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A taco-shaped arthropod – or “tacopod” as I shall affectionately refer to it henceforth – which has long eluded classification has finally been identified as one of the first creatures to have mandibles. The tacopod is actually called Odaraia alata. It was about 15cm long and lived during the middle of the Cambrian period (541–485 […]

The global chemical industry has been grappling with a big problem: manufacturing  releases carbon dioxide. The industry emits nearly a billion tonnes of CO2 each year, more than double Australia’s national output. Industrial chemicals, which end up everywhere from fertilisers on farms to polyester in T-shirts, require energy to make, sometimes in very high amounts. […]