This thing called life
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I’ve had the privilege of getting a sneak preview of a movie called The Gateway Bug, which is a documentary about feeding humanity in an uncertain age. It will be shown in Melbourne next weekend as part…
A couple of days ago I published an article with Peter Green about the imminent release of a tiny wasp that will be used for biological control of a bug that feeds the crazy ants that kill red crabs on…
There is big news in the world of lichens. These slow growing organisms have long been known to be a collaboration between a fungus and a photosynthetic algae or cyanobacteria. A recent publication in…
I am so proud of our recent publication, mostly because it has been a long time coming. We received an Australian Research Council grant in the year 2000 to work on this so it has taken us some time to…
Yesterday’s announcement of funding for a National Carp Control Plan – including the release of the carp herpes virus – has generated a lot of interest in the media. I welcome plans to release the virus…
An article published this week in Nature Biotechnology may require me to make a few changes to next week’s lectures on Mendelian genetics. An international group of geneticists have found people who have…
I recently wrote about how important it is to be able to identify plants and animals. Knowing the names of species that live around us helps us to connect to nature. Yes, you can enjoy greenery and birdsong…
You might think that scientists are rational, logical creatures, but it turns out we are biased and lazy. A recent publication by Trish Fleming and Phil Bateman in Mammal Review has analysed how research…
I have recently been made abundantly aware of the lack of field skills among biology students, even those who major in ecology. By field skills we mean the ability to identify plants and animals, to recognise…
Last October, I attended a symposium about managing biodiversity in Victoria under climate change. One of the outcomes of that conference is a new website called VicNature 2050, which provides a list of…