A new study shows the enigmatic hominin species Australopithecus africanus may have breastfed young for around 5-6 years – a very costly practice for the mother.
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The short answer is yes, but it’s really, really difficult.
Pro-Beijing media used different messages to target specific audiences inside and outside China during the Hong Kong protests, but each had the same goal – putting the right spin on the news.
New research outlines how the ancestors of modern humans interbred with several archaic human groups on the passage from Africa to Australia.
When the first Jurassic Park film came out, we didn’t know which dinosaurs had feathers. But a few years later, a very important discovery was made that changed our thinking on how dinosaurs looked.
Our sense of touch lets us know how hard or soft something is, how solid or pliable it is to handle. That’s an important skill if you want robots to handle things safely.
With the benefit of hindsight, we might finally see that the iPhone was the opposite of minimalism.
The very hottest stars actually glow blue.
In order to reach younger audiences, social media apps must get past the gatekeepers of preteen online engagement: the parents.
New findings suggest the core has been leaking for the past 2.5 billion years, and that could help scientists understand how the core was formed.
In the future we might get sick of hearing people tell their stories about going to the Moon. Perhaps the Moon will just be like thinking about today’s Antarctica – a remote but accessible place.
New Zealand has one of the world’s largest ocean territories, but the marine environment is at risk from climate change, pollution and fishing.
Parts of Antarctica’s largest ice shelf are melting ten times faster than the rest of the shelf, and solar heated waters below the ice are to blame.
Electricity happens when electrons move from one atom to another.
The ‘right’ amount of noise is different for everyone. That might explain why some people perform best in noisy environments, while others prefer silence.
People are more willing to participate in fitness tracker-based insurance policies when they are in control of their participation.
In 1887 Queensland’s chief weatherman Clement Wragge began naming tropical cyclones, using names from the Greek alphabet, fabulous beasts and politicians who annoyed him.
Instead of worrying that emoji is replacing competent language use, we can celebrate that emoji are creating a richer form of online communication that returns the features of gesture to language.
The idea of CRISPR as scissors ignores an entire ecosystem of moving parts that are crucial for understanding the awe-inspiring, crazy thing scientists are trying to do when they attempt gene editing.
In VR you can explore the world from a different point of view. And studies have shown that experiencing new perspectives in the virtual world can alter your behaviour in real life.
A new legal framework for automated decision making is critical to protect citizens in the digital age.
‘This is going to affect how we determine time since death’: how studying body donors in the bush is changing forensic science
The Conversation, CC BY77.2 MB (download)
On the outskirts of Sydney, in a secret bushland location, lies what's officially known as the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research. In books or movies, it'd be called a body farm.
Most common chronic diseases are the outcome of complex interactions between genetic, environmental and social risk factors, so a genetic risk score, on its own, isn’t much help.
On Earth the flame from a struck match looks like an inverted teardrop shape and is orange. In microgravity, that same flame is spherical and blue. Heat transfer is different with minimal gravity.
Australia’s latest defamation ruling has made Facebook publishing a minefield, but there are strategies to ensure better social media outcomes for everyone.