Solving the mystery of Sandy Point man

Forensic genetic genealogy allows investigators to narrow the search for a criminal or a body’s identity to their close family, and has already solved several ‘cold’ cases, including the identity Victoria’s mysterious Sandy Point Man.

Dark stars

Astronomers have known for decades that the universe is expanding, but current models cannot explain the speed with which it is taking place.

Researching the researchers

Research plays a pivotal role in society. Through research, we gain new understandings, test theories and make discoveries, but how do we know if individual research projects being conducted in Australia are good quality?

The question of answers

The scientific method is supposed to offer an evidence based path towards objective understanding, but – as any poll researcher knows – the answers produced by the analysis of data are heavily shaped by the questions that are asked.

Shining light on dark matter

A team of international researchers, led by experts at the University of Adelaide, has uncovered further clues in the quest for insights into the nature of dark matter.

Epigenetics and evolution

A new book reveals how a population’s non-genetic responses to environmental change are central to the process of evolution.

Rolling the die

People have been predicting the end of the world since the dawn of recorded history, and they’ve all been wrong, so is Tony Ord’s estimation that humanity has a one in six chance of extinction this century anything more than a rhetorical device or alarmist book promoting gimmick?

Start together

Computer scientists and mathematicians working in complex systems at the University of Sydney and the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences in Germany have developed new methods to describe what many of us take for granted – how easy, or hard, it can be to fall in and out of sync.

Australia lags behind in R & D investment

Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that national investment in R&D is continuing its 14-year decline, despite the increasing pace of international innovation.

Belittling science undermines us all

Australian science enjoys the overwhelming confidence of the public, but this is at risk from those who seek to twist the truth to suit their agenda.

Target Australia

New evidence suggests the world’s largest known asteroid impact structure is buried deep in southeast Australia, the geological remnants of a vast impact hundreds of millions of years ago.

Mapping Australia’s silicon valleys

Australia’s digital technology clusters have been mapped and analysed on a national scale for the first time as part of a new report released by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, and the Tech Council of Australia.