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When two-time Olympic marathoner Des Linden steps onto the course at this year’s New York City Marathon, she won’t be alone. In addition to the more than 50,000 other runners competing with her, she will be accompanied by a “digital twin” of her heart. Not that she’ll be able to see it during the race. […]

Trained giant rats could fight illegal wildlife trafficking by sniffing out shipping containers at transport hubs to detect four common illicit products: elephant tusks, rhino horn, pangolin scales and African blackwood. The illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be worth up to US$23 billion each year and represents a major conservation threat. African giant pouched […]

A new report in the influential Lancet medical journal finds people around the world are facing imminent, record-breaking threats to their wellbeing, health, and survival due to “inadequate and unjust” action on climate change. Published today, The 2024 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change provides the most up-to-date assessment of the […]

The 2022 heatwaves in Europe saw record-breaking temperatures and a surge in heat-related deaths across the continent. According to a new study in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, more than half of the almost 70,000 deaths can be attributed to human-caused climate change. “Our study urgently calls on governments and national authorities in Europe to […]

A spectacular golden fossil has been discovered preserved in iron pyrite, otherwise known as fool’s gold, in the US state of New York. The new species, Lomankus edgecombei, was an arthropod – an animal with a hard exoskeleton. It is distantly related to today’s spiders, scorpions, insects, and crustaceans. “As well as having their beautiful […]

We’ve come a long way from the fantastical idea that birds migrate to the Moon when they disappear each northern hemisphere winter. But while migratory bird behaviour in Europe and North America is widely studied, comparatively little is known about the southern hemisphere. Now, scientists have finally revealed the existence of a structured bird migration […]

Ever felt the need to post something like:  ‘Anyone doubting the science is an idiot’? Or ‘You either agree with the science, or you’re against us?’ It’s best to leave it in drafts – even when they’re in favour of science, polarising statements can damage its cause. Instead of reinforcing extreme viewpoints, good online science […]

What’s keeping Australia’s health researchers awake at night? That was the question to be answered by some of Australia’s leading health funding bodies and thinkers on a panel in Adelaide last week. The answers covered problems like stresses on the health system, climate change, the need for investment in innovation, ageing and population growth and […]

A study of ancient volcanism shows that dinosaurs took over the Earth about 200 million years ago because they thrived in the cold. This challenges long-standing theories that heating of the Earth was the principal impact on evolution of the dinosaurs. The earliest dinosaurs evolved about 230–240 million years ago during the Triassic period (252–201 […]

The explosion in generative AI could be responsible for an extra 5 million tonnes of e-waste by 2030, according to a new study. The report, published in Nature Computational Science, estimates that without changes to regulation, generative AI technology alone will produce 1.2-5.0 million tonnes of e-waste by the end of the decade. The study […]

How many Wikipedia tabs do you have open at the moment? I’ve got 12 lined up on mobile, with topics ranging from the ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon, to penicillin, to the 1999 film Cruel Intentions. According to a new study, this means I have very strong “busybody” tendencies. Researchers have analysed the Wikipedia history […]

“A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.” These romantic words attributed to Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman may be closer to the truth than she realised. Scientists have been trying to figure out where kissing came from for a long time. New research suggests that the answer […]

Following a “disappointing” inaugural Nature Positive Summit in Sydney, a team of researchers say that current laws are not sufficient to achieve the summit’s lofty goal. In a perspective in Science, Australian researchers argue that “net gain” legislation – that is, legislation that doesn’t allow for any loss – is required to make the world, […]

Disturbed seabeds could be a potent source of carbon dioxide pollution, according to a new study. The research, published in Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, raises questions about the impact of fishing trawling, deep-sea mining, and other ocean activities. “Researchers have long assumed that physical disturbances of the seabed, such as from fishing equipment like […]

Poaching is being blamed for a dramatic loss of number of Sumatran tigers. Only 11 Sumatran tigers were spotted during Indonesian monitoring activities between 2020 and 2022, potentially indicating “severe” levels of poaching, a scientific study says. Dr Joe Figel a researcher at the Leuser International Foundation and co-director of Hutan Harimau (Tiger Forests) told […]

Human activities have caused a type of insect to change colour in Aotearoa New Zealand, according to a new study. The research, published in Science, shows that stoneflies have been driven to change their hue by deforestation. “In natural forested regions, a native species has evolved ‘warning’ colours that mimic those of a poisonous forest […]

Water scarcity is becoming an urgent global crisis, affecting billions of people. According to the UN World Water Development Report 2024, approximately 2.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and half of the world’s population experiences severe water scarcity for at least some of the year. Amid these alarming statistics, the recycling of wastewater is emerging as […]

As part of the Ultramarine project we are diving into our archives and republishing some paid content for free. In the December 2022 Cosmos print magazine, David Hancock wrote about the scientists and Indigenous rangers collaborating to gather knowledge about the large marine animals in Australia’s north, which are thought to be in decline. We recorded […]

How did mammal ancestors evolve from a sprawled posture like a lizard to the upright locomotion we see today? A new study sheds light on the puzzle. The research, published in Science Advances, shows that the shift was a complex one that didn’t develop in a straight line. Mammals diverged from reptiles about 325 million […]

A large communications satellite has broken up in orbit, affecting users in Europe, Central Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia, and adding to the growing swarm of space junk clouding our planet’s neighbourhood. The Intelsat 33e satellite provided broadband communication from a point some 35,000km above the Indian Ocean, in a geostationary orbit around […]

It might sound like science fiction, but bioengineers want to bypass photosynthesis and grow crops in tall, dark towers surrounded by solar panels. They estimate that their new strategy for “electro-agriculture” could reduce the land needed for food production by 88%. For hundreds of millions of years, plants have used photosynthesis to capture energy from […]

An 800-year-old Norse story about a military raid has been verified by analysis of ancient DNA. Sverris Saga is one of the Kings’ sagas – a series of Old Norse tales which tell the lives of Nordic kings. Work on Sverris Saga began in 1185 CE under direct supervision of the king it describes: Sverre […]

A number with more than 40 million digits has been discovered to be the largest known prime number by a network of amateurs. The number is 2136279841-1. It has 41,024,320 digits. It was found by 36-year-old researcher and former NVIDIA employee Luke Durant on 12 October. The number was tested on other computers using different […]

A species of crustacean with unique panda-like black and white stripes has been confirmed as a separate species, decades after it was first found in Japan. The discovery highlights the importance of identifying species in order to protect them. The Melita panda was first found in the 1990s. It is described for the first time […]