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Caster Semenya is legally female, was from birth raised as female and identifies as a female. Jon Connell on flickr

Ten ethical flaws in the Caster Semenya decision on intersex in sport

Athlete Caster Semenya will need to take hormone-lowering agents, or have surgery, if she wishes to continue her career in her chosen events. But the decision to ban her is flawed on many grounds.
Relative sizes of planets that are in a zone potentially compatible with life: Kepler-22b, Kepler-69c, Kepler-62e, Kepler-62f and Earth (named left to right; except for Earth, these are artists’ renditions). NASA

Why the idea of alien life now seems inevitable and possibly imminent

The ancient question ‘Are we alone?’ has graduated from being a philosophical musing to a testable hypothesis. We should be prepared for an answer.
Signs of life on Mars? These are the tracks of NASA’s Curiosity rover exploring the Martian landscape. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Our long fascination with the journey to Mars

Mars has long captured our imagination, from claims of canals to Martian attacks and now our latest NASA exploration to look inside the red planet.
The Tianshan mountains frame Sayram Lake in the Bortala Prefecture in Xinjiang, China. Gilby Jepson

How Eurasia’s Tianshan mountains set a stage that changed the world

Setting the scene for ancient Silk Road trading and now China’s Belt and Road initiative, the Tianshan has changed humanity. Geological evidence shows us how this incredible mountain range formed.
It’s just a tiny part of the Y chromosome that kickstarts the development of testes. Kelly Searle/Unsplash

What makes you a man or a woman? Geneticist Jenny Graves explains

There are many cultural and social factors involved in making a baby into a man or a woman. But biologically speaking, sex starts when you’re just a tiny group of cells in your mother’s uterus.
It’s been 50 years since the find of burnt bones in ancient soil, eroded from deep in shoreline dune in NSW. Jim Bowler

Time to honour a historical legend: 50 years since the discovery of Mungo Lady

It’s been half a century since Jim Bowler discovered Mungo Lady, which changed the course of Australian history. But now he says the find has fallen off the national radar, leaving a legacy of shame.
The Homeward Bound initiative works with women in science to enhance their opportunity to take up leadership roles globally. Oli Samson

How a trip to Antarctica became a real-life experiment in decision-making

This year 77 women took part in the largest all-female expedition to Antarctica as part of a leadership training program. Rough weather enroute put group decision-making skills to the test.
Lake Mungo and the surrounding Willandra Lakes of NSW were established around 150,000 years ago. from www.shutterstock.com

The Dreamtime, science and narratives of Indigenous Australia

New techniques for genetic analysis are helping us build more detailed and accurate stories about the ancient histories of the first Australians.
Australia’s Prime Minister and Minister for Jobs and Innovation meet with scientists at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. Michael Chambers/AAP

Servant or partner? The role of expertise and knowledge in democracy

Plato suggested we leave complex things to experts and Aristotle suggested we leave them to the people. That tension has carried through to modern debates about where expertise belongs.

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