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The rainforests of eastern Victoria are home to giant tree ferns which pre-date the dinosaurs. But entire stands of these ancient plants are being wiped out by an ever-growing threat – deer. Joe Greet, a plant ecologist at the University of Melbourne, has seen the understory of these once-lush forests transformed. “They’ll browse [eat] them […]

Sharon Robinson, a Professor in the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences – University of Wollongong of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences at the University of Wollongong and Deputy Director of Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Futures, and a 2024 Australian Research Council (ARC) Laureate Fellow, aiming to implement a whole-of-continent observing system for Antarctica to […]

Researchers in Queensland might have discovered why attempts to eradicate crown-of-thorns starfish is so difficult. And it’s not just because they are prolific breeders. Outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish, which can decimate coral populations and lead to widespread reef degradation, are among the most significant challenges facing coral reefs. Now, new research reveals these coral predators […]

For palaeontologists, deducing the behaviour of long-dead animals is notoriously tricky. And new evidence can rewrite long-standing hypotheses. Case in point: research published in Current Biology presents a surprising theory for the unusual teeth of an ancient bird. Longipteryx chaoyangensis, a 120-million-old bird whose fossils are found in north-eastern China has an elongated, kingfisher-like skull […]

Palaeontologists have discovered 24 dinosaur tracks dating to the Early Cretaceous period, on the Bass Coast in Victoria in southeastern Australia. During the Cretaceous (145–66 million years ago), the Australian landmass was part of the supercontinent Gondwana. Australia was still connected to Antarctica until about 85 million years ago. The region which is now the […]

Antarctic sea ice is at a record low for this time of year, according to the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership (AAPP). It’s also the second winter in a row that sea ice is unusually low. “In 2023, the winter extreme was outside everybody’s expectations – not just due to its sheer magnitude, but because it’s […]

DNA from a fossilised Neanderthal found in France reveals he was part of a community which was isolated from other Neanderthal for 50,000 years. The findings are detailed in a paper published in Cell Genomics. The individual has been dubbed “Thorin” after a character created by novelist J. R. R. Tolkien. He was discovered in […]

A study of ancient DNA has thrown a popularly held belief about Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, into even more doubt. It’s also provided evidence that the people who inhabited the remote island had contact with Indigenous people in the Americas, more than 3,500km away. The study, done by an international team of researchers, is […]

The windless equatorial region of the ocean, known as “the doldrums”, became so famous for stranding boats in the Age of Sail that the word has become part of our vernacular. But recently, research interest in the doldrums has been – well, stuck in the doldrums. And according to a German scientist, the current explanation […]

Global methane emissions are rising at record levels, according to a new report. Methane emissions have risen 20% in the past 20 years. The findings come from the Global Methane Budget 2024, which is run by the Global Carbon Project, an international partnership between a variety of science bodies. Methane holds much more heat in […]

Digital technologies, like AI, have the potential to revolutionise how health systems care for patients. The challenge lies in identifying the actions needed to integrate them. A new report by the National Industry Innovation Network (NIIN) Health Alliance has named the major technology trends that can have genuine impact in the Australian health system in […]

Genetic analysis has revealed why New Zealand’s native flightless parrot, kākāpō, are just as likely to have green- or olive-coloured feathers. Kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus) is a nocturnal bird which experienced severe population decline after the arrival in New Zealand of Europeans who brought with them new predators. By 1995, just 51 birds remained. Conservation efforts have […]

A new study has added to the growing evidence that long-term vaping is harmful to health, finding that young people who vape perform worse than others in tests measuring their capacity for exercise. Although the study only involved 60 people, it found vapers’  exercise performance was similar to that of young smokers. The research was […]

For prey, entering the stomach of a predator is usually the end of the road. But, in a world first, a research team from Japan has used X-ray videography to show how Japanese eels escape after being swallowed. Unlike land-based predators that bite or tear at prey, many predatory fish feed by sucking smaller prey […]

NASA’s beleaguered Europa Clipper spacecraft passed its final technical review today, and is now ready for launch toward Jupiter as soon as its launch window opens next month. “We are ready for Jupiter,” Jordan Evans, the mission’s project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, said today in a teleconference. “Now that […]

Unstable workforces plague healthcare in remote areas. Aboriginal communities are particularly vulnerable to the revolving door of healthcare staff. But according to researchers, training local Aboriginal practitioners is one of the most effective ways to stabilise the workforce – and in the Northern Territory (NT), a new venture is underway to do more. A recent […]

Dramatic changes in temperature and rainfall are coming for up to 70% of the world’s population in the next 20 years because of high greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study. A report, published in Nature Geoscience, finds that dramatic cuts to emissions would drop this figure to 20%. The Norwegian and UK team […]

Surgeons in the US who last year carried out world’s first successful whole eye and partial face transplant say a year on the eye has survived and even shows indications of retinal response to light stimuli. Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at New York University Langone Health, says that while the […]

Researchers have developed an X-ray scan (of a sort) for flow batteries that will make them more efficient. The international team of scientists has published the technique in Nature Communications. Flow batteries use liquid electrolytes and are safer and longer-lasting than lithium-ion batteries, and could be particularly useful for grid storage. “To date, the system […]

The current AFL season has been plagued by headlines about the dangers of concussions, with 6 players announcing their early retirement due to excessive head knocks.  Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), along with long-term cognitive decline, is commonly recognised as one of the most serious and dangerous consequences of repetitive sports concussions.  But a new study […]

Medical clowns are known to have a positive therapeutic impact on kids in hospitals for a range of health issues, and now it’s been shown they can reduce the length of stay and antibiotic use for children with pneumonia. A study, done on 51 children, found that those visited by medical clowns on average left […]

Fruit flies on treadmills are giving scientists insights into how insects walk in ways that previous, more invasive techniques could not. Researchers want to understand how insects’ nervous systems respond to rapid changes underfoot. All animals must navigate potential hazards and changes in terrain, otherwise injury from falls would be likely (send this to your […]

The surprising discovery of a bacterium in a marine sponge from the Great Barrier Reef with striking similarity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the pathogen responsible for tuberculosis (TB), could unlock and inform future TB research and treatment strategies.  TB remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, yet the origins of M. tuberculosis are still not fully understood.  […]

The shroud of gas around another galaxy has been photographed and analysed pixel by pixel for the first time. It shows that galaxies are much bigger than we thought and that the Milky Way is already interacting with our nearest galactic neighbour, the Andromeda galaxy. Researchers have published in Nature Astronomy their analysis of an […]