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An asteroid struck Mars 10.7 million years ago, sending pieces of rock hurtling into space. One of those chunks landed on Earth – scientists analysing it have made an interesting discovery. The Martian rock landed somewhere in the US state of Indiana. It was rediscovered in a drawer at Purdue University in 1931 and named […]

Are they right – the experts who argue that digital technologies are rewiring children’s brains? As digital platforms become ingrained in daily life, concerns about social media’s impact on mental health and behaviour—particularly among young people—have intensified, sparking debates over the need for stricter regulation. In response, governments are considering policies to limit social media use. Australia, […]

Two years ago, scientists from around the world met in Dublin in Ireland, to discuss the state of the science regarding meat production and animal husbandry. “They are too precious to society to become the victim of simplification, reductionism or zealotry,” they wrote in what has become known as the Dublin Declaration, ultimately signed by […]

Chemists have made a substance that can absorb carbon dioxide at the high temperatures used in industrial processes, like cement or steel-making. The study, published in Science, could eventually help to lower the emissions of these hard-to-abate industries. While fossil fuels burned for energy can be readily replaced with low- or zero-emissions technology, it’s trickier […]

The Sun took about 10–20 million years to form according to an analysis of stardust left behind from the dawn of our solar system. Findings published in Nature show how long it took the molecular cloud of gas and dust to come together to create the Sun about 4.6 billion years ago. It is the […]

Space is huge and explaining the vastness of space can be a tall order, especially to kids. The team at Double Helix, our partner publication, has brought this big concept down to Earth by creating a scale model of our inner solar system. You can create your own scale model using materials from around your […]

People living in areas with higher levels of air pollution within the US are more likely to have eczema, new research in the journal PLOSE ONE has found. Outdoor air pollution its estimated to cause more than 4 million deaths per year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This is mainly due to fine […]

Quality journalism is not just for adults. Young writers and readers seek science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) news that is relevant and fact-based. In a move that supports the future of STEM journalism, CSIRO Double Helix magazine and Letterly will host a “Young STEM Journalism Bootcamp”. The Bootcamp is to run through January 2025, […]

Teenage mutant ninja turtles may not lurk in city sewers worldwide, but fatbergs do. These conglomerations of non-biodegradable solids, fat, oil and grease form rock-like masses, which cling to and clog the inside of sewer pipes. They cause 40% of all sewer blockages in Australia and cost A$100 million each year to deal with. Some […]

Last month, when the crew of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 International Space Station mission finally returned from a mission that was extended from 180 days to 235 days, the splashdown and recovery were initially described as safe and apparently uneventful. Then, hours later, NASA announced that all four of members of the crew—NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, […]

A reaction between 2 simple molecules might be the secret to uncovering how the building blocks of life were first encapsulated in a cell membrane, according to new research. There are a few ingredients needed for life on Earth. Most obviously, there’s the genetic material which governs the production of proteins and reproduction. That is […]

Astronomers have spotted massive red galaxies dating back to the first billion years of the universe’s life. Some are almost as large as the Milky Way. This suggests stars and galaxies grew more quickly in the early universe than previously thought. The discovery was made using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and […]

There’s new hope for the survival of frogs facing the threat of a fungal disease ravaging their populations. After nearly being wiped out by the disease chytridiomycosis, populations of yellow-legged frogs are again thriving across Yosemite National Park in the US. The frogs have developed some resistance to infection by the fungus that causes chytrid, […]

Researchers have grown a genetically modified tomato with 30% more sugar – without sacrificing size. Over centuries of domestication, tomatoes have become 10 to 100 times larger than their wild counterparts. But these big tomatoes have lost their sweetness on the way. The first commercially available genetically modified crop was a tomato, released in the […]

On 14 November 1949, Australia’s first computer was switched on. CSIR Mk1 (later renamed CSIRAC) was designed and built by Trevor Pearcey with help from Maston Beard and Geoff Hill. Pearcey, a radar scientist, began working on the machine in 1947 after emigrating to Australia from the UK. He joined the Council for Scientific and […]

A tooth from a 1.77-million-year-old fossil child has given new insights into the process of how a unique aging process evolved in humans. Analysis of the teeth from Georgia in Eastern Europe shows that ancient human ancestors aged in a combination of ape-like early maturity, and human-like delayed development. The research, published in Nature, looked […]

An extreme rise in sea levels driven by the Indian Ocean Dipole have caused some Maldivian islands to lose more than half of their mangrove cover since 2020, a new Scientific Reports study has found. Lead author Lucy Carruthers of East Carolina University in the US says the findings are a warning for coastal areas […]

In 1961, US radio astronomer Frank Drake came up with an equation for estimating the number of intelligent civilisations in the galaxy. Called the Drake Equation, the formula combines a variety of different numbers – such as the fraction of stars with planets, and the time a civilisation would need to develop space-signalling technology – […]

Global fossil fuel emissions are projected to reach a new record of 37.4 billion tonnes (Gt) of carbon dioxide this year – a growth of 0.8% relative to 2023 – according to the latest report by the Global Carbon Project. “It is a smaller growth than we had seen [in the] previous year of 1.4% […]

A New Zealand company has become the first in the nation’s history to turn on a fusion machine. OpenStar technologies reached a crucial milestone in the development of nuclear fusion-first plasma. This is the moment a fusion device creates and confines a super-hot cloud of ionised gas. Nuclear fusion is the process by which stars […]

More than 700 million years ago, the entire globe was covered in ice in a period called “Snowball Earth”. At least, that’s what scientists think. Now geologists believe they’ve found the best evidence that the “Snowball Earth” was really a global event. For reasons which remain unclear, a runaway chain of events caused a massive […]

Researchers have developed a new microscopic technique that allows them to image biological processes as they occur, with enough detail to see protein complexes move. They have demonstrated the method by showing for the first time how calcium deposits into a form that may lead to calcification of the arteries and aortic valve. “If you […]

A huge, stinking corpse flower is blooming in Geelong – an event that only lasts for a few days, roughly every 5 years. The corpse flower, also called the titan arum or Amorphophallus titanum, has become a public spectacle for botanic gardens over the last decade. The rare bloom is accompanied by rare “thermogenesis” – […]

A long-running Pacific culture education initiative that has given hundreds of Kiwi teachers the chance to experience life in a Samoan village is now the subject of new research.  In 2003, Leali’ie’e Dr Tufulasi Taleni, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Teacher Education at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC), […]