By Ariel Marcy, 14 November 2024
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.
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By Evrim Yazgin, 31 October 2024
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.
By Imma Perfetto, 17 October 2024
Friendly neighbourhood scientists have created their own version of Spider-Man’s webs. Their silk mixture can form a solid string when shot out of a needle and even stick to and lift objects!
By Imma Perfetto, 3 October 2024
Do you laugh or smile when playing around with your friends? It turns out bottlenose dolphins do too! Scientists have found that dolphins “smile” to communicate during playtime. And they probably do it to make sure their pals don’t mistake playfulness for aggression.
By Ariel Marcy, 18 September 2024
When a predator swallows their prey, usually that’s the end of the story. But scientists have discovered an eel that can escape from a fish’s stomach!
By Ariel Marcy, 6 September 2024
What caused the dinosaurs to go extinct 66 million years ago? Most scientists think an asteroid impact sealed their fate. But others think massive volcanic eruptions in India did the job. Now, scientists from Europe have used chemistry to support the asteroid theory and they can even say where the asteroid came from!
By David Shaw, 21 August 2024
It’s happened to all of us – the computer program you’re using starts thinking and won’t respond. Sometimes, you just need to wait for it to finish what it’s doing. But other times, it’s stuck in a loop and it’ll never recover. So is it time to press the reset button?
By Ariel Marcy, 6 August 2024
Meet Aurora Foo: when a natural disaster strikes, she’s helping the helpers. Her job is assisting situation rooms and command centres around the country!
By Ariel Marcy, 25 July 2024
On 11 July, Australian scientists made a super-fast connection with a satellite. This feat of engineering required the team to aim a laser up in space at a receiver built into the back of a ute.
By Ariel Marcy, 9 July 2024
Do you ever get a stiff neck from doing assignments? Do your thumbs ever get sore after playing lots of video games? Sitting in the same position or doing the same task over and over can cause injuries and even change your bones! And we just found out that this has been going on for a very, very long time.
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