Sixty-six million years ago, the age of the dinosaurs came to a dramatic close as a huge asteroid impact accelerated them on a path towards extinction. Not all of them died out, however; those that survived went on to become today’s birds. Scientists are still trying to carefully map out the anatomical changes that occurred […]
Yottawatt \YOT-ah-wat\ n.: 1 million billion billion watts That’s a lotta watts. And a lot more — 3.6 x 1049 watts, or 36 septillion yottawatts — blasted out of the black hole collision that the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory detected in September. Rather than a flash of light, the power came out as ripples […]
Most people would be happy to get rid of excess body fat. Even better: Trade the spare tire for something useful — say, better-functioning knees or hips, or a fix for an ailing heart or a broken bone. The idea is not far-fetched, some scientists say. Researchers worldwide are repurposing discarded fat to repair body parts damaged […]
Nicholas Trainer is many things: an artist, a locksmith, and perhaps most importantly, a beekeeper. Bees are, of course, known for their ability to make honey, the superbly delicious golden ooze enjoyed by millions across the world. Mr. Trainer is also an outspoken supporter of medicinal marijuana, and he’s decided to combine his interests in […]
Astronomers are getting ever closer to understanding the origin of mysterious “fast radio bursts” – very brief but intense pulses of radio waves from outer space – after a series ofrecent contradictory findings. While the cause of these powerful blips is still unknown, scientists’ eagerness to find out is driving a renaissance in radio astronomy. […]
Around 5% of common garden snails in and around Sydney contain larvae of the parasite Angiostrongylus cantonensis, commonly known as the rat lungworm. It is probably more common in Brisbane and is seen on the coast from far north Queensland down to Jervis Bay. The definitive hosts of this parasite are black and brown rats. That’s […]
Absolute risk is the risk of developing a cancer over a certain period of time. Relative risk is the risk one group of people has of developing a cancer compared to the risk of another group. The Conversation’s cancer map shows that the risk of bowel cancer is 10% higher for men and women who […]
Most Australians are familiar with the painful red skin, blisters and peeling that follow too much time in the sun. Last summer, 2.4 million Australian adults were getting sunburnteach weekend. But what’s actually happening in the skin during a sunburn? DNA damage Sunburn is a radiation burn, caused when the ultraviolet (UV) rays of sunlight […]
Researchers at the University of Rochester have shown that the human brain—once thought to be a seriously flawed decision maker—is actually hard-wired to allow us to make the best decisions possible with the information we are given. The findings are published in today’s issue of the journal Neuron. Neuroscientists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky received […]
Humans have triggered the last 16 record-breaking hot years experienced on Earth (up to 2014), with the new research tracing our impact on the global climate as far back as 1937. The findings, led by Dr Andrew King from the University of Melbourne and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, suggest that […]
