Cosmos Magazine

Cosmos Magazine is an award-winning literary science magazine, published in Australia but with a global reach. Cosmos Magazine presents the exciting world of science in a way that everyone can enjoy, with beautiful pictures and clear explanations of the latest developments. Discover the universe around you and what makes it tick.

From the Executive Director

COSMOS BRIEFING

From the Editors

Cosmos Magazine

Star-making motion • International team produces the world’s highest-resolution simulation of astrophysical turbulence.

We’ve made more than the Earth has grown • Anthropogenic mass now exceeds living biomass, study finds.

THE ORIGINS OF MONEY • Standardised Bronze Age objects may have acted as ancient currency.

Perfect f luid? I like the sound of that • Physicists measure some rare diffusion.

FOCUS: FOSSILS

Creating nanobots like they do in movies • Design theory seeks to control how they assemble.

CONTINENTS ‘PRONE TO DESTRUCTION’ IN INFANCY • Geologists model the origin of the cratonic mantle.

Hayabusa2 capsule and cargo are back • Is this the most valuable five grams on the planet?

DOWN WITH THE (ANTIBIOTIC) RESISTANCE! • Phages force problem bacteria to expose themselves.

Past (more) perfect • New technique may sharpen accuracy for measuring past temperatures.

Silicone memory? • Metamaterial can be reprogrammed with different properties.

MAKING OXYGEN ON MARS • Breakthrough process is about more than Perseverance.

Animal magnetism is very real • Snakes repel venom via a magnet-like mechanism.

SPICE UP YOUR SOLAR • A touch of chilli may create more stable photovoltaic cells.

Not just drifting by • Risky crossing likely a migration choice.

Hybrid evolution • Study explores the blending of complex animal patterns.

Scientists brave enough to grow a spine • Stem cells self-organise into trunk-like structures.

HOW WIDE IS THE OCEAN? • If it’s the Atlantic, it’s getting wider all the time.

IT’S FOR MEASURING…

BUBBLES ON ELECTRODES? NOT A PROBLEM • Research shows they can speed up chemical processes.

Cosmic collision spells beginning of the end • Astronomers witness possible new mechanism for galaxies to die.

Golden grains • Australian agricultural innovation relies on the combined harvest of old knowledge and new thinking, says Bruce Pascoe.

MEET THE FLOCKERS • Murmuration is one of the most beautiful – and least understood – natural behaviours

A shot at the Moon • The lessons we’ve learned through coping as Australians – such as living, working and surviving in remote locations, and communicating over great distances – are the things that give us a place at the table of future space exploration. TORY SHEPHERD reports.

ELEMENTAL, MY DEAR WATSON

WHAT LIES BENEATH • Scientists in Slovenia are leading the charge to understand and protect a charismatic, cave-dwelling salamander – and the subterranean habitats that supply much of the region’s drinking water. KATIE JEWETT reports.

IN FOCUS: SALAMANDERS

Vaccine next gen • Molecular clamp technology may prove to be the future of vaccines, but in the fight against COVID-19 it was famously abandoned at the 11th hour. MANUELA CALLARI reports.

IN FOCUS: VIRAL INFECTION

HOW MOLECULAR CLAMP TECHNOLOGY WORKS

FORM AND FUNCTION

LUNAR traditions of the First AUSTRALIANS • The Moon’s movement and light informs knowledge of the land and harvest across the continent. Karlie Noon and Duane Hamacher

LITHIUM Powering the green revolution • A WORLDWIDE CLAMOUR FOR BETTER BATTERY POWER HAS CAUSED A “WHITE GOLD” RUSH ON LITHIUM....