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The first samples returned from an asteroid to Earth have revealed that one – Bennu – had an ancient brine with minerals crucial to life. Research published today in Nature shows that water evaporated on Bennu leaving behind a briny broth which would have allowed the ingredients for life to mix and create more complex […]

The tallest living tree in Australia is a Tasmanian giant ash hundreds of years old named Centurion, according to a survey decades in the making. The tree was 99.6m tall when researchers and citizen scientists first measured it, but it has since lost a branch and a few metres of height – now rearing 96.5m […]

The longest Greek papyrus ever found in the Judaean Desert has been published, revealing forgery and tax fraud in from the Roman empire. The nearly 2,000-year-old papyrus has 133 lines of text. It was initially misclassified as Nabataean – the language of an ancient Arab people that lived in the southern Levant and northern Arabia. […]

In research that might one day lead to solutions to some rare genetic abnormalities, scientists in China have successfully raised offspring from 2 male mice. The stem cell scientists introduced mutations in a particular set of genetic locations to overcome the hurdles preventing unisexual reproduction in mammals. They created offspring from 2 male mice by […]

A team at the University of Barcelona in Spain has designed experimental equipment to help undergraduate students familiarise themselves with complex quantum physics. The researchers say the project, described in a paper published in the journal EPJ Quantum Technology, will help students who want to pursue research into quantum technologies as the field enters a […]

Dwarf planet Ceres has a smattering of organic material on its surface. New research suggests these organic compounds came from impacting asteroids from the outer asteroid belt. Ceres was the first asteroid to be discovered in 1801. It is the largest object in the asteroid belt which sits between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. […]

New Australian-developed technology will aid astronomers search for the source of cosmic signals known as “fast radio bursts” – a mystery which has persisted since their discovery almost 20 years ago. The Commensal Realtime ASKAP Fast Transient COherent (CRACO) upgrade is a new addition to CSIRO’s Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope. “Once […]

International researchers who are monitoring climate change say persistent multiyear drought events – sometimes called megadroughts – pose a growing threat to nature and humans. A team of researchers from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria produced a 40-year global quantitative inventory to inform policy about the environmental impact of human-induced climate change. It […]

A new report from Oxford Net Zero and Carbon Balance Initiative has presented a possible solution to a critical challenge facing the UK’s climate policy: how to develop carbon storage infrastructure while protecting public finances. It presents a carbon storage mandate, referred to as the “Carbon Takeback Obligation” (CTBO), which would require fossil fuel suppliers […]

Astrocytes — named for their star-like shape — are a type of brain cell as abundant as neurons in the central nervous system, but little is known about their role in brain health and disease. Many neurological diseases are caused by or result in the loss of cells in the central nervous system. Some diseases […]

An American bear manager has identified the “magic tool” for scaring grizzly bears away from people and property. It’s not a shotgun, truck or pack of dogs – it’s a drone fitted with a thermal camera. Scaring bears, also known as ‘hazing’, aims to reduce human-bear conflict by teaching bears to avoid areas near people. […]

Footprints measuring 92cm in width found in Mongolia have raised the prospect of an as yet undiscovered skeleton of the largest bipedal dinosaur ever. When it comes to giant dinosaurs, people tend to think of the massive meat-eaters like Tyrannosaurus rex or the even bigger long-necked sauropods like Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus. A group which rarely […]

Despite appearances, not all corals stay put. The mushroom coral, Cycloseris cyclolites, can pack up and “walk” to new habitats and new research has shown that it does so in pursuit of blue light. A team of scientists used high-resolution time-lapse imaging to discover that C. cyclolites moves using a mechanism known as “pulsed inflation”, […]

Many people who menstruate do not have access to sufficient and affordable period products. Those experiencing “period poverty” may feel shame, miss opportunities at school or work, and resort to using makeshift solutions such as old clothes or towels. A growing number of initiatives around the world are providing free menstrual products to address this […]

Scientists are closer to understanding the evolution of a peculiar bird which has three different ways to attract attention from females. The ruff sandpiper is a highly social, medium-sized wading bird that breed in leks. A lek is an aggregation of males gathered to engage in competitive displays and courtship rituals, known as lekking, to entice visiting females […]

Murray crayfish once thrived in the southern Murray-Darling Basin. The species was found everywhere from the headwaters of the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers in the Australian Alps all the way down to Wellington in South Australia. For thousands of years, First Nations people managed harvesting sustainably. But crayfish stocks crashed after European settlement. This was […]

A new device combines circuit designs to efficiently measure light. The compact “frequency comb” could lead to new technologies used in telecommunications, environmental monitoring and astrophysics. Frequency combs are like rulers – for measuring light. They can take a light source – like radio waves or microwaves – and measure the frequency of the light. […]

A new study in mice has discovered a molecular “timer” that activates in the first days of pregnancy and ticks along during gestation to control when they give birth. If it is also discovered to be relevant in humans, the findings could lead to new tests to identify people who are at risk of preterm […]

Medical researchers, physicists, and archaeologists are among the more than 700 people celebrated today by the Australia Day 2025 Honours List for their achievements and services to the nation. Six individuals were appointed Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree, in service to Australia or to […]

A new artificial intelligence (AI) model based on “contrastive learning” has shown promise as a tool that can forecast rapid intensification of tropical cyclones. Rapid intensification is when cyclone’s maximum sustained wind speed increases by 13m/s within 24 hours. While rapid intensification periods only account for about 5% of the total life of the tropical […]

Scientists might have been looking in the wrong place to find the original source of potato blight, which could prevent discovery of ways to avoid the problem. Late blight of potato and tomato, was the cause of the Great Hunger, the Irish potato famine, but it remains a problem around the world. Determining where the […]

In new insight into the effects of artificial underwater structures on marine life, research has found that whale sharks can use oil and gas platforms and other, natural features as migratory “stepping stones” in their journeys. The findings have implications for the protection of natural features that promote this ability, and for decommissioning platforms. The […]

For the first time, physicists have been able to trap molecules and get them to perform quantum operations, opening a new line of research for future ultra-powerful quantum computing. Molecules have often been overlooked in quantum computing. Their internal structures have been considered too complicated, delicate and unpredictable to be useful in quantum devices. Instead, […]

Palaeontologists have found the tell-tale signs of an attack by a crocodile-like animal on the fossilised neck bone of a juvenile pterosaur – a flying reptile – dating to the Cretaceous period. The specimen was a species of azhdarchid pterosaur – the largest animals to ever fly – known as Cryodrakon boreas. While the juvenile […]