-
School of fishy little robots
Fish-like Bluebots use LED lights and cameras to swarm like the real thing.
Why have a school of fish when you can have a school of robots? This is a question recently answered by a team of ...
-
Animal magnetism is real
Snakes repel venom via a magnet-like mechanism.
Franz Mesmer might have been on to something when he described animal magnetism as an invisible force possessed by al...
-
ASD and suicide risk
Tailoring prevention for the neurodivergent.
A nation-wide study of people aged 10 years and over diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Denmark has lin...
-
Odd jobs: paleodermatologist
Looking skin deep can provide new discoveries, at least in this vanguard field of research.
All manner of unusual jobs exist in science, but perhaps one of the most remarkable is the expertise of Phil Bell, of...
-
Down with the (antibiotic) resistance!
Phages force problem bacteria to expose themselves to antibiotics.
How do you stop a superbug from fighting an antibiotic? Try giving it another enemy. Acinetobacter baumannii is a ...
-
Not-so-identical twins
Monozygotic – “identical” – twins have small genome differences.
Identical twins have long been touted as an incredible resource for genetics because they’re “genetically identical”....
-
Eating out: care needed
Risk of HPV-related throat cancer is higher with multiple oral-sex partners.
Seems we need to take care when going down, because the frequency of oral sex might increase the risk of human papill...
-
Land of the Long White Drought
La Niña brings rain to Australia, drought to New Zealand.
Lush, temperate rainforests, flowing rivers and abundant glaciers are just part of New Zealand’s (Aotearoa) charm. Bu...
-
Infertility time-bomb
Mother’s pre-pregnancy weight can affect son’s reproductive health.
Infertility is a heartbreaking experience that carries a huge emotional toll, and the reasons for it remain elusive o...
-
Prostate breakthrough
Researchers find possible prostate cancer blocker.
As well as being common and commonly lethal, prostate cancers are also pretty cunning, with an ability to resist horm...
-
The brain knows when we’re feeling lonely
Neural signatures show how our imaginations respond.
Loneliness isn’t just a feeling; it appears to deeply affect our brain networks. When nobody is around, our imaginati...
-
Gardeners may have one gene to thank
Study pinpoints the cause of flower diversity.
The huge variety of flowers we know has made them seem very complex, but there may be a relatively simple reason why ...
-
Scientists brave enough to grow a spine
Stem cells self-organise into trunk-like structures.
Growing an embryo outside the body may not be that far away. German scientists report that they have successfully ...
-
Human egg cells are imperfect too often
Failure to recombine surprisingly common, study finds.
The events that happen before life begins can go wrong surprisingly often. An important one is meiosis, where cell...
-
Delving into domestic donkeys’ past
Genome study reveals some clever breeding.
Donkeys have been helping humans for millennia, but our knowledge of their origins has previously been limited to arc...
-
Natural selection and the pressure to evolve
There’s a lot to learn when a gene turns green.
Some genes might not mind a bit of extra pressure when it comes to evolution. A Swiss team led by Andreas Wagner o...
-
How on Earth did you get like that?
Study explores the blending of complex animal patterns.
A little mathematics has shown how animals get their extraordinary patterns. Previous studies have revealed how an...
-
The protein that walks, folds and rests
New images provide insights into muscle disorders.
The myosin protein is well known for walking, but now it seems it also sleeps. 3D visualisation of: top, the shutd...
-
How to pick the best microalgae
New system assesses potential for biofuel production.
The fuel of the future may be produced by microalgae – but which microalgae? We know these microorganisms use sunl...
-
Does that reef smell good?
Chemicals in gases may be an indicator of coral health.
Gassy corals make a happy reef, it seems, but these gases may be lost if the water gets too hot. Animals release g...
-
Naming that plant just got easier
Researchers streamline the list of known vascular species.
A major difficulty in plant research is the sheer abundance of names. Most databases contain multiple or archaic ...
-
Wheat and barley are incredibly diverse
Scientists begin building an encyclopedia of their genes.
The grains we use for bread and beer have thousands of years of history. Now, researchers are one step closer to unde...
-
The evolution of an aggressive tumour
Genomic study may help save the Tasmanian Devil.
Australia’s iconic Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is particularly prone to a cancer that spreads through biti...
-
Where to look for bees of different types
Hint: think temperate zones and more to the north.
There’s a lot more to bees than you might think, because there’s a lot of them. Around 20,000 different species, in f...
-
Genes help some coral cope with low oxygen
Researchers study varied stress susceptibility on reefs.
Low oxygen levels in the ocean prevent coral from respiring properly and could be as much of a threat to the world’s ...
-
The shape of colour
Patterns in the brain are specific to what you see.
The age-old question of whether we all see colour the same may now have an answer. Researchers at the National Eye...
-
A cheat sheet to help know your neurons
Researchers develop new way to sort and classify them.
Not all neurons are equal, so researcher are building a “cheat sheet” to clarify things. In the largest categorisa...
-
Diversity is a key to survival for mammals
Genome study identifies important positions in the DNA.
Mammals most at risk of extinction have low genetic diversity in some regions of DNA, according to a new genomic anal...
-
Bird genome project really takes off
We now know a lot more about the avian tree of life.
Bird lovers can now rejoice in exploring the genomes of nearly all bird families. About 40% of the newly sequenced...
-
Some (coral) like it hot
New CRISPR technique isolates heat tolerance gene.
Warming oceans are bad news for coral, but an improved CRISPR-Cas9 technique has revealed a “heat shield” gene that c...
-
Microbiota catalogue just got bigger
Thousands of new species discovered using DNA.
Scientists have deciphered 12,566 new species of microbiotas from DNA samples, expanding the diversity of bacteria an...
-
How the gut protects the brain
Defence antibodies learn from the intestine.
The gut is well known for being the first line of defence against infection, but it seems it also protects our most i...
-
Where humans go, dogs follow
Genome sequencing reveals our shared history.
“Man’s best friend” is the phrase most often wheeled out to describe dogs’ thousands of years as a human companion an...
-
A great African gene migration
New variants reveal patterns of human movement.
Exploring a huge number of genes has helped uncover migration of early humans and the evolution of disease-resistant ...
-
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...
-
Big brains, big math scores
Genes could be the reason you’re a natural – or not.
A gene called ROBO1 helps brain development, which can also lead to higher math scores, according to new German resea...
-
Healthy bacteria thrive in gut before birth
Microbiota help healthy foetuses grow.
Micro-organisms in the gut microbiome begin growing in foetuses as early as five months, new research shows. In a ...
-
Honeybee ID is a gut feeling
They recognise each other thanks to similar microbiomes.
Bee sisters are genetically closer than human sisters, so it’s easy to assume this is why they recognise each other. ...
-
How tardigrades survive in India
Study suggests they have a fluorescent UV shield.
Tardigrades have always been known for their toughness, but now it seems they might be able to share a superpower. ...
Read science facts, not fiction...
There’s never been a more important time to explain the facts, cherish evidence-based knowledge and to showcase the latest scientific, technological and engineering breakthroughs. Cosmos is published by The Royal Institution of Australia, a charity dedicated to connecting people with the world of science. Financial contributions, however big or small, help us provide access to trusted science information at a time when the world needs it most. Please support us by making a donation or purchasing a subscription today.
