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Mon, May 06, 2024 12:30 AM All times are UTC

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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...

Trees are made of human breath

Aug 13, 2018 15:06 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Outside my office window, two skilled workers complete a hard and dirty job. Theyre cutting the felled trunk of a tree into small enough pieces to be thrown into the back of a truck with the rest of the chipped remains. I...

Belo Monte: there is nothing green or sustainable about these mega-dams

Aug 13, 2018 14:33 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

There are few dams in the world that capture the imagination as much as Belo Monte, built on the Big Bend of the Xingu river in the Brazilian Amazon. Its construction has involved an army of 25,000 workers working round...

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Economy

Nigerians throw naira notes around to show love: but it could land you in jail

The legal implication of physically damaging the naira, Nigerias currency, came into focus recently with the prosecution of at least two celebrities by the countrys Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Nigeria has a...

The US is one of the least trade-oriented countries in the world – despite laying the groundwork for today’s globalized system

Given the spate of news about international trade lately, Americans might be surprised to learn that the U.S. isnt very dependent on it. Indeed, looking at trade as a percentage of gross domestic product a metric...

Beyond the spin, beyond the handouts, here’s how to get a handle on what’s really happening on budget night

Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, TV or news websites on budget night. The quickest way to find out what...

Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility

Ivan Vladislavić is Johannesburgs literary linkman. He tells us, in the first pages of his new book, The Near North, that before cities were lit, first by gaslight and later electricity, people of means paid torchbearers...

Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget

With Jim Chalmerss third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief beyond the tax cuts although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As this weeks consumer price...

Politics

Sudan’s civil war is rooted in its historical favouritism of Arab and Islamic identity

The current civil war in Sudan goes beyond a simple power struggle between two generals. It reflects a deep-rooted crisis within the countrys governing structure thats been present since it gained independence from the...

South Africa’s youth are a generation lost under democracy – study

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa recently painted a rosy picture in which the countrys youth democracys children had enormous opportunities for advancement, all thanks to successive post-apartheid governments led...

Sadiq Khan on track for third term as London mayor – but nearly half of Londoners dissatisfied with performance

Polls have consistently shown that the incumbent mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, appears to be on track to win a third term in office at the upcoming mayoral elections on May 2. One poll we commissioned as part of our...

The politics stopping the UK from opening a youth mobility scheme with Europe

Earlier this week, it seemed possible that young people in the UK might soon be able to travel freely to work and live in Europe again. The European Commission laid out proposals to open mobility to millions of 18- to...

Biden administration tells employers to stop shackling workers with ‘noncompete agreements’

Most American workers are hired at will: Employers owe their employees nothing in the relationship except earned wages, and employees are at liberty to quit at their option. As the rule is generally stated, either party...

Science

IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects

About a trillion tiny particles called neutrinos pass through you every second. Created during the Big Bang, these relic neutrinos exist throughout the entire universe, but they cant harm you. In fact, only one of them is...

The Mars Sample Return mission has a shaky future, and NASA is calling on private companies for backup

A critical NASA mission in the search for life beyond Earth, Mars Sample Return, is in trouble. Its budget has ballooned from US$5 billion to over $11 billion, and the sample return date may slip from the end of this...

Dark matter: our new experiment aims to turn the ghostly substance into actual light

A ghost is haunting our universe. This has been known in astronomy and cosmology for decades. Observations suggest that about 85% of all the matter in the universe is mysterious and invisible. These two qualities are...

A Nasa rover has reached a promising place to search for fossilised life on Mars

While we go about our daily lives on Earth, a nuclear-powered robot the size of a small car is trundling around Mars looking for fossils. Unlike its predecessor Curiosity, Nasas Perseverance rover is explicitly intended to...

The rising flood of space junk is a risk to us on Earth – and governments are on the hook

A piece of space junk recently crashed through the roof and floor of a mans home in Florida. Nasa later confirmed that the object had come from unwanted hardware released from the international space station. The 700g,...

Technology

Samsung's Galaxy S25 Rumored to Boost Longevity with 'Battery AI'

Samsungs upcoming Galaxy S25 Ultra is poised to incorporate Battery AI, an innovative technology promising to improve battery life by up to 10% through smarter energy management. Unlocking the Potential of Battery AI in...

AI Protocol Render (RNDR) Soars 15% As Bitcoin Fights For Balance

As Bitcoin grapples with market volatility, altcoin Render (RNDR) stands out with a remarkable 15% surge, showcasing its resilience amid the crypto markets tumult. This surge comes as Bitcoin struggles to find stability,...

Huawei's Covert US Funding Scheme Raises Eyebrows Amid Export Ban

The revelation of Huaweis discreet sponsorship of U.S. research through a Washington-based foundation has reignited concerns about the efficacy of the export ban. Despite regulatory hurdles, the tech giant managed to fund...

Crypto.com's F1 Sponsorship Expansion Sparks Global Visibility Drive

Crypto.com, one of the top exchanges in the digital currency ecosystem, is set to expand its sporting ad budget. Notably, the trading platform is looking to expand its dominance in its push for global...

Stablecoins Set to Overtake Visa, Ripple CEO Affirms XRP and ETH Not Securities

Stablecoins are poised to challenge Visas dominance in payment volume, marking a significant shift in the crypto landscape. Meanwhile, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse asserts that XRP and Ethereum (ETH) are not securities,...