The ‘Devil Comet’ is now visible in the night sky and without the aid of binoculars or a telescope, but keen comet-watchers will need to wait a few more weeks for the best view. Officially designated as 12P/Pons-Brooks, the  Halley-type comet is making a brief visit to our neck of the Solar system – it will be closest to the Sun, ironically, this Sunday – before it shoots out beyond Neptune’s orbit over the next 35 years. It means a child born later this year will have to wait until their 70th birthday to see the Devil’s return. But it will also be difficult to spot the comet, at least f ..read more

It’s been a big week for Australia when it comes to environmental protection, but while observers are hailing an environmental victory, they’re also concerned by delays to reforming the nation’s top biodiversity law. Federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek this week made a series of major announcements, chief among them the adoption of the commonwealth’s first EPA – to be called Environmental Protection Australia (rather than ‘agency’) – which will be a statutory body operating independent of government. This EPA will be responsible for administering 7 pieces of legislation, including th ..read more

New fossils suggest that one of the world’s largest ever snakes slithered around India 47 million years ago. Vasuki indicus would have been between 11 and 15 metres according to a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports which describes the ancient creature for the first time. The fossils were found in a brown coal mine in the western Indian state of Gujarat, about 670km northwest of Mumbai. The ancient snake’s immense size rivals Titanoboa, the largest snake of all time, which lived about 60 million years ago, just after the demise of the dinosaurs. Titanoboa, described for the firs ..read more

Despite all appearances, the space between stars, known as the interstellar medium, is anything but empty. Atoms, ions, and molecules reside in this freezing, low-pressure environment. Scientists across disciplines are working to determine the types of chemical reactions that occur in this unique environment, and which produce more than 200 unique molecules known to form there… Most recently researchers have successfully emulated interstellar medium (ISM) reaction conditions on Earth and have been able to study a type of chemical reaction called ion-neutral reactions, using “Coulomb crystals ..read more

Antarctica’s cold, dry soils are teeming with microbial life, but we know remarkably little about how its microorganisms are affected by climate change. New Australian research has begun to fill in these gaps, focussing on a specific type of microbe – chemotrophs. These use trace gases in the atmosphere – such as hydrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide – as an energy source in a process known as chemosynthesis. Phototrophic microbes, on the other hand, use visible light as an energy source through photosynthesis. The research revealed that chemotrophs declined in Antarctic soil over a 14 year ..read more

A major archaeological investigation has, for the first time, excavated a lava tube in Saudi Arabia that was inhabited by humans up to 10,000 years ago. The site at Umm Jirsan shows evidence of human activity spanning several thousand years from the Neolithic period to the Bronze Age. Supported by Saudi authorities, it continues decades of research undertaken in the region to piece together the ancient history of human activity in the Middle East. The excavation confirms the presence of humans within the unique geological formation, effectively created by lava flows that harden on the surface ..read more

The fourth recorded global coral bleaching event has been declared by US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in a timely reminder of the threats posed by climate change. Warnings about the likelihood of serious mass bleaching have persistently sounded since an El Niño weather phenomenon began in mid-2023. That event is noteworthy for its increased natural warming of oceans. But while El Niño comes and goes, one persistent change to the Pacific has been the warming of waters due to the rise of carbon emissions from human activities. The ocean is the biggest carbon absorber o ..read more

UK fossils dating to the Late Triassic (also known as the Rhaetian; 237–201 million years ago) period could be from the largest marine reptile ever. Ichthyotitan severnensis was discovered on the coast of southwest England. A new ancient jawbone was discovered about 10 km from where the same team discovered a similar jawbone. They believe the fossils represent the same, previously undescribed species. The creature is described in a paper published in the open access journal PLOS ONE. It would have been about 25 metres long – about twice the length of a bus. It doesn’t quite reach the wildly i ..read more

Beavers can chew on huge trees but their teeth don’t break, while humans eat lollies and have to head for the dentist. Now researchers say we can learn from that. Human teeth are coated in enamel – a complex crystalline substance  which acts as a protective barrier but can become susceptible to degradation from acids in food and drinks. Enamel is the hardest substance in the human body but is even harder in rodents, which also have an additional outer layer of acid-resistant iron-rich enamel. New high-resolution images of rodent incisors have revealed tiny pockets of iron-rich materials ..read more

Interspecies competition in ancient humans saw an evolutionary trend that is the complete opposite of almost all other vertebrates, according to a new study. For years, scientists assumed the main driver of the rise and fall of hominin species (which includes humans and our direct ancestors) was climate change. It is known, however, that interspecies competition is also at play as it is in most vertebrates. New research published in Nature Ecology & Evolution examines the rate at which new species of hominin emerged over 5 million years. This speciation in our lineage, they found, is unli ..read more