The hidden benefits of birdsong

Dec 12, 2024 02:46 am UTC| Nature

Imagine youre walking across rolling hills that stretch for miles, with warm sunshine and the chirping of birds all around. This peaceful and serene scene is an increasingly rare one in the modern world. Our natural...

Sediment is a time capsule that shows how past climate change altered our landscapes – and hints at their future

Dec 11, 2024 07:40 am UTC| Nature

Sediments are more than just layers of mud on the ground. They can reveal a wealth of information about landscapes from millions of years ago right up to the present day. To delve into those layers, scientists like me...

‘Unseen world’: researchers capture fascinating footage of the world’s smallest penguins in a bid to save them

Dec 10, 2024 05:02 am UTC| Nature

On Granite Island off South Australia, a colony of little penguins is fighting to survive. About two decades ago, the penguins numbered 1,600 adults now there are just 30. It is important for scientists to monitor and...

Ravaged jungle: just 25% of the world’s surviving tropical rainforests are in good condition

Dec 10, 2024 05:01 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

We are now in the middle of the sixth mass extinction, caused by our emergence as a planet-shaping force. Species are going extinct far faster than the average natural rate of loss. In response, conservationists are...

Around 9,000 species have already gone extinct in Australia and we’ll likely lose another this week – new study

Dec 10, 2024 05:00 am UTC| Nature

More than 95% of Australian animals are invertebrates (animals without backbones spiders, snails, insects, crabs, worms and others). There are at least 300,000 species of invertebrate in Australia. Of these, two-thirds...

Reflecting on 20 years of the Aceh tsunami: From ‘megathrust’ threat to disaster mitigation

Dec 06, 2024 01:50 am UTC| Nature

20 years have passed since the Aceh tsunami, which left deep scars on Indonesia, especially for those directly affected. Aceh was also recovering from a three-decade armed conflict between the Free Aceh Movement and the...

AI weather models can now beat the best traditional forecasts

Dec 06, 2024 01:50 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

A new machine-learning weather prediction model called GenCast can outperform the best traditional forecasting systems in at least some situations, according to a paper by Google DeepMind researchers published today in...