By Olaf Meynecke, Research Fellow in Marine Science and Manager Whales & Climate Program, Griffith University
It was a tragic sight.
One day last July, a newborn humpback whale calf lay motionless on the seafloor, just a kilometre off Australia’s Gold Coast. The encounter was captured through underwater video.
For more than an hour, the mother repeatedly returned to the same spot, gently touching the calf with her head and pectoral fin and resting beside it eye-to-eye. Our new research suggests this is the first described case of a humpback whale mother…
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By Andrew James Couzens, Lecturer in Digital Media, CQUniversity Australia
Jim Picton, Head of Course Digital Media, CQUniversity Australia
In the final moments of Steven Spielberg’s 1981 film Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, the mystical Ark of the Covenant is stored in an enormous, box-filled warehouse.
How did the filmmakers create such a huge set? The truth is, there is no set: it’s a painting.
The technique of matte painting has been used in some of cinema’s most incredible moments – and it can leave you doubting what’s in front of your eyes.
What is matte painting?
Matte…
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By Saniyat Islam, Associate Professor, Fashion and Textiles, RMIT University
You forget a load in the machine overnight, and by the morning it smells worse than before you washed it.
Most of us are familiar with that “wet dishcloth” smell. Worse, once it’s settled into your clothes, it can be difficult to get rid of.
So what’s going on, and how to fix it? The answers lie both with biology and with textile science, which helps explain why some fabrics are worse affected than others.
The hidden living things in the water
Damp fabric at room temperature is close to an ideal microbial habitat. They have warmth, moisture and abundant…
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By Brent Ritchie, Professor of Tourism Management, The University of Queensland
Almost one in seven jobs in Nepal rely on tourism. Travellers need to consider these things before planning a return to Nepal.
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By Brendan Choat, Professor of Plant Ecology and Physiology, Western Sydney University
Daniel Falster, ARC Future Fellow in Ecology, UNSW
Collecting data from sensors in remote woodlands has long required arduous treks. What if sensors could transmit data in real time?
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image People attend the Budapest Pride March in Budapest, Hungary, June 27, 2026. © 2026 Marton Monus/Reuters Hungary’s new government has taken an important step toward dismantling a key discriminatory legacy of the Orbán era—the legal targeting of LGBT people. The job is not finished, however.The government submitted legislation to Parliament on September 14 to remove several provisions of the 2021 so-called “child protection” law that restrict the “portrayal” or “promotion” of sexual and gender diversity in content accessible to children. The proposed changes…
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By Guest Contributor
An Indigenous-led campaign denounces the impacts of a mega railway project and demands respect for territory, self-determination, and the right to live and dream.
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By Judith Smith, Professor of Health Policy and Management, University of Birmingham
The report described the number of ways that management and organisational faults contributed to the tragedies that occurred at the hospital.
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By Bastien Fond, Chercheur en sociologie politique au Centre Marc Bloch, Humboldt University of Berlin; Université de Caen Normandie
The AfD has put the fight against wind turbines at the core of its election strategy. Could a win in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt slow down Germany’s energy transition?
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By Nicola Simone Smith, Liber Ero Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia
William W. L. Cheung, Professor and Director, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia
In 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico with maximum sustained winds of 250 kilometres an hour. It devastated communities and infrastructure, was associated with nearly 3,000 deaths and caused tens of billions of dollars in losses.
The storm was a disaster for nature too. On land, severe forest damage led to dramatic declines in forest birds. In the sea, storms moved large amounts…
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