Read the latest opinion articles inspired by science.

Aerial photo of a saltpan

Australia just committed $207 million to a major satellite program. What is it, and why do we need it?

Landsat Nextis the next generation of an Earth observation satellite program from which Australia has benefited for over 40 years. Here's what it means for Australia.

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Moon
Mon, 13 Feb 2023

A group of US scientists this week proposed an unorthodox scheme to combat global warming: creating large clouds of Moon dust in space to reflect sunlight and cool the Earth. Unfortunately, but also unsurprisingly, the story of Moon dust reflection isn’t as simple as it seems.

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Kangaroo with joey in burnt forest
Mon, 06 Feb 2023

The Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20 were cataclysmic: a landmark in Australia’s environmental history. We must use Black Summer as an opportunity to learn – and make fundamental changes. Here are six lessons to heed.

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Bright circle on dark background
Fri, 03 Feb 2023

To find out why black holes twinkle, researchers piggy-backed on NASA’s asteroid defence effort to watch more than 5,000 of the fastest-growing black holes in the sky for five years.

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Hands at computer with ChatGPT on screen
Tue, 31 Jan 2023

The issue of AI authorship is now clearly on the minds of commercial academic publishers. Many have asked whether ChatGPT could be considered an academic author.

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Illustration of quantum entanglement
Wed, 18 Jan 2023

New research published in Nature Physics, outlines a way to achieve more accurate measurements of microscopic objects using quantum computers. This could prove useful in a huge range of next-generation technologies, including biomedical sensing, laser ranging and quantum communications.

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People's gumboots in a flood
Thu, 12 Jan 2023

Earth’s water cycle is clearly changing. Globally, the air is getting hotter and drier, which means droughts and risky fire conditions are developing faster and more frequently a new report on the global water cycle concludes.

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African elephant at a waterhole
Sat, 07 Jan 2023

The African savanna elephant is listed as endangered. If the situation doesn’t change, Africa – indeed, the world – may lose one of its most iconic animal species.

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Kale leaves
Tue, 03 Jan 2023

Pure mathematics often yields unanticipated applications, but without a time machine to look into the future, how do mathematicians like me choose what to study?

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Sunrise behind bushfire haze
Thu, 22 Dec 2022

The government must urgently develop a comprehensive, well-informed and fair plan to reduce the risks, by adapting to climate change.

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