Biology
How scientists got wind of airborne germs at 3km altitude
Hundreds of different types of fungi and bacteria have been caught for the first time in the atmosphere and researchers think they know where they come from.
- by Carl Zimmer
Latest
Bandicoot bandits taking a bite out of a multimillion-dollar business
The unlikely gourmands are pilfering thousands of dollars of farmed black truffles a night, but a PhD student has been working to get them to change their ways.
- by Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Explainer
Health
Dim light, failing sight: Behind this classic sign of middle-age
The menu looks foggy. The tiny instructions are a blur. It’s that time when your vision, a marvel of evolution, needs some help sharpening up. What’s going on in the eye itself? And what else could possibly go wrong?
- by Jackson Graham
Analysis
Paris 2024
Not so simple: Boxer Imane Khelif and the science of sex
Humans exhibit a wide variety of differences in sexual development. There is no simple binary. And a history of women playing sports is also a history of questions about their sex.
- by Liam Mannix
A leg or a useless paperweight: When can a severed limb be reattached?
When a surfer’s leg washed up on a NSW beach after he was mauled by a three-metre shark, the speculation began. Would surgeons reattach it?
- by Kate Aubusson
Dolphins that play together get the girls together, WA study finds
The wonder of a good wingman and the power of play are clear in the world of Western Australia’s world-famous bottlenose dolphins, a global research team finds.
- by Charlotte Vinson
The first Australian to undergo cryopreservation is now on ice. This scientist says he won’t come back
A Sydney man who died this month lies frozen in liquid nitrogen at a regional cryogenics facility. But will he ever be resurrected?
- by Angus Dalton
Future of medical research in doubt as question mark lingers over $45 million funding
The future of a government funding program which has assisted teams developing artificial hearts and turning spider venom into drug therapies is in doubt.
- by Mary Ward
Series
Science
Brain worms, dark matter and stranger things. We explain
We put the natural world under a microscope, from rogue waves and zombie fungus to colliding atoms and meteors.
Exclusive
Wildlife
Meet the scientist playing God by cryo-freezing 100 species
An Australian scientist is on a life-saving mission with a cryogenic collection of animal cells frozen at minus 196 degrees.
- by Angus Dalton and Laura Chung
A monkey has been born with fluorescent eyes and fingers in a world first. Here’s why
Chinese scientists injected a monkey embryo with stem cells from another crab-eating macaque, with extraordinary results.
- by Angus Dalton