The Latest Breaking News from the Australian Research Council

Ecosystems and species across the natural world are in serious trouble. The vast majority of Australians want more government action, but it’s not being delivered.

Have you ever wondered how Australia’s many Indigenous languages relate to one another and how far back the connections go?

Before species go extinct, their populations often shrink and become isolated. Healthy populations tend to have a large gene pool with many genetic variants circulating. But the path to extinction erodes genetic diversity, because a species’ gene pool shrinks as the population declines. Losing genetic diversity limits the ability of…

Headlines about Screen Australia’s latest annual Drama Report have highlighted one particular figure: a 29% drop in total industry expenditure compared to the year before.

Voluntary assisted dying is lawful in all Australian states. This allows terminally ill adults who are suffering and have decision-making capacity to choose to receive help to die.

After many years of heated debate over whether January 26 is an appropriate date to celebrate Australia Day – with some councils and other groups shifting away from it – the tide appears to be turning among some groups.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show prisoner numbers are growing in every Australian state and territory — except Victoria.

Humans are causing enormous damage to the Earth, and about one million plant and animal species are now at risk of extinction. Keeping track of what’s left is vital to conserving biodiversity.

The size of the Antarctic ice sheet can be hard to comprehend. Two kilometres thick on average and covering nearly twice the area of Australia, the ice sheet holds enough freshwater to raise global sea levels by 58 metres.

Australia has already lost at least 100 species since European colonisation. Across land and freshwater habitats, 1,657 species are currently threatened with the same fate. Their populations have fallen 2-3% every year over the last quarter century.

Michael Leunig – who died in the early hours of Thursday December 19, surrounded by “his children, loved ones, and sunflowers” – was the closest thing Australian cartooning had to a prophet. By turns over his long career, he was a poet, a prophet and a provocateur.