Category: Topics

In a find of international significance, on Norfolk Island, 1700km north-east of Sydney, scientists from the Australian Museum and University of Sydney together with a local excavation team this week unearthed axe-like tools thought to have been fashioned by Polynesian mariners hundreds of years ago.

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Going, going, gone: can we turn around our wildlife extinction crisis?

As the nation’s shocking record of extinctions continues unabated, Australia’s senior ecologists and conservation biologists demand urgent action.

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Tortoiseshell database a ‘game-changer’ for critically endangered marine turtles

DNA testing is connecting tortoiseshell products with the geographic origin of the hawksbill turtles they came from, in an effort to trace poachers and crack down on illegal trafficking.

Topics

Historic return of endangered Manning River turtles back to the wild

Conservation organisation, Aussie Ark, has returned 10 endangered Manning River turtles back to the wild in a world first.

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Dibbler homecoming: rare marsupial released on island haven

Twenty-eight dibblers have been released onto Dirk Hartog Island, 730km north of Perth. The tiny marsupial – one of Australia’s rarest – once thrived on the island, until feral animals wiped them out.

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Unspinning the secrets of spider webs

Stronger than steel and more elastic than rubber, spider silk has the potential to transform medicine, engineering, and materials science – if only we learn how to produce it.

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Aw shucks: tropical oysters a real pearler for shellfish aficionados

Temperate oysters have hogged the limelight, but heat-loving species have enormous potential to feed people, create economic opportunities, and rehab habitat in the tropics.