Fighting the drought with natural sequence farming

Slowing flows in rural creeks with “leaky weirs” may help reduce erosion and rehydrate the floodplain and more research on their effectiveness could help the nation’s farmers battle drought.

Crowdfunding aims to save the Tasmanian Devil

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched by the University of Adelaide to help save the Tasmanian devil, one of Australia’s most iconic but endangered animals.

Human activity threatens 25% of mammal species

Human impacts such as deforestation and hunting are the biggest risk factors in the possible extinction of a quarter of all land-based mammals, according to a University of Queensland study.

A ‘great and merciless thinning:’ the vanishing world of insects

Insect populations are plummeting around the world, due to pesticides, climate change and habitat loss, threatening the ecosystems which depend on them. Imagining the disappearance of species through literature can help motivate a real life fight for their survival.

Drugs in our waterways, the bugs and beyond

Medicines designed for humans are finding their way into our rivers and streams and are accumulating in insects and their predators with potentially damaging effects on the food chain.

Saving the last of the Earth’s wilderness

The world’s last wilderness areas are rapidly disappearing, and explicit international conservation targets critically needed to protect them.

Modelling the tsunami threat to Sydney

Whirlpools at the Spit, inundation of Manly Corso and major disruptions are possible impacts revealed in a first-of-its-kind study into the tsunami threat to all of Sydney Harbour.

Scientists uncover volcanic lost world off the Tasmanian coast

Scientists studying ocean productivity have uncovered a volcanic lost world teeming with marine life off the Tasmanian coast.

How are we doing on a ‘Green New Deal?’

As the IPCC publishes its new report on global warming of 1.5 degrees, we need a political and economic stock-take on the measures we’re taking to fight climate change.

Protecting thirsty urban trees from ever harsher summers

Urban forests are great for keeping our cities cool, but as temperatures go up they need water to survive – and that’s where redirecting storm water to street trees comes in.

Lilly Pilly fossils reveal snowless Snowy Mountains

Leaf fossils discovered high in Australia’s Snowy Mountains have revealed a past history of warmer rainforest vegetation and a lack of snow, in contrast with the alpine vegetation and winter snow-covered slopes of today.

Recycling goes to landfill while technology sits idle

People are losing confidence in recycling and overwhelmingly want government to support better solutions, according to a new university survey.