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Written by Beth Askham The New Horizons spacecraft has begun sending back images of the much loved dwarf planet. As it gets closer, we will see features on Pluto’s surface for the first time. Craters, canyons, mountains will appear in New Horizons’ images. But what shall we call them?

Written by Beth Askham Even though it has the cutest smile in the marsupial world, quokkas still need a good supply of food, water and rest spots to survive. The biggest population of these adorable marsupials live on Rottnest Island off the coast of Perth in Western Australia.

Written by Hugo Taylor Have you ever heard of the Brontosaurus? This giant dinosaur pops up in books, movies, television shows, in fact, almost everywhere! Even when it was thrown out by scientists, we didn’t want to let it go from our collective imagination. The good news is that this much-loved dinosaur is back.

Written by Beth Askham Deep underground in the centre of Australia is evidence of the biggest asteroid impact in the Earth’s history. It wasn’t just a single impact, but a twin strike from a meteorite that may have split into two as it plummeted towards Earth.

Written by Beth Askham When mysterious lumps of pumice stone washed up on beaches in Tasmania, Australia, Rebecca Carey knew that they must be coming from an underwater volcano. Rebecca is a Tasmanian volcanologist (someone who studies volcanos), and she had been tracking the travelling pumice for more than a year.

Written by Beth Askham A minor geomagnetic storm was forecast for around midday (Australia time) Friday the 13 of March. The storm is a result of three solar flares from the Sun that occurred earlier this week. Looks like we’re in for some rough space weather!

Written by Beth Askham Drones, lasers, planes and liquid nitrogen were all called in to measure the growth of a Tasmanian forest. Sometimes measurement can be a little more exciting than you might think.

Written by Beth Askham Imagine if your touchscreen had texture. Pages, pictures and games would all come to life under your fingertips. Researchers are finding out ways that we can trick out brains into thinking a flat touch screen is a world of texture.

A big congratulations to Dhruv Verma from Victoria and Jackson Huang from Queensland, the two winners of this year’s BHP Billiton Science and Engineering Awards. Dhruv was recognised for his PROTEGO project, and Jackson for his investigation into heartburn medication alternatives.

Written by Beth Askham Researchers have found that whales hear low frequency sounds by amplifying them in their skull bones. Ocean sounds made by humans may be messing with their heads.