January
Corpse flower ‘Putricia’ begins long-awaited stinky bloom
The giant foul-smelling flower began unfurling at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden for the first time in 15 years on Thursday.
- Updated
- Neve Brissenden
June 2024
How China became a scientific superpower
From plant biology to superconductor physics, the country is at the cutting edge.
- The Economist
May 2024
Don’t swat fruit flies – they’re smarter than you probably think
Researchers say many species, from insects to invertebrates, have consciousness. It turns out humans aren’t so special, after all.
- Ed Cumming
February 2024
Deep-sea robot finds walking fish among 100 new species
The discovery off the coast of Chile has intensified calls to protect submarine mountains in international waters.
- Dino Grandoni
November 2023
How these tiny ‘embryoids’ could improve IVF outcomes
The lab creations can help with the study of embryology and pregnancy, and how they can go wrong. But they pose tricky ethical questions.
- The Economist
October 2022
Why life is really about survival of the fairest, not fittest
Nature can be deadly competitive, but there are often plants and animals that work together, says author Kristin Ohlson. They are lessons we need to learn.
- Jeff Allan
September 2022
7 ways mycelium could change our world
It’s versatile and biodegradable and could replace everything from building materials to clothing.
- Nick Usborne
August 2022
How reviving mammoths could fix the climate – and line your pockets
Around the world, scientists are edging closer to resurrecting long-dead species in the hope it will stabilise ecosystems, and private investors are getting in on the action.
- Io Dodds
April 2022
Final piece of DNA puzzle could explain human traits, disease
The entire human genome has finally been sequenced – nearly 20 years after scientists first claimed to have made the breakthrough.
- Sarah Knapton
March 2022
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
The fundie betting on the end of cow milk
An Israeli company has used precision fermentation to develop a single cell microbe that can replace cow milk. It has the potential to cause a devastating disruption to the world’s dairy industry.
- Tony Boyd
February 2022
This Australian engineer has been to the ocean’s deepest point
It is Tim Macdonald’s job to test, maintain and improve the first reusable, full ocean-depth submersible in the world.
- Tony Davis
January 2022
Smartphones will die - predicting the year ahead in tech
Futurist Amy Webb has made a career of predicting the unpredictable. Her latest book, The Genesis Machine, tackles the big questions about our future.
- Steven Zeitchik
September 2021
The garage biohackers who manipulate DNA
The ability to home-brew lethal pathogens with new gene-editing tools such as CRISPR is exploding unchecked.
- Izabella Kaminska
December 2020
Why scientists want to get to the root of grey hair
Researchers are exploring the many mysteries of white or silver-looking hair, its possible links to health – and whether the greying process is reversible.
- Marlene Cimons
When does genomics become eugenics?
As the tools to identify human traits and manipulate them become more refined, ideas about normalcy and deviancy, fitness and disability, are subtly changing.
- Eben Kirksey
April 2020
A new life form emerges from the lab
These programmable creatures might one day be used to clean microplastics from our oceans, deliver drugs to a tumour or clean the walls of our arteries.
- Joshua Sokol
The plant curators ready to green your work-from-home space
Plant "curators" and stylists are experiencing a boom right now, as quarantined workers look to green their homes.
- Dan F Stapleton
January 2020
Airport travellers to US to be screened for new Chinese virus
The virus - from central China - has sickened dozens of people with pneumonia-like illnesses and killed two.
- Lena H. Sun
December 2019
Jail for scientist who edited babies' genes
He Jiankui shocked the scientific world when he announced he had altered the genes of two babies while they were embryos.
How the discovery of a new human organ will shape future health
We are all hosts to trillions of microorganisms that form the human microbiome, which is as heavy as the brain and as metabolically active as the liver.
- Jill Margo