• Seabed mining needs international rules

    Pradeep Singh     |      July 5, 2023

    Mining the seabed without proper regulations seems outlandish but it could happen sooner than we think.

  • Bye bye billabong

    Jonathan Marshall     |      June 29, 2023

    The extensive clearing of native vegetation for sheep and cattle grazing has filled Australia’s precious waterholes with sediment, threatening the survival of the wildlife which depends on them.

  • Saving soils can save the Earth

    Open Forum     |      June 25, 2023

    New Curtin University research has identified the most carbon-rich soils in Australia are in areas that are most threatened by human activities and climate change.

  • Saving the Earth

    Open Forum     |      June 21, 2023

    Distinguished Professor Brajesh Singh from Western Sydney University’s Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment had led a global team to call for the inclusion of soil microbiomes in the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) One Health policy to help achieve its policy goals.

  • Planet hamburger

    Open Forum     |      June 18, 2023

    Vast tracts of forest in Australia and around the world have been cleared to make pasture for cattle farming, with disastrous environmental effects. Restoring the world’s forest cover to combat climate change will therefore require a wholesale change in humanity’s taste for meat.

  • An ocean index will drive the blue economy

    Luky Adrianto     |      June 13, 2023

    The Blue Economy Development Index takes a holistic approach to coastal and marine resource use by using social, economic and environmental indicators to track changes over time at national and international levels.

  • Farming under the sea

    Scott Spillias     |      June 12, 2023

    Seaweed farming could free up millions of hectares of land and help cut carbon emissions if its true value is realised but establishing at any scale will take time and investment.

  • There’s a world going on underground

    Open Forum     |      June 11, 2023

    Hidden underground fungi networks that transport minerals from the soil to plants could be taking in the equivalent of one-third of carbon emitted yearly by fossil fuels, according to international research.

  • Could life have evolved more than once?

    Jordi Paps     |      May 29, 2023

    The genesis of life is the oldest biological event, so old that no clear evidence evidence exists beyond the existence of life itself. This leaves many questions open, and one of the most tantalising is how many times life magically emerged from non-living elements.

  • Extinction is forever

    Open Forum     |      May 22, 2023

    In the lead-up to World Biodiversity Day on 22 May, the Invasive Species Council has reviewed recent research showing Australia has been averaging at least 4.5 probable extinctions every decade since the 1960s, which is more than previously thought.

  • No plastic? Fantastic

    Open Forum     |      May 17, 2023

    Plastic pollution could reduce by 80 per cent by 2040 if countries and companies make deep policy and market shifts using existing technologies, according to a new report by UN Environment Programme.

  • Controlling the exotic pet trade

    Adam Toomes     |      May 2, 2023

    The booming wildlife trade poses serious threats to animal welfare, conservation, human health and biosecurity in Australia and beyond.