC viruses did not exist. Now there are up to 8000 circulating among the world’s computers and on the Internet. Wilson da Silva reports.CHRIS Pile is 26. He is British, unemployed and a self-taught computer programmer. Although…

by Wilson da SilvaAmerican Reporter CorrespondentMELBOURNE, Australia – Two witnesses to the killing by Indonesian soldiers of Australian journalist Roger East in East Timor 20 years ago have said they are prepared to give evidence to an…