Chemistry has a bright future for us and our economy

Feb 19, 2016 02:44 am UTC| Science

Chemistry is the science of molecules: the basic building blocks of all known matter. In a way, this makes chemistry the science of everything. Chemists have shown that all the substances around us the Earth and indeed...

Mussel power: how ocean acidification is changing shells

Feb 19, 2016 01:04 am UTC| Science

One of the big problems with the worlds heavy carbon emissions is that they are driving up the levels of carbon dioxide in our oceans, which is making them more acidic. The surface pH of the oceans has already dropped from...

Solving 'Darwin's Paradox': why coral island hotspots exist in an oceanic desert

Feb 19, 2016 00:53 am UTC| Science

It was Charles Darwin, almost 200 years ago, who first asked how it could be that coral reefs could flourish in relatively barren parts of the Pacific Ocean. This conundrum subsequently became known as Darwins...

Gravitational waves offer glimpse into the past – but will we ever catch ripples from the Big Bang?

Feb 18, 2016 12:45 pm UTC| Science

Einstein was right changes in gravity do spread as waves through space. The LIGO experiment detected such waves from a collision between two black holes with masses of about 36 and 29 times that of the sun (described as...

The five most common misunderstandings about evolution

Feb 17, 2016 14:07 pm UTC| Science

Given its huge success in describing the natural world for the past 150 years, the theory of evolution is remarkably misunderstood. In a recent episode of the Australian series of Im a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, former...

Scientists report breakthrough in the quest for obese plants

Feb 17, 2016 08:18 am UTC| Science

Unlike us, plants have ample self-control when it comes to choosing how much they eat. Ironically, as humanity struggles with an obesity epidemic, plant breeders are trying to make crops eat more. When you see a field...

How did the odd black holes detected by LIGO form – and can we spot them in the sky?

Feb 16, 2016 15:22 pm UTC| Science

Great scientific discoveries often raise more questions than they answer. Just days after the announcement that gravitational waves from two merging black holes have been detected, astrophysicists are already pondering...