Hands operating a pipette in a petri dish of liquid placed on a microscope stage.

Bug off! Protecting our collections from pests

The insects that clean up dead animal matter would love to get their mouthparts on our collections. Here’s how we stop them.

A city skyline on a rainy day with a river flooding

El Niño and La Niña – what’s it all about?

We need to talk about two children who play a major role in the global climate system: El Niño and La Niña.

Aussie beetles rolling poo balls, delighting scientists

All dung beetles are scarabs. Some dung beetles roll poo. Not all poo-rolling beetles are scarabs. What’s the answer to this (we)evil riddle?

DNA key to next level management for pests and weeds

The Australian Pest Genome Partnership (APGP) is producing genetic data for Australia’s top pests and weeds.

An eggs-traordinary move for our egg collection

What’s it like to pack and move 12 million scientific specimens, including a fragile bird egg collection? We're about to find out.

Antarctic iceberg

Torrents of Antarctic meltwater are slowing the currents that drive our vital ocean ‘overturning’ – and threaten its collapse

Australian scientists are warning that the Southern Ocean’s deep “overturning” circulation is slowing and headed for collapse.

Busy as a bee: new study confirms bees can help detect plant viruses

We love bees for their pollination and honey production. Now there’s new buzz around another task: monitoring crops for plant viruses.

Generation alpha has never had an average summer and probably never will

Last summer didn’t seem to hit the same number of scorching highs that we are accustomed to. But was it really cooler than usual?

Join the hunt for shark egg cases

The Great Eggcase Hunt has landed on Australian shores, calling on citizen scientists to look for egg cases underwater or washed up on beaches.

Why we love taxonomists

Each year, our taxonomists describe and name around 200 new species, from weevils and weedfish to weird plants.

Aerial image of Sydney Harbour

Reducing litter in Sydney Harbour

New technologies will be installed across Sydney Harbour under a pilot to prevent plastic pollution ending up in our oceans.

Weevil genius: waging war on cabomba weed

A special weevil has been released in Queensland waterways as a biological control agent to get rid of cabomba, a fast-spreading weed wreaking havoc on our aquatic environment.