Bookmarks (527)

There’s more to sex than reproduction — new research lead by the UK’s Durham University suggests that using sex to manage social tension is a trait our distant ancestors shared with all their hominoid descendants — humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans and gorillas. The study, one of the first direct comparisons of sexual behaviour amongst bonobos and […]

As Australians along the east coast deal with Tropical Cyclone Alfred cutting a swathe through regions which rarely get these weather events, new research shows that hurricanes in the northern hemisphere are also appearing in odd places. Cyclones are carried along in massive rivers of air — 10km high ‘steering flows’ – Cyclone Alfred is […]

Despite being the largest land carnivore and a top Arctic predator that can weigh over 600 kg, polar bears start off surprisingly small. Blind, almost hairless, and weighing just 600g at birth, cubs are born in maternity dens under the snow. These snow caves keep newborns warm and safe for the first few months of […]

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 International Space Station mission—which, among other things, will return stranded astronauts Butch Williams and Sunita (Suni) Williams, is ready for launch on 12 March, pending weather and a few technical issues, NASA announced today in a late-afternoon press conference. “The whole team polled ‘go to proceed,’ pending closure of some open work,” […]

EV batteries are not all the same. Researchers took apart batteries from two leading electric vehicle brands — BYD and Tesla — to try to work out which one had the best battery. Electric vehicles (EVs) are on a roll in Australia, finally. These silent sleek and silent, shiny cars are becoming more prevalent in daily […]

A new study has begun to fill the black hole of knowledge on the impacts of gun violence in the US, finding that 7% of adults in a nationally representative survey have been physically present at a public mass shooting, and 2% have been injured. Young, Black, and male respondents of the 10,000-person survey were […]

A big study from Curtin University in Western Australia has raised urgent questions about the hidden risks of maternal cannabis use. The study, published in Psychiatry Research, analysed data from more than 222,600 Australian mothers and children. The research related to women affected by Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) — a condition marked by compulsive cannabis […]

Direct measurements taken by India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander may have confirmed that ice exists just a few centimetres beneath the Moon’s surface. The results of an experiment, published in Communications Earth & Environment, could aid in future crewed long-term missions or habitation of the Moon which will likely rely on local sources of water. In […]

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 […]

Archaeologists have determined that an individual’s skull was turned to glass during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE which led to the destruction of ancient Roman town Pompeii. The individual lived in Herculaneum – a town on the Italian west coast near Naples, even closer to the eruption than Pompei. Analysis published in […]

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) face a multitude of health risks which arise from space travel, from decreased muscle mass and bone density to damaged eyesight. They also commonly experience persistent skin rashes, allergies, and immune dysfunction. A new study suggests that these issues could be caused by the excessively sterile environment of […]

In December 2024, the former RiAus editor-in-chief Ian Connellan and former Cosmos Editor Gail MacCallum embarked on his first visit to Antarctica. The well-travelled Connellan discovered a new world as a guest of Scenic, this is his account of the trip. Wednesday 18th Check-in is easy and after a few hours’ wait we’re on our […]

Drones are everywhere — from pizza delivery to terrorism, civilian medicine to warfare — particularly over the last three years with the Ukraine conflict. Now project funding is enabling the development of heavy-fuel cargo drones for deployment to potential Northern Australian battlefields to carry medical supplies which its designers say will: “…revolutionise healthcare in modern […]

Dolphins, playful, elegant and approachable, are loved worldwide but despite these interactions with humans – as attractive as it is – it puts them at risk. The South Australian government declared an area of a busy port and waterway a dolphin sanctuary in 2005. Researcher Mike Bossley says dolphin numbers declined a decade ago but […]

Australian marine scientists are using an ingenious, if peculiar method to extract semen from wild male leopard sharks. It isn’t an experiment. It’s a bid to boost the species’ numbers and genetic diversity through artificial insemination. The technique relies on “tonic immobility”, also known as animal hypnosis, a reflex seen in a wide variety of […]

The earliest evidence that humans inhabited rainforests has been found in Africa, a surprising find which pushes human settlement in these habitats much further back than previously thought. Modern humans, Homo sapiens, evolved about 300,000 years ago in Africa. The ecological and environmental circumstances in which our species evolved are still not well understood. It […]

Fish cognitive abilities have been underrated for years, even the butt of jokes. But slowly researchers are coming to understand how they think and feel. A new observational study has revealed that Siamese fighting fish are often kept in containers which are a quarter the size they need to thrive. Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) […]

A new data tool is expected to allow the residents of one Australian city to work out how much heat their neighbourhood receives, and find ways of lowering heat stress. The Darwin Living Lab Portal designed to help make Australia’s tropical capital, in the Northern Territory (NT), a more liveable, sustainable and resilient city. “The […]

Asteroid 2024 YR4 has made international headlines since its discovery in December last year because of its (very low) chance of hitting Earth sometime in the next decade. Initially, NASA scientists predicted that the 40–90m asteroid had a 1.3% chance of hitting Earth in 2032. That probability increased to about 3% earlier this month thanks […]

NASA’s latest space telescope, SPHEREx, scheduled for launch on 28 February in tandem with another mission called PUNCH, has been hailed for both the colour range of the images it will produce and its ability to “peer back” to the first second after the Big Bang. What the telescope will actually do, however, is somewhat […]

The movement of massive glaciers during global ice ages contributed to the rise of complex life, new research reveals. By analysing zircon crystals in ancient rocks, geologists found that as glaciers flowed across the Earth’s surface, they carved deep into the crust and released key minerals from below. These minerals were later flushed out to […]

Australian scientists have identified 2 new species of whirring tree frogs in northern Queensland, which are already being pushed to the limits of their habitable ranges by the impacts of climate change. According to Michael Mahony, emeritus professor at the University of Newcastle and co-author of a study describing the new species, “the frogs are […]

As global immunologists race to get ahead of bird flu there’s some good news from Australia where scientists have found that molecules on the inside of highly pathogenic influenza A H5N1 virus could be promising targets for human vaccines. A new study found these proteins remain largely unchanged among different viruses, which suggests that vaccines […]

There’s more evidence, if it was required, that Mars once hosted cool water in large volumes, which would have been an environment well-suited for microbial life to evolve on the Red Planet. Two new pieces of research released this week dovetail nicely with a third which describes a new method to detect fossils of microbial […]

Is the evolution of intelligence partly driven by love? A new study involving tiny fish swimming in mazes suggests that smarter fish have a better chance of mating and reproducing. “Evolution of animal intelligence has long been thought to have been driven by natural selection,” says lead author Ivan Vinogradov, a biologist at the Australian […]

Analysis of ancient DNA has shed light on the origins and diversity of the Hun empire, revealing far-reaching genetic ties. The Huns suddenly appeared in Europe in the 370s CE. The influential but short-lived empire extended from Europe to the Caucasus and Central Asia until the 6th century. As world-leading historian of Central Asia Denis […]

A recent analysis of global breast cancer rates has found that, while Australia and New Zealand substantially decreased the disease’s mortality rate over the past decade, the countries’ breast cancer incidence rates were the highest in the world in 2022. For every 100,000 women living in Australia and New Zealand, 100.3 cases of breast cancer […]