Series
Brain worms, dark matter and stranger things. We explain
We put the natural world under a microscope, from rogue waves and zombie fungi to dark matter and meteors.
- Explainer
- Albert Einstein
Chandeliers, ‘qubits’ and Schrödinger’s cat: Inside the bizarre world of quantum computing
In the quantum realm, the laws of physics are different. Now its mind-bending tech could soon transform our lives. How does it work?
- Angus Holland, Jackson Graham and Angus Dalton
- Explainer
- Biology
‘Avian architecture’: Why birds’ nests are truly grand designs
Some are cup-shaped, some have domes, others have been likened to apartment complexes. How do birds build their nurseries?
- Jackson Graham
- Explainer
- Research
1.5 billion humans share their bodies with worms. But how does one get into a brain?
Surgeons plucked a live roundworm from a woman’s brain in a hospital in Australia. What was it doing there?
- Liam Mannix
- Explainer
Clever birds and killer bots: What to know about swarm intelligence
Birds, bees and ants all co-operate to solve problems with no one in charge. Here’s what humans are learning from them.
- Angus Holland and Jackson Graham
- Explainer
A killer fungus that turns living beings into zombies. Far-fetched? Not entirely.
A brain-eating pathogen wreaks havoc in a new sci-fi TV show inspired by a real-life fungus. How does it take over another creature? Are we at risk?
- Stuart Layt and Liam Mannix
- Explainer
Scientists thought these monster waves were myth. Now they’re racing to understand them
These are the real sea monsters: waves so tall they can block out the sky. So what happens when waves go “rogue”? Why do they strike out of nowhere? And how do sailors survive them?
- Sherryn Groch
- Explainer
‘Puffy-head bird-leg syndrome’: What space travel does to the body
Weird things can happen to the body in space – not least from abrupt changes in gravity as well as weightlessness, radiation and being in close quarters. How do astronauts do it?
- Jackson Graham
- Explainer
What’s yawning for – and is it really contagious?
People who study yawning, known as chasmologists, say just hearing about a yawn can trigger one. How come? The question has puzzled us for millennia – and is still wide open.
- Jackson Graham and Lachlan Abbott
- Explainer
It’s nearly time to put clocks forward an hour. Where did daylight saving come from?
First floated as an idea in 1895, daylight saving has caught on across the world but remains contentious. How does it work?
- Rachael Houlihan and Anthony Segaert
- Explainer
How do you make the perfect sandcastle?
Great minds, from Buddhists to Beyonce, have grappled with the deeper meaning of sandcastles. But how do you actually make one that is a thing of beauty (for as long as it lasts)?
- Angus Holland
- Explainer
Ten years on from the God particle, we may have found a fifth force of nature
It took four decades to find. And, depending on who you ask, it could one day destroy the universe. What’s the Higgs boson? And what’s dark matter?
- Sherryn Groch
- Explainer
‘It’s in your genes’: What can we learn from our DNA?
Did we really inherit that singing voice? What about our maths brain? Some of the answers are in our DNA – but how much can scientists actually tell?
- Jackson Graham
- Explainer
‘I’m sitting but my heart rate is climbing’: How heat stress creeps up on you
We visit a “climate chamber” to measure our vitals while the mercury climbs.
- Liam Mannix and Angus Dalton
- Explainer
Death in 20 milliseconds: the catastrophic implosion 4km beneath the sea
How extreme is the pressure in the deep sea, and how can a vessel implode?
- Angus Dalton and Liam Mannix
- Explainer
What’s nuclear fusion – and will it solve the energy crisis?
Scientists have ignited a fusion reaction that – for the first time in a laboratory – generated more energy than it consumed. What does that mean for us?
- Liam Mannix
- Explainer
What is the ‘feels like’ temperature?
There can be quite a gap between the forecast temperature and the ‘feels like’. What’s the actual difference? And why does it sometimes feel especially cold?
- Millie Muroi and Stuart Layt
- Explainer
Trees have biological clocks too. Here’s how their leaves change colour
From the turning of the fagus to the flutter of falling elm leaves, a red-golden carpet is unfurling across the more temperate corners of our continent. What do trees – and ‘leaf peepers’ – do in autumn?
- Jackson Graham and Angus Holland
- Explainer
Could we ever journey to the centre of the Earth?
We’ve landed humans on the moon but we’ve barely scratched the surface of our own planet. What lies beneath, and what mysteries remain?
- Sherryn Groch
- Explainer
‘Ready for whatever the universe throws at us’: How scientists plan to defend us from a meteor strike
We might be safe, for now, from the kind of catastrophic strike that wiped out the dinosaurs – but what about the small stuff?
- Jackson Graham
- Explainer
‘As loud as a jet taking off’: Why do cicadas sing at dusk?
It’s cicada season again, but summer is no time to relax for these ancient insects. How and why do they produce their high-decibel song?
- Liam Mannix
- Explainer
Scientists know where the big earthquakes will hit. They just don’t know when
A lurch in the Earth’s tectonic plates can wreak havoc at any time. How do scientists measure quakes, and are we doing enough to prepare?
- Sherryn Groch
Other series
Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2026
This year’s laugh fest has kicked off, with more than 2000 performers stepping up to the mic. Here, our writers take a closer look
- 10 stories
Hate of origin: Inside football’s most intense rivalry
Essendon and Hawthorn have hated each other for more than 40 years, from some old-fashioned thuggery and a fake drug scandal in the mid-80s to last year’s failed bid by the Hawks to poach the Bombers’ captain.
- 5 stories