Science & Technology

KIDS NEWS 2025: evergreen holder artwork SUMMER HOLIDAYS, 4:3 thumbnail plus subs. Picture: Darren Gover

What’s on these summer holidays

The festive season is finally here and there’s plenty of magic happening across the country. Here are some of our favourite things to do and see in each state and territory across Australia

Amazing pics of emerald 3I/ATLAS over Egypt as interstellar anomaly rockets toward Earth

Christmas comet coming to town

If you look up at the night sky in the week before Christmas you might see a mysterious green light – but it’s not Santa and his reindeers ahead of schedule. So what is it and why is it there?

KIDS NEWS 2025: AI-produced impression of some of Australia's oldest-known mammals from the Tertiary period 55 million years ago. Picture: AI/UNSW/supplied

‘Drop crocs’ roamed Australia

Ancient crocodiles that may have ambushed prey by dropping from trees have been identified through fossilised eggshells found in Queensland, suggesting a prehistoric predator ready to pounce

Science and Technology

KIDS NEWS. Amazon held a GirlsÃ¢â¬â¢ Tech Day in Camden in Western Sydney on December 11, 2025, in conjunction with Western Sydney University and Camden Council. Picture: Thomas James Parish

‘Architects of AI’ pave future path

Time Magazine has just named its 2025 Person of the Year as ‘the architects of AI’ – but with a critical skills gap in Australia, who will become the STEM pioneers of our nation’s AI future?

Primeval Caveman Wearing Animal Skin Holds Stone Tipped Spear Looks Around, Explores Prehistoric Forest in a Hunt for Animal Prey. Neanderthal Going Hunting in the Jungle

Fire-starters change human history

New evidence of humans deliberately making fire up to 350,000 years earlier than previously thought has lit up a team of British scientists – find out why fire was such a species game-changer

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Science and Technology

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Aussie kids’ first taste of freedom

Australian kids under 16 trying to log into Snapchat are greeted by lockout screens, with other apps to follow suit as the nation’s historic new laws for accessing social media come into effect

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New plan for Aussie beach safety

The first phase of a plan to make Australian waters safer and reduce shark risk at our beaches is being rolled out in one state. Learn how sharks can be spotted early and how lives can be saved

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - Daily Telegraph Photos - Saturday, 29 November 2025 Mehr 3 and brother Agastya 6 Sood pictured at Robert Pymble Park, Pymble. Eighteen months ago, one-year-old Mehr Sood suffered two cardiac arrests and spent six weeks in hospital before doctors discovered she had Brugada Syndrome, a rare and potentially fatal heart arrhythmia. She now relies on an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) to keep her heart safe. What makes the story even more extraordinary is what happened next. Using new genetic testing, doctors uncovered that her older brother then just five also had the same hidden condition. Picture: Daily Telegraph / Monique Harmer

Tiny device keeping siblings alive

This brother and sister look like most other Australian children – happy, healthy and full of fun – but inside their chests are tiny devices keeping them alive, after a new test found a hidden harm

FOR KATE UREN . This image portrays a young woman deeply engaged with her smartphone, seen through a distorted, swirling blur effect. The artistic composition highlights the concept of doomscrolling, brainrot, digital addiction, social media immersion, and the modern reliance on technology. The surreal perspective creates a sense of detachment, illustrating how screens can shape and blur reality. The warm and cool tones enhance the mood, evoking themes of isolation, distraction, and digital dependency.

What scrolling does to your brain

Ever wondered why you struggle to put down your device? A neuroscientist has revealed why social media is so addictive – and how it could be reshaping young brains for the worse

A couple of curious wildlife cases have found their way to Healesville Sanctuary wildlife hospital, with not one but two Echidna puggles needing extra TLC., It’s an uncommon sight that has spiked the interest of the veterinary team., The orphaned youngsters were both disturbed in their burrows while people were doing end of year renovations., One was accidentally dug up by an excavator clearing a paddock in Launching Place. The other found under a slab of concrete at a building site near Alexandra., It’s common for female Echidnas to create burrows in random places at this time of year. Often, they will feed the puggles and then go off wandering for a few days at a time, meaning the little ones can be left in the burrow for up to 10 days. Credit Zoos Victoria

Double puggles out of trouble

A couple of curious wildlife cases have found their way to an Australian wildlife hospital, with not one but two echidna puggles now receiving plenty of TLC after their dramatic survival

EXPLAINERScience and Technology

Lucky the rat who is taking part in research in breakthrough dementia research at the Howard Florey Institute. Dr Siew Yeen Chai and Holly Yeatman a research assistant help Lucky through the maze in the lab.

Could Oz end world’s animal labs?

An Australian start-up is using AI to power a game-changing approach to testing new drug treatments that, if successful, could save both human and animal lives. Find out how it works

Ask Healthy Harold

KIDS NEWS 2025: KIDS NEWS ONLY. Healthy Harold believes that Australian teens are going to be able to reconnect in the real world once the social media ban for under 16s takes effect on December 10. Picture: Life Ed/supplied

New beginnings to flow from delay

Healthy Harold and friends see the incoming social media age restrictions as an invitation and an opportunity for Aussie kids to do what only they can do – reclaim childhood’s wonder years

VIDEOExplainers

EV fire thumb art split

Science behind EV fire big bucket

A big roadside bath could be the future emergency response for burning EVs on our roads as a good soaking could be key to safely suppressing vehicle fires that may otherwise last for days

Mark Knight cartoon Thu 26 Nov 2025 Our higher power prices Bowen

Power price pledge unplugged

Do your parents stomp around switching off lights? Well, Mark Knight’s toon delivers this power point: energy costs are currently Australia’s biggest inflation driver despite election promises

Science and Technology

Snapchat AI bot test story horizontal artwork

Snap’s AI has teens in the dark

Teens turning to their AI chatbot on Snapchat aren’t getting accurate information about Australia’s upcoming social media reforms, an experiment has shown. Here’s what you need to know

17, November, 2025. **For The Saturday Telegraph**

Teen’s iPhone film gets top nod

Between homework and her fast-food job, meet the 16-year-old Australian teen who has made Australian film awards history with a scary movie she shot entirely on her smartphone

VIDEOScience and Technology

Roblox is upping the safety measures for kids using the platform from today. Picture: Roblox

Massive change coming to Roblox

Popular gaming platform Roblox has launched a new feature it says will help keep young gamers safer and ‘reshape the way they connect’ online. So what’s changing and how it will work?

Figure 1. Megachile lucifer (also known as a lucifer bee) sp. nov. female, a lateral view b head, frontal view c dorsal view d ventral view. Picture: Kit S. Prendergast; Joshua W. Campbell

Devil in the DNA of bee discovery

A new native Australian bee species has been discovered and has a famously sinister new name to back up its gothic appearance – but why does this horned creature need a heap of human love?

In this NASA handout image obtained on June 14, 2023, a combination of high-resolution images taken during a 2005 flyby of NASA's Cassini spacecraft were combined into this mosaic to show Saturn's moon Enceladus, with long fissures at the moon's south pole that allow water from the subsurface ocean to escape into space. The long hunt for extraterrestrials just got a major boost. Scientists have discovered that phosphorus, a key building block of life, lies in the ocean beneath the icy surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The finding was based on a review of data collected by NASA's Cassini probe, and was published on June 14, 2023 in the prestigious journal Nature. (Photo by HANDOUT / NASA / AFP) / XGTY / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT

Is Saturn’s condition ripe for life?

Saturn’s moon Enceladus has excited an international team of researchers, as understanding grows of what lies beneath the surface of this ‘key target’ in the search for extraterrestrial life

VIDEOScience and Technology

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Is this ‘humanoid’ a real robot?

A Chinese car manufacturer has unveiled an AI-powered robot so lifelike they had to prove to the audience it wasn’t a human fake – but many people still weren’t convinced. What do you think?