Science and Technology

Page 11

Why are auroras so hard to predict? And when can we expect more?

by Hannah Schunker, ARC Future Fellow in Physics at The University of Newcastle, and Brett Carter, Associate Professor in STEM at RMIT University

On Saturday evening before Mother’s Day, Australians witnessed a rare celestial spectacle: a breathtaking display of aurora australis, also known as the southern lights.

Arts, Culture and Society

Big dreams built through remote community partnership

by Shahni Wellington

The unlikely pairing of outback Menindee and seaside Newcastle have successfully bridged the distance

Environment

Partnering to solve the Pacific plastics plight

by Penny Harnett

Microplastics are notoriously hard to detect but their impact is significant. How deep is the problem in the Pacific Ocean? Scientists from Australia and Samoa teamed up to find out.

Environment

What has the Nobel Prize in Physics ever done for me?

by Karen Livesey

Each October, physics is in the news with the awarding of the Nobel Prize. The work acknowledged through this most prestigious award often seems far removed from our everyday lives, with prizes given for things like “optical methods for studying Hertzian resonances in atoms” and “elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions”.

Our Communities

The ripple effect of drought

by Penny Harnett

Drought is like a creeping cancer. It insidiously infects communities. It spreads profound and multifaceted challenges that demand multidisciplinary treatment.

Environment

Why El Niño doesn’t mean certain drought

by Abraham Gibson, Danielle Verdon-Kidd

The Bureau of Meteorology released its latest climate driver update on Tuesday, saying the current La Niña has weakened and is “likely near its end”. Most climate models now point to neutral conditions – neither El Niño nor La Niña – through autumn and a trend towards El Niño in early spring

Our Communities

What Australia learned from recent devastating floods – and how New Zealand can apply those lessons now

by Iftekhar Ahmed

Australia and New Zealand have both faced a series of devastating floods triggered by climate change and the return of the La Niña weather pattern. So it makes sense that Australia has now sent disaster crews to help with the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Environment

‘Forever chemicals’ have made their way to farms. For now, levels in your food are low – but there’s no time to waste

by Ravi Naidu

They stop your food from sticking to the pan. They prevent stains in clothes and carpets. They help firefighting foam to extinguish fires. But the very thing that makes “forever chemicals” so useful also makes them dangerous.

Environment

Photos from the field: our voyage investigating Australia’s submarine landslides and deep-marine canyons

by Hannah Power, Kendall Mollison, Michael Kinsela, Tom Hubble

Environmental scientists see flora, fauna and phenomena the rest of us rarely do. In this series, we’ve invited them to share their unique photos from the field.

Health and Wellbeing

Want your child to eat more veggies? Talk to them about ‘eating the rainbow'

by Emma Beckett

Parents of young children today were raised during some of the most damaging periods of diet culture. From diet and “lite” foods and drinks, to expensive “superfoods”, one constant across these changing trends has been the moralisation of food as “good” or “bad”.

Health and Wellbeing

Stop hating on pasta – it actually has a healthy ratio of carbs, protein and fat

by Emma Beckett

New year, new you, new diet. It’s a familiar refrain. One popular dieting technique is to create a food blacklist. Quitting “carbs” or packaged foods is common, which can mean avoiding supermarket staples like pasta.

Our Communities

Traditional knowledge key to solving the world’s plastics pollution disaster

by Gemma Dawkins & Shahni Wellington

A return to Indigenous-led solutions may be our only hope to address the global waste issue, according to researchers.

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