Filter

Highlighted or identified as “good”

A secret mathematical rule has shaped the beaks of birds and other dinosaurs for 200 million years

Bird beaks come in almost every shape and size – from the straw-like beak of a hummingbird to the slicing, knife-like beak of an eagle.

20/04/2025

Low effort, high visibility: what bumper stickers say about our values and identity

In an increasingly fragmented society, even a bumper sticker can be a subtle form of moral positioning.

20/04/2025

Curious Kids: if heat rises, why does it get colder in the mountains?

Warm air rises, but it also expands because air pressure decreases with height. The latter effect wins out and air becomes colder in the mountains.

20/04/2025

How a new ‘Fishheart’ project is combining science, community and Indigenous art to restore life in the Baaka-Darling River

The river’s health has been suffering, with a number of harrowing mass fish deaths events taking place in recent years.

20/04/2025

Prison needle programs could save double what they cost – our new modelling shows how

Australia leads the world in community-based needle programs. Yet they’re not used in prisons – which are hotspots for hepatitis C infection.

20/04/2025

150 years ago, the Metre Convention determined how we measure the world — a radical initiative for the time

150 years ago, the world agreed to a shared language of measurement. It still holds us together, even when everything else seems to pull us apart.

20/04/2025

With federal funding in question, artists can navigate a perilous future by looking to the past

Because the US government has rarely offered full-throated support for the arts, there’s a long tradition of innovation, adaptation and collective action among American artists.

18/04/2025

As views on spanking shift worldwide, most US adults support it, and 19 states allow physical punishment in schools

Around the world, 68 countries have banned the hitting of children in any form, including spanking. This movement began in 1979 with Sweden’s ban on all forms of physical punishment, including spanking in any setting, and including in the family…

18/04/2025

All models are wrong − a computational modeling expert explains how engineers make them useful

If an engineer makes an improper assumption while designing something, sometimes the consequences are fatal. An engineering professor explains how to reduce risk.

18/04/2025

‘Heavy metals’ contaminate 17% of the world’s croplands, say scientists

Nearly 17% of the world’s croplands are contaminated with “heavy metals”, according to a new study in Science. These contaminants – arsenic, cadmium, lead, and others – may be invisible to the eye, but they threaten food safety and human health.

17/04/2025

How does your brain create new memories? Neuroscientists discover ‘rules’ for how neurons encode new information

As you experience or encounter new things, your brain must encode this information via the right neural networks at the right time.

17/04/2025

load more