-
AstraZeneca COVID vaccines now sit on the shelf. What next?
New blood clot cases have led to a further revision of rules around Australia’s only locally prod...
Yesterday, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) revised its recommendations for the AstraZ...
-
Monitoring earthquakes with transoceanic cables?
New technique could provide early warning of tsunamis and earthquakes from the ocean depths.
What if we could monitor what goes on at the inaccessible depths of the oceans – using infrastructure that’s already ...
-
Orange-bellied parrots fly free
Several successes for the critically endangered migratory parrots – one spotted in historic feedi...
Bird enthusiasts in South Australia’s Coorong region have just spotted an orange-bellied parrot, and heard another on...
-
Are those earmuffs, or beermuffs?
Presenting a head-warmingly new non-invasive technique for measuring blood alcohol levels.
Japanese researchers have developed a pair of earmuffs that can measure real-time changes in your blood alcohol conce...
-
How the science won in Federal Court
A recent court case has found that the Minister for the Environment has a duty of care to protect...
Earlier this year, eight teenagers and a nun took the Federal Minister for the Environment to court. This may sound l...
-
How do cells know when they’re fully grown?
Scientists unlock the key to cell size regulation – and it’s all in the DNA.
UK researchers have answered a long-standing question in biology: how do cells regulate their size? Turns out, they u...
-
New telescope quadruples fast radio burst count in just one year
535 new observations will help answer fundamental questions about the Universe.
In just one year of peering up at the Universe, a new telescope in Canada has quadrupled the number of fast radio bur...
-
The quantum microscope revolution is here
New entanglement-based sensor surpasses light-based microscopes.
University of Queensland researchers have built a quantum microscope based on the strange phenomenon Albert Einstein ...
-
Interstellar mission powered by lasers
Researchers present new spacecraft design for the Breakthrough Starshot project.
Australian researchers have just designed a propulsion system for an interstellar mission to shoot a spacecraft off t...
-
Aurora created in a lab
Physicists definitively describe how auroras are created.
A team of physicists has just completed a decades-long quest to experimentally demonstrate the physical mechanism of ...
-
Meet Australia’s largest dinosaur
Massive plant-eater from southwest Queensland has just stomped into the record books.
Palaeontologists have just officially named and described Australia’s biggest dinosaur – Australotitan cooperensis, t...
-
Climate science on trial
We talk to the expert witness in the recent Federal Court case that found a duty of care to prote...
In late May, the Federal Court ruled that the Minister for Environment has a duty of care to shelter future generatio...
-
Rewilding: How to build a forest
We interview Brett Krause about his reforestation projects on Queensland’s Cassowary Coast.
Ahead of World Environment Day on Saturday, Cosmos spoke to Brett Krause – a self-described “forest builder” – about ...
-
Converting CO2 into everyday materials
New electrochemical system recycles more carbon into valuable products.
A team of researchers has developed an electrochemical system that can turn carbon dioxide into valuable carbon-based...
-
Puppies born ready to communicate with people
It’s in a dog’s genes to interact with humans.
In a result that won’t come as a surprise to dog lovers, US researchers have found that puppies are born with an inna...
-
A telescope with sharper eyes than Hubble?
Australian-led adaptive optics project signs agreement with the European Southern Observatory.
An Australian-led astronomy project has just received the green light to create the most powerful ground-based telesc...
-
ISS struck by space junk
International Space Station’s robotic arm punctured by mystery object.
Space can be an unforgiving environment, even for a spacecraft. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has just reported tha...
-
Putting a price on undiscovered Australian species
The mission to map Australia’s biodiversity will bring big economic benefits.
What’s the monetary value of our wildlife? Pretty high, according to Deloitte Access Economics, which has just releas...
-
Who benefits from a little white lie?
Brain scans reveal when selfish motivations are behind a white lie.
Telling a friend that their new mullet looks fantastic might seem like a generous move, but according to Korean resea...
-
Climate change causes one-third of heat-related deaths
Huge proportion of global heat-related deaths already attributed to rising temperatures.
The climate crisis is not a future problem – it is already here and affecting our health. In the biggest study of its...
-
Largest-ever map of dark matter
Astronomers release the most precise look at the universe’s evolution.
The Dark Energy Survey collaboration has just released 30 new papers from the first three years of their observing ru...
-
Building a radio telescope on the dark side of the Moon
It sounds like sci-fi, but a robotics team is planning how rock-climbing robots can build a radio...
In the not-too-distant future, a spacecraft touches down on the rim of a massive crater on the far side of the Moon. ...
-
Oil giant Shell must halve emissions, Dutch court rules
Four wins for our planet may mark major steps towards the end of the fossil fuel era.
In a landmark case, a civil court in the Netherlands has ruled that by 2030 Shell must slash its carbon emissions by ...
-
Listening to the atom group chat
Scientists overhear the chatter of atoms exchanging quantum information.
Dutch and German researchers have intercepted a “chat” between two atoms, which may have interesting implications for...
-
What are continuous gravitational waves?
Scientists are closer than ever to detecting “humming” gravitational waves.
An artist's impression of two black holes about to collide and merge - which would produce gravitational waves. Credi...
-
Stem cell research guidelines changed
New international guidelines relax “14-day rule”.
For the first time in five years, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) has updated its guidelines...
-
New universal law of human mobility
Mapping how humans move will help in future pandemics.
How people move around cities follows a predictable and universal pattern, scientists say, which will be crucial not ...
-
Could you live to 150?
A new method to determine biological age suggests a maximum human lifespan.
An international team of researchers has developed a new way to track the biological ageing process – and the results...
-
Super blood moon madness
How to view Wednesday’s total lunar eclipse– and understand what causes it.
On the night of Wednesday, May 26, a cosmic treat will appear in our skies – a super blood moon. So how do you see it...
-
Our galaxy probably isn’t that special
Astronomers look to another galaxy to solve a mystery close to home.
Is the Milky Way galaxy typical or special? Australian astronomers have tackled this question by taking a detailed cr...
-
Spotting coral bleaching from space
First global satellite network is now scanning coral reefs in real-time.
A world-first space-based coral reef monitoring project has just got off the ground – literally. The Allen Coral Atla...
-
Alien plants may pose risk for flying foxes
Critically endangered critters aren’t getting much nutrition from non-native plants.
Introduced 'alien' plant species aren’t providing a balanced meal to Christmas Island flying foxes (Pteropus natalis)...
-
Heavy metal space rock
Scientists unexpectedly find heavy metal vapours in comets both near and far.
For the first time, astronomers have detected traces of heavy metals in the atmospheres of comets – both those whizzi...
-
Microscopic device harvests power from heat
Scientists have used quantum phenomena to build the most efficient “optical rectennas”.
US scientists have designed the most efficient “optical rectenna” yet. This tiny device, too small to be seen with th...
-
When bushfire experts disagree
Science relies on dispute – especially in the face of the climate crisis.
The 2019–20 megafires are seared into the minds of most Australians in a series of red-tinged images: thousands seeki...
-
Ancient mammals gathered by the ocean
Early mammals used marine habitats just a few million years after the dinosaurs disappeared.
US scientists have uncovered hundreds of fossilised footprints stretching out over a kilometre in Wyoming – and it’s ...
-
Gene therapy offers cure for an immune disorder
Genetically modified stem cells restore immune function in more than 95% of patients with the rar...
An international team of scientists have developed an experimental gene therapy treatment for children with a severe ...
-
Bushfire experts clash over logging impacts
Did forest management contribute to the severity of the Black Summer bushfires?
A new report claims that past logging and wildfire disturbance had little effect on the severity of the Black Summer ...
-
An answer to the clean water crisis?
UniSA researchers refine solar evaporation water tech.
Researchers from the University of South Australia (UniSA) are currently developing and refining a low-cost technique...
-
Highest intensity laser ever
Physicists demonstrate record-breaking laser pulse.
After a decade of work, researchers at the Center for Relativistic Laser Science (CoReLS) at the Institute for Basic ...
-
Douglas Mawson in the desert
The famed Antarctic explorer’s journeys through Australia.
Today, 5 May, is the birthday of Sir Douglas Mawson, the Australian geologist best known for his Antarctic exploratio...
-
Solving the satellite data challenge
Australian space start-up promises to revolutionise satellite communication.
A newly launched Australian space start-up is set to tackle the challenge of a huge influx of satellite data – by tra...
-
Air pollution may impair cognitive function
Researchers explore the impact of the climate crisis on brain health.
A joint China-US research team has found that exposure to even short-term air pollution may impair cognitive function...
-
Tiny parasite could solve wastewater problem
A new organism may prevent costly foaming in water treatment plants.
Scientists from La Trobe University in Melbourne have discovered a tiny parasite that can kill the bacteria responsib...
-
Glaciers are shrinking faster every year
Scientists study more than 200,000 glaciers to estimate global ice loss – with distressing results.
A massive study of nearly every glacier on Earth has confirmed that they are losing more and more ice every year. ...
-
72% of humanity in an ‘ecological poverty trap’
Eradicating poverty impossible without focusing on biological resource scarcity, researchers say.
Three out of four people live in countries that are doubly cursed with both a below-average income and a natural reso...
-
Explainer: What is a rock?
The definition is caught between a rock and a hard place.
Everyone is familiar with rocks. It’s hard not to be. They’re everywhere – we walk on them, skip them across ponds, d...
-
The road ahead for driverless cars in Australia
Seemingly only just over the horizon, autonomous vehicle trials in Australia seem stuck in first ...
The phrase “driverless cars” likely conjures up images of sleek vehicles cruising city streets, ferrying passengers a...
-
Spinning stars speedier than expected
Asteroseismologists confirm older stars rotate faster than previously thought.
From planets to galaxies, asteroids to black holes, everything in the universe moves and spins, largely thanks to the...
-
Young galaxy puts a spin on old models
Radio telescope combines with cosmic magnifying glass to study the early universe.
From an arid and isolated plateau in the Atacama Desert, a radio telescope has spied a baby galaxy in the infant univ...
-
Exciting exciton breakthrough
First ever image of an electron’s orbit inside an exciton.
Scientists have just experimentally measured the wave function of an exciton, and they’re excited about it – because ...
-
Indigenous stewardship linked to biodiversity
Research confirms that human land use doesn’t have to be at nature’s expense.
Humans have inhabited and influenced the majority of the Earth’s land for over 12,000 years, according to a new study...
-
The Great Dying was longer on land
Earth’s biggest mass extinction took ten times longer on land than in oceans.
New research published in the journal PNAS has found that, while life in the ocean rapidly disappeared during the Gre...
-
The great unknown of global microbial diversity
Scientists warn of a gap in our knowledge – with consequences for all life on Earth.
While biologists are desperately raising the alarm about the rapidly decreasing diversity of plant and animal life, t...
-
World’s smallest stegosaur footprint
Cat-sized dinosaur footprint discovered in China.
First dog-sized dinosaurs, and now a cat-sized stegosaur? An international team of paleontologists has discovered ...
-
How many T. rexes ever lived? Billions
Analysis reveals 2.5 billion of these iconic carnivores roamed the Earth.
Paleontologists have crunched the numbers to estimate just how many Tyrannosaurus rexes lived and died – and the answ...
-
Boomerangs were used to shape stone tools
Microscopic analysis confirms boomerangs did more than just come back.
Archaeologists have analysed microscopic traces on the surfaces of boomerangs to reveal they were used for a wide ran...
-
Denisovan DNA may have aided Pacific migration
Genomic study traces the spread of humans across the Oceanic region.
An international team of scientists has delved into the genetics of the Pacific population to trace the history of hu...
-
Living fossil discovered below Earth’s surface
Microbe may have been in evolutionary stasis for millions of years.
A microbe that feeds on radioactivity has been at an evolutionary standstill for up to 175 million years, researchers...
-
COVID vaccines: where the bloody hell are we?
New AstraZeneca advice puts a spanner in the works, so what are our alternatives?
Australia’s vaccine rollout program is now being overhauled due to new recommendations regarding the AstraZeneca vacc...
-
Could muons rewrite the laws of physics?
New experiment hints that subatomic particles are behaving weirdly, challenging the Standard Model.
Muons don’t seem to be obeying the standard laws of physics, which suggests we don’t yet fully understand the standar...
-
Martian climate had ups and downs
Curiosity rover spies possible evidence for fluctuating wet and dry periods.
While its sibling Perseverance has just landed on the Red Planet, the Curiosity rover – on Mars since 2012 – continue...
-
Forecasting volcano eruption style
Magma viscosity could help scientists identify the hazards of future eruptions.
Scientists studying the 2018 eruption of Kīlauea volcano in Hawai'i have discovered a way to predict the violence of ...
-
Exoplanet atmosphere hints it formed far from star
Chemical fingerprint in exoplanet, Osiris, shows unexpectedly high carbon.
An international team of astronomers has uncovered the atmospheric composition of the exoplanet HD 209458b (AKA Osiri...
-
Recycling beer waste
Spent grain could be used in food and biofuels.
When you crack open a cold beer at the end of a long day, food waste is probably not on your mind. But the process of...
-
The climate crisis Australia our children could inherit
Top climate scientists urge action to avoid the dire consequences of a 3°C warmer world.
The variable origin story of the expression “may you live in interesting times” is something of a metaphor for the cl...
-
Explainer: Myth-busting the Boring Billion
A thousand million years can’t all be dull, can they?
Geologists are fond of giving dramatic names to past events, such as “The Great Dying” or “Snowball Earth” or “The Ca...
-
Astronomers find ‘Goldilocks’ black hole
Early black holes may seed their more massive cousins.
Last year, scientists used gravitational waves to detect an elusive intermediate-mass black hole for the first time. ...
-
Why do humans have bigger brains than apes?
Researchers identify key genetic switch in brains grown in a dish.
Human brains grow three times larger than those of our primate cousins – and researchers have just figured out how. ...
-
Magnetic fields mapped around black hole
World-spanning telescope gives new view of supermassive black hole.
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has just snapped a new image of the massive object lurking at the centre of the Mes...
-
Our favourite Iceland volcano shots
Iceland’s Mount Fagradalsfjall active for first time in 6,000 years.
After more than 40,000 earthquakes on the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland over the past four weeks, lava began to burs...
-
Cosmos Q&A: NSW flooding
What’s causing the floods, and how do we manage future natural disasters in a changing climate?
NSW is currently experiencing severe flooding events, after a weekend of heavy rainfall saw flood and evacuation warn...
-
Meet the new chief
Australia’s chief scientist has outlined the key issues she’ll address.
Last Wednesday, Australia’s new chief scientist, Dr Cathy Foley, gave the National Press Club Address for Science mee...
-
Cancer risk for First Nations women
Indigenous women left behind as world races to eliminate cervical cancer.
Although Australia is on track to become one of the first countries to eliminate cervical cancer, Aboriginal and Torr...
-
Can a circular economy eliminate e-waste?
Tech companies launch an alliance for circular electronics.
Top tech companies including Google, Microsoft and Dell have released a vision for a circular economy for electronics...
-
Did lightning spark life on Earth?
Scientists say bolts could have unlocked a key ingredient for life.
A quintillion lightning strikes over a billion years may have helped kickstart life on Earth, according to scientists...
-
COVID vaccine and blood clots: connected?
Science and medicine have rushed to re-check the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Germany, France, and Spain have just joined a growing number of European nations pausing the roll-out of the Oxford-A...
-
You may have missed…
Stray science stories from last week to cheer up your Monday.
Off-switch for alcoholism? Australian-led research has potentially discovered a way to treat alcohol addiction wit...
-
Gold-standard gravitational measurements
Small-scale experiment could pave the way to observe quantum gravity.
Physicists have recorded the smallest gravitational field ever measured, showing that Newton’s law of gravity holds e...
-
W boson spotted in Antarctica
IceCube observatory spots elementary particle needle in a galactic haystack.
On 6 December 2016, a high-energy particle hurtled from outer space and through an Antarctic ice sheet, where it slam...
-
Pompeii of prehistoric plants
Excavating the ancestors of seed-bearing plants.
Nearly 300 million years ago, a volcanic eruption in northern China smothered a nearby swamp under half a metre of as...
-
1.5° danger line
Only by meeting the Paris Agreement will tropical regions remain liveable.
Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius could prevent the tropics from become too hot to inhabit, say Princeto...
-
You may have missed…
Stray science stories from last week to cheer up your Monday.
It's getting hot in here ... 430 degrees Celsius hot, that is. Artist's interpretation. Credit: RenderArea, https://r...
-
Homo sapiens: the water-saving ape
Humans evolved to run on less water than primate relatives.
It’s an age-old question in evolution: how did humans become the dominant primate, able to venture out from tropical ...
-
“Fish DJ” drops marine beats
Speaker system helps scientists understand brain networks of baby fish.
A DJ-turned-researcher has designed a speaker for zebrafish larvae, playing them a range of beats from sounds they wo...
-
Sierra Negra: Eruption 13 years in the making
Study captures rare details of volcanic build-up on Galápagos archipelago
Scientists have tracked the behaviour of one of the world’s most active volcanoes over 13 years, revealing the first-...
-
Video: COVID-monitoring drones
Australian researchers build drones to remotely monitor health signs.
What do you get when you combine COVID-19, drones, cameras and AI? https://www.youtube.com/embed/eKSLs7lNl0Q Rese...
-
Aussies less keen for COVID jab
Vaccine resistance sentiment grows as rollout approaches.
Australians are substantially more hesitant about the COVID-19 vaccination now than they were six months ago, accordi...
-
More massive, more problems
Heavy black hole may change astronomers’ understanding of their formation.
The first black hole ever discovered is more massive than we thought, according to an international team of astronome...
-
Magnetic reversal caused massive climate shifts
Scientists link most recent magnetic instability to global environmental change.
About 42,000 years ago, a reversal of the Earth’s magnetic poles triggered massive climate shifts and caused environm...
-
Red Planet bacterial biotechnology
Cyanobacteria thrives under Mars-like conditions.
Scientists have just demonstrated that cyanobacteria can be grown in Mars-like conditions, paving the way for sustain...
-
Explainer: How to make a vaccine
Inside the Australian manufacturing process of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
There are 80,000 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine currently being shipped from Europe to Australia to begin a mas...
-
Seismic singing
Loud and clear fin whale calls could be used for surveys of Earth’s undersea crust.
The songs of fin whales can be used to survey the ocean crust, international researchers have just discovered. Fin...
-
Quick claw
This tiny amphipod can snap its claws at dizzying speeds.
Scientists have just discovered one of the fastest and most energetic motions on the planet – and it’s not what you t...
-
Neanderthals: Gut stubborn
Some useful human microorganisms have long, long histories.
Humans and Neanderthals could have more in common than just DNA – we also might share the microorganisms in our gut. ...
-
Super, triple twisted
New three-layer system opens door for high-temperature superconductors.
American physicists have made another advance in superconductor development, building on existing knowledge to create...
-
Mixed spice
How come hotter countries tend to have tangier foods?
The idea that cooks in hot countries adopted spices to help prevent food poisoning in sweltering conditions may sound...
-
Anthropocene: the musical
In sonic terms, Earth’s waters have segued from classical to hip-hop.
Since the (first) Industrial Revolution, the soundscape of the ocean has been undergoing a drastic revolution too. No...
-
Tectonic timelapse
This just in: one billion years of Earth’s history in 40 seconds.
It’s not often you can click play and watch deep time unspool before your eyes. An international team of scientists h...
-
Exploring Einsteinium
First measurements of synthetic, highly radioactive element.
For the first time ever, US scientists have studied the properties of einsteinium – the highly radioactive, short-liv...
-
Turbulence trouble
Solving the last great problem of classical physics.
“When I meet God,” physicist Werner Heisenberg allegedly once said, “I’m going to ask him two questions: why relativi...
-
Baby galaxies born big
Faint, distant fossil galaxy has massive dark-matter halo.
The first galaxies in the universe were likely more massive than previously thought, according to new research from M...
-
Quantum brainiac
Researchers prompt self-adapting atoms to mimic the human brain.
Dutch physicists have just taken the first steps towards making a “quantum brain” by building a material that stores ...
-
Good as bone
Australian researchers take 3D printing to the next level with material that mimics bone tissue.
Australian scientists have 3D-printed bone-like structures containing living cells, which may create a whole new way ...
-
Fungi first
A microfossil from China might be among the oldest land organisms discovered.
A US-China collaboration has uncovered the oldest terrestrial fossil ever found: that of a tiny, fungi-like organism ...
-
Parasaurolophus: Old dinosaur, new saxophone snout
Only second skull found adds new detail to duckbill dinosaur.
In the arid badlands of New Mexico, paleontologists have uncovered the first new skull of the rare dinosaur Parasauro...
-
Green lantern shoots straight
Record-breaking laser cuts through atmosphere
Scientists have set a world record for the most stable transmission of a laser signal through the atmosphere, effecti...
-
Dam old
Around the world, long-in-the-tooth large dams pose a growing risk.
Ageing dams will pose a growing risk over the next few decades, warns an analysis from United Nations University’s Ca...
-
Past (more) perfect
New technique may sharpen accuracy for measuring past temperatures.
Gravitational waves, marine fossils and climate change don’t usually appear in the same sentence, but a unique intern...
-
“Puffed-up” planet unlike any other
Gas giants may form more easily than suspected, say astronomers.
New observations of the exoplanet WASP-107b suggest that existing models of how gas giant planets form may not be qui...
-
Deadly weapon: frog peptide
Skin secretion of Australian toadlet combats bacterial infections
An unassuming Australian amphibian may inspire novel synthetic drugs to combat bacterial infections, according to Eur...
-
Cosmic collision spells beginning of the end
Astronomers witness possible new mechanism for galaxies to die.
Astronomers may have just witnessed a new way for galaxies to “die”, using the super-sensitive Atacama Large Millimet...
-
Young tools rewrite old history
The Middle Stone Age lasted millennia longer than thought – but only in some places.
Scientists have uncovered the youngest known Middle Stone Age tools in modern-day Senegal, on the west coast of Afric...
-
Bacterial bioclock
Some single-celled micro-organisms have circadian rhythms.
The ebb and flow of our daily lives revolves largely around our sleep cycle, which is governed by our body’s biologic...
-
Mathematical Modelling: Biology by the numbers
Biological sciences and maths have a growing friendship.
Before 2020, the phrase “mathematical modelling” may have made your eyes glaze over. But as COVID-19 escalated across...
-
Mapping the undersea landscape of the reef
Four researchers on a boat, despite the pandemic.
About 160 kilometres off the Queensland coast, the RV Falkor is exploring the deep blue waters of the southern Great ...
-
In search of that quantum advantage
Studies suggest we may be getting a little closer.
December is a hectic time of year for everyone, but quantum physicists seem to be especially busy. In particular, two...
-
Mapping the impact of soil salinity
Researchers track a big problem on a broad scale.
Turns out artificial intelligence can get its hands dirty: UK and German researchers have just used machine learning ...
-
People still cautious about biotech research
Survey highlights nuanced nature of public opinion.
As new biotechnologies become a reality, scientists and governments are grappling with the ethical and regulatory imp...
-
How’s the weather in Proxima Centauri?
Stellar flares with a chance of radio bursts, it seems.
Wild space weather may mean most of the exoplanets in the Milky Way are uninhabitable, according to new research. Ove...
-
Nature inspires a new hydrogen sensor
Microstructures imitate the surface of butterfly wings.
Some see hydrogen as the fuel of the future, with the potential to service energy-intensive industries – like aviatio...
-
Creating nanobots like they do in movies
Design theory seeks to control how they assemble.
Researchers in Australia and the UK are bringing a sci-fi concept closer to reality as they work to overcome a major ...
-
AI makes its mark in the stratosphere
Unmanned balloons kept in position for weeks.
Canadian and US scientists have kept an unmanned balloon in position in the stratosphere for weeks at a time by teach...
-
Rolling out the red dirt carpet
South Australia ready to welcome home Hayabusa2.
In the dusty red heart of the South Australian outback, a small town with an explosive past is waiting for a delivery...
-
Continents ‘prone to destruction’ in infancy
Geologists model the origin of the cratonic mantle.
Digging deep into the planet’s past, Australian geologists have discovered why no trace remains of the continents for...
-
New and detailed atlas of the skies
Telescope maps three million galaxies in 300 hours.
A new radio telescope in outback Western Australia has just created an atlas of the southern sky in record-breaking t...
-
Hold on, that’s why we have fingerprints
Researchers explore the ridges, wet and dry.
Researchers have discovered that by regulating moisture levels, our fingerprints play a key role in our ability to gr...
-
Trees tell tales of climate change
Heatwaves in Mongolia and falling leaves in Europe.
As the climate crisis intensifies, forests are feeling the heat, as two studies just published in the journal Science...
-
Swift by design, drone by nature
Ornithopters not just a flight of fancy.
Hovering, darting, gliding, diving and braking, the fleet-winged contraption in the video below is at the cutting edg...
-
Next-gen drones could bee like this
Agility and perception the keys to navigating tight spots
An Australian-led team says it has uncovered the secret to the agile flight of the bumblebee, which could influence t...
-
Southern recovery of ecosystem engineers
Helping cool-water oyster reefs make a comeback.
We tend to default to the colourful – to coral – when we think of oceanic reefs, but 200 years ago, thousands of kilo...
-
Rethinking the origins of complex life
Studies shift timeline by 100 million years.
Scientists from Australia, Germany, France and the US have shifted the timeline of the origin of complex life, overtu...
-
Science from the top of the world
Two months, 10 teams, troubling discoveries.
The science is in from an ambitious interdisciplinary expedition to Mt Everest – and the results are appropriately ch...
-
Whip you up a diamond? No pressure
Researchers do it in the lab, at room temperature.
Australian-led research has taken a leaf out of Superman’s comic book and created diamonds at room temperature for th...
-
Dark chemistry in a lab as cold as space
Making glycine without UV opens world of possibilities.
An international team of astrochemists has produced glycine – the simplest amino acid – in a lab that simulates the d...
-
Rethinking the Milky Way’s evolution
Telescopes combine to reveal orbits of ancient stars.
An investigation into the odd orbits of the galaxy’s oldest stars may prompt astronomers to rethink how the Milky Way...
-
Volcano link to end of Triassic extinction
Researchers analyse molecular and isotopic evidence.
An Australian-led team of scientists has shed new light on the timing of one of the most catastrophic mass extinction...
-
Can we control where lightning strikes?
Laser technology offers some tantalising clues.
Pioneering laser technology could be used to tame lightning and control where it strikes the ground, according to an ...
-
Mining with microbes in space
Can bacteria extract useful materials from rocks?
The first mining experiments in space have revealed that microbes can efficiently extract elements from rocks in zero...
-
Well-preserved addition to the evolution story
South African cave throws up another important find.
A two-million-year-old hominin skull has been uncovered in a South African cave, providing fresh insight into the mic...
-
Jupiter’s moon Europa may glow in the dark
An exciting destination just got more intriguing.
In news that is sure to delight every kid with stickers of stars and planets on their ceiling, planetary scientists h...
-
Playing detective on a galactic scale
Huge new dataset will solve Milky Way mysteries.
An Australian-led team of “galactic archaeologists” has just released the largest set of stellar chemical data ever c...
-
To create a sponge, just add acetic acid
Scientists find a strange kind of calcium carbonate.
Canadian scientists have chanced upon a soft and spongy type of calcium carbonate, a material that is usually found i...
-
In search of a better way with plastic
Chinese scientists unveil bio-based fabrication method.
Plastic has permeated every corner of the planet, from the highest mountains to the deepest ocean trenches, from the ...
-
Step aside barcodes, here’s the Porcupine
Researchers say they’ve raised the bar for molecular tagging.
Scannable barcodes, QR codes and RFID tags may soon be surpassed by DNA-based tagging technology. Researchers from...
-
A step forward for molecular machines
Near-infrared light antenna powers nano-scale motor.
European chemists have achieved a long-standing goal in the field of molecular machines, developing a nano-scale moto...
-
A new spin on atoms
Strange things happen when they get really close.
US researchers have developed a way to control and measure atoms that are so close together they are impossible to di...
-
Study puts Denisovans on roof of the world
Findings expand understanding of humans in eastern Asia.
DNA evidence has confirmed that a cave on the Tibetan Plateau was once home to Denisovans, an ancient species of huma...
-
The big data storage question
Is there an answer that ticks all the boxes?
Data is being created at a breakneck speed, and researchers have their hands full trying to figure out what to do wit...
-
Black hole mergers? 44 confirmed, and counting
Analysis of gravitational-wave data leads to wealth of discoveries.
A global network of scientists has completed the first major analysis of gravitational wave data, providing exciting ...
-
How pterosaurs flew and what they ate
More insights into the great lizards of the sky.
Two new studies have uncovered details about how pterosaurs – the winged cousins of dinosaurs – evolved to become dea...
-
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...
-
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...
-
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...
-
Making it easier to find ‘new Earths’
Australian sensor can correct the distortion of starlight.
Australian researchers have combined artificial intelligence and photonics to develop a new type of adaptive optics s...
-
Signs of change from a turbulent era
Drill core reveals boom-bust landscape in Africa’s Rift Valley.
A new drill core, preserving a million years of environmental history in the East African Rift Valley, is helping unt...
-
Looking at perovskite in a new light
Australian team tackles a stability problem.
Australian researchers may have overcome a significant hurdle in the global quest to develop next-generation perovski...
-
Rain really can move mountains
Himalayan study describes dramatic impact of erosion.
Plate tectonics tends to dominate the common view of the formation of mountains: where two plates meet, rock is pushe...
-
Superconductor happy at room temperature
Physics first achieved under great pressure.
US physicists have created a material that appears to conduct electricity with perfect efficiency at 15 degrees Celsi...
-
New view of Tweed Valley’s attraction
It’s a ‘natural laboratory’ to test carbon sequestration.
Australia’s Tweed Valley region, in northern NSW, boasts world-class surf breaks and sub-tropical rainforest – and ac...
-
A scientific guide to Western art
Information theory reveals some interesting patterns.
A unique collaboration between physicists, data scientists and art historians has provided a fresh look at 500 years ...
-
The science behind our sense of touch
There are some surprising similarities with earthquakes.
European researchers have developed a new universal scaling law for the sense of touch, and it’s paving the way for a...
-
Elements of surprise in new star study
Carbon discovery has implications across astrophysics.
Stars churn out carbon much faster than previously thought, according to new measurements by Australian and Norwegian...
-
Megafauna struggled in the rainforest
Research reveals impact of change in SE Asia.
In today’s human-dominated world, rampant deforestation is driving many of Southeast Asia’s species towards extinctio...
-
Shedding new light on star formation
The missing ingredients were heavy metals.
Australian astronomers have developed a new model to study the birth of stars, spanning cosmic time from the beginnin...
-
Encounters with a wolf
Wolf populations are growing pushing them closer to humans.
I’m in a boat off an island off another island, and I’ve just spotted a wolf. At first it’s just a grey-white blur ag...
-
Earth magma ocean ended up on the moon
New modelling resolves a few contradictions in hypothesis.
A large part of the moon was created from a liquid magma ocean that covered much of the early Earth, new modelling su...
-
Hungry like a wolf while young hearts run free
The benefits and challenges of letting nature take its course.
It’s no secret that humans have spent the past few centuries relentlessly degrading environments and ruthlessly sendi...
-
Is an asteroid going to kill you?
With 20,000 space rocks around, it’s a tricky task.
Take a moment to picture the apocalypse. There’s a good chance your mind might have conjured up an image of an enormo...
-
Are spy probes eating each other?
Modelling suggests that von Neumann machines probably aren’t a thing.
In case you were wondering, cannibalistic space probes are probably not the reason we haven’t seen aliens yet, accord...
-
Mechanics of coronal mass ejections revealed
The genesis of enormous explosions on the sun has long been a mystery, but no more.
A coronal mass ejection captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory in September, 2017. Credit: NASA/SDO An in...
-
Neutron star collisions hold key to universe expansion
Measuring gravitational wave events might solve Hubble constant uncertainties.
Observing cosmic fireballs might hold the key to determining the rate of the universe expansion, according to a team ...
-
How do you feed astronauts on a journey that lasts millennia?
Interstellar travellers will need to produce their own food. A team of astronomers have calculate...
Long distance space travel, imagined here by NASA, will put a massive strain on the kitchen staff.NASA/JPLEuropean as...
-
Demolition derby: Planet crashes explain different densities
Research sheds light on the violence of exoplanet formation. Lauren Fuge reports.
Colossal cosmic crashes may influence how exoplanets form, according to research by an international team of astronom...
-
Race influences response to cosmetic surgery
Is that really the most pressing issue with the whole idea?
The phrase “cosmetic surgery” might bring to mind certain Caucasian celebrities, but the percentage of non-white peop...
-
The future of space travel is steam
An energy source first exploited in the seventeenth century could propel the next generation of a...
Imagine a spacecraft powered by steam instead of fuel, able to hop from space rock to space rock and extract enough w...
-
Astronomers discover the brightest quasar ever discovered
Gravitational lensing reveals massive star factory from the universe’s early days. Lauren Fuge re...
After a decades-long search, the Hubble Space Telescope has spied a quasar as bright as 600 trillion suns – the brigh...
-
Will arrogance lead to our own extinction?
A sense of entitlement and supremacy is stopping humanity from taking action on climate change, a...
Humans are sending the planet hurtling towards catastrophe and our own blind self-centredness is to blame, says resea...
-
Deep life: exploring microbial dark matter
Extremophile life accounts for perhaps 23 billion tonnes of carbon. Lauren Fuge reports.
“Zombie” bacteria and other forms of life constitute an immense amount of carbon deep within Earth’s subsurface – hun...
-
New observations challenge universe model
First stars may have been in massive dark matter halos. Lauren Fuge reports.
Observations of the very first stars to form might change accepted models of the dawn of the universe.A team of astro...
-
InSight lands on Mars
NASA’s ambitious mission hits the ground running. Lauren Fuge reports.
NASA’s InSight mission has successfully touched down on Mars after a harrowing entry into the atmosphere.Hundreds of ...
-
Milky Way star set to go supernova
Explosion due in our own neighbourhood.
Brace yourself, because a star in our galaxy is set to explode in one of the most energetic events in the universe. A...
-
The tech we’re going to need to detect ET
A meeting of astrobiologists results in a target list of developments needed in the next two deca...
Move over Mars rovers, new technologies to detect alien life are on the horizon. A group of scientists from around th...
-
Vertebrate evolution kicked off in lagoons
First animals with backbones traced to shallow “hot-spots”.
Scientists have discovered that shallow, lagoon-like environments were the cradle for vertebrate evolution, giving ri...
-
Juno sees mega-waves on Jupiter
NASA craft confirms Voyager observation from 40 years ago. Lauren Fuge reports.
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has confirmed the existence of massive, wave-like structures on the surface of Jupiter.Called ...
-
Fifty years later, scientists reflect on the influence of 2001: A Space Odyssey
Kubrick’s masterpiece was released in 1968, and continues inspire generations of researchers in A...
A year before humanity put a man on the moon, Stanley Kubrick released what some argue to be his ultimate masterpiece...
-
Cereal killers: puffed rice yields insight into geophysical collapses
What do breakfast and ice sheet destruction have in common? Lots, it turns out. Lauren Fuge reports.
Want to better understand collapsing ice sheets? Then pay attention to the snap, crackle and pop of your breakfast ce...
-
The man who went from cancer to carbon and climate
Australian marine ecologist Peter Macreadie had an early-life crisis which made him redefine his ...
When Peter Macreadie calls me, he’s walking home from work. He does this every single day — an hour to Australia’s De...
-
Cold green life: the climate scientist balancing Antarctic research and sustainable living
Nerilie Abram is living the dream, and trying to ensure it doesn’t turn into a nightmare. Lauren ...
Nerilie Abram is a scientist, a leader, a mother and a gardener, but above all she is certain — certain that climate ...
-
Heatwaves and hope
Climate scientist Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick knows more than most about the scorching summers of t...
When I call Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick early one morning, our conversation naturally starts with the weather. For Perk...
-
Saturn’s moons created by violent collisions
Modelling supports hypothesis that the planet’s young moons formed from crashes between others. L...
Saturn’s inner moons were likely formed by cosmic smash-ups between an earlier generation of moons, according to new ...
-
Immigrant asteroid is permanent resident
Object orbiting the sun in the wrong direction took up residence billions of years ago. Lauren Fu...
Astronomers have just confirmed the discovery of the solar system’s first interstellar immigrant. Unlike `Oumuamua, a...
-
Australian government seeds a space agency, but will it take off?
The global space industry is huge, but experts wonder if Australian politics will hold the countr...
Australia, we’re joining the space club! The 2018 Federal Budget revealed on Tuesday night that $26 million will be a...
-
Laser-powered travel to nearby stars a step closer
Lightsails for interstellar travel might be possible with current technology, according to new re...
A key piece of technology for interstellar travel may be within our reach, according to US scientists, but a plan to ...
-
Hubble finds first exoplanet helium
Scientists looking for methane found something else entirely, and celebrated. Lauren Fuge reports.
In a happy accident, astronomers have made the first-ever discovery of helium in the atmosphere of a planet outside t...
-
Once again, NASA heads to Mars
The InSight mission aims to look deep into the planet’s interior. Lauren Fuge reports.
For the first time since launching Curiosity in 2011, NASA is sending a spacecraft to land on Mars. The InSight missi...
-
Star-forming theory thrown into question
New observations suggest ideas about the mass of stars are wide of the mark. Lauren Fuge reports.
One of the most powerful radio telescopes in the world has made a discovery that challenges current theories of star ...
-
Cosmological inflation reproduced in a lab
Particles used to model the period following the Big Bang.
US physicists have used ultra-cold atoms to model the universe’s expansion in a lab, a process that could be used to ...
-
Old galaxies get fat
As the billions of years roll by, galaxies start to get rounder and rounder. Lauren Fuge reports.
Astronomers have discovered that galaxies suffer from middle-age spread, too: the older they get, the rounder they be...
-
TESS leaves our planet to hunt for many others
NASA’s new exoplanet mission is now underway, with a wealth of discovery expected. Lauren Fuge re...
NASA’s TESS spacecraft launched successfully on Thursday (Australian time) from Cape Canaveral, Florida, kick-startin...
-
Researchers model the violent birth of Martian moons
Study stirs up debate on whether Phobos and Deimos are captured asteroids or the aftermath of a p...
The two moons of Mars may have formed after a violent crash early in the solar system’s history, according to a new m...
-
Black hole hum: the background noise that fills the universe
A new way to detect the faint sounds of distant stellar collisions may reveal hidden black holes ...
Australian astrophysicists have devised a new technique to eavesdrop on the distant whispers of merging black holes.E...
-
Multiple black holes punctuate the middle of the Milky Way
Predictions confirmed as astronomers find at least a dozen. Lauren Fuge reports.
The centre of the Milky Way is packed with black holes like cosmic Swiss cheese, astronomers say, with new research c...
-
Snapshots of the Sun
Solar photography has come a long way since the first daguerreotype of the Sun in 1845, writes La...
Humans have worshipped the Sun throughout all of recorded history and began to study it systematically as early as th...
-
Gone in a flash: supernova burns up in just 25 days
Huge, bright and incredibly violent, a new supernova provides new challenges for astronomers. Lau...
Astronomers have witnessed a blazing supernova explosion that faded away 10 times faster than expected.A supernova is...
-
Five weird quantum effects
A whole world of quantum weirdness.
You might have heard of Schrödinger’s cat and Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, and maybe even quantum entanglement...
-
The other bright stars in the sky
Now that Stephen Hawking has gone, who will be the next superstar space scientist? Lauren Fuge su...
Last week the world lost an incredible mind: Stephen Hawking. Hawking needs no introduction — his name is synonymous ...
-
Profile: The isotope fingerprint expert
A geochemistry degree has taken Bernadette Proemse to some of the most remote places on Earth. La...
“It’s always difficult to describe to people what I do because I work on so many different projects,” says Bernadette...
-
Relax. You probably won’t get hit by a plummeting Chinese space station next month
Out-of-control Tiangong-1 will fall back to Earth very soon. What could possibly go wrong? Lauren...
China’s Tiangong-1 space station will make an uncontrolled re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere within weeks, and whi...
-
Uncovering Jupiter’s secrets
A huge haul of data provides startling insights into the depths of the gas giant. Lauren Fuge rep...
Massive amounts of new data gathered by NASA's Juno spacecraft have drawn back the veils on Jupiter’s cloudy surface,...
-
New physics needed to explain the universe
More accurate estimates throw current models off-track.
Astronomers have made the most precise measurements to date of the expansion rate of the universe and are now turning...
-
Milky Way neighbours “ripped out” by colliding galaxy
Analysis finds stars in satellite galaxies were once part of the our stellar home. Lauren Fuge re...
Stars currently orbiting the Milky Way were violently ripped from our own galaxy by an invading satellite galaxy, ast...
-
Diamonds are a molecule’s best friend
Minuscule gems break molecular bonds in chemical twist.
Scientists have turned tiny specks of diamond into “molecular anvils” with the power to trigger chemical reactions, p...
-
Caught on camera: the birth of a supernova
Amateur astronomer looks at a distant star, just as it explodes. Lauren Fuge reports.
Argentinian amateur astronomer Víctor Buso expected a quiet night out testing a new camera on his telescope, but inst...
-
Edible electronics are on the way
US team converts toast into graphene.
Graphene patterns can be written onto everyday materials such as food, paper, cloth and cardboard, say US scientists,...
-
Caged fury: study sheds light on solar flares
Magnetic ropes and cages determine how the sun erupts. Lauren Fuge reports.
French astrophysicists have found that solar eruptions may be controlled by one unique phenomenon, in a discovery tha...
-
Schrodinger for Prez?
Quantum models may solve inaccurate election predictions.
Quantum computation can be used to train models to accurately predict election results, say US researchers. The 2016...
-
Radio telescope reach boosted
Fibre-optic networks link telescopes 300 kilometres apart.
Researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) have shown that radio telescopes can be linked through the te...
-
The 10 “great challenges” for robots
Moral boundaries are one of the difficulties faced by bots.
Developing the capacity to make moral decisions is one of the 10 greatest challenges facing robots in the near future...
-
Ancient DNA reveals migrations and exchange
Genomes help track how populations cross-fertilised.
Advances in ancient DNA sequencing are shedding light on the genetic links between our Stone Age ancestors and modern...
-
Tech triumph produces 3D holograms
US proof-of-concept promises to make Star Wars comms a standard of home entertainment. Lauren Fug...
2018 may be so far disappointing in terms of flying cars and faster-than-light drives, but US scientists have brought...
-
Explainer: What is gravity?
From Newton to Einstein, our ideas about gravity have changed significantly over the past few cen...
We barely think about it, but gravity defines how we interact with our world. We grow up within its constraints, and ...
-
5 sounds science can’t explain
From mysterious skyquakes to enigmatic undersea shrieks…
A lot of unexplained sounds – some one-offs, some repeating – have been reported around the world. Some have remained...
-
Waves of joy: why astronomers are ecstatic about colliding neutron stars
Witnessing the collision of a pair of neutron stars was the biggest science event of 2017. Lauren...
Every few years, a discovery is announced that makes scientists so excited they could explode – consider the rockstar...
-
Planet’s odd orbit hints at an unseen companion
Astronomers suggest a planets weird behaviour indicates a massive hidden presence. Lauren Fuge re...
The flipped orbit of an exoplanet 33 light years from Earth hints at the existence of another massive undiscovered pl...
-
Dinosaurs were ticked off by ancient parasites
Myanmar finds link Cretaceous parasite and host for first time.
In a Jurassic Park-esque discovery, palaeontologists have unearthed fossilised amber containing several 99-million-ye...
-
Extragalactic jets, and why they collapse
Mathematics shed light on a powerful but poorly understood astronomical phenomenon. Lauren Fuge r...
Weak points in the structure of extragalactic jets may be what causes them to collapse into enormous plumes, accordin...
-
How to recognise an alien spaceship
If someone visited the solar system, how would we detect it?
In October 2017 the first interstellar visitor ever spotted by human astronomers passed through our solar system. It ...
-
New species of marsupial lion unearthed
Marsupial lions were predators that once terrorised Australia.
Australian researchers have discovered a new species of extinct marsupial lion that stalked the continent’s lush rain...
-
Models of star and galaxy cluster formation incorrect
Astronomers have resolved a long-standing paradox in celestial dynamics. Lauren Fuge reports.
The dominant explanation of the formation of star and galaxy clusters is flawed and misrepresents the nature of time,...
-
What is radioactivity?
A source of immense energy with a long and dangerous history.
We owe the discovery of radioactivity to bad weather. French physicist Henri Becquerel was trying to study fluorescen...
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.
