Facts and feelings

Good science communication needs values and narratives as well as facts and figures to engage the public audience.

The science of X

As the world faces existential problems such as pandemics and climate change, Australian scientists are facing a dilemma about the best way to connect with the wider public.

In defence of free will

The latest book by Stanford neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky – Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will – has garnered a lot of media attention for its radical contention that we’re biological robots devoid of moral responsibility for what we do, fortunately he’s also entirely wrong.

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.