• Backyard scientists called up for possum patrol

    Open Forum     |      July 26, 2019

    Australia has 27 types of possums and gliders, but almost a quarter are threatened and many more are declining. Researchers from the Threatened Species Recovery Hub are calling on the community to be backyard scientists and record sightings in a new, free app.

  • A woody meadow blooms in the heart of the city

    Claire Bolge     |      July 25, 2019

    A unique research project by the Universities of Melbourne and Sheffield aims to grow urban meadows that are as tough as they are beautiful.

  • Bugs v mosquitoes

    Ary Hoffmann     |      July 21, 2019

    The Wolbachia bacteria has successfully suppressed dengue-fever carrying mosquitoes in a trial, but more work is needed to understand how the insects move to infest new areas.

  • Future proofing our health system one young doctor at a time

    Georgia Behrens     |      July 17, 2019

    The effects of climate change on people’s health will pose a new challenge to the next generation of doctors.

  • Planting trees to save the planet

    Mark Maslin     |      July 8, 2019

    Restoring the world’s forests on an unprecedented scale may be the best climate change solution available. Covering 900m hectares of land with trees could store up to two thirds of the carbon that humans have released into the atmosphere.

  • Marine reserves help fishermen as well as fish

    Dustin Marshall     |      July 7, 2019

    Properly observed marine sanctuaries for fish around Australia could benefit fishermen as well as the ocean’s dwindling stocks of wild fish by helping to boost fish numbers.

  • Mimicking nature’s own plastic to reduce man-made pollution

    Andrew Trounson     |      July 5, 2019

    Amino acid is the building block of life and researchers are aiming to use them as the basis to chemically produce compostable plastics to help address our worsening plastic waste problem.

  • A land of drought and flooding rains

    Conrad Wasko     |      July 4, 2019

    Understanding the interaction between increasing rainfall and dry soil conditions can help us make better plans to handle the consequences of climate change.

  • Australia and France should collaborate on environmental security

    Anthony Bergin     |      June 28, 2019

    A new report outlines the risk to security from environmental threats in the Southern Ocean and the ways in which France and Australia can collaborate to mitigate them.

  • A cultural shift helps safeguard the reef

    Open Forum     |      June 23, 2019

    The tourist industry on the Great Barrier Reef is being encouraged to use a novel low-cost device to help secure coral fragments to the reef.

  • Sharks v humans – Who’s the real predator?

    Open Forum     |      June 22, 2019

    Changing the way in which sharks are portrayed, and the way in which the risks are exaggerated and presented to people, is a vital step in saving these magnificent creatures from destruction by man.

  • An island haven for frogs in a world of extinctions

    Open Forum     |      June 6, 2019

    New Guinea is one of the only places in the world where frogs are safe from the species-destroying chytrid fungus. An international team of scientists has published a new paper that shows how to keep it that way, but they need help to carry out their plan.