Sep
21
2018
In a breakthrough discovery, scientists from the Australian National University have found molecules of animal fat in a fossil more than 558 million years old, making the “Dickinsonia” the world’s first confirmed animal.
Whaling on the high seas
Sep
12
2018
At the right time every season, Australians gather at whale-watching points along the east and west coasts, or take to the water in boats and canoes in the hopes of seeing the giants of the deep, mostly humpback whales, making their way up and down the coast, travelling to and from their breeding grounds.
Falun Gong, Griffith Uni’s Fraser at odds over organs
Jul
25
2018
A spiritual leader’s criticism of a Griffith University academic in a parliamentary hearing was one of the few public skirmishes in a hard-fought battle behind the scenes, now set to culminate in an official misconduct hearing at the university next month.
Mosquito fighters in slap-down test
Jul
18
2018
A new battle in the world’s mosquito wars is being fought around Innisfail in far north Queensland, where an international research team released three million male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. This species can transmit a range of potentially lethal diseases including dengue, yellow fever and Zika, which can cause birth defects.
Doing whatever it takes to rehabilitate the Great Barrier Reef
Jul
16
2018
How about saving the Great Barrier Reef with a one-molecule-thick layer of natural calcium carbonate that floats on the sea surface and reduces the damaging heat of the sun on corals? Maybe the answer is cloud-brightening — spraying microscopic droplets of seawater into the atmosphere to form clouds and provide more shade for the heat-battered …read more
Who drew Marree Man?
Jun
25
2018
Somebody familiar with the tiny red-dirt town of Marree is good at keeping a giant secret. Marree, population 150, sits at the junction of the Oodnadatta and Birdsville tracks in the remote upper north of South Australia, east of one of Australia’s great mysteries: the “Marree Man”, a 4.2km-long reproduction of a giant Aboriginal figure …read more
Stephen Hawking departs, leaves a big black hole
Mar
15
2018
Stephen Hawking has left a big black hole in the hearts of millions: people who admired his enormous intellect, his wicked sense of humour, and his extraordinary courage in battling a debilitating medical condition that left him slumped in a wheelchair and communicating via a machine.
Medicinal cannabis can’t come quickly enough for some
Jan
18
2018
Nicole Cowles has been dosing her daughter with cannabis for years. Before she began, Alice, now nearly 12, often had dozens of seizures a day. The so-called “hippie drug” has made all the difference for one little girl.
No Front Line: Australia’s Special Forces in Afghanistan; Seventh Circle
Dec
2
2017
Landlocked and mountainous, with an extreme climate veering between the numbing cold of snow and ice and blistering desert heat, the insular nation of Afghanistan has never been successfully occupied. The British were routed, twice; the Russians were given the push after years of bloody insurrection. And now the post-September 11 alliance, dominated by the …read more
It’s a long way to the top
Nov
17
2017
As both a former CFO and CEO in the world of Australian business, Ming Long knows how difficult it can be to take that final step up the corporate ladder to become chief executive officer, the boss in charge of the company’s destiny. According to a census of senior executives in the ASX-200 companies, conducted …read more