The mystery of Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, is often told as a "parable of self-destruction", a cautionary tale of human exploitation and 'ecocide'. When the last tree falls, so does humanity - or so the story goes.

A recent study of nearly 140 hospitalised patients in Wuhan, China, has identified a pattern of symptoms associated with the new coronavirus, now officially known as COVID-19.

Later today I'll lose consciousness for a few hours to rest and repair. There's a good chance you will, too. Yet as ubiquitous as sleep is, we know very little about which parts of the brain are fundamental to staying awake.

Solar panels are fantastic pieces of technology, but we need to work out how to make them even more efficient – and last year, scientists solved a 40-year-old mystery around one of the key obstacles to increased efficiency.

There's an old saying, "When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on." In other words, before you give up, take matters into your own hands and try a little harder.

While dust devils aren't exactly uncommon on Mars - the Red Planet is, after all, a very dusty and windy place - the whirlwinds often fade almost as quickly as they appear. That makes capturing an image of one in action a rare treat.

Imagine you're a scientist working in Antarctica.

In 1802, German astronomer Heinrich Olbers observed what he thought was a planet within the Main Asteroid Belt. In time, astronomers would come to name this body Pallas, an alternate name for the Greek warrior goddess Athena.

The worst case scenario for sea level rise in the United States is more than just a dim possibility. It's becoming more likely.

A nanoscopic speck of Moon dust, roughly as wide as a human hair, can now be analysed in high resolution atom by atom.

Tapping into the water cycle and generating electricity from rainy days could be one way to grow our renewable energy use.

Over the past few decades, allergies and asthma have become common childhood diseases, especially in developed countries. Almost 20 percent of Australians experience some kind of allergy, whether it's to food, pollen, dust, housemites, mould or ani

The effects of migraines are well known, but the causes are less clear. Now scientists think they may have found a link between the neurological condition and a part of the brain called the visual cortex.

Picture the space around Earth filled with tens of thousands of communications satellites. That scenario is slowly coming into being, and it has astronomers concerned.

In the half-century since the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969, computer technology has evolved in some pretty giant leaps itself.

Hundreds of thousands of mussels cooked to death in New Zealand due to rising temperatures in New Zealand's oceans.

Near the end of 2019, astronomers watching the red giant Betelgeuse noted how much the star had dimmed, continuing to steadily fade for months.

The World Health Organisation said this week it may be 18 months before a vaccine against the coronavirus is publicly available.

A drug first discovered over 50 years ago and long used as a medicine for coughs and respiratory illnesses appears to show promise in treating a very different kind of sickness: Parkinson's disease.

Astronomers have detected unusual movements of gas clouds near the centre of our galaxy, and they could be pointing the way to the most elusive species of black hole, according to a new study. For the longest time, we weren't even sure if these typ

One of the great, longstanding mysteries in the study of dinosaurs is the question of whether the blood in those ancient, towering and sometimes terrifying frames ran hot or cold.