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The Australian Government has added 21 new species of fauna and flora to the threatened species list, with six more being uplisted to higher threat categories. This decision underscores Australia’s worsening extinction crisis as the nation continues to grapple with one of the worst extinction rates in the world. The newly added species include the […]

A new artificial intelligence system could help detect wildfires more effectively, offering a powerful tool for early warning and environmental monitoring. The system was developed by researchers at the Universidade Federal do Amazonas, in Brazil, and uses a convolutional neural network (CNN) – a type of AI model designed to process visual data in a […]

Medical researchers are calling for changes in the treatment of chronic pain, with more routine screening for depression and anxiety among patients. It comes after a systematic review of the literature found that about 40% of adults living with chronic pain also have clinical depression or anxiety. They say their findings underscore the need for […]

As robots are built ever smaller, the obstacles in their environments become more and more difficult to traverse. Harvard University engineers have taken inspiration from nature to tackle the problem, creating a palm-sized robot that can walk, climb, strike, scoop up objects, and even jump like a bug. “Walking provides a precise and efficient locomotion […]

Pharmacologists have used artificial intelligence to discover a naturally occurring molecule in humans, which like the popular drug Ozempic, suppresses appetite and reduces body weight. Tests to date have only been on animals but Katrin Svensson, assistant professor of pathology at Stanford University in the US, says nothing tested before has semaglutide’s ability to decrease appetite […]

Ancient DNA has unlocked the secrets of modern humans and their ancestors and is now helping focus research on Antarctica’s Adélie penguins. An international team has extracted ancient DNA, known as sedaDNA, from Antarctic sediments, uncovering a 6,000-year history of Adélie penguin colonies along the Ross Sea coast. The groundbreaking findings, published in Nature Communications, offer […]

There’s more to sex than reproduction — new research lead by the UK’s Durham University suggests that using sex to manage social tension is a trait our distant ancestors shared with all their hominoid descendants — humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans and gorillas. The study, one of the first direct comparisons of sexual behaviour amongst bonobos and […]

As Australians along the east coast deal with Tropical Cyclone Alfred cutting a swathe through regions which rarely get these weather events, new research shows that hurricanes in the northern hemisphere are also appearing in odd places. Cyclones are carried along in massive rivers of air — 10km high ‘steering flows’ – Cyclone Alfred is […]

Despite being the largest land carnivore and a top Arctic predator that can weigh over 600 kg, polar bears start off surprisingly small. Blind, almost hairless, and weighing just 600g at birth, cubs are born in maternity dens under the snow. These snow caves keep newborns warm and safe for the first few months of […]

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 International Space Station mission—which, among other things, will return stranded astronauts Butch Williams and Sunita (Suni) Williams, is ready for launch on 12 March, pending weather and a few technical issues, NASA announced today in a late-afternoon press conference. “The whole team polled ‘go to proceed,’ pending closure of some open work,” […]

EV batteries are not all the same. Researchers took apart batteries from two leading electric vehicle brands — BYD and Tesla — to try to work out which one had the best battery. Electric vehicles (EVs) are on a roll in Australia, finally. These silent sleek and silent, shiny cars are becoming more prevalent in daily […]

A new study has begun to fill the black hole of knowledge on the impacts of gun violence in the US, finding that 7% of adults in a nationally representative survey have been physically present at a public mass shooting, and 2% have been injured. Young, Black, and male respondents of the 10,000-person survey were […]

A big study from Curtin University in Western Australia has raised urgent questions about the hidden risks of maternal cannabis use. The study, published in Psychiatry Research, analysed data from more than 222,600 Australian mothers and children. The research related to women affected by Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) — a condition marked by compulsive cannabis […]

Direct measurements taken by India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander may have confirmed that ice exists just a few centimetres beneath the Moon’s surface. The results of an experiment, published in Communications Earth & Environment, could aid in future crewed long-term missions or habitation of the Moon which will likely rely on local sources of water. In […]

The search for water on other planets often starts when images reveal channels and canyons, or perhaps what look like seabeds on Earth. But several different processes can lead to meandering channels appearing on the surface of Earth. They could be made by the bending of a river, lava melting through rock, or water cleaving […]

The superb lyrebird is arguably Australia’s most iconic native songbird, known for its ornate tail and incredible mimicry. The species can imitate natural and mechanical sounds, resulting in a vocal repertoire that spans the calls of other birds to the cries of human babies, or the sound of a chainsaw. But new research has found […]

Quantum computers that can do things that classical computers can’t are still a few years away. But experts are warning that if encryption technology doesn’t adapt now to the quantum future, there could be serious security concerns for governments, businesses and ordinary people. Quantum concerns The words “quantum” and “encryption” normally appear in the same […]

Palaeontologists may have finally filled a gap in the story of human evolution – and it may upend previously-held beliefs about how we got our big brains. The key is in ancient tooth enamel. Millions of years ago, early hominins relied on eating plants for their survival. At some point, however, our ancestors started to […]

German researchers have created a molecule with a triple bond between carbon and boron, creating in the process a new molecule and opening up unexplored possibilities in the world of chemistry. The discovery could help chemists better understand chemical bonds and structures. “Basic research like ours inspires other researchers to put their efforts and imagination […]

A new Massachusetts Institute of Technology-led study confirms that the Antarctic ozone layer is healing as a direct result of global efforts to reduce ozone-depleting substances. Our planet’s natural ozone layer is the earth’s version of 50+ sunscreen — its presence reduces UV and its carcinogenic effects. Complex life could not exist on this planet […]

Osteoarthritis is increasingly impacting the health of post-menopausal women around the globe, highlighting an urgent need to address the issue with public health measures. New research has found that the number of osteoarthritis cases among post-menopausal women, and disability associated with the condition, have increased by more than 130% over the past 30 years. The […]

Cortical Labs has launched CL1 – the world’s first commercially available computer based on neurons grown from human stem cells. The technology is based on fusing the lab-grown cells with hard silicon. The goal is to create a new form of artificial intelligence (AI), called Synthetic Biological Intelligence (SBI). SBI promises to be able to […]

A new study in the Lancet has found that 60% of adults and a third of children and adolescents will be living with overweight or obesity by 2050. With further increases predicted within the next 5 years, international experts are for calling for urgent global policy reform and action to turn the tide on the […]

A more than 60-year mystery about the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays might be solved by a new theory. Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) are the highest-energy particles in the universe. The energies of these beams are more than a million times greater than the highest energies that humans can create. “After 6 decades of effort, […]