Blog

Twinkle, twinkle, giant stars! Pairs of so-called ‘heartbeat’ stars change their brightness like the rhythm of a beating heart. For the first time, new models show that they also create gigantic waves.

From unstoppable scientists to terrifying natural phenomena, we’re taking on forces of nature. Naturally we hope you get a 5/5, but don’t force it!

Journalism is not just for adults. We know young writers and readers want science news that’s fascinating and fun. So, CSIRO Double Helix magazine and Letterly are hosting a “Young STEM Journalism Bootcamp” this school holidays.

The warm weather is perfect for a cool meal! Ceviche (suh-VEE-chay) is a popular dish from Central and South America that relies on lime juice to “cook” seafood without any heat.

Farmer Doolittle has a farm with just cows and chickens. The farmer counts up all the animals and discovers that there are 43 heads and 120 legs on the farm (not counting the farmers). How many cows live on farmer Doolittle’s farm?

Take a look around the zoo and you might spot animals using tools to make their lives easier. Otters use stones to crack into shells, and chimpanzees use sticks to fish up termites. But it’s not just about food. Last week, scientists wrote about a whole new example of tool-use in elephants … and one elephant may be capable of pulling a tool-based prank.

As the year starts to wrap up, people around the world are listing things they’re grateful for. We think science should top those lists! Can you top our quiz?

Training artificial intelligence (AI) can be as easy as 1, 2, 3! Teach an AI program or “model” to pull off a very simple card trick… and learn from its mistakes.

We’ve written a code using two different prime numbers less than 10. We then multiplied these two primes and used the resulting “code number” to shift the alphabet forward to new letters. Can you use the clues above to decode this message: DRO QYVN SC LEBSON SX DRO QKBNOX.

The biggest ever prime number has just been found and it’s absolutely massive. It’s a number with more than 41 million digits. That means, if you were to type it out in size 12 font, it would be more than 8,000km long! That’s about the distance from Melbourne to Tokyo.