There’s no ‘Mars curse’ – it's just very hard to land there
Oct 25, 2016 17:52 pm UTC| Science
Hopes of another successful landing on Mars were dashed last week when the Schiaparelli probe went missing in action during its descent onto the Red Planet. Pictures released over the weekend from NASAs Mars...
How to boost the business of science for the benefit of us all
Oct 25, 2016 17:18 pm UTC| Science
There has been some talk in recent weeks that Australias much-vaunted ideas boom may be over before its really begun. But the truth is Australian ideas were booming long before the Turnbull government coined the term and...
CRISPR gene-editing controversy shows old ideas about East and West still prevail
Oct 24, 2016 09:37 am UTC| Science Law
The debate that followed initial experiments using the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing tool show that old stereotypes about Asia still resonate in the West. CRISPR-Cas9 is a gene editing tool that was first demonstrated US...
To uncover the secrets of exoplanets, try listening to them
Oct 24, 2016 04:35 am UTC| Science
From rainfall patterns to share price performance, the usual way to analyse any data that shows something changing over a period of time is to put it into a graphic. Making data visual usually makes it much easier to...
Deepwater Horizon: scientists are still trying to unravel mysteries of the spill
Oct 21, 2016 14:05 pm UTC| Science
The film Deepwater Horizon, starring Mark Wahlberg, captures the chaos and drama that ensued after the massive fireball that engulfed the oil rig of the same name in 2011, which killed 11 people and injured many others....
How many genes does it take to make a person?
Oct 21, 2016 14:00 pm UTC| Science
We humans like to think of ourselves as on the top of the heap compared to all the other living things on our planet. Life has evolved over three billion years from simple one-celled creatures through to multicellular...
What missing lander means for Europe’s quest to find life on Mars
Oct 20, 2016 11:42 am UTC| Science
Researchers at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, had another of those nervous days waiting to hear first from a probe designed to land on Mars surface, and then from the probes orbiting mother...
Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility
Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget
Why Germany ditched nuclear before coal – and why it won’t go back
Labour can afford to be far more ambitious with its economic policies – voters are on board
Sudan: civil war stretches into a second year with no end in sight