From your next smartphone to your car, digital devices rely on rare-earth minerals, but a threat from China to strangle the global supply could reshape the world as we know it.
Category Archives: Earth Sciences
Flying a drone through a whale’s snot cloud – all in the name of science
Whale snot is collected by water-proof drones flown over the blowholes of humpbacks, helping researchers assess the health of giant mammals cruising Australia's east coast.
‘You could miss entire mountains’: Inside the ambitious plan to map the entire sea floor
Less than 10 per cent of the ocean floor has been mapped using high-definition technology. A bold crowdsourcing project aims to change that — but could also open up the seabed to long-held mining interests.
Designs complete: World’s biggest telescope to be constructed in Australia’s outback
Scientists and engineers have reached a major milestone by completing important designs for world's biggest radio telescope, based in Western Australia.
Weather scientists discover one of the world’s largest hail stones
A crack team of the world's best weather scientists, including a researcher from Australia, has travelled to South America to study extreme thunderstorms, discovering one of the world's largest hailstones in the process.
The secret life of fungi
Fungi have saved millions of lives, given us wine and cheese, and could hold the key to plastic recycling. They're also more closely related to animals than they are to plants.
Move over El Nino — 2018 may be the year of the Indian Ocean Dipole
You're probably familiar with El Nino, but there's another climate driver in town, and researchers say it has an even more powerful influence on Australia's long-term droughts.
The definition of the kilogram has changed — so what will that mean for the bathroom scales?
Scientists have voted to redefine the value of a kilogram, in what they called a landmark decision that will boost the accuracy of scientific measurements.
Geophysicist Kurt Lambeck awarded PM’s top science prize
The former president of the Australian Academy of Science has been recognised for "revealing the breathing planet".
Eliminate coal to save Great Barrier Reef, climate authority warns
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns the world must virtually eliminate the use of coal for electricity by 2040 if there is to be a chance of saving even some of the Great Barrier Reef.