Blog

It takes a lot of information to make a human. It’s kept in our cells as DNA, which contains at least 20 000 genes. Some other forms of life can get by with much less DNA and fewer genes. Now one team of scientists think they’re close to making the simplest living thing possible.

Australians love dogs. About 40 per cent of Australian households have a dog. And if you love your dog, you should give it a hug, right? Probably not, new research shows.

It’s been really busy at Double Helix headquarters in the last few weeks. We’ve moved office, to the CSIRO Discovery Centre in Canberra. There are lots of cool things at our new workplace, including a whole museum of CSIRO science!

Written by Julia Cleghorn Almost two years ago, we reported on the discovery of a special fossilized dinosaur specimen – the first pterosaur egg preserved in 3D! Pretty impressive, huh? Since then, there have been some other interesting finds.

The Aussie bush was once full of cute, furry creatures. But these days, quolls, bandicoots and bettongs have a hard time keeping safe from feral foxes and wild dogs. So how can we protect our native animal friends? Out at Mulligan’s Flat Woodland Sanctuary on the outskirts of Canberra, the rangers built fences to protect […]

On 2 March this year, two long-term International Space Station residents returned to Earth. Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko both spent 342 days in space. Their year-long mission included space walks and Earth photography. But the most important experiment was on themselves. How does a person react to a year in space?

In a recent blog post we reported on farts, a type of methane emission. When talking about these emissions, we made an omission. That is, we should have mentioned burps as well as farts.

Written by Julia Cleghorn Cow farts and burps are a big, smelly problem. They contain a lot of methane – a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Kangaroos, on the other hand, produce a lot less methane when they toot.

Written by Emily Standen Did you know 2016 is the International Year of Pulses? Take your hand off you wrist though – this type of pulse refers to food, not your heartbeat!

When you’re installing solar panels, it’s important to point them at the Sun. But the Sun isn’t always in the same place – it moves across the sky over the course of a day. If you can aim the panels towards the Sun as it moves, they can produce up to 40 per cent more power […]