Cosmos Magazine

Global science, from a unique Australian perspective.

Above WA: a satellite-streaked sky

Call & return

Cosmos Magazine

From the Editors

DIGEST

Amateur palaeos nab pristine plesiosaur • 100-million-year-old fossil dug up in Australian outback might be a new species.

Asteroid probe's tiny payload yields big result • New analysis confirms asteroid Ryugu's classification among most primitive material.

Plate colour can influence picky eaters’ taste perception

Scientist unlock the secrets of what human cells really look like • Not all cells are the same.

New enzyme speeds sugar's change to biofuel • No cells, no worries.

Could we predict future cyclone paths?

Benign neglect: titanosaurs left their babies to fend for themselves • Over 250 titanosaur egg fossils were found at a nesting site containing 92 nests.

New type of quantum entanglement helps “see” inside atoms • Scientists may have struck gold (ions) with discovery.

How jet-propelled gelatinous marine organisms could inspire underwater vehicle design

Australian telescopes’ image provides glut of rare supernova remnants • We see so few – but so many stars have lived and died.

Focus: James Webb telescope

You can probably pick swearing in a foreign language

Guess the object

Small and mighty

A second golden spike? • Which point in the world best describes human history?

Extinct giant wombat over twice the size of modern wombats

Inflamed passions

Cool fire: unlocking old burning secrets

FINDING ALIEN LIFE IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM • Forget the Martian thing: alien life is possible in our solar system, and future space probes might confirm it, writes Sara Webb.

WHAT MIGHT IT LOOK LIKE?

Seeing emotions • Brain-machine interfaces and emotional AI are real enough to be undergoing trials. Petra Stock considers what they mean for the future – and whether they're needed at all.

Tyrannosaurus next • Aided by new discoveries and refined investigation methods, science is changing the way we see dinosaurs. A little colour doesn't hurt either, writes Evrim Yazgin.

BARE BONES

GALAXY IN THE DESERT • When SKA-Low, the Australian component of the SKAO is complete, it promises a revolution in knowledge about our universe, and the possibility of other life within it. But, as Jacinta Bowler reports, another technological advance could scuttle SKA's discoveries, and the enemy is hiding in plain sight.

Small world wonders • Remarkable, colourful and confronting, the entries to Nikon's 2022 Small World Photomicrography competition were as dazzling as ever.

Point of view • To learn all she could about tall trees, Lauren Fuge talked to a range of experts – then strapped on a harness and scaled an 80m blue gum.

Dumping diesel • A remote WA goldmine's hybrid renewable microgrid has seen its diesel use halved. The project's success provides proof of concept for turning the mining industry to renewables, writes Marie Low.

MORE MICRO SUCCESS – WITH HYDROGEN

Talking dead • Digital clones of the people we love could forever change how we grieve, writes Charlotte Jee.

BUG vs BUG • Australia is braced for invasion by the glassy winged sharpshooter, but happily much of the science needed to control the damaging leafhopper is already done, writes Martin J Kernan.

ZETT GEIST

A DAY IN THE (MOON) LIFE • The Artemis program is up and running, and humans could be back on the Moon's surface in 2025. What will life be like for the next generation of lunar explorers? Jamie Seidel gazes into the crystal ball…

THE ART OF AIR • Can creativity help us...