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Catching prey can be a real chore when you’re a parasitic insect desperate to catch a meal for your babies. Sometimes it’d be easier to let your bum do all the work for you.

Focussing on a patch of sky covering roughly the same area as 100 full moons, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope in Western Australia has captured the bright glow of dozens of galaxies as they looked billions of years in the past.

We clap to get people’s attention, to say “congratulations” and even to make music. But have you noticed that everyone’s claps sound a little different? A team of physicists have now figured out why, and they think we might one day be able to tell who someone is just from their claps.

Australia’s Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) recently launched its $100 million Solar ScaleUp Challenge and this could spell good news for climate change action. The challenge aims to connect solar technology engineers from across the country and make progress towards lowering carbon emissions.

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.

Climate change is a looming threat to planet Earth, so scientists have been thinking of solutions. One of them is going to Mars in case Earth becomes inhabitable, as scientists think there might be water on Mars. But if someone asked me if I would move to Mars, I would always come out with a straight answer: no.

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.

Last October, an amateur mathematician named Luke Durant discovered the largest known prime number, M136279841, a number with more than 41 million digits. Luke used a global network of computers powered by Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), which are widely used in developing artificial intelligence algorithms. Luke’s breakthrough marked the first use of this technology to uncover a prime of this size.