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Air pollution from large-scale mining and smelting at the height of the Roman Empire would have caused widespread cognitive declines, new research has found. The study examined measurements of lead pollution in 3 Arctic ice cores dating from 500 BCE to 600 CE, an era spanning the rise of the Roman Republic through to the […]

The oldest-known fossil evidence of a predator-prey arms race has been discovered in shells dating back to the early Cambrian. The species, Lapworthella fasciculata, was a small, shelled animal distantly related to brachiopods. It lived in an ocean covering what is now South Australia and was hunted by a mysterious predator that could punch holes […]

Pluto and Charon sitting in a tree,K-I-S-S-I-N-G! New research challenges decades of assumptions about how Pluto and its largest moon Charon formed on the fringes of our solar system. The new theory could shed light on how other planetary bodies form and evolve. Scientists have long believed that Pluto’s unusually large moon formed in a […]

Zinc-ion batteries, which use abundant zinc in their electrodes, promise to be safer, cheaper, and more sustainable alternatives to modern batteries. This is particularly the case for aqueous zinc-ion batteries, which use water in their electrolytes. But it’s still difficult to make rechargeable zinc-ion batteries as powerful or as long-lasting as their competitors. A team […]

Scientists have found that today’s chimpanzees select stones to use as tools in a similar way to human ancestors who lived about 2.5 million years ago. The research, published in the Journal of Human Evolution, compares modern chimpanzee tools to those of the Oldowan hominins. Oldowan is the name given to the type of ancient […]

New research using organoids has found that brain cells in space remain healthy, but mature faster than they would on Earth. Numerous studies have outlined the effect microgravity, or limited gravity, on muscles, bones, the immune system and cognitive function. But until now, no studies have specifically looked into how space impacts brain cells. To […]

Doctors hope a newly developed AI tool which almost instantly analyses the placenta after birth might improve neonatal and maternal care and reduce infections in home care, or remote regions, and hospitals and clinics which don’t have pathology services. A team from Northwestern Medicine and Penn State in the US has developed a computer program […]

Travelling to the ends of the Earth is an extreme experience thanks to the environment… and the language. Bernadette Hince has crafted Cold Words: A Polar Dictionary to capture this unique vocabulary. Cold Words took 35 years to write and defines about 3,000 words or phrases, many of them for the first time. The definitions […]

An Australian-led scientific breakthrough to increase oil yield from plants will help advance the production and use of biofuels, such as sustainable aviation fuel. The Biomass Oil Project has been developed over a decade by scientists from Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, and the technology has been acquired by Australian agricultural company Nufarm.   Oils from plants […]

Scientists have known for a while that the scale patterns found on the skin of a crocodile’s face and jaws doesn’t form due to genetic mechanisms. Instead, they’re produced by mechanical processes. Now, a new Nature study has described that process, finding that the scales self-organise through compressive folding. This occurs because the skin grows […]

Bed bugs are notoriously difficult to remove once they’ve moved in – and they’re getting more difficult, thanks to their evolving resistance to insecticides. A team of researchers has mapped the genomes of bed bug strains, aiming to find out why a “superstrain” has become 20,000 times more resistant to treatment. The study is published […]

Spending your spare time watching lorikeets or rosellas? Here are some fascinating things we learned about parrots in 2024. Parrots squawk with accents A study has found that, like people, parrots have different dialects – and they’re shifting as their environment changes. Read more Kākāpō changed colour to escape largest ever eagles Genetic analysis has revealed […]

A mineral found in abundance in outback South Australia is being researched as part of the process which might help humans colonise other planets. Named for the English town of Epsom, epsomite is found where lakes or volcanic activity have occurred. It’s common name is familiar – Epsom salts.  Epsomite forms fibrous, needle-like crystals that are […]

Running a race is often seen as one of the purest forms of sport. It’s just you, body and mind, against the world. Not that it’s ever been that low-tech. When Roger Bannister ran his sub-4:00 mile, he wore custom-made shoes of the thinnest possible leather and used a grindstone to shave precious grams from […]

Artificial light is altering the behaviour of coral reef communities by waking up sleeping fish and attracting predators. A study by scientists from the UK, France, French Polynesia and Chile investigated how light pollution from humans affects the nightlife of coral reefs. They published their paper in Global Change Biology, “The night usually brings a […]

The Genetic Book of the Dead is the latest from best-selling author and eminent evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins. The book is woven with beautiful metaphors and rich descriptive language. Not so much conversational as poetic, settle in for an elaborate exploration of evolution. Dawkins argues that the body, behaviour and genes of living creatures can […]

Every day, thousands of cattle pass through the yards at the Casino Food Co-op in northern NSW providing an ideal opportunity to monitor animal behaviour. Ensuring the well-being of these animals is not just good business, it is required by law. Currently, staff and vets monitor animal health and welfare.  However, watching every animal, in every pen, […]

Thomas Wernberg is a Professor of Marine Botany in the University of Western Australia’s Oceans Institute. He aims to transform our understanding of Australia’s Great Southern Reef. Australians know their Great Barrier Reef, but fewer are aware of the Great Southern Reef. Yet 70 percent of our population lives within 50km of this vast, magnificent […]

With the rising trend in tattooing among the population, concerns about the potential medical complications associated with these procedures have increased. A 2-part series of papers in The Lancet Microbe has now explored reports of problems in the medical literature which detailed the incidence, patterns and causes of microbial infections linked to tattoos. “Despite increased […]

Science is often an exercise in wonder: finding things that are dazzling, surprising, and counterintuitive. But sometimes, scientists go looking for something – and find exactly what they were expecting. Here are 6 extremely unsurprising things that scientists discovered in 2024. Bin chickens love bins We confirmed it: ibis like to live near rubbish. A […]

There was no shortage of mind-bending new science about black holes this year, these are just 5 of our favourites. Blast “Supermassive Black Hole” by English rock band Muse and enjoy! Scientists take even crisper images of supermassive black holes The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration made the highest resolution black hole observations ever from […]

Had enough of the test matches? First of all: that’s impossible. Turn the cricket back on. Second of all, if it’s tea time, here are 5 of our favourite sport science stories from 2024 for you to recall. Cricket physics: why was Malinga’s slinging successful? Physicists have studied a cricket ball in a wind tunnel […]

A new study out of the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand has called into question traditional perceptions of mating.   “In most species, males compete to attract females. But with pipefish, the males carry and protect the embryos,” says PhD student Nicole Tosto, who led the research. “Pipefish are unique because they don’t follow […]

Ana Bugnot remembers the very day she set her heart on a career in science which would ultimatey lead her to becoming a marine ecologist. She was only eight years old – and watching Jurassic Park at the cinema.    “There was the biologist there with the dinosaurs. I remember saying ‘I want to do that, […]