A small team of ecologists and scientists are working to find new ways to bolster populations of Australia’s endangered native animals Continue reading...

Coronavirus patients with high-risk comorbidities are being given a newly approved antibody drug, which limits the virus’s ability to replicate in the bodyFollow our Covid live blog for the latest updatesRestrictions: NSW; Vic; Qld; bordersVaccine rollout tracker; get our free news app; get our morning email briefingAustralia’s treatment of Covid-19 patients has improved with doctors claiming...

A team of medics hiked in the mountains for hours to take supplies to the small village of NakidaSee all our coronavirus coverageTo reach Nakida village in the highlands of Fiji, Dr Losalini Tabakei and her colleagues hiked for hours, up and down mountains, through forests, down muddy slopes, across rivers and along treacherous ridges with steep slopes of bamboo forest on either side.Their...

The space cemetery, named for the fictional captain in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, is where the International Space Station is likely to end upAt the furthest point from any landmass on earth, and 4km under the sea, lies the space cemetery.When their outer space journeys come to an end, old satellites, rocket parts and space stations are sent to this desolate spot in the Pacific Ocean to rest on...

Analysis: The JCVI would not back vaccination of all 12 to 15-year-olds, but the impact on schools will now have to be consideredCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageIt was, the scientists said, a very finely balanced decision. On the one hand, Covid vaccines undoubtedly help to reduce infection and illness. On the other, Covid vaccines – like every other vaccine in...

House in southern France yielded find of outstanding wall paintings dating from 1st century BCOn the right bank of the Rhône in the Provençal town of Arles, the Roman-built House of the Harpist is being hailed as a remarkable record of ancient architecture and interior decoration.Now, experts have opened their workshop to reveal their painstaking attempts to piece together the vast jigsaw of...

Readers respond to an editorial about understanding quantum theory and defining the laws of physicsYour editorial on quantum physics (30 August) starts with a quote from Richard Feynman – “nobody understands quantum mechanics” – and then says “that is no longer true”. One of us (Norman Dombey) was taught quantum theory by Feynman at Caltech; the other (John Charap) was taught by Paul...

As living creatures, we are exquisitely evolved to interact with the world through perception, says David HughesGaia Vince, reviewing Anil Seth’s Being You: A New Science of Consciousness (The exhilarating new science of consciousness, 25 August), extols the thesis that because our perception of the world is a complex physical process, perception is itself a “hallucination” and “a big lie...

This new class of planet hoped by scientists to harbour alien life is a hot waterworld. Let’s stop Earth turning into oneAstronomers have begun scrutinising a new class of planet that might support alien life: the hycean. This is a portmanteau coinage combining “hydrogen” and “ocean”, since the planets are hot waterworlds with hydrogen-rich atmospheres.In ancient Greek, Oceanus was the...