
‘It’s time to give up on normal’: what winter’s weird weather means for the warm months ahead
Sep 03, 2024 00:28 am UTC| Nature
Heavy winds struck south-east Australia over the weekend as a series of cold fronts moved across the continent. It followed a high fire danger in Sydney and other parts of New South Wales last week, and a fire in...

Aug 26, 2024 12:06 pm UTC| Nature
The Great Barrier Reef will continue to deteriorate, largely to climate change, and the window to secure its future is rapidly closing. That is the sobering conclusion of a major new report into the state of the...

How your festival wee could disrupt soil health and water quality
Aug 24, 2024 08:49 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature
Festival season is in full flow, and like any self-respecting plant-soil biogeochemist attending a local music festival, Im curious about how these outdoor events might modify important nutrient cycles. With crowds...

Could we use volcanoes to make electricity?
Aug 20, 2024 05:25 am UTC| Nature
Turning red-hot lava from an active volcano into electricity would be dangerous and unreliable. Volcanoes dont erupt on predictable schedules, and lava cools too quickly. But many countries, including the U.S., have found...
Aug 19, 2024 03:40 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature
Did you know that the bananas you eat today are not the same type as the ones people were eating a few generations ago? The banana you might have had with your breakfast today is a variety called the Cavendish banana,...
Trees compete for space, light and resources, and those clashes can leave battle scars
Aug 16, 2024 06:08 am UTC| Nature
When you walk through a forest, it may feel like a static setting where very little is happening. But trees are constantly interacting and reacting to each other as they grow. Theres intense competition for light and...
Rat poison is moving up through food chains, threatening carnivores around the world
Aug 12, 2024 10:55 am UTC| Nature
Rats thrive around humans, for good reason: They feed off crops and garbage and readily adapt to many settings, from farms to the worlds largest cities. To control them, people often resort to poisons. But chemicals that...