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I’m Jasmine Fellows, Editor of CSIRO’s Double Helix magazine. As a girl, I’d often be found with my nose stuck in a book, comic, or magazine. I even read the earliest versions of our magazine, Double Helix News and The Helix.

By Carrol Baker Chocolate is smooth and creamy, comes in many different shapes and flavour combinations, and is a much-loved treat. So, what is it about chocolate that can send your taste buds into orbit? The secret is chemistry!

If you dug a hole straight down, what would you find? Earth isn’t just solid rock all the way through. There’s a thin rocky crust floating on the slowly flowing mantle, a liquid outer core and solid metal inner core. It turns out that Mars has a similar internal structure to Earth.

You might have seen pictures of insects trapped in amber. Millions of years ago, that amber was sticky, goopy, tree resin. But resin isn’t the only sticky stuff that can preserve ancient insects. Scientists have found insects preserved in a coprolite – fossilised poo!

Back in the California gold rush, many people were tricked by a shiny yellow crystal known as fool’s gold. Now, more than 100 years later, scientists are flipping the script. Australian and Chinese researchers have found where real gold hides inside fool’s gold!

Have you ever wondered why there are gaps in footpaths, and at the ends of bridges? Bridges, footpaths and many other structures get bigger when they heat up, and they need gaps so they don’t break on hot days. But Australian scientists have discovered a material that stays the same size over a wide range […]

By Mike McRae Double Helix magazine is looking for your questions! Our Microscope column answers the most intriguing science, tech, engineering and maths queries you can throw at us. Comment down below with your question, or email us at Helix.Editor@csiro.au. The best questions will be published in our magazine! Here’s a sample question to get […]

Are you faster than a Tyrannosaurus rex? Scientists are still arguing about how fast a T. rex could run, if it could run at all. But most animals walk more than they run. So how fast is a tyrannosaur’s walking speed?

After a rainstorm, doesn’t the world seem so clean? You might think of storms washing the earth – but they’re cleaning the air too!

Black holes have such strong gravity that nothing, not even light can escape its clutches. We like to imagine that they are far away, like the supermassive black hole in the heart of our galaxy. But there may be black holes much closer to home. We’re just not very good at seeing them – after […]