How roadblocks, not just minerals, fund rebels and conflict in the Congo

Aug 14, 2018 13:52 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature Politics

For over a decade its been widely recognised that rebel financing in the Democratic Republic of Congo is firmly linked to mining. First discovered by the Belgians in 1904, the Congolese soil harbours a huge amount of...

What elephants' unique brain structures suggest about their mental abilities

Aug 13, 2018 15:29 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Conservationists have designated August 12 as World Elephant Day to raise awareness about conserving these majestic animals. Elephants have many engaging features, from their incredibly dexterous trunks to their memory...

Evolution is getting a rethink after scientists take a closer look at Earth's first animals

Aug 13, 2018 15:27 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

When did animals originate? In research published in the journal Palaeontology, we show that this question is answered by Cambrian period fossils of a frond-like sea creature called Stromatoveris psygmoglena. The...

How 'Big History' can save the world

Aug 13, 2018 15:15 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

The term Big History was coined in the early 1990s by the historian David Christian of Macquarie University. It is nothing if not ambitious, aiming to integrate human history with the deeper history of the universe. The...

Sapphire secrets: they aren't all blue, and mining them requires luck plus labour

Aug 13, 2018 15:13 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

My favourite gem is an occasional series where we ask a scientist to share the fascinating geological and social features of a beautiful rock. Part 1 is here. I first remember seeing sapphires as a teenager in a...

To help drought-affected farmers, we need to support them in good times as well as bad

Aug 13, 2018 15:12 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

With the New South Wales government announcing that drought is now affecting the entire state, the federal governments crisis assistance payments have been described by some as too little, too late. The National Farmers...

Fighting historic wildfires amid bad ideas and no funding

Aug 13, 2018 15:10 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Shortly after my book Firestorm, How Wildfire Will Shape Our Future was published in late 2017, I received a flurry of invitations to speak about the challenges of dealing with fires that are burning bigger, hotter, more...