Cosmos Magazine

› Climate change dominated this year. Two standouts for me were our coverage of the Taiwan drought, which exacerbated the microchip shortage upending the computer industry (Cosmos Weekly 12), and our video briefing on hydrogen, unpacking the so-call

Most of us walk under a eucalypt canopy – like this lemon-scented gum (Corymbia citriodora) in Kings Park, Perth – every day, and are perhaps arrested by the leaves’ wind-driven swish, or the chittering of lorikeets arguing over the tastiest blossom.

AH, SUMMER. Ours ostensibly started with the Ice Cream Festival at Adelaide’s seaside suburb of Glenelg in late October. It was cloudy; temperatures topped out at about 15°C. Good weather to be indoors finishing Cosmos 93. Further south of Adelaide i

A dash of astronaut blood, a pinch of urine and a serving of space dust –mix it together and what do you get? Houses, according to a study published in Materials Today Bio. “Scientists have been trying to develop viable technologies to produce concre

Seven years after the last Ebola epidemic in Guinea, the virus has once again reared its ugly head, with 23 cases and 12 deaths in a new outbreak. Ebola virus disease (Zaire ebolavirus) is a rare but deadly virus that kills up to 90% of the people it

The Moon rocks from China’s Chang’e 5 lander have been analysed, adding to the story of the Moon’s thermal and chemical evolution. On 17 December 2020, the mission returned 1.73 kg of lunar material to Earth from a specifically chosen landing site: O

Research led by the Australian National University (ANU) suggests that the physical and mental impacts of the Black Summer fires were more extensive than previously thought. The team surveyed more than 2,000 residents of areas around Canberra who we

For the first time, an international research team has demonstrated the existence of ghost hyperbolic surface polaritons, and it’s just about as mind-bending as it sounds. “Polaritonics is the science and technology of exploiting strong interactions

The ability to 3D print satellite parts sounds like something out of science fiction, but Swinburne University of Technology is planning to do just that. The university will install an elaborate 3D-printing system in 2022 that will be able to print a

How do you get two hearts to beat together? Tell a great story, according to a study in Cell Reports. Researchers found that the pace of a story can synchronise listeners’ hearts – but it’s driven by signals from the brain, so it only happens if they

Every now and then, a piece of technology comes along that fundamentally changes our perspective. This unassuming disc is one component of just such a technological marvel. The grain and colour of the photo betray the era – the 1980s – and another cl

Wild storms have wrecked seahorse habitats across the Australian east coast as volumes of sand have smothered the soft coral, sponge and seagrass homes of the White’s seahorse. It’s estimated that around 90% of the population was destroyed. Now the r

With a belly full of salmon and a body rolling in fat, Otis the bear has claimed the title of the fattest bear in Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska, US. Fat Bear Week 2021 celebrates the hefty Ursidae who gorge themselves on salmon before hun

Today, the Red Planet is a cold and dry desert, but in its early days it had an active water cycle. Before about 3.5 billion years ago, the planet’s denser atmosphere and higher surface temperatures supported water that flowed across the surface, wit

“We can automate nearly everything, can’t we? We can fly to the Moon, but we can’t make one of these methods simple enough for a farmer on their own to undertake.” Director of Carbon Farmers of Australia Louisa Kiely says there’s never been a better

Imagine taking a time-lapse photograph of a clear sky at night. The photograph will be filled with circular arcs of light that reflect the motion of the stars in the sky as the Earth rotates around its axis. These paths have been the subject of human

Once every few hundred years, our skies are graced by the appearance of a brilliant new star. It can outshine the brightest objects in the sky before gradually fading from visibility over weeks to months. Western scientists call it a supernova, and i

Astronomers estimate there are between 300 billion and two trillion galaxies in the universe, each containing about 100 billion stars. When you crunch the numbers, every second across the observable universe about 50 stars are exploding. These are kn

On 21 January 2014, a ground-based telescope spotted a supernova detonating in the galaxy M2. Ten days later, the Hubble Space Telescope snapped the image shown here in the inset, just as the explosion was reaching peak brightness. Dubbed SN 2014J, t

The drive to Currency Creek Arboretum, an hour south of Adelaide, meanders through the picturesque Mt Lofty Ranges. It’s a landscape of quaint sandstone cottages on gently rolling hills and lush pastures scattered with vast spreading gum trees. The c

Entries to the 2022 competition close on 30 April 2022. enter.nikonsmallworld.com Photographer: Norm Baker, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (USA). Photographer: Jason Kirk and Carlos P. Flores SuarezBaylor College of Medicine (USA). Photographer: Wa

I’m a textbook geek – let’s be honest. Check out my credentials: professional astronomer. I grew up with the science fiction greats: Arthur C. Clarke, Star Trek, and more. In my day job I create baby universes on supercomputers, and lead teams design

Deep within the Louisville Mega Cavern – a former limestone mine that extends for 40 hectares below Louisville, Kentucky – something prowls. Pitch black and filled with smoke, the chamber echoes with the sounds of dripping water, whirring and footste

It’s usually the kidnapping of schoolgirls or imminent famine that puts Nigeria in the headlines. But this last July offered some good news. A new variety of genetically modified (GM) cowpea is going into the fields in Nigeria that promises to be a g

Bruce Banerdt has the job he’s been dreaming of since he was a child growing up in the California desert, watching Neil Armstrong’s “giant leap for mankind” on TV. “I always wanted to go to space,” he says. Not that Banerdt is an astronaut. He’s prin

Ice cream seems like a simple concept: take cream or milk and make it cold enough to freeze. But in reality this frozen treat we know and love is one of the most complex food products available. Ice cream consists of finely balanced ingredients co-ex

A 2020 survey among Australian ice-cream eaters found our favourites: The flavour of vanilla pods is thought to come from over 200 chemicals, while artificial vanilla flavour is typically made of just one of them – 4-Hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde, o

Prophecy is something that affects our everyday lives. We could say “now, like never before”, but science fiction doyen Isaac Asimov recognised this when he began writing his famous Foundation series of novels in the 1940s. The potential of big data

For some, there is one great love in life – and it isn’t always human. For Navinda Kottege, that great love was with robots, a passion that started very early on. “I was very keen on engineering from my childhood. I liked mechanisms and moving things