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From tiny viruses to the oldest of stars, everything science-y is on-topic in this quiz. Can you get a 5 out of 5? We think you’re all over it!

A ground-breaking new study has linked high concentrations of PFAS – also known as ‘forever chemicals’ – with health impacts and population decline in freshwater turtles. The study was led by scientists from CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, and the Queensland Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI).

Whether it’s stress and uncertainty from forced displacements from wildfires, rises in sea level, or fear and hunger from poor nutrition in places where people can’t grow food, climate change is one of Earth’s biggest threats. Indeed, recent scientific discoveries show that mosquito-induced dengue cases are set to double in the next 25 years, especially in warmer areas like the Americas and Asia, and could potentially affect over 250 million people.

Can you imagine having a skeleton made of glass? The sea sponge known as Venus’ flower basket can! This glass skeleton has inspired Australian engineers to create a strong new material that could make buildings more sustainable.

The orca, or killer whale, is one of the ocean’s most feared creatures. They are highly intelligent and capable of unusual hunting techniques. Their normal diet consists of smaller fish, marine mammals, turtles and even sea birds. However, a pod of Mexican orcas has added young whale sharks to their menu.

In 2021, Assistant Professor Lindsey Swierk at the University of Binghamton discovered that the water anole can use a bubble to breathe underwater so they can escape predators. Water anoles are a brown lizard found in Costa Rica that spend time underwater and on land.

Molly Barlow is a researcher studying this amazing, endangered marsupial. She wants to know why kowari numbers are going down in the wild.

This Valentine’s Day, we’re giving you our heartiest quiz yet! Can you beat these five questions or will the pressure be too much?

Double Helix reviewer, Elvie, had questions after reading The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Extinct Animals, here’s what author Sami Bayly had to say.

The biggest birds today are the ostrich and Australia’s emu. Ostriches can be 2.7m tall and weigh 140kg! In the past, some birds were even bigger. Some of them, called moa, lived in New Zealand. One species of moa could grow to more than 3m tall and weigh a whopping 250kg! Moa went extinct about 600 years ago, soon after humans first made it to New Zealand.