News
all News articles
-
Brains plan for action, not limbs
Same region controls reaching by hand or foot.
The brain isn’t going out on a limb when choosing to grasp things. Instead, new research shows, there is an overar...
-
How leaf cutter ants domesticated crops
Could human farmers learn from them?
Over tens of millions of years, fungus-farming ants have learned how to cultivate their crops to ensure a stable food...
-
Super pea could reduce diabetes risk
Natural mutation prevents sugar spikes.
Don’t turn your nose up at wrinkled peas: they could be a life saver. A new study has found that a natural mutatio...
-
Printed tongues take some licking
Synthetic surface behaves like the real thing.
British scientists have 3D-printed some rather sophisticated fake tongues – even if they don’t actually look like ton...
-
Finding the sweet spot in a haunted house
Researchers look for when scary becomes concerning.
Scientists have confirmed what fright fans have long known: there is just the right amount of scary. Danish resear...
-
Egyptians wanted their words to stick
Study finds technical link to the Renaissance painters.
In 15th century Europe, artists began adding lead to their paints to help them dry. Now scientists have discovered th...
Bulging with a galaxy’s data
Astronomers get to the heart of the Milky Way.
More than 250 million stars in the bulge at the heart of the Milky Way have been surveyed in near-ultraviolet, optica...
Hippocrates and willow bark?
What you know about history of aspirin is probably wrong.
By Philippa Martyr, University of Western Australia Aspirin is one of the most widely used drugs in the world. Its...
Features
all Features articles
-
Conversation
Emerging from second wave of coronavirus
Assessing challenges and successes around the world.
By Michael Toole, Burnet Institute, Australia Of the 215 nations and territories that have reported COVID-19 cases...
-
History
Georges Lemaître comes in with a bang
Belgian priest a big part of big scientific debates.
In 1927, Catholic priest Georges Lemaître published a paper in the Annales de la Societe scientifique de Bruxelles in...
-
Conversation
How do we know stats can be trusted?
Talking to the humans behind the numbers.
By Samantha Vilkins, Sujatha Raman and Will J Grant, Australian National University In April, as the coronavirus p...
Space
all Space articles
-
Snapshot
Bulging with a galaxy’s data
Astronomers get to the heart of the Milky Way.
More than 250 million stars in the bulge at the heart of the Milky Way have been surveyed in near-ultraviolet, optica...
-
It’s confirmed. There is water on the Moon
Flying telescope detects unique spectral signature.
US researchers have presented the first unambiguous evidence of molecular water on the Moon – and it could be more ab...
-
What happens when you hit an asteroid
OSIRIS-REx shows how to collect samples at a distance.
NASA has just released this short video of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft’s brief but all important contact with the aster...
Technology
all Technology articles
-
New school of thought on how fish swim
Robots reveal the value of vortex phase matching.
Do fish save energy by swimming in schools? New technology suggests the answer to this old question is yes. German...
-
Small spirals could have big impact
Twistronics meets the world of non- Euclidean geometry.
This microscopic, twisting spiral was "grown" by depositing sheets of 2D material over a substrate curved slightly by...
-
Nature
all Nature articles
-
How leaf cutter ants domesticated crops
Could human farmers learn from them?
Over tens of millions of years, fungus-farming ants have learned how to cultivate their crops to ensure a stable food...
-
Can cat genes explain their nine lives?
Maybe not, but they can help unravel genomic mutations.
Move over human genomic medicine – scientists are now getting closer to gene therapy for felines, thanks to an Abyssi...
-
Ageing chimps value old friends
It’s a human trait we didn’t know they had.
As humans age they tend to favour small groups of old friends, where interactions are positive and stress-free. It...
Earth
all Earth articles
-
Global trade linked to resource insecurity
Study highlights need for sustainable supply chains.
The global economy and international trade are aggravating water, land and energy insecurity and this is taking a dis...
-
Delicate balance in the Falklands
Threat to seabirds is a threat to the ecosystem.
Seabird droppings helped shape the delicately balanced ecosystem of the Falkland Islands, which is in danger of abrup...
-
Rain really can move mountains
Himalayan study describes dramatic impact of erosion.
Plate tectonics tends to dominate the common view of mountain formation: where two plates meet, rock is pushed up. Ho...
History
all History articles
-
Egyptians wanted their words to stick
Study finds technical link to the Renaissance painters.
In 15th century Europe, artists began adding lead to their paints to help them dry. Now scientists have discovered th...
-
Have wings will glide – at best
Two small dinosaurs struggled in the air, analysis suggests.
Just having wings doesn’t mean you can fly. Yi qi and Ambopteryx longibrachium, it seems, were barely able to glide. ...
-
Plague spread quickly in Medieval Europe
Documents reveal an increasing transmission rate.
The speed of plague transmission in London increased four-fold between the Black Death of 1348 and the Great Plague o...
People
all People articles
-
Finding the sweet spot in a haunted house
Researchers look for when scary becomes concerning.
Scientists have confirmed what fright fans have long known: there is just the right amount of scary. Danish resear...
-
Conversation
How do we know stats can be trusted?
Talking to the humans behind the numbers.
By Samantha Vilkins, Sujatha Raman and Will J Grant, Australian National University In April, as the coronavirus p...
-
Health
all Health articles
-
Brains plan for action, not limbs
Same region controls reaching by hand or foot.
The brain isn’t going out on a limb when choosing to grasp things. Instead, new research shows, there is an overar...
-
Super pea could reduce diabetes risk
Natural mutation prevents sugar spikes.
Don’t turn your nose up at wrinkled peas: they could be a life saver. A new study has found that a natural mutatio...
-
History
Hippocrates and willow bark?
What you know about history of aspirin is probably wrong.
By Philippa Martyr, University of Western Australia Aspirin is one of the most widely used drugs in the world. Its...
Core Sciences
all Core Sciences articles
-
Printed tongues take some licking
Synthetic surface behaves like the real thing.
British scientists have 3D-printed some rather sophisticated fake tongues – even if they don’t actually look like ton...
-
Pushing the laser limit
Researchers offer a taste of what’s possible.
Australian quantum researchers have shown it’s possible to vastly improve the coherence of lasers, overcoming a bound...
-
A catalyst for faster, cheaper biodiesel
New system can work with low-grade feedstock.
Australian and British researchers have developed a new, low-cost way to make biodiesel from used cooking oil and agr...