The Sydney Morning Herald logo
The Sydney Morning Herald logo

Science

Advertisement
Chinese rocket Zhuque-2E Y6.

Chinese rocket identified as source of mystery light in Australian skies

The unusual streak of light was visible for about 20 minutes over parts of Australia, including Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.

  • Courtney Kruk

Latest

While de-growther “logic” is unlikely to lead to a wholesale change to modern economies, it does threaten some of the more promising avenues for economic growth and the human flourishing that growth enables. Like data centres.

‘We’ll miss the AI boom’: Nation’s top scientists warn of missed opportunity

As the nation grapples with how to extract economic uplift from AI investment, 640 of Australia’s top researchers have united.

  • Paul Sakkal
Consumers cannot always count on what they are getting when it comes to probiotics.

It’s cold and flu season. Should you take a probiotic?

As the weather gets cold, niggling virus are taking hold, but it may be harder to ward off the sniffles than simply turning to a daily probiotic supplement.

  • Liam Mannix
Mosquitoes lay eggs inside a lab in Colombia. Scientists are breeding the mosquitoes to carry a bacteria that interrupts the transmission of dengue.

Massive debugging project: Why Google plans to release 32 million mosquitoes

It’s a plan Australia might need to replicate with the arrival of a new and aggressive species.

  • Angus Dalton
Most of Australia’s skies are dark.

‘We took them for granted’: Australia’s cities are losing their stars

Light pollution means city dwellers, and even residents of country towns, are increasingly missing out on the majesty above their heads.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Professor Alex McBratney, a pioneer of global soil science who has been elected as a fellow of the Royal Society.

Robot jazz and power naps: How a Sydney soil scientist got on par with Einstein

Alex Broadfoot McBratney, a Renaissance man with a penchant for art, poetry, language and lyricism, has been elevated to the highest echelons of science.

  • Angus Dalton
Advertisement
A nurse prepares a medical instrument for performing a hysteroscopy operation.

This medical procedure can be extremely painful. Part of the problem is bad research

“Women are now told if you take a couple of ibuprofen, you are fine with the pain. In reality, that is unlikely to be true,” says Professor Ben Mol, professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Monash University.

  • Liam Mannix
A meteor lights up the Sydney sky on Thursday night.

‘Imagine it’s dog poo’: The three critical rules if you find Sydney meteorite

The spectacular fireball that blazed across NSW skies offers critical clues about where it came from.

  • Angus Dalton
Dr Maxwell Lechte has investigated complex life’s earliest stages, locked in Australian rock.

Evidence for oldest complex life unearthed in Australian rocks

The microscopic 1.7-billion-year-old creatures are among our oldest ancestors; pioneers which gave rise to all multicellular life from toadstools to trees and toucans.

  • Angus Dalton
A collaboration between Adelaide University and industry could lead to a drug that can protect the body from radiation.

Australians made a pill to protect us from nuclear attack. We could lose it to the US

Extra funding for government science agencies has come at the cost of addressing a key weak spot for Australia science – keeping innovations and their economic benefits here.

  • Angus Dalton