Great white sharks grow a whole new kind of tooth for slicing bone as they age
A great white shark is a masterwork of evolutionary engineering. These beautiful predators glide effortlessly through…
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Yes, feral cats and foxes really have driven many Australian mammals to extinction
Where cats and foxes are abundant, there should be fewer native mammals. Lethal control is, unfortunately,…
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Why are human penises so large? New evolutionary study finds two main reasons
“Size matters” sounds like a tabloid cliché, but for evolutionary biologists the size of the human…
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4 shark bites in 48 hours: how what we do on land may shape shark behaviour
Beachgoers in Australia are on high alert following four shark incidents in New South Wales in…
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Deep sea mining is the next geopolitical frontline – and the Pacific is in the crosshairs
The process remains exploratory, but it shows how seabed plans can collide with livelihoods even before…
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Social lives of whales and dolphins shape the spread of infectious diseases
Dolphins, whales and seals are highly social animals. Many live in groups, form long-term relationships, and…
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Native pollinators need more support than honeybees in Australia – here’s why
Late last year, the New South Wales government announced an additional A$9.5 million in funding to…
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A ‘cosmic clock’ in tiny crystals has revealed the rise and fall of Australia’s ancient landscapes
Australia’s iconic red landscapes have been home to Aboriginal culture and recorded in songlines for tens…
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A centuries-old debate on how reptiles keep evolving skin bones is finally settled
Our bones did not begin deep inside the body. They started in the skin, not long…
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Clouds are vital to life – but many are becoming wispy ghosts. Here’s how to see the changes above us
As a scholar researching clouds, I have spent much of my time trying to understand the…
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The evolution of expendability: Why some ants traded armor for numbers
“Ants reduce per-worker investment in one of the most nutritionally expensive tissues for the good of…
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View from The Hill: Has Albanese misjudged the public mood or is he fearful of a royal commission?
There are stirrings within Labor. Backbencher Mike Freelander, who’s Jewish, told the Australian Financial Review there…
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We think of mushrooms as food. But mycelium-based blocks could be the future of construction
When mushrooms make the news, it’s often for grim reasons – a mysterious poisoning, toxic species…
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What do stingrays actually eat? New study reveals some only prefer a single type of prawn
As an ecologist who studies stingrays, people always ask me: what do these creatures eat? It…
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The ‘hobbits’ mysteriously disappeared 50,000 years ago. Our new study reveals what happened to their home
About 50,000 years ago, humanity lost one of its last surviving hominin cousins, Homo floresiensis (also…
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Why are some people extremely competitive while others are so chill?
If you’ve ever been on the sidelines at an under-12’s team sport, you will know that…
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Impacts of colonisation on dingoes are ‘written in their bones’, new research finds
Dingoes are no ordinary dogs. They trace their roots back to an ancient Asian lineage and…
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Some stinkbugs’ legs carry a mobile fungal garden
Many insect species hear using tympanal organs, membranes roughly resembling our eardrums but located on their…
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Why do giraffes have such long legs? Animal simulations reveal a surprising answer
If you’ve ever wondered why the giraffe has such a long neck, the answer seems clear:…
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Spiders inspired biologists to create artificial webs to capture airborne DNA for biodiversity monitoring
The global crisis of diminishing biological diversity is challenging our current ability to monitor changes in…
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Whale and dolphin migrations are being disrupted by climate change
For millennia, some of the world’s largest filter-feeding whales, including humpbacks, fin whales, and blue whales,…
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High-tech cameras capture the secrets of venomous snake bites
For more than 60 million years, venomous snakes have slithered across Earth. These ancient, chemical weapon-wielding…
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AI heavyweights call for end to ‘superintelligence’ research
I have worked in AI for more than three decades, including with pioneers such as John…
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Should humans colonise space? We asked 5 experts
For roughly 4.5 billion years, the Moon has kept Earth company. In the much shorter span…
