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The search for water on other planets often starts when images reveal channels and canyons, or perhaps what look like seabeds on Earth. But several different processes can lead to meandering channels appearing on the surface of Earth. They could be made by the bending of a river, lava melting through rock, or water cleaving […]

The superb lyrebird is arguably Australia’s most iconic native songbird, known for its ornate tail and incredible mimicry. The species can imitate natural and mechanical sounds, resulting in a vocal repertoire that spans the calls of other birds to the cries of human babies, or the sound of a chainsaw. But new research has found […]

Quantum computers that can do things that classical computers can’t are still a few years away. But experts are warning that if encryption technology doesn’t adapt now to the quantum future, there could be serious security concerns for governments, businesses and ordinary people. Quantum concerns The words “quantum” and “encryption” normally appear in the same […]

Palaeontologists may have finally filled a gap in the story of human evolution – and it may upend previously-held beliefs about how we got our big brains. The key is in ancient tooth enamel. Millions of years ago, early hominins relied on eating plants for their survival. At some point, however, our ancestors started to […]

German researchers have created a molecule with a triple bond between carbon and boron, creating in the process a new molecule and opening up unexplored possibilities in the world of chemistry. The discovery could help chemists better understand chemical bonds and structures. “Basic research like ours inspires other researchers to put their efforts and imagination […]

A new Massachusetts Institute of Technology-led study confirms that the Antarctic ozone layer is healing as a direct result of global efforts to reduce ozone-depleting substances. Our planet’s natural ozone layer is the earth’s version of 50+ sunscreen — its presence reduces UV and its carcinogenic effects. Complex life could not exist on this planet […]

Osteoarthritis is increasingly impacting the health of post-menopausal women around the globe, highlighting an urgent need to address the issue with public health measures. New research has found that the number of osteoarthritis cases among post-menopausal women, and disability associated with the condition, have increased by more than 130% over the past 30 years. The […]

Cortical Labs has launched CL1 – the world’s first commercially available computer based on neurons grown from human stem cells. The technology is based on fusing the lab-grown cells with hard silicon. The goal is to create a new form of artificial intelligence (AI), called Synthetic Biological Intelligence (SBI). SBI promises to be able to […]

A new study in the Lancet has found that 60% of adults and a third of children and adolescents will be living with overweight or obesity by 2050. With further increases predicted within the next 5 years, international experts are for calling for urgent global policy reform and action to turn the tide on the […]

A more than 60-year mystery about the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays might be solved by a new theory. Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) are the highest-energy particles in the universe. The energies of these beams are more than a million times greater than the highest energies that humans can create. “After 6 decades of effort, […]

Experts are warning that we could be facing a plastic-fuelled public health crisis based on alarming levels of microplastics in our bodies and growing evidence of their health effects. Defined as shards of plastic less than five millimetres in size, microplastics are everywhere, from the summit of Everest to the deepest ocean trenches. They have […]

Computer simulations suggest that water first appeared in the universe just 100–200 million years after the Big Bang, far earlier than previously believed. The findings, published in Nature Astronomy, imply that water – crucial for life – may have been a key ingredient in the formation of the first galaxies. It also suggests that habitable […]

Sydney’s Koalas are facing a unique existential dilemma. New research from the University of Sydney reveals an isolated, chlamydia-free population, but attempts to reverse the extreme inbreeding, and limited genetic diversity, could introduce the disease and mean their demise. South-western Sydney’s koalas are among the very few populations in New South Wales (NSW) still free […]

The Mabo Centre, a new First Nations-led partnership between the National Native Title Council and the University of Melbourne, has been launched today in Perth (Boorloo), Western Australia, to inject much-needed research and capability into native title agreements. The Mabo Centre will establish best practice research and build an evidence base for native title agreement-making […]

Global carbon emissions are slowing the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), the world’s most powerful ocean current. The problem echoes that of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which has concerned scientists saying that such a slow-down could produce substantial, possibly catastrophic, flow-on effects. Now for the first time, researchers from University of Melbourne and NORCE […]

The Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest major galaxy to ours, the Milky Way. On moonless nights it’s visible to the naked eye, but it takes a powerful space telescope to see that Andromeda isn’t as alone as it might appear. It is surrounded by a swarm of nearly 3 dozen dwarf galaxies, which circle it […]

“That’ll generate light about a million times brighter than the light from the Sun, but that’s kind of tiddlywinks compared to what we can do,” says Director of the Australian Synchrotron, Professor Michael James. In Melbourne’s southeastern suburb of Clayton, the Australian Synchrotron which opened in 2007 at a cost then of $220 million, and […]

A sea sponge skeleton made of glass has engineers wondering how it might improve building materials. The sponge in question lives at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and is known as Venus’ flower basket (Euplectella aspergillum). It builds its intricate basket-like skeleton out of silica – the main material in sand and glass. The […]

Quantum technology is no longer confined to the lab – it’s making its way into our everyday lives. Now, it’s about to transform something even more fundamental: how we navigate the world. Imagine submarines travelling beneath the ocean, never needing to surface for location updates. Planes flying across continents with unshakeable precision, unaffected by signal […]

Whale songs which are rhythmic, structured, haunting, and which echo through vast oceanic distances are the province of these mature mammals, but what do they really mean? Well, some like the North Pacific baleen whale sing more when food is abundant. It’s been believed they are tied to foraging and reproductive behaviour, migration timing, cultural […]

Pandas have long confounded biologists because they have a digestive system which resembles that of carnivores, yet the bear species relies mostly on bamboo – a grass – for food. Bucking evolutionary trends, giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) are one of just a few examples of a species which turned away from its carnivorous ancestry to […]

Climatologists have matched small changes in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun over millions of years with ice age cycles. They have used this to predict when the next ice age is meant to take hold but say that anthropogenic climate change might have disrupted the cycle. Earth has followed a pattern of alternating ice […]

PsiQuantum, the company which was awarded a billion-dollar contract by the Australian and Queensland governments to build what might be one of the world’s first quantum computers, has published detailed content about the science behind its proposal. The US-based company released results which it says show that it is ready to begin construction of the […]

Cuttlefish are known for their extraordinary cognitive abilities and their intricate and unique camouflage techniques. The sheltered waters of South Australia’s Upper Spencer Gulf Marine Park are home to the Giant Australian Cuttlefish (Sepia apama) and the Cuttlefish Coast Sanctuary Zone. These are the largest cuttlefish in the world, which can grow to 50cm long […]